I’M amazed at Sir Alex Ferguson suggesting Chelsea can look forward to an easy game tonight.
Apart from the fact that the Manchester United manager should concentrate on his own club’s problems, he should know that there is no such thing as an “easy” game in the Premier League.
And it’s not just a question of being disrespectful.
Chelsea, United and Arsenal are up there in the top three for good reason. They are the best three teams in the league but they would not be there if they took things for granted, whoever they are playing.
I can’t imagine Chelsea thinking they are going to have it easy – not against a team that has had some decent results down at Stamford Bridge in the recent past.
I know the majority of people will be expecting a home win tonight but Owen Coyle is not one of them. He will be going down there to get a positive result and he’ll have his players well-prepared.
He had them in over the weekend while Chelsea were involved in the FA Cup semi-finals and I reckon he will see this as a good time to be playing Carlo Ancelotti’s team.
All the pressure will be on Chelsea – not on Bolton. They are top of the table and, if they win all their games, they will regain the title, but I can see them being a bit edgy and uptight because one slip and they could hand the initiative back to United.
I’m definitely not writing Bolton off. We’re not safe yet, but we only need one more win and why shouldn’t that be tonight? We’ve nothing to lose.
Never mind what Fergie says, Ancelotti will make sure his players treat Bolton with the respect they deserve.
I’ll be looking for the Bolton old guard – the likes of Kevin Davies, Paul Robinson and Jussi Jaaskelainen – to lay a solid foundation at Stamford Bridge so that the flair players – people like young Jack Wilshere and Chung-Yong Lee – can create a bit of magic to deliver a goal or two.
And with a bit of luck, which you always need, I fancy Chelsea and Sir Alex Ferguson could be in for a bit of a shock.
I had the pleasure of joining Mark Halsey as one of the guests at the Goldline Trophy final at the Reebok Stadium last week – and once again I enjoyed the experience.
It’s great to see non-league and amateur players get a chance of enjoying fantastic Premiership facilities. There always has to be winners and losers and for the second year running it was Atherton LR who took the honours, beating Charnock Richard 4-3 in a penalty shoot-out.
I felt sorry for the losers but, if it’s any consolation, they contributed a lot to a game that was played in the right spirit and was yet again a good advert for the competition.
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