Does Chelsea's Destiny Include a Win over Manchester United?

Man Utd vs Chelsea | 3-Apr-2010 @ 12:45 UK

Doesn’t it feel like we are destined to win this league title? Even before the second leg of the tie against Inter, I had said that losing to Inter could even have a positive impact to our league title chase.

Having seen the effects of the first leg of the champions league quarter finals on our rivals, I think I was bang on.

Man Utd have lost the first leg in a cruel fashion and have lost Wayne Rooney for about a month. To their horror, Arjen Robben will be back for the second leg next week.

Arsenal have conceded two away goals to Barcelona in a match that redefined the word ‘luck’. Plus, they have lost Fabregas, Gallas, Arshavin and Diaby for a few weeks.

Man Utd could go out of champions league next week and Arsenal need Jesus Christ to play in defence for them to have any hope.

While all these are happening to our rivals, Chelsea have a week long break, since the demolition of Aston Villa, for resting, training and preparing for the all-important match at Old Trafford.

In Chelsea team news, it is confirmed that Drogba would start on Saturday. With Chelsea’s goal scoring form in matches that didn’t involve Drogba, his absence may not seem like a bad news after all.

But none of those matches were against the likes of Man Utd, Barcelona, etc. Against top teams, you need to have Drogba in the line up. He instantly creates a fear in the minds of the defence and can terrorise with just his presence.

Keep in mind that Drogba’s record against Man Utd is something great. He has been prolific against a lot of top teams but not Man Utd. You can say that the Man Utd’s centre backs have got Drogba’s number. Let’s see how it goes on Saturday.

With Drogba in, Ancelotti has a decision to make in terms of the formation and tactics. I wish we go ahead with an aggressive 4-3-3 instead of a more solid, less fluent two striker formation.

Which formation and tactics Ancelotti chooses depends on what he wants from this match. He has already said that a draw is not a bad result. I would never say that. With Rooney not being there, definitely not.

If we go with a ‘draw is not a bad result’ mentality, we are not winning this game. We are playing the champions in their home ground in a very crucial stage of the league title. We are also playing against the mastermind that’s Alex Ferguson.

I agree that this is a match that we cannot afford to lose. Simply cannot. But ‘cannot afford to lose’ is a bit different from ‘draw is a good result’. Also this is a ‘must-win’ given our run-in to the title.

To play with a ‘must-win’ attitude and a ‘cannot lose’ caution, we should have our tactics spot on.

How we begin the match and play in the first half hour is very key. The last thing I want to see is a slow start from Chelsea. We should attack from the word go in both the halves. The ‘caution’ can set in for the last 20 mins of the match.

There are some obvious weak links in this Man Utd team. The most obvious is Gary Neville. With Malouda and Zhirkov on the left side of the pitch, I wouldn’t mind all our attacks are by exploiting old Gary.

I would also call Berbatov a weak link. Man Utd fans can quote Rooney-less matches where Berbatov scored.

Forget about the Rooney-less matches. Let’s look at all those matches where he scored: Bolton, Fulham, Everton, Portsmouth, Burnley, Wigan, Hull City, Blackburn, Sunderland and Stoke City.

No Liverpool, no Man City, no Arsenal, no Tottenham, no Aston Villa and most clearly, no Chelsea. Do you see a pattern? I’m sure you do. I rest my case.

Our threats could be from the improving Nani and Valencia. These two can really stretch Yuri and Paulo. While Nani and Valencia can be very effective for them, I don’t see them as the kind of players who would track back and help their full backs.

I’m curious to see in what formation Man Utd will line up. Sir Alex does respect Chelsea a lot. In fact, ever since the Jose years, Chelsea is the only team that he considers a real rivals for his team.

That’s why sometimes, he ends up being a bit too defensive in his team selection and formation. I won’t be surprised if Man Utd play a 4-5-1 and be content with a draw.

It’s clear that Chelsea’s morale is high and Man Utd’s morale is not so high, if not low. Chelsea must take full advantage of this and have a real go at them.

If Chelsea were to beat Man Utd tomorrow, it would inflict a massive damage for Man Utd given that they also have a crucial quarterfinal match against a charged-up Bayern.

A win for Chelsea tomorrow can potentially derail Man Utd’s season. With this in stake, we must absolutely go for the win and goals too.

The whole of Chelsea team would have realised the golden opportunity that has presented itself once again for winning this title. For us, the opportunity keeps knocking our door.

We have dropped the ball many times this season but still we seem to get opportunities again and again. We must grab this with both hands.

I’m going for this result: Man Utd 1-2 Chelsea. Man Utd to take the lead and Chelsea coming back into the game to win it. For about 70 thousand-odd crowd, let’s make this the ‘theatre of nightmares.’

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