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After the possibility of the leading goal scorer Robin van Persie playing in the first leg in semi-final match of Champions League being dashed the prospects of Arsenal has become gloomy. Arsenal will take on Manchester United on Wednesday at a time when the club’s position in Barclay Premier League is off the pace and after losing to Chelsea 2-1 they are out in the FA Cup. Now Arsenal only has the European competition as their last chance to break the trend of coming out blank for the past three years. The injury of groin strain of Van Persie that rules him out in the match against Manchester United can be managed stated Arsene Wenger.

This season he has been able to score 17 goals but at Wembley he sustained injury. On Sunday at home he will not be able to play the league match against Middlesbrough as well as the Old Trafford trip. Arsene Wenger informed that he would be fit for the May 5 return leg match in North London against United but is certainly ruled out for the game on Sunday and with United.

In this season there have been number of injuries for Arsenal’s key players specifically for the up-front players. Considering all the competitions in the previous 12 games only in one single game they have not been able to score and the best was the 4-4- draw in the Premier League against Chelsea on Tuesday night at Anfield. His Nike Mercurial Vapor V FG football boots must have been magic that night, because Russian forward Andrey Arshavin was responsible for all the goal scoring and he will be part of the starting team for the match with Middlebrough.

After Arsenal’s defeat of 2-1 against Chelsea on Saturday in the semi-finals of the FA Cup at Wembley, the manager of Arsenal Arsene Wenger has come out strongly over the condition of the pitch at the stadium and said that it was a disaster, laughable and an embarrassing pitch. He however added that his state of unevenness of the football pitch was not the reason for his teams defeat.

Justifying his remarks he said that it becomes very embarrassing when one sees the cost involved in the making of the stadium and even with huge amounts of money spent one is not able to get a right football pitch. For this he said somebody must be held responsible and he should be put to an explanation.
The FA has supervised five times the relaying of the turf since 2007 since the stadium was opened and the sixth time will be after the concerts of the summer season. The problem is not that the stadium members need to buy new Toro XL 320 lawnmowers, or lean how to cut the turf better, but rather that the footbal pitch was not flat. Arsene Wenger went to the extent that the pitch quality was a disaster and in fact it was not a pitch at all and seeing the amount of money that has gone into the making of the stadium it becomes a topic of laughter.

FA said that tough they had thought that the turf that was laid originally would last long enough but added that because of the pop concerts being held at the stadium it was not possible. They further added that the concerts are also a part of the original business plan of Wembley Stadium. But Wenger persisted that as per his opinion the concerts were not responsible for this state and the pitch itself was originally of inferior quality from the beginning itself.

A total melt down of the world of Rafael Benitez that included the failure of his strategy, the ineffectiveness of the tight controls, and incorrect results of the precision in planning was witnessed by the fans of Liverpool. The main person responsible for this chaos was Guus Hiddink. The Dutch manager’s tightly guarded secrets when unlocked created this havoc on the totally confused Liverpool team as they went down 3-1 to Chelsea. This match was the most absorbing match out of the preceding eight encounters in the Champions League and it more than justified the hype that was created before the match started.

At a point of time when Benitez’s team refused to accept the fact that they can be beaten by the opposition however strong they may be, but now they are finding it difficult to accept one of the worst defeat in the recent times at home. Hiddink triumphed over the normally confident Benitez, and if both managers were to play against eachother in a game of Football Manager 2008, then it would be clear from their last meeting who would win. The scoring in the eventful showdon was started by Liverpool’s Fernando Torres in the initial third minute of the match when Liverpool looked all set to dominate the game but the climax came from Branislav Ivanovic when he scored in almost identical fashion two goals that totally changed the direction of the game. The final one came from Drogba who gave the final touch to the 3-1 win of Chelsea.

The win can be attributed more to the tactics of Hiddink who literally disarmed Steven Gerrard threat and led to the confusion in Liverpool that is most likely considered to be the crux of the reason of such defeat. Michael Essien was given the job of disarming the main weapon of Liverpool as he followed around Steven Gerrard all night. This he did it with great success as he is one of the best athletic midfielder of Chelsea.

This week the most eagerly awaited match of the first leg of the quarter-final match of the Championship League is between Chelsea and Liverpool. Even though both the teams have already faced each other in all the previous four seasons, but still the excitement is very high. This is due to the fact that on the one hand Chelsea has resurged under the guidance of Guus Hiddink their interim manager coach. Similarly Liverpool has given some stunning performances both abroad and at home. They under the guidance of Rafa Benitez had beaten Real Madrid at home and in the final round away from home. In addition to this they also recently humbled United to open the title race for the Premier League. The Captain of Liverpool Steven Gerrard who is in this term of the Championship League jointly is the top Scorer is really on fire and is expected to put in his best against the team which at one point of team he had almost joined.

