Arsenal Wins, United Down Liverpool, Blackburn Stun Chelsea; The Title Race Continues

By Dominic Vieira

It’s been another great weekend of Premier League football and the race for the title continues to heat up and intensify

The battle for 1st place continued on Saturday afternoon where Arsenal took on London rivals West Ham at the Emirates. It was a relatively easy win for Wenger’s side, which won the encounter 2-0. Denilson scored the opening goal with a cracking shot in the 4th minute, assisted by Bendtner. Arsenal were reduced to ten men at the end of the first half as Vermaelen brought down Franco in the box. Luckily for the Gunners, Almunia saved Diamanti’s penalty. On the 83rd minute, Arsenal captain Cesc Fabregas wrapped up the result by converting a penalty. It was a comfortable win for Arsenal, even though they were a man down, they got the job done. Next Saturday, the Gunners will be playing away against Birmingham, so expect a hard and physical match.

Manchester United vs Liverpool, the Derby, resulted in a narrow 2-1 home win for the Red Devils. Before the match Arsenal were sitting on top of the table and if United won they would regain in first place; the pressure was on. Fernando Torres headed in an early goal in the 5th minute; it’s not the first time the defence was caught sleeping. The goal reminded the fans of the 1-4 beating Liverpool gave United last season. In the 11th minute, Mascherano pulled down Valencia, and United were awarded an extremely dubious penalty. The foul did originate outside the box and it was a hard call to make. Nonetheless, Rooney missed the penalty but scored on the rebound. On the 59th minute, Fletcher crossed a ball into the box and a deadly diving header by Ji-Sung Park put the ball in the back of the net. This defeat has put Liverpool in a struggling position to get into fourth place. A season without Champions League football will be a huge financial blow for the club. Manchester United are still contenders to retain their Premier League title. Next week the Red Devils make a short trip to Bolton.

The pressure was on Chelsea; they had to win, and a defeat would pull them behind in the race. A midweek defeat to Inter Milan certainly wouldn’t have boosted their morale for the match at Ewood Park, against Blackburn Rovers. The match started brilliantly for the Blues as Didier Drogba scored on the 5th minute and it looked like Chelsea were going to win this match by a big margin. Blackburn has been hit by several injuries this season, and it didn’t seem to affect them too much; they never gave up. Chelsea dominated and created plenty goal-scoring opportunities, but if you don’t take your chances, then the other team will. That was the case in this match; Diouf scored on the 70th minute and gave Blackburn a crucial point. This was a game which Chelsea needed to win and should have won. Their confidence and form needs to improve before they play Aston Villa next week; a game which must not be missed.

The title race is extremely close; I don’t remember it ever being this close. If Chelsea win their match in hand, the teams will be separated by one point each. A three-way horse race puts huge pressure on all the teams and this title may be decided on the last day. Each game must be played like a final and Chelsea may have the upper hand. Arsenal and Manchester United may have problems as they also have Champions League priorities; winning the league and Champions League in the same season is an ambitious accomplishment to achieve and extremely hard. Consistency, concentration, and staying injury free are vital at this stage; losing points are not ideal. It is going to be a truly amazing, emotional, and dramatic end to the 2009/2010 Premier League. May the best team win.

Here’s a look of the positions of the current top of the Premier League: