Manchester United supporter Bruce Wilson goes head to head with Chelsea fan Martin Lightfoot ahead of the big Premier League clash at Stamford Bridge on Sunday...
All4All : First of all, how do you feel about your side's season so far?
Martin Lightfoot (Chelsea): Delighted! I think, generally, most people were in favour of Luiz Felipe Scolari coming to Stamford Bridge, especially given the uncertainty about Avram Grant. However, we’ve begun by playing some exciting football - Nicolas Anelka even looks like he’s finding form - and I feel that we’re now using the players to their optimum. The win over Manchester City at Middle Eastlands was satisfying, too. You can’t win anything with money!
Bruce Wilson (Man Utd): It’s been a bit of a shambles to be frank. The opening day draw against Newcastle United was terribly frustrating, the meek capitulation to Zenit St. Petersburg in the Super Cup was an embarrassment, and last weekend’s defeat to a Liverpool team that looked much sharper than we did exhibited the lax attitude of the team in the opening weeks of the season very well.
All4All : What were the goals at the start? How have they been revised, if at all?
ML: Having lost out in the league and the Champions League last season, they are, and always have been, the ultimate aims. Winning domestic cups is always nice, but we expect, like Roman Abramovich, to be winning the major silverware. We’ve started with three wins and a draw and are already at the top of the league, so hopefully that’s where we’ll stay. In terms of the Champions League, obviously it was absolutely devastating to lose in the final in May, but we did finally reach the final stage of the competition and the players now know what it takes. Fingers crossed, we’ll be there again.
BW: Obviously our goals at the start of the year were to repeat the triumphs of last season, with one eye also being on correcting our all too early exit in the F.A. Cup as well. Whilst the poor form of United so far would seem to argue against this happening, when you have the world’s greatest player and a new £30 million striker ready to slot in to the team in the coming weeks you’ve got to hope that a solid result this weekend will act as a much needed launching pad back in to contention for us.
All4All : How important is this game in that regard?
ML: Crucial. Obviously, playing Manchester United so early on means that there’s less at stake should you lose. If you win this clash, though, you have a major confidence boost until you meet again. Liverpool obviously did it last weekend, and automatically people have begun to say they could realistically challenge for the title. That’s after one match, so imagine what it can do for the players. If we win, we’ll move nine points ahead of them in the table, and you would like to think that we wouldn’t lose so many points to allow them to catch us up. Plus, there is nothing like shutting Man Utd up, especially given that they level claims of mass spending at us, without realising they spend just as much!
BW: This game is massive for us, absolutely massive. It may only be September but a bad result here would see us fall nine points behind the Blues. Whilst some may argue that a similarly poor start to last season still saw us crowned European and Premier League champions come the end of May, I would retort that this occurred against a team ran by Avram Grant. ‘Big Phil’ Scolari’s appointment as Chelsea manager however makes it almost certain that an advantage like that will not be spurned this time around, and as such another loss at Stamford Bridge could leave United as rank outsiders to retain our Premier League crown.
All4All : How do you rate your opponents' season?
ML: It’s dangerous to say before the match, but I think they’ve been shown up as the one-player team that they are. Obviously,they’ve brought in Dimitar Berbatov, and he’s a class act, but without Cristiano Ronaldo they’ve looked toothless. Teams don’t seem to have the same fear of them without Ronaldo in the team and, more importantly, they don’t seem to have the same confidence.
BW: They’ve been brilliant haven’t they? The goals have been flying in from everywhere, and my City supporting friends who watched their performance at Eastlands last weekend couldn’t speak more highly about them. Sometimes you have to just offer your congratulations to a rival when they are playing well, and regrettably for me this is just one of those occasions.
All4All : Who do you think has the edge heading into this weekend's game and why?
ML: Definitely us. Our incredible home record is well publicised, and while we are still enjoying the honeymoon period of our new manager’s reign, Manchester United seem to be struggling through the divorce period of theirs. Teams with new managers are always dangerous, regardless of who they are. We have Anelka, Joe Cole, Frank Lampard an co. on form already, whilest Rooney, Berbatov and Scholes are looking fairly cumbersome so far.
BW: 4-0 against Bordeaux compared to 0-0 against Villarreal shows in stark terms how much better Chelsea’s current form is than United’s. Also, we’ve not even looked like winning at Stamford Bridge for seven years now as well. All these factors would seem to point to a situation where we have almost no hope of a good result this weekend. However, United are often at their best when we’re written off and hopefully the winning character of our team will finally begin to shine through on Sunday.
