Ever since Roman Abramovich, the Russian gazillionaire, took over at Chelsea the Blue's have been at the top of the Premiership. Mr Abramovich went to Porto and took away their fantastic coach, Jose Mourinho. Mourinho then in turn dismantled a good Chelsea team and bought every good player he wanted. John Terry and Frank Lampard, two fantastic English national players, are the only two left from the 'early years.'
Brought over in the past four years are: Andriy Schevchenko, AC Milan and Ukriane star, cost $60 million and was the best player in Italy the last five years; Didier Drogba, leads the Premiership with 8 goals this year; Michael Ballack, came over from Bayern Munich this summer, fantastic midfielder for Germany; Arjen Robben, led the Netherlands in the World Cup; Claude Makelele and Geremi, both left Real Madrid to join Chelsea; Michael Essien, midfielder helped Ghana walk over, around and through the USA in Germany; Ashley Cole, Arsenal's best defender for lord knows how long; Petr Cech, Czech national goalkeeper, widely known as the best GK in the world. Some other's are Shaun Wright-Phillips, Joe Cole, John Mikel, Ricardo Carvalho, etc.
This Sunday the Blues head to Old Trafford to face Manchester United. Before Chelsea's Russian oil tycoon started throwing around his money, the Red Devils were the class of England. Yes, Arsenal may have one a title here and there but for the most part Man U dominated the Premiership. In 1999, Man U won the treble which includes the FA Cup, the Premiership and the UEFA Champions. That never happens. Well, every 30 years or so.
This year Manchester United will take a three point lead into the game. After 13 games last year Chelsea was up by seven points and rolled to a second straight Premiership title. Tomorrow morning's game could go a long way in deciding this year's title. Can Man U win and go 6 points up? Will Chelsea win at Old Trafford to tighten this race up? Who will control the midfield? Man U's Ronaldo and Michael Carrick or will it be Michael Ballack and Framk Lampard of Chelsea? Either way, 74,000 fans will get the game of a lifetime.
Read more about the Clash of the Giants here.
Quite simply the biggest game of the year.
** As I was writing this, Wayne Rooney has signed a new two-year deal that will keep him at Old Trafford until 2012. Read about it here.
My favorite # 8 will be in Machester for a while.
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