An England showcase not to be missed

DEC 12 — What a joyous celebration it turned out to be for all Mancunians last weekend and not just on the football pitch. FYI, the city of Manchester held their annual Christmas Parade last Saturday afternoon.

I can imagine the cheers must have gotten louder during the parade when news came  from London of their boys in red winning by 4-0 at Upton Park, against West Ham United.

The Christmas spirit and cheer continued the next day with the blue half enjoying a convincing 2-1 victory over table-toppers, and Premiership favourites, Chelsea.

Manchester City fans were ecstatic that the team finally proved their mettle while MU fans of course thanked their city rivals for helping to knock off the points difference with the London Blues.

Today, City have a relatively easy game to cool off after their energizer bunny-like performance last weekend. They take on Bolton Wanderers at the Reebok. The Trotters have won only once at home in the league all season and have picked up just one point from their last five matches.

It will surely be game, set and match for Mark Hughes’ boys, if they play with even half the effort they put in last weekend.

According to their best player this season, City seemed to have found an edge to their game since their home draw with Hull City two weeks ago.

Goalkeeper Shay Given revealed the uproar in the dressing room after the 1-1 draw, with players at each others’ throats and the management also joining in the verbal jousting. Obviously, some good came out of all that, with their performance of the season against Chelsea.

The penalty save by Given was yet another time he has helped City from the brink of defeat or from losing valuable points. It is not as if Frank Lampard even took a bad penalty. It is just that Given went the right way and kept Chelsea from gaining a point.

He has certainly been the most consistent performer in their side.

I don’t think there’s been any other goalie this season who has saved his team from disaster as often as Given has done. At least three of their record seven successive draws could easily have turned into losses if not for this guy.

It’s a pity that he will not be going to South Africa with his Irish teammates next June due to a goal that should not have been given (no pun intended).

For City’s neighbours, MU, the winning run away from home continued in mid-week with their emphatic 3-1 win over Wolfsburg. Alex Ferguson must have had a gut feeling in playing Michael Owen from the start.

The end result is him achieving a second hattrick on German soil since the 5-1 thrashing that England served Germany in a World Cup qualifier back in September 2001.

Tonight, MU return to Old Trafford to host an in-form Aston Villa. Martin O’Neill’s side are unbeaten in four league outings, and climbed to fifth place in the table with a 3-0 victory over Hull City last weekend.

But even such momentum will be helpless against the Red Devils who have been banging in the goals, while winning their last three league games, scoring 11 in the process.

Villa’s last victory against MU, home or away, was in 1995. Since then, their record states 7 draws and 22 defeats.

With Wayne Rooney, Dimitar Berbatov, Ryan Giggs and Nemanja Vidic all returning to the line-up tonight, no one would dare give Villa a chance of upsetting the record books, and neither would I.

Incidentally, if Owen is given some time on the pitch tonight, this clash would more importantly be a great showcase for England coach Fabio Capello to compare the performances of his possible midfield and forward picks for WC2010.

Michael Carrick, Rooney and Owen for MU against Ashley Young, James Milner, Gabriel Agbonlahor and Emile Heskey for Villa.

So, despite my prediction above, if Aston Villa are to cause an upset tonight, it will only be because such an occasion may raise the performance levels of their English lads.

MU play Villa in a late kick-off (1.30am, early Sunday morning) and will have the benefit of knowing they have to win to keep pace against title-rivals Chelsea who should continue their excellent run at Stamford Bridge tonight.

Everton are the visitors tonight, and with Chelsea’s 20 goals for and zero goals against statistic in all league matches played at the Bridge, it will be a tough ask to expect the Mersey Blues to score a goal, let alone get a point.

Understandably, after last weekend’s result, there have been some question marks over the cracks that appeared when Carlo Ancelotti’s much-vaunted midfield diamond came up short against Manchester City.

Everton will not provide the same sort of challenge but their fightback against Tottenham Hotspur last Sunday – together with that remarkable penalty save by Tim Howard in the dying minutes — may yet give them the confidence boost towards achieving a repeat of their English Premier League (EPL) ranking of recent seasons.

Despite the Toffees getting a draw in their last three visits to Stamford Bridge, I think this season will see a massive reverse with Chelsea scoring at least three goals without reply to take a five-point lead at the top of the table.

Obviously, I have saved the best for last in the match previews this week.

A big four clash is always a highlight of every EPL season. Well, in the past decade at least. The Sunday night (kickoff 12 midnight) match between Liverpool and Arsenal at Anfield is no different.

With Manchester City, Spurs and Aston Villa making great strides this season, it is the first time that another team could realistically have a chance of cracking the big four cartel.

And we all know that the two most vulnerable sides among the big four are the Reds and the Gunners.

Liverpool’s inconsistency has been shocking to say the least, but they have been proven to raise their game when needed.

However, it should be noted that despite their relatively bad form, Liverpool are still only three points off the last Champions League place. With their key men now available, it would be foolish to write them off, and furthermore none of the other contenders have really made a convincing claim for the last spot.

So, Liverpool’s season could finally “start now” at the fourth try this season, if we are to believe manager Rafa Benitez. After all, with the embarrassing loss at home to Fiorentina in the Champions League done with, he can now get his mind on the big prize for Liverpool, third or fourth place in the EPL. Oh how the mighty have fallen.

Arsenal have lost to the other big four teams this season, as well as one of the pretenders. So, it is with some trepidation that most Arsenal supporters are approaching this match with Liverpool.

Forget the 4-4 scoreline from last season, in which Andrei Arshavin racked up four goals. The young Gunners are in the midst of an injury crisis and some problems with their confidence as well.

Manager Arsene Wenger still feels that the Gunners can make a title tilt, so it would be totally against such intentions if the team goes out with nothing short of a match-winning strategy, taking the game to the Reds.

They have already lost to MU, City and Chelsea already, so another defeat to an immediate rival would harm their ambitions greatly.

The Gunners are third and desperately need to win in order to keep pace with Chelsea and Manchester United. Having last won at Anfield in 2003 (during the ‘invincible’ season) and coming so close last season, my belief is that they can do it tomorrow.

It will be a low-scoring win, but a win nonetheless, that will set Liverpool further back, and propel Arsenal to a comfortable position with which to prepare for their assault on the Premiership which they last won in 2004.