APRIL 11 — The Champions League hopefuls return to domestic action this week. The four English teams, known domestically as the Big 4, have had mixed fortunes in Europe.
Chelsea can count themselves as good as through to the Champions League semi-final while Liverpool have the gargantuan task of overturning a 3-1 home loss when they play in Stamford Bridge next week.
Arsenal will seek to capitalise on their 1-1 draw — with the all-important away goal — when Villareal visit London for the return leg on Wednesday, while Manchester United are at a disadvantage after the 2-2 home draw with Porto. The pressure is on them now to do what no other English team has done before in Porto — win.
Last week MU, though playing badly, sneaked a 3-2 win over Aston Villa through a last-minute winner by the now over-hyped Federico Macheda. It was good to see United going gung-ho in the last 20 minutes of the game and turn the tie around. That, I would say, is what champions are made of.
Had MU lost or failed to win, as they should have, then a Liverpool team with momentum on its side would have been regarded as favourites to prevail in the title race. Not now though.
Today, MU travel to the Stadium of Light to play Sunderland (live on StarSports, 10pm), who are desperate for points to avoid relegation. With the defending champions having an eye on the CL return leg after squandering the home advantage on Tuesday, will the Red Devils be there for the taking by the Black Cats?
MU’s backline is getting weaker by the day after Jonny Evans walked off the field on Tuesday with an injury. Rio Ferdinand is still a doubt. That leaves them with Nemanja Vidic and possibly John O’Shea at the back.
While O’Shea is as always unpredictable, the Serbian has been unusually shaky of late. Add the ageing Gary Neville in right-back and we could see ex-Liverpool striker Djibril Cisse pose a serious threat for Sunderland with his pace and power. Having not scored in the last six, it’s perhaps time for him to score his 11th goal in this loan spell from Marseille.
Also, with the MU midfield unable to gel lately — no thanks to Alex Ferguson’s rotation policy — Sunderland will never have a better chance than this to overcome MU and keep their Premiership survival hopes alive.
So, in as much as the Red Devils will want to wrap up this weekend’s tie quickly to prepare for the CL return leg next Wednesday, I predict Sunderland will provide enough resistance and mettle to get a draw or even a surprise win.
Don’t forget that MU could only beat Sunderland 1-0 at Old Trafford in early December last year. That should give Sunderland fans — and Liverpool’s too — some genuine hope.
Incidentally, MU’s CL opponents Porto are sitting pretty with a four-point lead over Sporting Lisbon in Portugal’s Liga Sagres and host 10th place E. Amadora this weekend.
Unbeaten in the league since November 2008, Porto will be able to conserve their resources and focus their attention on maintaining the more vital record of having not lost at home against English teams in European competitions.
This will be good news for Rafa Benitez, and he could really do with some more.
There has been enough evidence in recent weeks to give Liverpool hope that they can overhaul Ferguson’s men — not least in the first 70 minutes of last Sunday’s game — but nothing has been more encouraging than MU’s performance, or lack thereof, against Porto.
Benitez would have watched MU’s horrible, embarrassing, tired and tentative performance against Porto with some relief.
But Liverpool have to put their house in order first after the shocking home defeat to Chelsea in the CL quarterfinal first leg. They now have to make a choice, the Premier League or the Champions League?
Their foreign players would rather win the CL while Liverpudlians Steven Gerrard and Jamie Carragher will surely want to end the Reds’ 19-year wait for the domestic league title. My advice to Benitez is to forget about Europe for a year and focus on winning the English crown.
Liverpool must pick themselves up after the loss to Chelsea. Gerrard is likely to start on the bench after he aggravated a persistent groin problem on Wednesday. Next to Fernando Torres, he is Liverpool’s outstanding performer this season, so Liverpool will find it hard should they be without the Englishman.
If he is fit, he must play but I have a feeling that Benitez will be too adamant thinking Liverpool still have some hope in the CL and will rest Gerrard this weekend. That could be suicidal as it could wreck any hopes of a trophy coming to Anfield.
Today, Liverpool will host Blackburn Rovers (ESPN, 7.45pm), who will be out to reinforce their hopes of staying in England’s top flight. Blackburn needs to stock up the points as they now sit at 14th, with only five points separating them from the drop zone.
Knowing how Blackburn were lucky to get a win against a wasteful Spurs side last week, I believe that Liverpool will be good to cover their one-goal handicap for a convincing home win . . . provided Gerrard gets in on the action.
In-form Arsenal will travel to the JJB to play Wigan Athletic.
Last week, Arsenal had sweet revenge with a 2-0 win over Manchester City. The latter handed the Gunners their last league defeat back in early December 2008, with a 3-0 win in Manchester.
At the forefront of the victory last week was the return of Cesc Fabregas and Emmanuel Adebayor. In the background, but just as significant, was the sight of Arsenal's future — Alex Song and Denilson’s outstanding partnership with Fabregas, Andrey Arshavin and Theo Walcott in midfield.
Arsenal, like MU and Liverpool, will have one eye on the CL as they still have to finish the job at home but Wigan are playing off the back of a 4-0 thrashing by Everton last week.
They will not be having things any easier this week too. Arsenal should register a good week with a win at the JJB and will be better-positioned to advance to the semis of the CL too come Wednesday.
It is some comfort to Arsenal that Villarreal will not be having it easy this weekend playing Malaga in Spain’s Primera Liga. Malaga are just five points off Villarreal and are also pushing to qualify for Europe.
Chelsea are the only English team that can afford to not have the CL second-leg fixture on the back of their minds. They face mid-table Bolton Wanderers today (ESPN, 10pm).
Bolton thumped Middlesbrough 4-1 last week but this week it is a totally different ball game (no pun intended).
Bolton are not the threat they used to be to the Big 4 when under Sam Allardyce. Now they are easy meat to the big guns.
Chelsea will not be pushed hard here as they cool down from that great victory at Anfield. The Blues to win this comfortably by two goals or more.
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