Triple Treat

Zlatan does it again and tells us why he's one of the finest in Europe

It's not often that three derbies/fierce rivalry matches coincide with one another on one weekend. Last weekend saw the Merseyside derby between Everton and Liverpool, the London derby between Arsenal and Chelsea and finally the El Classico between Barcelona and Real Madrid all happening at the same time. Football fans had a great treat over the previous weekend and the results yielded some interesting analysis to be made.

The Merseyside derby ended up with a Liverpudian victory, thanks to an own goal by Yobo and Kuyt goal later. This is the first win of the Premier League that they have been hankering for after quite some time now. Whether this is a blip of success remains subjected to verdict since it's mentioned before that Liverpool will rise to the occasion against fierce rivals but when it comes to good old business, they flop. It's a good consolation for them, considering that they were dumped out of the Champions League and now would have to make do with do with the Europa League. In any case, many of them knew that gunning for the championship would be near impossible and even a top 4 finish looks challenging enough already.

The London derby was settled convincingly by Chelsea who swept away the Gooners in a torrent. The Gooners dominated possession but they were unable to deliver to deliver the killer ball in the third half. On the other hand, Chelski made better concerted offences and it was marksman finishing from Drogba in the first half. The precision in which he guided the ball into the net after he pounced on it shows the standard of a good poacher. Disaster struck again for the Gooners just before the end of the first half when Thomas Vermaelen mistimed his clearance which resulted the ball being deflected into his own goal. The Gooners had pressed their own self-destruct button yet again. They never learn from Manchester, and now they are doing it again embarrassingly on their own ground. Vermaelen, the Gooner's freescoring defender has added another one to his tally - an own goal against his own team..lol. Drogba was at it again to condemn the Gooners' attempt of revival from ever materialising. A smashing free-kick ensured that kids never had a chance to bounce back from their disastrous 1st half.

This season's El Classico probably stages some of the biggest stars in the decade. Real Madrid included their new Galactico inclusion of Cristiano Ronaldo, Xabi Alonso and Kaka alongside with other major stars like Sergio Ramos, Raul Albiol and Casillas. On the other hand Barcelona also has a selection legendary figures on their own with Messi, Puyol, Xavi, Iniesta, Dani Alves and Henry. Any manager would love to manage either of the teams. The strength of the squad is so evident in both teams' substitutions. Real had Benzeema, Raul and Diarra at their disposal while Barca have Ibrahimovic, Marquez and Yaya Toure. It was a tight match and an opportunity for Ronaldo to have the experience of an El Classico instead of a Manchester derby. He would have relished the chance to lock horns again with Messi, considering that he had lost to the Argentinian at the Champions League finals. Both teams held out 0-0 for the first half but the general impression was that Barca was struggling to cope up with Real. Pep changed things around in the 2nd half, removing Henry and placing Ibrahimovic there and it proved to be fruitful. The Swede made a quick impact, and after 5 minutes into the game, he penetrated deep into the box, first touch and slammed the ball into the net from the volley - all executed within one smooth movement. Zlatan shows us why he's one of the finest strikers in Europe. That was a superb finishing. It was a KS, because Real failed to find the equaliser even when Barca was down to 10 men and Ronaldo was back to the bench within 60 min coz he ain't fully fit. Well, looks like Ron lost to Messi again. Next round at the Bernebeau would sure to be interesting.

Well, United got a good result over the weekend, a 4-1 win over Portsmouth with a hat-trick by Rooney although 2 of them came from penalties. Chelsea's demolition of the Gooners right at the doorstep of the Emirates had shown that they had successfully beaten all 3 of their top rivals this season so far. It's a good sign for them and they are moving at full speed. United would have to hope that they slip up at some point in time and make sure that they produce a better record against their top rivals. I wouldn't be surprise if the Blues end up with the Championship at May next year. Consistency is the key although they did not have any major additions to their club. Man Utd has to emulate some of those consistency if they wanna have any chance against the Blues who seems to be prospering under Ancelotti. Maybe a new central attacking midfielder will do United good in the January transfer, plus one or two defenders to cover potholes left by eccentric Rio. Ahhhh, perhaps a raid on Aguerro under Chelsea's nose will be great. In any case, somebody has gotta stop that Blue machine from running again since Mourinho left! And United remains the closest to give them a hell of a fight to the trophy =p