The seasonal resurrection of the Premiership title race was expected as, of late, the bookmaking industry has been craving such a reignition of hostilities - an incorrectly disallowed Rooney goal and two penalty decisions against United that may, on another day, have been given leading to a proper title contest. Nothing increases turnover like a tight championship race with a pair of mouthy generals to line up behind.
Chelsea, despite the absences of Essien, Robben and, until recently, Cole J. plus the presence of Lampard, have extra levels that are simply beyond United without Saha, Neville and, in particular, Vidic. Nemanja Vidic has been a colossus in the Red's defence this season (more significant than the mighty John Terry but he's Serbian so he suffers from media-lite coverage). The Manchester United back-line has lost the plot without Vidic. Van der Sar has exhibited a recurrence of his career long uncertainties which prevent him from being a truly top tier keeper (like Petr Čech). Ferguson should bring back Ben Foster sooner rather than later. And Carrick appears even more limited with uproar behind him. More importantly, Ferdinand is simply not good enough nor worth the money. His lazy pompousness at Pompey was appalling. Also, why would Ferguson think it is a good idea to have a player like Ferdinand in his team when you are involved in a battle with another team, Chelsea, that seem to have stake in the player? Ferdinand via his links to Zahavi and Israel and, consequently, to Russians is simply not safe. I'm not saying that the man is up to anything. He might just be a very poor player. The only occasion that Ferdinand looked happy and at ease was when greeting David James in the tunnel pre-match. This is the first reason for Ferguson to be losing sleep. The second image that will doubtlessly return to haunt the United manager is the pointless sending off of Paul Scholes in Rome. One of the worst scenarios in a prime focus window is to have a gruelling first game playing with 10 men for much of the match. United are in trouble. Until midweek, their induced fitness levels were worthy of support in many of their matches but, yesterday, it was bottom of the tank territory. There has to be some concern over whether Tuesday's match comes too soon - only four of Roma's Champions League starting line-up were involved in Saturday's virtually meaningless victory over Catania at an empty neutral ground in Lecce. Our Trading Team have been nibbling at Chelsea on certain Premiership markets recently not necessarily because we think that they will win the title but as we were confident of an "exhilarating" finale. We will make our decisions regarding taking our profits at a relevant time. Most certainly, we will be contemplating our United to qualify position prior to the Roma game and Ferguson must be relieved that only Watford stand between him and the hallowed turf.
It would be exciting if it weren't so manipulated.
At least we can have Ferguson versus Mourinho which is so much more entertaining than any PR war involving Wenger or Benitez. Round One, most definitely, to Chelsea after Ferguson's premature claim that the "Premiership is ours for the taking" and his launching into a quite reasonable rant about Chelsea's advantage in playing a Semana Santa influenced Spurs - Chelsea along with FC Bayern earning Dietrological money despite the impact of their European endeavours.
But the big news remains that the bookies have got a title race. Spectacular society will ratchet up the volume to reach an initial crescendo when the Big 2 meet at Stamford Bridge in the über-grudge Premiership match. Expect controversy and a killing for the layers prior to a further fortnight of intensity across the media (possibly entirely ruining Blair's resignation in the process) leading up to the rematch in the FA Cup Final at Wembley with Dean officiating (if Sky get their way) or with Bennett in charge if the power is elsewhere.
I sometimes get the feeling that I'm just reading a script...
