LONDON:
Chelsea missed the opportunity to break into the top four of the Premier League yesterday after grinding out a 0-0 draw with third-placed Arsenal at the Emirates.
With Chelsea facing a daunting Champions League trip to Barcelona next week, manager Roberto Di Matteo rang the changes by naming only three members of the side that had beaten the Spaniards 1-0 in Wednesday’s first-leg.
The makeshift Chelsea line-up was able to keep Arsenal at bay for long periods as the Gunners were frustrated in their efforts to tighten their grip on an automatic Champions League qualifying berth. The result left Arsenal six points clear of fourth-placed Tottenham, who have two games in hand over their north London rivals and played QPR late last night.
“It was a strange game,” said Arsene Wenger. “They decided to lock the game up and catch us on the break. We were not quick and sharp enough in our passing today to open them up. We still had the chances to win the game, they had zero. I cannot remember them having one clear-cut chance.”
Chelsea could have leapfrogged over Spurs and Newcastle into fourth but the result left the Blues in sixth place, one point outside the top four. However Di Matteo was delighted with the result.
“It was a brilliant team performance,” said the Italian. “If we’d had a bit more quality with our final pass, that let us down, but apart from that it was a fantastic performance. This was our third game in less than six days, the way they’ve responded to this, personally I think it’s crazy, but we showed there’s great quality in this team and our spirit is high.”
Walcott to miss rest of season
Meanwhile, Theo Walcott will miss the rest of the season after suffering a hamstring injury in the match.
Walcott limped off in the 60th minute Wenger revealed he does not expect the England international to feature in Arsenal’s final three Premier League matches. While Walcott’s injury is a blow to Arsenal, Wenger believes he will recover in time for England’s Euro 2012 campaign.
“It looks like a serious hamstring,” said Wenger. “When we first assessed the hamstring, he wanted to stay on the pitch, and I think he should have gone off straight away because the second time it was a real hamstring injury. I think now for him it will be tough to come back before the end of the season.”
Newcastle close in on Arsenal
Meanwhile, Newcastle beat Stoke 3-0 at home to move in within three points of Arsenal with a game in hand.
Yohan Cabaye put Newcastle ahead from close range before Papiss Cisse slid in the Frenchman’s pass to make it 2-0 for the home side. And Cabaye sealed victory with a 20-yard strike as the Magpies moved ahead of Tottenham.
In other matches, Aston Villa drew 0-0 at home against Sunderland, Blackburn beat Norwich 2-0, Bolton drew 1-1 with Swansea and Fulham brought Wigan back down to earth with a 2-1 win.
Ferguson fears Everton backlash
MANCHESTER. Sir Alex Ferguson fears an Everton backlash following the Merseyside club’s heartbreaking FA Cup semi-final loss to Liverpool last weekend.
League leaders United face David Moyes’ side today looking to maintain a five-point lead over second placed Manchester City as they close in on a 20th title. Ferguson was always expecting a tough game but believes Everton will be all the more dangerous after the defeat against their old enemy last weekend.
Meanwhile, City manager Roberto Mancini still insists the title race is over despite several of his players believing otherwise as they prepare to face Wolves today.
A number of City players have come out this week to claim the race for the title is still very much on ahead of their trip to Wolves, including England goal-keeper Joe Hart, but Mancini continues with his stance that United have already secured their 20th English league crown.
Alex Ferguson
“It was a bad one for Everton, they went into that game with good form. It’s always a blow to you and I’m sure David and the rest of them will have suffered. But now we expect hard games, we’re ready for hard games.”
Arsene Wenger
“It was a strange game. They decided to lock the game up and we weren’t sharp enough with our passing or movement. But we still had all the chances, they had none. We haven’t lost today and we must take that forward.”
Roberto Mancini
“The title race is over. For me, it’ll be very difficult. The situations that have happened in the last three or four games have made it very difficult for us. I’m staying with my opinion about the title for the next few weeks, that it has gone.”
Di Matteo
“It was difficult to play against Arsenal here and if we had more quality with the final pass, it could’ve been a different result. But it was a fantastic performance, we had a lot of changes but everyone did really well.”
Published in The Express Tribune, April 22nd, 2012.
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