A pretty significant weekend in the EPL at the weekend I would have thought. Watched the most of the Manchester Derby. United were always comfortable. Defensively they were a lot stronger than of late. Rafael did well at right back never letting Robinho by him. Best man on the park was Michael Carrick. He controlled the midfield in a fine performance. Park kept up his good form. Rooney was lively up front also. Held out really well with ten men too. Or even 9 as Berbatov hardly bothered running.
If I was Mark Hughes I would be pretty worried. His team had no structure to it and looks badly unbalanced in midfield. Didi Hamann has seen better days and looks finished. Dunne was excellent as was Richards but apart from that they had nothing. Robinho wasnt in the game. Benjani was just muck. Elano came on and was rubbish. There didnt seem any pattern in their play at all especially after Ronaldo was sent off. More teams are going to come to Eastlands and win imo. Finally delight for the Stephen Ireland haters on here as he was anonymous. Read some ridiculous rubbish on him at the weekend. Supposedly the most in form player in the league and the most talented Irish player in a generation. No doubt he is talented but he hasnāt still got the presence to play centrally in a 4 man midfield.
After the match, Redknapp, Gullit and the senile Richard Keys had a bizarre discussion about Ronaldoās red card, whistles and horns.
Chelsea Arsenal was a lot better. Wenger must take all the credit from getting this performance out of Arsenal as they were unrecognisable from the City game. Chelsea were downright poor imo. Deco had a stinker. They had absolutely no threat out wide. Really lack pace and quality on the flanks of their midfield. Lampard hardly got a kick. Fabregas was imperious in midfield for Arsenal. Van Persie often dropped in aswell so I felt Arsenal were always pretty solid. Adbayeor led the line really well up front. Clichy and Nasri were combining well down the left throughout. Chelsea also had nothing on the bench to affect the game. The hapless Malouda came on and was ridiculously bad. Arsenal should have made it 3 near the end and you couldnt really have argued with it.
The relegation battle is nearly more interesting. Sunderland are really having a mare at the moment. Losing 4-1 at home to Bolton is just awful but having watched them last week v West Ham it was no real surprise. Delighted to see Harry Houdini lose. For all their good form they are still only out of relegation on goal difference. Same for Newcastle. What will happen when they go on a bad run. Blackburn lost again and are in huge trouble. Very hard to predict