Chelsea Miss Opportunity in epl
Draw at Newcastle Hands Manchester United Advantage in Title Race
Chelsea's failure to beat Newcastle severely dents their challenge to retain the Premiership title.
Chelsea missed a great opportunity to take control in the battle for the Premiership title. They failed to take advantage of Manchester United’s slip up when they played out a scoreless draw against Newcastle United at St. James Park. That result leaves them trailing United by three points with four games remaining and damages their chances of winning the Premiership title for the third consecutive season. Although the two clubs will face each other at Chelsea’s home ground in the penultimate match of the season, Manchester United have a vastly superior goal difference compared to the west London club.
If they had won Chelsea would have reduced United’s lead to one point following United’s disappointing draw at home to Middlesbrough on Saturday. Sir Alex Ferguson and the United players and supporters will be the most pleased by Chelsea’s failure to grasp the opportunity.
In a dull game Chelsea, surprisingly, lacked drive in a game that was of such importance to them. They lost their German international midfield player, Michael Ballack, through injury early in the first half. Chelsea can be thankful to the goalkeeper, Petr Cech who made three important saves to deny Newcastle and it was only occasionally that Chelsea looked like scoring. In a recent game at Watford when Chelsea looked like dropping points a late injury time goal saved their blushes but this time a late effort from Joe Cole went just wide of the goal.
This result is a massive blow to Chelsea’s title aspirations and following next week’s Champions League game with Liverpool they face a difficult programme – at home to Bolton Wanderers, away to Arsenal, home to Manchester United and finish the season with a home game against Everton. None of those games will be easy - all four teams are in the top six of the Premiership and will be trying to dent Chelsea’s title plans while strengthening their own position to ensure European qualification.
Manchester United’s task looks equally tricky – three away games at Everton, the Manchester derby against City and then Chelsea before a final home game against West Ham United who may still be fighting to avoid relegation to the Coca-Cola Championship.
The suggestion that Newcastle United’s England striker Michael Owen could return in this game proved to be unfounded. Owen is slowly returning to fitness after his injury sustained while playing for England in last summer’s FIFA World Cup competition in Germany. He has taken part in some reserve and friendly games to improve his fitness but is obviously still not considered to be ready for first team action. It is the England manager, Steve McLaren who is most anxious to see the return of Owen ahead of the European qualification game in Estonia on 6th June. This is a crucial must win match for England who are struggling after poor performances in earlier games and find themselves in fourth place in the group two points behind Croatia who have played one game less.