All4All : Tactically, where do you think the key to this game will lie?
ML: Without a doubt in midfield. Similarly to United, we allow more freedom within players' positions. As you have seen with Man Utd, when their midfield isn’t on form, the team struggle to score goals. In contrast, Lampard has already begun his usual goal fest, Deco has taken to the Premiership like a duck to water and Michael Ballack showed enough form last season to suggest he’s now fully focused on Chelsea. I think there’s enough individual flair there to find the net regardless of how the others are playing.
BW: For me the key to this game lies in how quickly Ferguson works out a system which will get the best out of the team once again. In recent weeks he’s shoehorned us in to a tight 4-4-2 when the last few years have seen a fluid 4-3-3 be incredibly successful. The poor deployment of Wayne Rooney on the wing against Liverpool was symptomatic of the failures of Ferguson reverting to this old formation. Such tactical mistakes will be punished just as harshly by Chelsea as Liverpool did, and hopefully they won’t be repeated again this weekend.
All4All : Which opposition player do you consider to be the greatest threat to your team in this clash?
ML: Obviously, anybody that can score 42 goals in one season, from whatever position, is some player, but I actually feel that Tevez is the main threat. He never stops running and probing and his chasing and pressurising is a nightmare. He’s also a great goalscorer, as demonstrated on a number of occasions already. He netted their goal against Liverpool, so he enjoys the big games. Its players like Tevez that make us miss Makelele.
BW: I wrote him off after seeing him play poorly against us in the Champions League last year, but Deco has been a revelation for the Blues. His flair and exuberance have really improved the pragmatic Chelsea midfield, and he was rightly awarded with the Premier League player of the month for August after the excellent work he’s put in so far. With performances like that, Owen Hargreaves must be on top of his game on Sunday to prevent the ‘Bus Conductor’ from orchestrating the Chelsea attack once more.
All4All : Would you want him in your team?
ML: I’m sure we could find a slot for him somewhere, perhaps at right back! I would welcome him to our team though, given that he’s not a disloyal, pampered and selfish 23-year old called Cristiano. Tevez would fit in with the rest of the players as we have a great team rapport right now, with everyone pulling their weight.
BW: He’s playing exceedingly well but he’s always been a player I’ve never really fancied. I look back to Elano’s fantastic form in August and September last year for Manchester City and wonder if Deco, like Elano, will begin to struggle once autumn turns to winter?
All4All : What are your team’s strengths at the moment?
ML: We have many. Personally, I believe Scolari has satisfied everyone's personal desires and that makes for a happier starting eleven. Anelka is operating more centrally and further forward, and I don’t think it’s coincidental that he has started strongly. Lampard is being Lampard, which is great given that he nearly left us in the summer. Cole is playing with more discipline and finding more end products and Deco has given us yet another attacking edge with his incisive passing. And the one great big name I’ve not mentioned yet is Didier Drogba – we’ve done all of this without him. When he comes back into the team regularly, he’ll benefit from the extra chances we’re creating.
BW: Our strengths are that we are the reigning Premier League champions with all the innate confidence that should bring. Plus, with Cristiano Ronaldo and Dimitar Berbatov ready to be unleashed upon the opposition from now on I can guarantee that October will be a much happier month than August and September were for the Reds. It is just pivotal that whilst this pair are acclimatising in to the team that we don’t lose connection to the title chasing pack.
All4All : And weaknesses?
ML: If anything, it is at the back, where we’ve looked shaky at times and you still feel there’s an extra 10% to come from the players. I sometimes feel our defence tries to make it look too easy and, when you get into that mentality, you end up with a tackle like Terry’s last weekend. Luckily, the ban has been overturned, but you can’t get caught out like that. The only other weakness I can identify at the moment is in attack, and we’re short of a striker after letting Andriy Shevchenko leave this summer. We’re not suffering from it yet, but we’ll need to buy another in January before injuries could catch us out.
BW: Other than our obviously patchy form, the major signs of weakness in our side so far this season have come from the elderly statesman of our squad. Edwin Van Der Sar has made uncharacteristic howlers against Newcastle United and Liverpool, Gary Neville was abysmal against Villarreal in mid-week, Ryan Giggs has all the pace of John Terry now, and Paul Scholes is the ultimate luxury player these days due to the fact he cannot run, tackle or score goals any more. With our dynamic young stars in the team I feel we can beat anyone, but now the continued presence of our fantastic performers of yesterday in the Red Devils side is sadly detrimental to our current chances.
