Chelsea and Man United square up in biggest match of season

Chelsea and Manchester United go head to head this weekend in the English Premier League with bragging rights and the small matter of top of the table up for grabs.

While the likes of Arsenal and Manchester City can close the gap between themselves and the top two by winning on Saturday, Chelsea and United will be scrapping it out at Stamford Bridge in what is the biggest match of the season to date.

Chelsea begin the weekend two points clear at the top and with a perfect record of five home wins out of five games to protect.

Manager Carlo Ancelotti has been trying to play down the significance of the match but his players are in no doubt as to just how significant victory could be.

"Now we can think about Sunday," Salamon Kalou said after his side clinched their place in the knockout stages of the Champions League in midweek with their 2-2 draw away to Atletico Madrid.

"You always want to play these games against Man United, Madrid, all the big clubs. That is why when you play for Chelsea you know you always need to do your best because you are going to face strong opponents."

United manager Alex Ferguson saw his side beaten at Liverpool in their last big league game a fortnight ago but the Scot believes United will cope better at Chelsea.

"It's always a hard game at Chelsea, but we'll deal with it better than we did at Anfield, I'm sure of that," he said. "They're shaping up (to be the main challengers for United's crown). It seems they'll be the ones to get in front of.

"It's a very experienced team. Their consistency, compared to last season, has probably been a bit better under Ancelotti.

"He's brought in the system he used at AC Milan of the diamond in the middle of the pitch. It's hard to break down when you get into their third, because they've got bodies compacted into the central area of the pitch."

United are again likely to be without defender Rio Ferdinand through injury but Ferguson said Nemanja Vidic, Ryan Giggs and Dimitar Berbatov could all return.

Arsenal, fresh from their midweek trouncing of AZ Alkmaar, will be hoping to take advantage of any slip-up from either side as they travel to Wolves in the late game on Saturday.

Before that, Manchester City, three points behind Arsenal in fourth spot, are at home to Burnley, whose away record does not give their supporters too much hope.

Fifth-placed Tottenham Hotspur welcome Sunderland to White Hart Lane, while Liverpool, one point behind in sixth, look to get back to winning ways when they host Birmingham City in Monday night's match.

--DPA

abr/vt

( 468 Words)

2009-11-05-17:57:16 (IANS)

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