My Player of the Week: Roman Pavlyuchenko

That's right. A Spurs player. From me, an Arsenal fan. Now, like I said before, my Player of the Week won't necessarily be a player who I admire and like, but it'll occasionally be someone who had a huge impact, and Roman Pavlyuchenko did exactly that for Tottenham. He scored both goals for the Spurs in their 2-1 victory over Birmingham, which both relegated the Brums and earned the Spurs a place in the Europe League. They stole 5th place back from Liverpool, and while it might not be the Champions' League, it's definitely better than nothing. Good Ol' 'Arry will sure be happy. So, thumbs up to Pavlyuchenko.

Arsenal Make Things Exciting

So, without Cesc Fabregas, Arsenal finally defeat Manchester United, for the first time in the season. But, it was a hollow victory, atleast for the Arsenal fans. A few weeks ago, it looked like this match would be a title decider. Instead, it's a stumbling block for the Red Devils. But, it has opened the title race wide open. Chelsea, who in the winter looked completely out of the race, now has a wonderful chance to retain the league title next week, with the Blues visiting Old Trafford in a Clash of the Giants.  But then again, a lot has happened, so.... can Arsenal still win the title? Let's see.

Well, let's start with Chelsea. About 4 months ago, they were down and out. They were defeated at the Emirates by Arsenal, who at the time were arguably the strongest team in England, and people counted them out only half way through the season. Now, thanks to Arsenal's terrible recent form, they're in second, and only 3 points behind the Red Devils. But on Saturday, they were lucky to get their crucial three points against Tottenham, with the first goal never fully crossing the line, and the second being scored by Kalou from an offside position. I hate to say it (as an Arsenal fan), but I feel sympathy for the Spurs. They could have been a major changing force in the title race, but thanks to terrible refereeing, they're now behind Liverpool, who jumped up to 5th place. 

 

 

Now, on to Arsenal. Oh, the Gunners. How sad of a collapse. Despite all of their draws, they were still fully in the race until their loss to Bolton. Let me say that again, BOLTON. But with this win, can they be the dark horse in the race? In a word, yes. They don't play up to their full potential when under pressure, but now that people don't take them seriously in the race, they play freely. And the Gunners showed what they could do with that freedom, defeating Man United despite being robbed of a penalty. Chelsea and Manchester United play next weekend, and if Manchester loses while Arsenal beat Stoke City, the table will read Chelsea-73, Man Utd -73, Arsenal-70. Yes, I am being very optimistic. But why not? The 2010-2011 Premier League season has been absolutely insane, meaning anything can happen. Anything.

Champions League Quarterfinals: Second Legs

Well, like I said last week, most of the matches were decided in the first leg. So, because of that, I'll only provide a truly detailed report of the Manchester United v. Chelsea match. Stupid one-sided matches.

Schalke 04 2-1 Inter Milan (Agg. 7-3): Raul scored his 71st Champions' League goal just before half-time. Soon after, Inter's Thiago Motta equalized in the 49th. Benedikt Howedes put the tie out of Inter's hands in the 81st.

Tottenham Hotspur 0-1 (Agg. 0-5): In this second leg, Jose Mourinho played basically his strongerst side possible. It payed off, thanks to a howler from Gomes, Tottenham's keeper. After Cristiano Ronaldo took a fairly weak shot from 30 yards out, Gomes failed to catch it and it went into the back of the net.

Shakhtar Donetsk 0-1 Barcelona (Agg. 1-6): After Barca destroyed the Ukrainians at the Nou Camp, they had an easy time going through to the next round. In the 43rd, Leo Messi put it past Pyatov after passing through the Donetsk defense.

Manchester United 2-1 Chelsea (Agg. 3-1): FINALLY. The only match where the winner of the tie wasn't already decided. With the Champions' League being the only trophy that Chelsea even had a realistic chance at winning, they needed to turn around the scoreline. But, for some reason, Carlo Ancelotti stupidly played an out-of-form Fernando Torres instead of Didier Drogba. Tisk-tisk. With the match being scoreless until the 43rd, Javier Hernandez finally put the Reds up doing what he does best, poaching. Ryan Giggs delivered a low-cross across the box, to find Hernandez, who had the simple task of tapping it into the back of the net. Despite being down 2-0 on aggregate now, Chelsea kept on persevering to get back into the draw. During half-time, Ancelotti finally brought on Drogba, who nearly scored soon after half-time, but his shot went past the post. Then, in the 70th minute, Ramires certainly didn't do the Blues any favors when he got sent off with a second yellow for a foul on Luis Nani. However, the goal-hungry Drogba didn't let up, and scored in the 77th to give Chelsea hope of advancing. Sadly for them, Ryan Giggs got his second assist of the match with a fantastic pass to Ji-Sung Park, who scored to put the Blues out of the Champions' League.