All4All : Who from your team should we keep a particular eye on here?
ML: Deco. Just marvel at his movement and vision. People were split when we signed him between looking at his age and believing that he was on the wrong side of 30, or believing it was an absolute bargain. I was in the latter group, and he’s proven that his game is less affected by age because he doesn’t rely on pace. He is one of our fittest players, covering as much mileage as Lampard and others, and he has the key to unlock the sides. His arrival has eased the pressure on Lampard to create chances, which means he can focus on scoring the goals.
BW: I think everyone in the entire world knows that Cristiano Ronaldo has to be the answer for this one. He cast aside the title of ‘big game bottler’ last season with his goals against Liverpool, Arsenal and Chelsea, and our record of one win in five without him in 2008/09 speaks volumes. He may have never scored at Stamford Bridge, but as we’re talking about someone with a distinct ability to steal the headlines, who could write off the idea of a Ronaldo winner on Sunday to end Chelsea’s long unbeaten spell at home?
All4All : Who is your all time number one hate figure, or object of amusement, from their lot?
ML: It’s definitely Ronaldo. At least with Rooney or Tevez, you can respect their grit slightly more. With Ronaldo, he swans around the field, dives upon the slightest of touches and generally winds people up. He’s dangerous from any range, but when he screws up it is a sight to behold.
BW: There’s a few candidates to choose from but I’m going to have to go for the detestable pair of Dennis Wise and Ken Bates. Wise for me was Roy Keane without the talent, whilst Ken Bates’ shamefully disrespectful attitude to Sir Alex Ferguson and ultimately the fans of Chelsea and now Leeds United makes me think of him as a repugnant character and a stain on the game of football.
All4All : What would you envy about them, if anything?
ML: The fact that they’re now owned by the American government? The possibility that they’ll be called up to the armed forces? In all honesty, I envy them little.
BW: The answer here is unequivocally nothing. They were nobodies in the game until Roman Abramovich bought them, someone as unpalatable as John Terry is their captain, plus we beat them to all the major trophies last year.
All4All : What was the best bit of business ever done between the two clubs?
ML: Signing Juan Sebastien Veron. A strange choice, I’m sure, but he was one of the first that really irked our rivals from Old Trafford because of our new-found wealth. They pointed and laughed when we wasted that money, but they soon realised we had plenty more where that came from. Their noses were then put out of joint and they’ve remained fairly disjointed since.
BW: The signing of Mark Hughes worked out well for them in the mid-nineties, but for me the fact we got £15m for Juan Sebastian Verón in the summer of 2003 was a brilliant piece of business. The talented Argentine simply didn’t fit in to the Premier League, plus his dodgy back made him a constant fixture on the Stamford Bridge treatment table whilst he was there. God knows how he managed to pass a medical.
All4All : What's your fondest memory of past clashes against them?
ML: There’s been some crackers between us, but my fondest was the 3-0 win over Man Utd which clinched the Premier League title in 2006. The goals came from William Gallas, Carvalho and Cole, with the latter’s a great effort, and it was ridiculously satisfying sealing the title, at home, against your rivals. We had listened to pundits saying throughout the season that it’s in retaining the title that true champions are made, and thankfully, we did it and shut them all up.
BW: The fondest memory I have of past clashes against Chelsea stretches all the way back to the 1993/94 season, when as a young child I watched a devastating second half onslaught from United lead to a 4-0 win. This game featured the drama of two Eric Cantona penalties, plus such a quick fire Mark Hughes goal that the television cameras somehow managed to miss the build up play.
All4All : What do you think the score of this match will be, and how will it affect your week?
ML: Sir Alex Ferguson’s side will be low on confidence and, looking at it from a neutral point of view, it’s more important for them to win it than us considering last weekend's defeat. However, we are The Blues, and the fans expect our boys to roll them over. If we beat them, we’ll be over the moon, and I reckon that even at this early stage, we would be favourites for the league. Arsenal have started well enough themselves, but we have the experience that they lack. If we win, I’ll be celebrating in front of the numerous Man Utd fans down here, and if we lose, We'll remind them that they’re still behind us in the league.
BW: As an optimistic Manchester United fan I’ll have to go for a 1-1 draw and a much improved performance from the Reds. This may be hard to accomplish given the two team’s respective current form, but I can really see the return of Cristiano Ronaldo energising us as we enter the Stamford Bridge pitch. Any result that doesn’t involve a Chelsea win will see United edge back in to the title fight, and will undoubtedly improve my mood also. A loss however will bring on morbid thoughts of a season to forget for the Red Devils. I’ve really got to hope that the former scenario proves correct!