Before Chelsea defeated Newcastle United with a score of 2-0 and a close win for Liverpool over Fulham with a score of 1-0 Guus Hiddink had remarked on uefa.com that the modern game of football is very open. The managers know the games of the players as the players are representative of the manager, also the players are well acquainted with each other also, and therefore the entire game is very tight and open. Praising Rafa Benitez he said that he is a very intelligent and smart manager and added that he was very keen for this battle. The main question is whether Drogba in his Nike Mercurial Vapor III SG football boots, or Steven Gerrard will lead their side to victory. After all, whilst the managers can make key decisions, it is up to the players to actually play and win the game.

With a 1-0 win of Chelsea over Juventus, spirits of the Team are high but Guus Hiddink is not very happy. He feels that after Didier Drogba made an early strike, they could not maintain their tempo and were sitting slightly deep. He said he wanted good movement from his front three and should have smashed holes in Juventus’ defence and put them under pressure to convert more opportunities into goals. He wished that they should have done better and for the second leg could have got a bit of more breathers.

Didier Drogba in the 12th minute took a beautiful reverse pass from Salomon Kalou with the Italian keeper exposed and the ball right in front of Didier Drogba; a moment he would love to have more often. With his Nike Mercurial Vapor football shoes Drogba succeeded without much difficulty and made a stylish finish. Drogba He got Chelsea their first and only goal of the match. Soon after the first goal, Didier Drogba could have converted another corner from Lampard by heading into the goal which ultimately hit the post. Juventus’ did play better defence in the second half but could not equalise.

When asked whether his return had anything to do with sacking of Luiz Felipe Scolari and arrival of Hiddink’s, he denied the same and said that it was just a matter of Chance.

Didier ruined the return of Ranieri early in the match but it appears that the four years he had spend as the boss of Chelsea still are fresh in the minds of Chelsea fans as they gave Ranieri a warm welcome, a gesture which needs to be encouraged.

He fans also greeted Hiddink for taking over charge of Chelsea till the appointment of a permanent coach.

Aston Villa will play host to Chelsea as both the sides are hoping to remain alive in the hunt for the “Premier League Title”, however their first priority will be to get into the top four. It appears that Villa have an edge over their rivals as their recent form speaks of and they would give their best to eliminate chance of any serious setback of their goal for “UEFA Champions League Football”. There have behind them the victory run and adding to that the last six games played in their home soil have not been lost. The defensive force of Villa is in real form, though Manchester United, the leaders of the league are much ahead of them but Villa are expected to keep this department very tight against their rivals in the weekend.

Chelsea on the other hand would try to get out of the recent decline hoping for “Guus Hiddink” factor to work for them. It will definitely be on their minds their struggles in the recent past at the Villa Park and the fact that in the previous nine visits they could not take even three points. Supporters in their Nike Aston Villa Home 2009 football shirts will hope that Chelsea once again succumbs to the pressure. This time again, things are not looking good for them. This can be seen in their recent performance in the “Premier League fixtures” where they have not scored at all in three matches out of the previous four matches and in the 12 previous league fixtures won just four.

The aggressive midfielder Steve Sidwell return after suspension to Villa is a welcome sign and hopes are also on for James Milner and Emile Heskey return. Chelsea pins its hopes on Ricardo Carvalho, but Joe Cole with the knee injury will miss this season with Michael Essien also having similar problems.

The most probable starting XIs for Aston Villa are: A Young, Agbonlahor, Barry, Carew, Davies, Friedel, Knight, L Young, Milner, Petroy and Shorey and for Chelsea are: Anelka, Ballack, Bosingwa, Cech, Drogba, Ferreira, Lampard, Mancienne, Mikel, Quaresma and Terry.

Europe is among the strongest continents when it comes to the game of football but when it comes to the money part, they are numero uno. The latest list of rich clubs brought out by Deloitte clearly shows the pre-dominance of the clubs from the European continent. As a matter of fact there is no club from outside Europe in the top ten.

Deloitte’s Football Money League released the list based on the financial information from the 2007-2008 season. The top three clubs from last year’s list have managed to hold onto their ranks.

The Spanish club Real Madrid is once again the richest club in the world with revenue figures of 365.8m euros. This amount of revenue is in no small part due to merchandising of gear like the Adidas Real Madrid away jersey 2009 and the club’s worldwide popularity. This is for the fourth year in succession that Real Madrid are at the top. Close behind at second position is the London based club Manchester United with revenue of 324.8m euros. The third club to hold on to its position is FC Barcelona that had revenue of 308.8m euros and is placed at the 3rd position.

The top five is rounded up by Bayern Munich and Chelsea with revenues of 295.3m euros and 268.9m euros, respectively.

A closer look at the clubs names shows that England, Spain, Italy and Germany are the countries that all the clubs in the top ten belong to. And this actually doesn’t come as a surprise. Almost all of the best and most popular players in the world play for the clubs belonging to these countries only.

