You wouldn’t have put money on it: or maybe, if you’re my cousin, you would have placed a £2.00 bet, with odds of 50/1, on a 3-3 draw. The final score was hardly ideal for either side: however, Manchester United haven’t cracked Chelsea at Stamford Bridge for the past ten years and when Chelsea went three goals to the good with forty minutes left to play, to take a solitary point was unthinkable. Yet it happened.
It was the first time in Chelsea’s Premier League history that they’d let a three goal lead slip, exactly a year to the day after Arsenal had let a four goal lead slip to this season’s surprise package Newcastle United. Yet, in an unexpected sort of way, the result wasn’t as surprising as one may’ve thought: this season, Premier League fixtures between last season’s top four have reaped an average of 5.25 goals per game.
Three factors were at play to ensure that Manchester United will push Manchester City all the way in the fight for the title:
Persistence and Determination
Ultimately, what Rio Ferdinand described as a “Man Utd never say die attitude” display, is what was needed to compete in a hotly contested duel in which The Red Devils eventually came out as the dominant side in a game with no winner.
Dominating possession and converting their chances was the gilded difference between a Manchester United side that looked dead as the third goal was headed in by Brazilian centre-back David Luiz, and a Chelsea side that, on paper, looked as weak as they had done in such a clash with Didier Drogba, Frank Lampard, John Terry and Ashley Cole all out together for the first time in 4 years.
For Sir Alex Ferguson, it was a game that “epitomises what English football’s about,” and it went to prove that, despite failing to win, Manchester United will fight City all the way for the Premier League title.
At three goals down, with debatably two own goals scored – although the second was accredited to David Luiz, and with Chelsea’s fans providing another unwanted sub-story to the game, with a chorus of boos akin to the treatment Patrice Evra received at Anfield, United’s season was near the potential point of no return.
If, like the form book would’ve led one to believe, and Chelsea had gone on to win the game, it would’ve been Manchester United’s third loss to a top seven side, in all competitions, in 2012 alone. Furthermore, with Manchester City convincingly beating Fulham 3-0 yesterday, the gap between the top two would’ve remained at three points.
Some were expecting a repeat of the 6-1 defeat Manchester City had inflicted on United last year.
David de Gea
“When you make a mistake at United, it is highlighted and can be exaggerated a little bit,” commented Sir Alex Ferguson on the criticism received by his Spanish goalkeeper David de Gea prior to the game and at three down, the hate brigade was well and truly in full swing. However, in palming shots away and punching balls out of the box, despite the score line, the Spanish ‘keeper proved his critics wrong.
For many, and wrongly so, de Gea is considered the chink in United’s armour and, in the extremist’s view, including Piers Morgan, the worst goalkeeper in the Premier League: however, the statistics would beg to differ and in the aftermath of the game, the Spaniard’s saves-to-shots ratio was 77% and the fourth best in the league, whereas Petr Cech’s stood at 65%, pitting him as the worst in the league. Whilst I don’t believe either are anywhere near the worst in the league, de Gea outshone Petr Cech with his emphatic save to stop a tremendous effort from fellow countryman Juan Mata.
The blend of experience and youth
Although the game was tainted by the continuous drone of boos for Rio Ferdinand, something Andre Villas-Boas seemed to palm off as a “normal situation in the Premier League,” which would confirm Ollie Holt’s views of a “resurgence of racist attitudes in the English game,” it did prove there is still life in the old dog yet, literally.