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Martin Lightfoot (Chelsea): Delighted! I think, generally, most people were in favour of Luiz Felipe Scolari coming to Stamford Bridge, especially given the uncertainty about Avram Grant. However, we’ve begun by playing some exciting football - Nicolas Anelka even looks like he’s finding form - and I feel that we’re now using the players to their optimum. The win over Manchester City at Middle Eastlands was satisfying, too. You can’t win anything with money!
Bruce Wilson (Man Utd): It’s been a bit of a shambles to be frank. The opening day draw against Newcastle United was terribly frustrating, the meek capitulation to Zenit St. Petersburg in the Super Cup was an embarrassment, and last weekend’s defeat to a Liverpool team that looked much sharper than we did exhibited the lax attitude of the team in the opening weeks of the season very well.
All4All : What were the goals at the start? How have they been revised, if at all?
ML: Having lost out in the league and the Champions League last season, they are, and always have been, the ultimate aims. Winning domestic cups is always nice, but we expect, like Roman Abramovich, to be winning the major silverware. We’ve started with three wins and a draw and are already at the top of the league, so hopefully that’s where we’ll stay. In terms of the Champions League, obviously it was absolutely devastating to lose in the final in May, but we did finally reach the final stage of the competition and the players now know what it takes. Fingers crossed, we’ll be there again.
BW: Obviously our goals at the start of the year were to repeat the triumphs of last season, with one eye also being on correcting our all too early exit in the F.A. Cup as well. Whilst the poor form of United so far would seem to argue against this happening, when you have the world’s greatest player and a new £30 million striker ready to slot in to the team in the coming weeks you’ve got to hope that a solid result this weekend will act as a much needed launching pad back in to contention for us.
All4All : How important is this game in that regard?
ML: Crucial. Obviously, playing Manchester United so early on means that there’s less at stake should you lose. If you win this clash, though, you have a major confidence boost until you meet again. Liverpool obviously did it last weekend, and automatically people have begun to say they could realistically challenge for the title. That’s after one match, so imagine what it can do for the players. If we win, we’ll move nine points ahead of them in the table, and you would like to think that we wouldn’t lose so many points to allow them to catch us up. Plus, there is nothing like shutting Man Utd up, especially given that they level claims of mass spending at us, without realising they spend just as much!
BW: This game is massive for us, absolutely massive. It may only be September but a bad result here would see us fall nine points behind the Blues. Whilst some may argue that a similarly poor start to last season still saw us crowned European and Premier League champions come the end of May, I would retort that this occurred against a team ran by Avram Grant. ‘Big Phil’ Scolari’s appointment as Chelsea manager however makes it almost certain that an advantage like that will not be spurned this time around, and as such another loss at Stamford Bridge could leave United as rank outsiders to retain our Premier League crown.
All4All : How do you rate your opponents' season?
ML: It’s dangerous to say before the match, but I think they’ve been shown up as the one-player team that they are. Obviously,they’ve brought in Dimitar Berbatov, and he’s a class act, but without Cristiano Ronaldo they’ve looked toothless. Teams don’t seem to have the same fear of them without Ronaldo in the team and, more importantly, they don’t seem to have the same confidence.
BW: They’ve been brilliant haven’t they? The goals have been flying in from everywhere, and my City supporting friends who watched their performance at Eastlands last weekend couldn’t speak more highly about them. Sometimes you have to just offer your congratulations to a rival when they are playing well, and regrettably for me this is just one of those occasions.
All4All : Who do you think has the edge heading into this weekend's game and why?
ML: Definitely us. Our incredible home record is well publicised, and while we are still enjoying the honeymoon period of our new manager’s reign, Manchester United seem to be struggling through the divorce period of theirs. Teams with new managers are always dangerous, regardless of who they are. We have Anelka, Joe Cole, Frank Lampard an co. on form already, whilest Rooney, Berbatov and Scholes are looking fairly cumbersome so far.
BW: 4-0 against Bordeaux compared to 0-0 against Villarreal shows in stark terms how much better Chelsea’s current form is than United’s. Also, we’ve not even looked like winning at Stamford Bridge for seven years now as well. All these factors would seem to point to a situation where we have almost no hope of a good result this weekend. However, United are often at their best when we’re written off and hopefully the winning character of our team will finally begin to shine through on Sunday.
All4All : Tactically, where do you think the key to this game will lie?
