Michael Essien continued his scoring run as he netted the winner at Stamford Bridge against Manchester City and helped Chelsea close the gap on Manchester United to 4 points. It was not an easy win for the Blues as they had to dig deep for the victory and kept Guus Hiddink's unbeaten record intact.
Chelsea 1 - 0 Manchester City
1-0 - Essien - Watch
Enjoy.....
The first knockout round of the UEFA Champions League produced some great goals. The first knockout round saw many big teams crash out and too without even scoring a single goal. Get all the highlights of the first knockout round.
First Leg
All matches - Link
Second Leg
March 10
Liverpool - Real Madrid - Link
Bayern - Sporting - Link
Panathanaikos - Villareal - Link
Juventus - Chelsea - Link
March 11
All matches - Part1 - Part2
(Manutd - Inter,
Roma -Arsenal,
Barca - Lyon,
Porto -Athletico)
Enjoy.....
Chelsea displayed the old belief and character that was missing for large parts of this season at Turin as they marched into the quarterfinals of the Champions League after drawing their match with Juventus. A 2-2 draw in Turin was enough to see Guus Hiddink's men safely through 3-2 on aggregate, while it also preserved the his unbeaten record in the Stamford Bridge hot-seat.
Juventus 2-2 Chelsea
Iaquinta 1-0 - DOWNLOAD
Essien 1-1 - DOWNLOAD
Del Piero 2-1(pen) - DOWNLOAD
Drogba 2-2 - DOWNLOAD
All in one - Download
Enjoy......
The first knockout stage of UEFA Champions League is nearing its climax. After the first leg, most of the matches are still in balance apart from a few like Bayern - Sporting. The performance of few of the big clubs in the group stages were poor and they could manage only second positions in their groups, which had lead to the fixtures we had got for the Round of 16. When one sees the fixtures, they might get a feeling that each of these fixtures should have been the finals. But only 8 teams can go through to the quarterfinals. Liverpool, who play particularly well in the Champions League have got a lead against Real Madrid and they are at Anfield. So I can't see them losing against Real. Manchester United battered Inter Milan at the San Siro but could not get a goal but it was a totally different team that played in Milan with Rooney on the bench for that. And at Old Trafford they will play their normal 4-4-2 formation and they are real favourites to progress. Chelsea have 1-0 lead going to Turin against Juventus. That's a small lead considering Juve's home form so the match will be real tight one. Arsenal too have a 1-0 lead going to Rome but AS Roma will be heavily dependent on Totti. If he plays Arsenal will have some serious problems. This match too is a tight one. I fancy Arsenal as this is the only trophy that they are left to play for this season and they will be fired up. Barcelona have a crucial away goal against Lyon and at Camp Nou you would expect them to walk over Lyon. Sporting were buried at Lisbon and I would not be surprised if Bayern play a second string team at Munich as overturning a 0-5 deficit is near impossible for the Portugese club.
The first leg of the Round of 16 produced some stunning football. All the English teams are on course to progress through to next round. Enjoy all those moments during the first leg.
Click here for the highlights
Download
I've seen and heard most people saying that English Premier League is the best in the world. But is really the best??? I certainly have my doubts. EPL, without any doubt is the most glamorous and most popular league in the world, thanks to marketing of the game across the globe and the popularity the clubs command in the Asian countries. Nearly 5% of the world's population are Manchester United fans. And clubs like Chelsea,Liverpool & Arsenal are not far behind in the popularity charts. But when it comes to competitiveness of the league, I would say the teams in EPL are not as good as those in Spain or Italy. The point I would like to state here is you don't see the lower teams for eg. West Brom or Stoke are expected to take points off the bigger teams like Manutd or Chelsea. But in Spain, even the teams in the lower half will get results in matches against the bigger teams like Real Madrid or Barcelona - "The Unpredictability", which has made La Liga so popular . This doest not mean that bigger teams in Spain are not that strong as those in England. Real Madrid and Barcelona have the maximum trophies than any other club in Europe. All I hope is the quality of the teams(apart from biggies) improves in the English Premier League, so that all the matches can be viewed with interest. And by looking at the way the things are going in the current season, the monopoly of "Big Four" seems to be broken by the young Aston Villa side. Lets see if others can also do the same in the coming seasons.
