Heartbreak

16 April 2008



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Late Wigan Goal Gives Man U Insurmountable Leads

Chelsea FC is one of the powerhouse soccer teams in England, and the local favorite at this journal. Firmly in second place, they had a chance to move within a single game of Manchester United on Monday playing fifteenth place Wigan at Stamford Bridge. A goal by Emile Heskey pulled Wigan level at 1-1 in injury time. It now looks like the Premiership Title is Manchester United’s.

On paper, Chelsea should have won this game, but of course, they don’t play soccer on paper, they play it on grass. Wigan’s goalkeeper Chris Kirkland worked himself to death early on saving shots from Nicolas Anelka and Salomon Kalou while John Terry hit the bar. Eventually, Michel Essien nailed a 20-yard shot in about the 55th minute. Then, Chelsea failed to run the clock out, and there was a foreshadowing of doom as Latics (as Wigan’s side is known) substitute Antoine Sibierski forced a recovering Peter Cech to make a world-class save. As the clock ran down to the end, Jason Koumas crossed a lovely ball to Mr. Heskey who found the net with it, and there was no time left to Chelsea to recover.

Looking at the table, there are four matches left for every Premiership team. With every win worth three points and with Man U at 80 points, every team with fewer than 68 points is mathematically out, leaving but two sides with a chance to stop Man U. Chelsea’s 75 and Arsenal’s 71 are strong enough to have hope, but they aren’t really close enough to threaten.

This problem becomes clearer when one looks at the remaining matches. For Man U, they next play 9th ranked Blackburn, 2nd place Chelsea, 10th place West Ham and 15th place Wigan. Should they win three of these, they can’t be caught, and if they win just one, Arsenal’s finished. Chelsea’s remaining matches are against 5th place Everton, 1st place Man U, 12th ranked Newcastle, and 18th ranked Bolton. They have to win each of these and hope that Man U loses to Blackburn, West Ham or Wigan. Yesterday’s draw was probably the mortal blow.

Chelsea’s manager, Avram Grant, put a brave face on it. “We are still in the title race. It is more difficult now, but we will still fight away.” One would like to advise him to save it. Chelsea’s semi-final games against Liverpool in the Champions’ League are much more important. There’s a time to fight, and a time to withdraw. Fight like hell against Manchester United, by all means, but the race is now going to be decided by Everton, Blackburn, West Ham, Newcastle, Wigan and Bolton. The smart money is on Sir Alex Ferguson’s men.

© Copyright 2008 by The Kensington Review, Jeff Myhre, PhD, Editor. No part of this publication may be reproduced without written consent. Produced using Fedora Linux.

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