ML: Without a doubt in midfield. Similarly to United, we allow more freedom within players' positions. As you have seen with Man Utd, when their midfield isn’t on form, the team struggle to score goals. In contrast, Lampard has already begun his usual goal fest, Deco has taken to the Premiership like a duck to water and Michael Ballack showed enough form last season to suggest he’s now fully focused on Chelsea. I think there’s enough individual flair there to find the net regardless of how the others are playing.
BW: For me the key to this game lies in how quickly Ferguson works out a system which will get the best out of the team once again. In recent weeks he’s shoehorned us in to a tight 4-4-2 when the last few years have seen a fluid 4-3-3 be incredibly successful. The poor deployment of Wayne Rooney on the wing against Liverpool was symptomatic of the failures of Ferguson reverting to this old formation. Such tactical mistakes will be punished just as harshly by Chelsea as Liverpool did, and hopefully they won’t be repeated again this weekend.
All4All : Which opposition player do you consider to be the greatest threat to your team in this clash?
ML: Obviously, anybody that can score 42 goals in one season, from whatever position, is some player, but I actually feel that Tevez is the main threat. He never stops running and probing and his chasing and pressurising is a nightmare. He’s also a great goalscorer, as demonstrated on a number of occasions already. He netted their goal against Liverpool, so he enjoys the big games. Its players like Tevez that make us miss Makelele.
BW: I wrote him off after seeing him play poorly against us in the Champions League last year, but Deco has been a revelation for the Blues. His flair and exuberance have really improved the pragmatic Chelsea midfield, and he was rightly awarded with the Premier League player of the month for August after the excellent work he’s put in so far. With performances like that, Owen Hargreaves must be on top of his game on Sunday to prevent the ‘Bus Conductor’ from orchestrating the Chelsea attack once more.
All4All : Would you want him in your team?
ML: I’m sure we could find a slot for him somewhere, perhaps at right back! I would welcome him to our team though, given that he’s not a disloyal, pampered and selfish 23-year old called Cristiano. Tevez would fit in with the rest of the players as we have a great team rapport right now, with everyone pulling their weight.
BW: He’s playing exceedingly well but he’s always been a player I’ve never really fancied. I look back to Elano’s fantastic form in August and September last year for Manchester City and wonder if Deco, like Elano, will begin to struggle once autumn turns to winter?
All4All : What are your team’s strengths at the moment?
ML: We have many. Personally, I believe Scolari has satisfied everyone's personal desires and that makes for a happier starting eleven. Anelka is operating more centrally and further forward, and I don’t think it’s coincidental that he has started strongly. Lampard is being Lampard, which is great given that he nearly left us in the summer. Cole is playing with more discipline and finding more end products and Deco has given us yet another attacking edge with his incisive passing. And the one great big name I’ve not mentioned yet is Didier Drogba – we’ve done all of this without him. When he comes back into the team regularly, he’ll benefit from the extra chances we’re creating.
BW: Our strengths are that we are the reigning Premier League champions with all the innate confidence that should bring. Plus, with Cristiano Ronaldo and Dimitar Berbatov ready to be unleashed upon the opposition from now on I can guarantee that October will be a much happier month than August and September were for the Reds. It is just pivotal that whilst this pair are acclimatising in to the team that we don’t lose connection to the title chasing pack.
All4All : And weaknesses?
ML: If anything, it is at the back, where we’ve looked shaky at times and you still feel there’s an extra 10% to come from the players. I sometimes feel our defence tries to make it look too easy and, when you get into that mentality, you end up with a tackle like Terry’s last weekend. Luckily, the ban has been overturned, but you can’t get caught out like that. The only other weakness I can identify at the moment is in attack, and we’re short of a striker after letting Andriy Shevchenko leave this summer. We’re not suffering from it yet, but we’ll need to buy another in January before injuries could catch us out.
BW: Other than our obviously patchy form, the major signs of weakness in our side so far this season have come from the elderly statesman of our squad. Edwin Van Der Sar has made uncharacteristic howlers against Newcastle United and Liverpool, Gary Neville was abysmal against Villarreal in mid-week, Ryan Giggs has all the pace of John Terry now, and Paul Scholes is the ultimate luxury player these days due to the fact he cannot run, tackle or score goals any more. With our dynamic young stars in the team I feel we can beat anyone, but now the continued presence of our fantastic performers of yesterday in the Red Devils side is sadly detrimental to our current chances.
All4All : Who from your team should we keep a particular eye on here?
