preview chelsea vs man.united | 19 12 2010

MANCHESTER - Pengurus Manchester United, Alex Ferguson (gambar) semakin teruja bertemu Chelsea pada aksi Liga Perdana England, Ahad ini, sekali gus menamatkan badi pasukan itu setiap kali beraksi di Stamford Bridge.

United akan bertandang ke gelanggang Chelsea itu dengan hasrat mengekalkan rekod tanpa kalah mereka musim ini selain melebarkan jurang mata di tangga teratas liga.

Berbanding Carlo Ancelotti yang sekadar mampu melihat Chesea hanya mengutip enam mata daripada tujuh perlawanan terakhir biarpun pada awal musim mereka dilihat cukup mantap.

Di atas kertas, inilah peluang terbaik buat United mencatat kemenangan pertama di gelanggang keramat Chelsea itu sejak kali terakhir berjaya melakukannya pada April 2002.

"Ini perlawanan yang cukup penting. Kami memiliki rekod buruk ketika berdepan Chelsea di Stamford Bridge tetapi tidaklah begitu teruk sejak beberapa tahun kebelakangan ini.

"Kami sudah cukup bersedia untuk menghadapinya. Cukup lama kami menantikan saat untuk menguasai takhta liga. Jadi ia satu perlawanan penentu buat United," kata Ferguson.

Pada awal musim ini, ramai pengkritik mempersoalkan sama ada skuad bimbingan Ferguson itu cukup kuat untuk merampas semula kejuaraan liga daripada Chelsea.

Namun Ferguson dengan nada yakin menegaskan bahawa dia memiliki para pemain yang mampu untuk menyelesaikan hutang dengan musuh utama mereka itu.

"Kami memiliki pemain yang baik dan mereka semua telah memperolehi banyak pengalaman beraksi pada perlawanan-perlawanan penting sejak beberapa tahun yang lalu.

"Jadi ini bukanlah perkara baru buat mereka. Pengalaman mereka cukup penting dan keghairahan mereka masih tinggi untuk membawa kejayaan kepada kelab ini," jelas Ferguson.

Man Utd vs Chelsea Preview..Top 6 Classic Matches!!

Rooney n Terry..England teammate!! :p

The rivalry between Chelsea and Manchester United is relatively new, but there have been plenty of classic encounters, including of course a Champions League final.

In the interests of fairness there are three wins for each team. Unfortunately, we were unable to locate the video of Manchester United’s incredible 5-3 victory at Chelsea in 1998, the six games below do though encompass what is an intriguing, and often pivotal rivalry in English football.

1. Manchester United 4 – Chelsea 0 (FA Cup final, May 14, 1994). Manchester United went into the game looking to secure their first ever domestic double against the Blues who had surprisingly beaten them 1-0 in both the league games earlier in the season. Gavin Peacock hit the bar in the first half for Chelsea but after the hour Sir Alex Ferguson’s side proved their class. A brace of cool and calm penalties from Eric Cantona won the match before goals from Mark Hughes and Brian McClair sealed a comprehensive victory.

2. Chelsea 5 – Manchester United 0 (Premier League, October 3, 1999). Similarly to Manchester United this weekend, the Red Devils arrived at Stamford Bridge on a long unbeaten run that had lasted 29 games but Chelsea had other ideas. Gus Poyet put the Blues in front after just 27 seconds, beating Massimo Taibi to a deep cross from Dan Petrescu and Chris Sutton added a second to complete an incredible start for the home side. Nicky Butt’s sending off shortly after meant the result was only going to go one way and second half goals from Gus Poyet, an own goal by Henning Berg and Jody Morris completed a famous win.

3. Chelsea 3 – Manchester United 0 (Premier League, April 29, 2006). Jose Mourinho’s side completed their second successive Premier League title with an easy victory over United. The Blues needed just a point to secure top spot and were in front after just five minutes thanks to a William Gallas header. Joe Cole stole the headlines with a cracking second before Ricardo Carvalho completed the win in front of a delirious Stamford Bridge. Wayne Rooney’s injury would leave England on tenter hooks with the World Cup just weeks away.

4. Chelsea 1 – Manchester United 0 (FA Cup final, May 19, 2007) Didier Drogba was the match winner with a late goal in extra-time to secure a final win for Chelsea. The two teams very much cancelled each other out in the first FA Cup final back at the new Wembley stadium and the Ivorian poked in the only goal of the game after playing a one-two with Frank Lamaprd.

5. Manchester United 1* – Chelsea 1 (Pens. 6-5) (Champions League final, May 21, 2008) The biggest fixture played between these two clubs and in retrospect the height of recent English dominance in the Champions League. Cristiano Ronaldo headed United in front only for Frank Lampard to equalise before the break. A fast paced game went into extra-time where Frank Lampard hit the post and Ryan Giggs had a shot blocked on the line by John Terry. The Chelsea captain famously slipped on the Luzhniki Stadium turf when taking his penalty to win the match in the shoot-out and Edwin van der Sar denied Avram Grant’s side with the key penalty save from Nicolas Anelka.

6. Manchester United 3 – Chelsea 0 (Premier League, January 11, 2009). One of Luiz Felipe Scolari’s final matches in charge of Chelsea. And whilst the Jose Mourinho years had seen Chelsea regularly beat United, Sir Alex Ferguson was now coming to grips with beating off the Blues. Nemanja Vidic, Wayne Rooney and Dimitar Berbatov were on the scoresheet for United who would eventually win a close fought title race with Liverpool. The game also saw a rather clever (sneaky?) free-kick routine from Ryan Giggs and Wayne Rooney that could have seen one of the most memorable goals had Howard Webb not wrongly disallowed it.

-courtesy of 101greatgoals.com