Premier League Starts with the Wins by Chelsea and Man City

Saturday’s opening started with a win by Manchester City getting a return on its spending and so did Chelsea.  Chelsea will need to have a high spirit to regain its claim for the title. Chelsea was trailing against the visiting Hull but Didier Drogba hit a second goal of the game in the 90th minute to score a 2-1 victory, while City won 2-0 at Blackburn via goals by Stephen Ireland and Emmanuel Adebayor.   

Luck was on their side when Drogba scored the goal, since Ivory Coast striker tried cross floating over goalkeeper Myhill. Drogba said It was difficult but it was good to win the first game.  We were lucky to score and the desire was always there.  Chelsea’s early win lift its attempt to clinch the title since 2006 and try to end Manchester’s record run of three straight titles.  Manchester City spent about 100 million pounds on new players and recruits and got a 1-0 win.

Drogba Loves Premier League Competition

Didier Drogba the Chelsea striker is expecting about seven teams that will slug it out for the Premier League title this coming season. He expects a tough time ahead.  He knows that the English top players are very competitive and are ready to provide a challenge to the top Four namely Chelsea, Manchester United and Liverpool and Arsenal.

He said, since he arrived in England he has never known an easy season.  He also said each year is becoming more difficult epecially when it comes to the championship title. And now, more teams are becoming more capable of winning. With regards to Manchester who made big spending, he said, they have the means but they still need time to beat the Big Four.  Drogba extended his Chelsea contract until 2012 and he played a key role in Chelsea’s win over Manchester in the weekend.  But he still thinks the raining Premier League Champion United is the team to beat.

Chelsea 2 Arsenal 1

With the defeat of the Gunners, the Blues have pushed themselves into the FA Cup final. It was the late game heroics of Didier Drogba in the 84^th minute that broke the one all tie. Theo Walcott opened the scoring for Arsenal with a goal in the 18^th minute. Chelsea pulled abreast with Flourent Malouda’s goal on the 34^th minute.

The match then went on a see saw as both teams tried to score to get ahead after halftime and deep into the match. Frank Lampard volleyed a high ball behind the Arsenal defense and Drogba galloped his way unto the score, beating Mikael Silvestre and goalkeeper Lukasz Fabianski for the tiebreaker. The win was a good farewell to Guus Hiddink, who would retain the manager’s title for the club until the end of the season as he returns to his coaching chores with the Russian national team. It was also Chelsea’s first FA Cup win over Arsenal since 1947.

Barcelona Up Against Big Boys of Chelsea

It would be speed against power, with FC Barcelona’s charge lead by Lionel Messi, it’s diminutive playmaker and able forwards Thierry Henry and Samuel Eto’o against the bigger and stronger Chelsea Blues.

The challenge for Barcelona is to keep up its winning form against Bayern Munich in the first leg match in the last round against well-rested players from Guus Hiddink’s camp led by Didier Drogba, Michael Ballack and Michael Essien.

But at match time, Chelsea’s defense was able to hold down the Barcelona offense and keep a nil all draw on the first leg of the Champions League semifinals. And this was the first time that the Spanish club was held scoreless since opening day of the Champions League. The highlights were the key saves that the goalkeepers of both clubs made. Victor Valdes’ key stops on the 38^th on a Didier Drogba interception of an errant pass kept the slate clean. As for Barcelona, Petr Cech’s diving save to keep the ball out of the net from a Samuel Eto’o breakaway kept the immaculate shut out safe.

Hiddink to Make Strike Duo Effective

Hiddink has a secret that Scolari did not have during the latter’s stint as mentor for the Blues and that is the ability to make Diddier Drogba and Nicolas Anelka into a striking partnership that can make Chelsea contend for the Champion’s League crown.
He made this fact known as he handpicked the two for their match against Aston Villa. The strategy worked as Anelka was able to score the lone goal of the match last Saturday. Under the past manager, the Ivory Coast striker and the French international never played together in a match. Their play during the Aston Villa match was the barometer for Hiddink’s plan and it had proved to be successful. There were rumours that the two were not seeing eye to eye off the pitch but there seemed to be no sign of it in the win. The team hug at the end of the match was not a publicity stunt but a genuine show of unity and solidarity in the midst of all the controversy. Hopefully, this new Chelsea game plan and spirit would again prove effective in the next matches.

Barcelona maintains interest in Berbatov

While still in The United States, Barcelona have maintained their 100% pre-season wins and have still maintained their keen interest in Tottenham’s Bulgarian striker Dimitar Berbatov and intends to make a move for the striker upon their return from the States.

With new Coach Pep Guardiola at the elm, Barcelona seems a different team and will hope to add some silverware to their shelves in the upcoming season, but first Coach Guardiola has insisted that he needs another striker even if Samuel Eto’o stays. Guardiola sees Berbatov as the perfect choice, given the Bulgarian’s creativity and goalscoring ability.

A number of strikers have been linked to Barcelona, among those are Emmanuel Adebayor, Karim Benzema and Didier Drogba, however none of these players appear to be leaving their respective clubs. Eto’o who has been instructed by Barca officials that if he can come to an amicable agreement with a club; he can leave, has returned to training and has impressed to their pre-season games appears to be staying at Barcelona after all.

Barcelona would most likely get first preference to the Bulgarian should Tottenham decide to sell as the club will not want Manchester United to acquire their star player.

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