What will happen of Chelsea?

For those of you who know, yesterday Chelsea (2nd in the EPL was only able to gain one point in their home match against West Ham United (16th in the EPL). The game ended in a 1-1 draw with Anelka scoring for Chelsea and Bellamy for West Ham.
To Chelsea's standards, yesterday's game was definitely a poor effort. This can be seen through Scolari's concern he expressed after the game. With their 4th tie this season, Chelsea has officially dropped 14 points in home games. What is to be blamed for their home performance? Is it the coaching? the players? or maybe the fans? Whatever it happens to be, Scolari and his team better figure it out soon before the get knocked out of the title race.
While being one point behind league leaders Liverpool and five points ahead of Manchester United, there is little room for error. For you Blue's fans, you better hope your team pulls it together real soon or you can say by-bye to another title.



















2006 - Last time Chelsea were champions of the EPL

Champions League

Today, Premier league teams Manchester United and Arsenal each had their own respective games that would be important for continuation. Manchester United played Aalborg in which the game was not taken over by either side. It finished 2-2 with goals from Tevez and Rooney. Although ending in a tie, Manchester United still will finish in their group at the top. Arsenal played a very determined FC Porto side in Portugal where they were handed a 2-0 defeat. Porto clearly capitalized on their chances and stayed at the top of Group G. This now gives FC Porto plenty of cushion as it seems impossible for them to drop down.
Make sure to watch for the round of 16 drawings next Friday.

Other scores in the UCL today:
Celtic 2 - 0 Villarreal
Steaua Bucuresti 0 - 1 Fiorentna
Lyon 2 - 3 Bayern Munich
Dynamo Kiev 1 - 0 Fenerbache
Juventus 0 - 0 BATE Borisov
Real Madrid 3 - 0 Zenit St. Petersburg

*ESPNsoccernet

Manchester City

To much surprise, Manchester City is a rising club. With already signed international Brazilian Robinho, City is looking to further add to their team. With the transfer season beginning next month, the team looks to spend up to 70 million euros for big names. City's top two choices right now are AC Milan's Kaka and Barcelona's Messi. Also on the list are Fernando Torres, Samuel Eto'o, Carlos Tevez, and Cristiano Ronaldo (surprise?!).
At this rate, City is definitely a club that will be staying in the top flight of England's leagues and they are definitely a threat to other clubs for acquiring top level players. Good luck to City in heir venture for building an all around solid team.

Ballon d'Or

Today has been a very happy day for Portuguese star Critiano Ronaldo. After a tremendous 2007 season with the Red Devils, he was awarded the Ballon d'Or; the award that recognizes the most outstanding european footballer of the year. Not only was Cristiano Ronaldo given this award, but he got the highest point total - ever; 446 out of a possible 480. In second place was 21-year-old superstar Lionel Messi with 281 points. Lastly, in third place was Spain's superstar, Fernando Torres with 179 points.

The Ballon d'Or is presented by French soccer magazine, Frace Football. They have given the award every year since 1956 begining with Stanley Matthews of Blackpool. Blackpool FC is currently in the Championship League.

Finally, some much needed Soccer Updates

Chelsea vs. Arsenal
Yesterday, Arsenal had a very big match in which they prevailed against a very strong Chelsea side. Thirty minutes into the game, Arsenal defender Djourou gave up an unfortunate own goal. Arsenal would continue to fight, but they were unable to capitalize on any of their remaining opportunities as they ended the first half.
However, in the second half, Arsenal came out much stronger and more determined than Scolari's home side. It took only fourteen minutes for Arsenal's Van Persie to find the back of the net. Although counted as a goal, Van Persie was actually offside. Three minutes later, Van Persie would strike again. This time, it would be done with style. Arsenal would continue to hold on to the lead as the whistle was blown to end the game. For Arsenal, they can be very happy, but the same came not be said for Chelsea.
In fact, prior to the game, Ballack said that 4th place Arsenal would not be an easy side to defeat. Looks like Chelsea needs to head back to the drawing board and figure things out before their next game against Bolton on Saturday.

Manchester United
Man U's next game will be in Carling Cup competition against a very weak Blackburn side which should be no trouble for the Devils. They follow up the Wednesday game with Sunderland in premier league action on Saturday. Man U should walk away with three points in both matches thus, keeping them in good standings.

Leading in goals
Nicolas Anelka 12
Cristiano Ronaldo 8
Robinho 8
Amr Zaki 8
Jermain Defoe 7

Standings (points as of today)
Liverpool 34
Chelsea 33
Man Utd 28
Arsenal 26
Aston Villa 25
Hull 23
Everton 22
Portsmouth 22
Bolton 20
Fulham 19
Wigan 19
Middlesbrough 19
West Ham 18
Stoke 18
Man City 17
Tottenham 15
Newcastle 15
Sunderland 15
Blackburn 13
West Brom 11

*teams in bold have only played 14 games

source: ESPNsoccernet