Manchester United surrendered a two-goal advantage on Saturday, the first time they have done so in the Premier League during the last 10 years. Cruising 3–1 away at Everton, they conceded twice in injury time, dropping two more valuable points in the title race.
A similar situation at Fulham in their last away outing has now seen the Red Devils drop four points behind pace-setters Chelsea. The manner of the capitulation heightens the growing sense that Sir Alex Ferguson’s dynasty is drawing to a close.
Quote of the day from Sir Alex Ferguson on the Premier League website: “Football can do that to you. We had complete control but threw it away. It is a simple as that. We played some good football but it is all wasted because we have given the points away.”
Just four games in and already Chelsea are looking fairly unassailable. They are strong, quick, direct, and ruthless in front of goal. They also have the luck of champions.
Their second goal in a 3–1 victory at struggling West Ham came as a Matthew Upson clearance looped into the net after deflecting off Salomon Kalou’s heel.
West Ham and England keeper Robert Green failed to secure the shot that led to Upson’s unfortunate clearance.
Just about keeping up at the top of the table are Arsenal. Dismantling visitors Bolton Wanderers 4–1, their fourth goal showed the sumptuous quality of their “tika-taka” approach. Well over 20 passes culminated in Cesc Fabregas dissecting the deflated opposition with a breathtaking pass, allowing substitute Carlos Vela to coolly finish.
However, concerns remain for the Gunners in central defense. Summer signing Laurent Koscielny scored Arsenal’s opening goal, his first for the club, yet both he and debutant Sebastian Squillaci were at fault for Bolton’s equalizer. The North London side are yet to convince thoroughly that they have the necessary strength and resilience to go the distance this season.
Pretenders to the Crown
Looking at the other pre-season Premiership hopefuls, the picture becomes yet clearer still.
Manchester City suffered a horrible mix up in defense, gifting Blackburn the lead at Eastlands, with Joe Hart largely to blame. Manager Roberto Mancini will have been relieved to see his young goalkeeper recover from the blunder during the rest of the game, but the loss at Sunderland, coupled with two more dropped points here, is far from ideal.
Patrick Vieira scored the equalizer for City 10 minutes into the second half, to make it 1–1.
Tottenham Hotspur too are flagging. Boss Harry Redknapp referred to their recent loss at home to Wigan as “a rare bad day,” but this day wasn’t much better. At newly promoted West Brom a 1–1 draw is not a disaster, but the Baggies were pressing hard late in the game, and it took two fine saves from Carlo Cudicini to save Spurs’ blushes.
Liverpool have more reason to be satisfied after a keenly fought 0–0 draw away at consistently resilient Birmingham City in Sunday’s only fixture. But despite the customary moments of genius and tenacity from Fernando Torres and Steven Gerrard, Liverpool never looked like over-awing Birmingham, and indeed Alex McLeish’s side had the better of the chances.
Many commentators spelled it out before the season started, I will say it now, four games in: Chelsea to retain the title.
Other Matches
Elsewhere in the Barclays Premier league, Sunderland drew 1–1 at Wigan after being down to 10 men for most of the game, with a goal from new signing Asamoah Gyan on his debut.
Fulham scored a late goal to take all three points at home to Wolverhampton Wanderers, and Newcastle United were defeated 2–0 by Blackpool at St James’ Park.
In Monday night football in England, Stoke came back to dramatically snatch the three points with a 2–1 win at home to Aston Villa. Stoke got their first points of the Premier League season after falling behind to a goal by Stewart Downing just after the half-hour mark. But big German defender Robert Huth scored the winner in injury time for Stoke.
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