Liverpool further dropped points away at Wigan while Chelsea moved up to second after beating Middlesbrough. Bellamy scored on his Manchester City debut while Hull City slumped to a sixth successive Premier League defeat at West Ham United.
Chelsea 2 - 0 Boro
1-0 Kalou - Watch
2-0 Kalou - Watch
Wigan 1 - 1 Liverpool
0-1 - Bennayoun - Watch
1-1 - Mido - Watch
Everton 1-1 Arsenal
1-0 Cahill - Watch
1-1 Van Persie - Watch
Goals in downloadable format will be posted later
Chelsea and Manchester United marched into the next round while Liverpool could manage only a draw against fierce rivals Everton, earning a replay at Goodison Park while Arsenal came with a draw against Cardiff. Holders Pompey were dumped out by Swansea while Hull,Boro and West Ham progressed.
Cardiff City 0 - 0 Arsenal
21 '- Nasri Chance
54 ' - RVP free kick
67' - RVP Chance
75' - Adebayor chance
76' - Nasri shot
Liverpool 1 - 1 Everton
0-1 - Lescott
1-1 - Steve'G
Highlights
Chelsea 3-1 Ipswich Town
Highlights
Manchester United 2-1 Tottenham
0-1 Pavlyuchenko
1-1 Scholes
2-1 Berbatov
Here are the goals and highlights of the matches played in week 22 of the Barclays Premier League
Bolton Wanderers V Manchester United
RAPIDSHARE || MEDIAFIRE
Chelsea V Stoke City
RAPIDSHARE || MEDIAFIRE -
Sunderland V Aston Villa
RAPIDSHARE || MEDIAFIRE -
Manchester City V Wigan Athletic
RAPIDSHARE || MEDIAFIRE -
Hull City V Arsenal
RAPIDSHARE || MEDIAFIRE -
West Ham United V Fulham
RAPIDSHARE || MEDIAFIRE -
Tottenham Hotspur V Portsmouth
RAPIDSHARE || MEDIAFIRE -
Liverpool Vs Everton
Gerrard
Cahill
Champions Manchester United produced a master class at Old Trafford against a stuggling Chelsea side and moved within 5 points of Liverpool with two games in hand. Surprise inclusion of Giggs in midfield proved to be the master stroke as he masterminded the win, commanding the midfield. Vidic, Rooney and Berbatov did the scoring for United who look ominous with their current form.
Click here for the goals
1-0 Vidic : Watch - Download
2-0 Rooney : Watch - Download
3-0 Berbatov : Watch - Download
The 3rd Round of FA cup saw some great action. Plenty of surprises and goals. Here is the action.
Click here for the action
Southampton 0-3 Manchester United
Highlights
Manchester City V Nottingham Forest
Link
Chelsea V Southend United
Link
Preston North End 0-2 Liverpool
Riera
Torres
Tottenham Hotspur 3-1 Wigan Athletic
Pavlychenko
Modric
Camara
Pavlychenko
1st Half Highlights
2nd Half Highlights
The race for the title in the English Premier League is turning out to be one of the closest in the recent years. The pace setters in the last 5 years have been Chelsea and Manchester United with Liverpool dropping out of the race early and Arsenal dropping off the pace in the latter part of the season. But this year Liverpool have started so well and that may be the reason why many feel the race will be very tight this year. Arsenal's form this year has been very wobbly. They have struggled with the very young squad and they have found the going tough against teams that are ready to shut them down and those who try to be physical. While Liverpool have been getting results against the big teams and them ending Chelsea's proud record at the Bridge made some believe they will also be a tough nut to crack this season. Arsenal's win against Chelsea has brought them back into the title race after few ruled them out so early. The Champions Manchester United have not got into their rhythm yet but considering the fact that they have played the top 9 teams of last season away from home and also taking into account their record at Old Trafford, they are also in a very strong position. Chelsea have been very good away from home with 11 consecutive away wins but their home record is a cause of concern for Big Phil. It remains to be seen if Liverpool will be able to focus on the premier league title as Rafa always considers Champions League as his priority. So its all in readiness for a cracking season in the EPL.