ML: Deco. Just marvel at his movement and vision. People were split when we signed him between looking at his age and believing that he was on the wrong side of 30, or believing it was an absolute bargain. I was in the latter group, and he’s proven that his game is less affected by age because he doesn’t rely on pace. He is one of our fittest players, covering as much mileage as Lampard and others, and he has the key to unlock the sides. His arrival has eased the pressure on Lampard to create chances, which means he can focus on scoring the goals.
BW: I think everyone in the entire world knows that Cristiano Ronaldo has to be the answer for this one. He cast aside the title of ‘big game bottler’ last season with his goals against Liverpool, Arsenal and Chelsea, and our record of one win in five without him in 2008/09 speaks volumes. He may have never scored at Stamford Bridge, but as we’re talking about someone with a distinct ability to steal the headlines, who could write off the idea of a Ronaldo winner on Sunday to end Chelsea’s long unbeaten spell at home?
All4All : Who is your all time number one hate figure, or object of amusement, from their lot?
ML: It’s definitely Ronaldo. At least with Rooney or Tevez, you can respect their grit slightly more. With Ronaldo, he swans around the field, dives upon the slightest of touches and generally winds people up. He’s dangerous from any range, but when he screws up it is a sight to behold.
BW: There’s a few candidates to choose from but I’m going to have to go for the detestable pair of Dennis Wise and Ken Bates. Wise for me was Roy Keane without the talent, whilst Ken Bates’ shamefully disrespectful attitude to Sir Alex Ferguson and ultimately the fans of Chelsea and now Leeds United makes me think of him as a repugnant character and a stain on the game of football.
All4All : What would you envy about them, if anything?
ML: The fact that they’re now owned by the American government? The possibility that they’ll be called up to the armed forces? In all honesty, I envy them little.
BW: The answer here is unequivocally nothing. They were nobodies in the game until Roman Abramovich bought them, someone as unpalatable as John Terry is their captain, plus we beat them to all the major trophies last year.
All4All : What was the best bit of business ever done between the two clubs?
ML: Signing Juan Sebastien Veron. A strange choice, I’m sure, but he was one of the first that really irked our rivals from Old Trafford because of our new-found wealth. They pointed and laughed when we wasted that money, but they soon realised we had plenty more where that came from. Their noses were then put out of joint and they’ve remained fairly disjointed since.
BW: The signing of Mark Hughes worked out well for them in the mid-nineties, but for me the fact we got £15m for Juan Sebastian Verón in the summer of 2003 was a brilliant piece of business. The talented Argentine simply didn’t fit in to the Premier League, plus his dodgy back made him a constant fixture on the Stamford Bridge treatment table whilst he was there. God knows how he managed to pass a medical.
All4All : What's your fondest memory of past clashes against them?
ML: There’s been some crackers between us, but my fondest was the 3-0 win over Man Utd which clinched the Premier League title in 2006. The goals came from William Gallas, Carvalho and Cole, with the latter’s a great effort, and it was ridiculously satisfying sealing the title, at home, against your rivals. We had listened to pundits saying throughout the season that it’s in retaining the title that true champions are made, and thankfully, we did it and shut them all up.
BW: The fondest memory I have of past clashes against Chelsea stretches all the way back to the 1993/94 season, when as a young child I watched a devastating second half onslaught from United lead to a 4-0 win. This game featured the drama of two Eric Cantona penalties, plus such a quick fire Mark Hughes goal that the television cameras somehow managed to miss the build up play.
All4All : What do you think the score of this match will be, and how will it affect your week?
ML: Sir Alex Ferguson’s side will be low on confidence and, looking at it from a neutral point of view, it’s more important for them to win it than us considering last weekend's defeat. However, we are The Blues, and the fans expect our boys to roll them over. If we beat them, we’ll be over the moon, and I reckon that even at this early stage, we would be favourites for the league. Arsenal have started well enough themselves, but we have the experience that they lack. If we win, I’ll be celebrating in front of the numerous Man Utd fans down here, and if we lose, We'll remind them that they’re still behind us in the league.
BW: As an optimistic Manchester United fan I’ll have to go for a 1-1 draw and a much improved performance from the Reds. This may be hard to accomplish given the two team’s respective current form, but I can really see the return of Cristiano Ronaldo energising us as we enter the Stamford Bridge pitch. Any result that doesn’t involve a Chelsea win will see United edge back in to the title fight, and will undoubtedly improve my mood also. A loss however will bring on morbid thoughts of a season to forget for the Red Devils. I’ve really got to hope that the former scenario proves correct!