Also the most loved and watched football leagues are played in these nations only. English Premier League is the most watched league in the world. And the result is that the next in line clubs are Arsenal at 6 and Liverpool at 7.

AC Milan, AS Roma and Internazionale are the last three clubs in the list of top ten richest clubs. The money they earned is just a reflection of the popularity of the football game.

Rafa and Anfield fans have something to cheer about after their weekend win over Chelsea considering Liverpool dominated the proceedings throughout, Torres scored twice and league leader Manchester United are just two points ahead. Still the worrisome part is there’s still a long way to go and United has played one match less.

As for Chelsea, they have a lot of hard work to do for after having played same number of matches as Liverpool they are five points off the leaders. Not to forget Lampard was sent off and from now onwards Luiz Felipe Scolari will have a lot of thinking to do.

But the happiest after the match would be the Spanish pair of Torres and Rafa. Fernando Torres fired in two goals with his NIke Total 90 Laser II football boots in the dying moments of the game, bringing to an end his scoring drought which had lasted since October. And their manager Rafael Benitez has given something happier to the owners and the fans especially against the backdrop of politics that has dominated Liverpool affairs off-the-field.

Liverpool now really look like being in a position to hope for the title, first since 1990, but Chelsea will only find it harder from now onwards. As a matter of fact Scolari talked about the difficult times ahead and pointed out that, “it is more difficult than before” but is still very optimistic and positive.

The top team at the points table, Manchester United though more or less placed comfortably as of now will have a stronger challenge from the highly motivated Liverpool. And it’s good for the football fans considering race for the title is getting more competitive with pyramid tip getting broader with more than two dozen games left for each to catch up.

Chelsea moved into second place behind Manchester United in the English Premier League, after they brushed aside the challenge of Middlesbrough 2-0. Their cause was helped as title contenders Liverpool played out an uninspiring 1-1 draw at Wigan on Wednesday to slip down the ladder.

The protagonist of the match turned out to be Salomon Kalou who scored both the goals in the second half of the match to seal his team’s fate. The goals were a reward for the team’s inspired performance in the second half, after putting up a rather ordinary performance in the first half. The goals came in the 58th and 81st minutes of the match.

Meanwhile, the downward twirl of Liverpool continued unabated as they once again let go an opportunity to score the crucial three points, after letting their opponents to draw level after taking the lead. Yossi Benayoun had put the team ahead just before half time, but Wigan struck back through Ahmed Mido, who was making is debut for the club, with an 83rd-minute penalty.

The game saw some surprising strategy adopted by Liverpool manager Rafa Benitez as he took off Spanish striker Fernando Torres, who was apparently getting tired in his Nike Total 90 Laser football boots and captain Steven Gerrard at a crucial moment of the match. As an excuse for his decision, the coach explained that Torres was too tired and the team needed some fresh legs out there. He cited similar reasons for the withdrawal of Garrard. Dwelling on his team’s performance he said that the team was playing well and with a good deal of confidence with the ball in the first half, and stressed there is no reason to get panicky. He further added that they have an important match this Sunday, when they host Chelsea, and that he wants his players to maintain the rhythm that they are currently displaying.

Luiz Felipe Scolari, the Chelsea coach, is feeling the pinch with his team failing to make any headway in the Premier League, and if anything it is only going downhill. Such has been the decline of Chelsea in recent times that the critics are calling for the coach’s head. Many are even commenting that the appointment of the Brazilian to the sensitive post was a gross mistake, and that his exploits as the coach of the World Cup winning Brazilian team is over hyped, as, given the talent of the Brazilians, just about anyone could have done it.

It is definitely harsh on the Brazilian, but he is unruffled and is determined to prove his detractors wrong. And it is a bit too far fetched to comment that the coach has no role to play in the Brazil’s rise. Indeed, simply handing Ronaldinho a Nike Brazil football shirt does not guarantee victory. Lovers of the game need to realize that having the best players doesn’t guarantee victory, especially in low scoring games. What is important in such situations is equilibrium between attack and defense, which cannot be achieved unless you are guided by an imaginative coach, who is also a good reader of the game.

Most of the time people have the false impression that Brazil plays carefree football, obviously motivated by that famous “samba beat”, and that they doesn’t care whether they concede three goals or four as they can always score one more. It cannot be more off the track, as if you check the World Cup records of Brazil and Germany, it is crystal clear that the former conceded the lest number of goals. There is no doubting that Brazil is the pioneer of the modern back four, which it famously unleashed in the 1958 World Cup.

Moreover, if people still doubt Scolari’s credentials they should do well to take a leaf out of his spell with Portugal, when he almost single-handedly managed to transform the individualistic brilliance available in the team to a cohesive force.