Manchester City v Chelsea – The Sky Blues or the Blues?

The game of the weekend in the Premier League is without doubt the battle of 2^nd v 3^rd at the Etihad Stadium on Sunday afternoon.

Both Manchester City and Chelsea will go into the game knowing that the result could have a massive impact on the direction of their season over the final running, and with just 12 games to go a win is vital for both sides.  

The big question is: will the Manchester side secure their second place position and maybe make one final attempt to catch Manchester United, or will Chelsea increase their chances of breaking back into the top two?

In terms of stats it is a foregone conclusion. But everybody knows that football games are not won based on stats. Chelsea have won ten out of their last twelve away games compared to City who have lost their last three.

Manchester City have won only once in the last four meetings against Chelsea and have the lowest average points (0.87) for each game played against Chelsea in their last four matches.

The key players to watch on Sunday will be Frank Lampard for Chelsea and Edin Dzeko for Manchester City.

The Blue’s midfielder, still vying for a new contract, has scored elven goals in thirteen appearances for Chelsea this season scoring in the last four consecutive Premier League games. He has done this twice before in 2005 and 2010.

As for Dzeko, he has scored six goals in seven appearances. City have not gone four games without a win in the Premier League since November 2009 when Roberto Mancini took over the managerial hot-seat from Mark Hughes after a run of seven draws.

Interestingly, in their last 10 Premier League games both sides have won 6, drawn 2 and lost 2, there is nothing between them.

But there is one thing for certain, if Manchester United win against Queens Park Rangers this weekend and their city rivals fail to win, the Premier League title race will be well and truly over. 

Head-to-head

• Chelsea have won 10 of their 15 Premier League visits to Manchester City but have lost their last three trips.
• Manchester City have won five of their last eight games in all competitions against Chelsea, including August's Charity Shield.

Premier League: Technology is there - use it.

Tennis uses it, cricket uses it, rugby uses it, but why does football continue to ignore it?

 The video evidence is clear; Manchester United striker Robin Van Persie looks over his shoulder sees Yohan Cabaye and clearly swings an arm out in an arc which is not a natural movement when running.

The Dutchman’s arm is raised and makes contact with his opponent. There is no debate here, unlike when a player is jumping for the ball. His arm, simply, should not be where it is. You cannot blame Howard Webb for missing the incident, it happened away from the ball and at pace.

The incident was caught on the TV cameras and it has been replayed in slow motion and zoomed in, but of course Webb cannot utilise this technology during play. But the FA can. They can sit down on Monday and watch this footage and if it has not been dealt with by the match referee they can hand out the necessary misconduct charge and punishment.

But there is a clear flaw in this process. The FA asks the referee that was in charge of the game to look at the incident and say whether he missed a red-card offence. In this case, Webb, one of England’s best referees who had a red card overturned the week before, has said there was not one.

The flaw is that it should not be up to him. There should be a disciplinary panel at the FA who decides on matters such as this without needing to involve the referee. He has done his job when he completed the game.

You can understand the doubt that was in Webb’s mind. His last red-card was overturned and it would be easier to say that he was not 100% sure and therefore it would go no further. You can imagine the backlash from managers if their players start getting misconduct charges against them 2 days after the game!

An independent panel needs to be set-up. This should include a former player, manager and referee who have all had experience in the game and can review all incidents like these in a consistent and impartial manner.

On the field there is a degree of inconsistency in that one referee’s opinion can vary from another’s. If each incident is looked at by the same panel these inconsistencies will no longer be there.

The other incident over the weekend that should then be looked at by the panel and that is the alleged stamp by Stoke defender Robert Huth on Liverpool striker Luiz Suarez.

The referee Lee Mason appears to believe from the video evidence that the incident does not suggest a clear red-card offence. I would however ask him that if it was a Stoke player on the floor would Huth have been able to avoid him? I think so.

One of the worst things for a referee to do is admit that he missed something. Asking them to look at it a second time will make them feel that they have missed something, yet the one thing they are trying to do is see everything.

The biggest benefit of a panel is that they would not have the same fears of being compromised as some referees do if asked to review. If the players know it was not the referee’s choice then the incident will not follow them every time they come across the players involved and their club.

The panel would be completely impartial, the consistency would be there and they could also offer a solution to the current issue of diving which has been in the headlines almost every week this season.

Detecting diving, especially at the speed the modern game is played is almost impossible. But slowed down video replays clearly highlight this cheating. Once this has been seen then an appropriate punishment can be given and we might see players stop trying to deceive the referees.

 But until the day comes when the FA change their current system, referees will consistently continue to make the headlines for incidents that they only get to see once.

Finally…

On a brighter note, what a fantastic decision by Darren Cann in the Newcastle v Manchester United match. Cann was directly in line with the goal line and correctly judge that the whole of the ball was not over the whole of the line and proved why he is England’s best assistant referee. 

32 from 10 balls: Butler destroys South Africa as England level series

Jos Buttler dispatches Wayne Parnell for 32 runs 

in one over

Craig Kieswetter and Jos Butler ensured that England rounded off a difficult summer in winning style with a 28-run win over South Africa to draw the Twenty 20 Series 1-1.

The hard-hitting wicket-keeper scored 52 off 32 deliveries and Buttler smashed 32 off just 10 deliveries as England posted an emphatic 118-5 at Edgbaston in a match cut to 11 overs per side due to rain.

England were heading for a par-score from 11 overs midway through their innings however three sixes from Kieswetter pushed the run rate up, before Buttler arrived at the crease and took the game away from South Africa.

Between the pair they hit six sixes with one Wayne Parnell over going for 32 runs.

Intelligent bowling on a slow pitch from England ensured that South Africa never looked likely to reach their target and with regular wickets falling, including the golden wicket of Hashim Amla, as they were restricted to 90-5.

The win not only sees England jump above South Africa to 1st place in the International Cricket Councils rankings, but also sends them to Sri-Lanka in confident mode as they try to defend their World Twenty20 title.

England Twenty20 World Cup Fixtures

Friday 21st September

Afghanistan v England, Colombo RPS, 15.00

Sunday 23rd September

England v India, Colombo RPS, 15.00