Battle for the Premier League - The final Sprint Manchester United won the top spot of the Premier League little less than 3 weeks ago when on the 11th of March, their rivals Manchester City lost away to Swansea after a late goal from Luke Moore put the Welsh team 1-0 up. Now, 3 points separate the two Manchester teams after City only managed a draw against Stoke last weekend. With only 8 matches remaining and feeling the pressure, people from both sides are throwing accusations and making backhanded comments at one another. It all started when Patrick Vieira, ex-City midfielder and now the team's football development executive said in an interview for the Daily Telegraph that bringing back retired Manchester United's Paul Scholes "Just shows a sign of weakness in United, because they had to bring back a player who was 37" This didn't go down well in the United camp, just one day later, United defender Rio Ferdinand took a sig at City fans by telling BBC Sport that City fans are "more visible", he said "Walking around in town, you see more and more blue shirts than you probably would've seen over the last 10 years". Never one to shy away from confrontation, United manager responded directly to Vieira's comments, first he defended his decision to bring Scholes back by saying that if desperation was bringing back the best midfielder in Britain for the last 20 years, they can accept that, he then said "If you talk about desperation, they played a player the other night [Carlos Tevez] who refused to go on the pitch. The manager said he'd never play again and he takes a five-month holiday in Argentina. What is that? Could that come under the description of desperation?" Not happy with having thrown the first accusation, Vieira went back for more as he launched another attack on their rivals, this time by suggesting Manchester United get preferential treatment by the referees. This comment was made after referee Michael Oliver didn't give Fulham a last minute penalty which could have been the London's team equaliser against United. "When you go to United, Madrid, Barcelona or Milan, it's always difficult for the referee to go against these kind of teams". Almost immediately Rio Ferdinand took to Twitter and posted the following tweet "Why is Vieira so concerned with Man Utd....2 comments in a week or so....c'mon maaaaaan let it go". The Red Devils coach once again snipped back at the Frenchman by saying that Man City could've had a penalty given against them at Stoke. Then referring to Vieira specifically he said that as a Man City official he shouldn't be commenting on referees favouring certain teams because he might get in trouble with the FA "He's more or less saying that all refs have been wrong this season and you're not supposed to discuss referees, he is a paid official, isn't he?" And he would know, last year Ferguson was fined and given a five match ban after accusing linesman Martin Atkinson of jeopardising United. Bad news for City, Kun Aguero picked up a "stupid" injury. This was confirmed by manager Roberto Mancini who said "It was a stupid injury and it was not his fault". The Italian didn't want to give further details, he just said "He couldn't play against stoke and he can't play tomorrow" he finished be saying "I hope he can recover for Arsenal next weekend" As it stands, and after five months of having been in the top spot - at one point with 5 points over City, the Premier League is now United's to lose. Sir Alex Ferguson's side will come up against Blackburn, Wigan, City and Sunderland away and will be waiting at Old Trafford for QPR, Aston Villa, Everton and Swansea. City will host Sunderland next weekend, West Brom, and QPR. They will be playing away against Arsenal, Norwich, Wolves, United and QPR. If things stay the same, the match that will decide the league will be the Manchester derby which will be played at the Etihad Stadium on the 30th of April.
Source: DSG
Source: DSG