Champions League Quarterfinals: First Legs

Well, this is rather disappointing. Only 1 of these matches will be truly contested in the second leg, that being the Manchester United vs. Chelsea clash. All of the other ties will have teams try to overcome near-impossible deficits, but who knows? Crazy things happen.

Chelsea 0-1 Manchester United (Agg. 0-1): Despite Chelsea coming back into form recently, their efforts weren't enough and gave the Red Devils their first win at Stamford Bridge since 2002. In the 24th, after an amazing piece of play from 37 year old Ryan Giggs, Wayne Rooney put away the simple tap in from 6 yards out. Chelsea kept putting the pressure on United, with Patrice Evra having to clear a Frank Lampard effort off of the line to hold Man U's lead. Then, in the dying minutes of the game, Evra clearly fouled a charging Ramires in the penalty area, but a spot-kick wasn't given. In a desperate attempt to draw, Fernando Torres later dove in the box, but was only awarded a yellow card.

Barcelona 5-1 Shakhtar Donetsk (Agg. 5-1): Well, here's the first of the hugely one-sided matches. Just 2 minutes into the match, Andres Iniesta put in the first for the Catalans, with a low shot from an interception off of a loose ball. Despite dominating later on, Barca let the Ukranians have a few chances which definitely put a scare in the Spanish giants. Then in the 34th, the goalscorer slotted a perfect pass to Dani Alves, who only had to put the ball into an empty net. Gerard Pique made it 3-0 for Barca after taking a shot from a corner first time, and the ball was helped in with a deflection off of Rakitskiy. The Ukrainian defender redeemed himself in the 59th, heading Srna's free-kick past Victor Valdes to get a consolation goal. But, Seydou Keita then powered a shot into the back of Shakhtar's net after Leo Messi worked hard to get past his man and then pass it to the waiting Keita. Finally, Barcelona killed the match off with a Xavi goal in the 86th minute, basically ending Shakhtar's chances of advancing.

Real Madrid 4-0 Tottenham Hotspur (Agg. 4-0):  After promising to score against the Spurs for the Arsenal fans, Emmanuel Adebayor did indeed do so. Twice, actually. Early in the 4th, Adebayor, who was marked by the puny Jenas, put a header past Luka Modric on the post to give Real the lead. Stupidly, after already being on a yellow, Peter Crouch earned his second and was sent off in only the 15th minute of the match. Despite being denied a penalty, Real put a second one into the back of the net in the 57th minute, with Adebayor once again scoring from a stunning header. Then, in the 72nd, Angel Di Maria scored one of the Champions' League goals of the season, with a curler from the right into the top left corner of the goal. Hoping for the goal to kill off the tie in the 87th, Cristiano Ronaldo took a hopeful shot, which somehow found the net thanks to a dumb mistake from Gomes, the Spurs keeper.

Inter Milan 2-5 Schalke 04 (Agg. 2-5): Looking to bounce back from their 3-0 loss in the Milan derby, Inter desperately wanted a win. But a comeback of this magnitude by the Germans was not expected by anyone. Inter was up 1-0 in the 1st minute thanks to a wonderful volley from Dejan Stankovic. 16 minutes later, Schalke leveled from a corner kick, with Joel Matip putting the ball in the back of the net. Diego Milito restored the lead of the Italians, when he finished off with smooth strike from Cambiasso's header. 5 minutes from half-time, the pesky Germans equalized, with Edu scoring after his first shot was saved by Julio Cesar. Then, it was time for Inter to hit the self destruct button. In the 53rd, former Real Madrid man Raul put his 70th Champions' League goal into the back of the net, after Farfan had worked hard to get the ball to him. 4 minutes later, Andrea Ranocchia scored an own goal in an attempt Jurado's cross. 15 minutes from full time, Edu put the final nail in Inter Milan's coffin, with an absolutely fantastic strike from outside the box, leaving Julio Cesar stranded.