• Chelsea are champions if they beat Wigan next Sunday
• Steven Gerrard backpass ‘a great gift’, says Ferguson
Carlo Ancelotti is one win away from guiding Chelsea to the Premier League title after a 2-0 victory at Liverpool that left Sir Alex Ferguson admitting his Manchester United side were “clutching at straws” going into the final weekend of the season.
Goals from Didier Drogba and Frank Lampard mean Chelsea will be crowned champions if they beat Wigan Athletic at Stamford Bridge next Sunday. United won 1-0 at Sunderland, courtesy of a first-half strike from Nani, but they trail by one point as they prepare to take on Stoke City at Old Trafford.
Chelsea have now done the double over Liverpool, Arsenal and United and Ancelotti praised his players. “This game was the key in the fight for the title and we played very well,” said the Chelsea manager. “We deserved to win. Defensively we did a fantastic job.
“We had a lot of opportunities on the counter-attack and it was a really important performance. There was a lot of pressure on us but we had good control of our emotions. The team shows good physical condition, good mentality and good physicality and now we have to train well this week and wait for Sunday.”
Liverpool looked tired and deflated after going out of the Europa League to Atlético Madrid last Thursday and contributed to their own downfall, with Steven Gerrard’s backpass setting up Drogba for the opening goal.
Ferguson described that as “a great gift” but was careful not to criticise United’s arch-rivals. “Liverpool had a hard game on Thursday. They’ve lost 19 games this season so maybe we were asking too much of them to get a result. It was always going to be a difficult job against Chelsea. But it’s not what we wanted, that’s for sure.
“I thought Liverpool would do something, but I suppose it’s hard to expect them to win against Chelsea. It can happen and I’m sure Gerrard will regret it, but there is nothing we can do about it. We can’t win everything.”
Ancelotti accepted that Liverpool had “looked a bit tired in the second half” but he said Rafael Benítez’s team should not be accused of failing to put in their usual effort. “It is never easy to play here,” the Chelsea manager said. “They have very good players and it is a fantastic atmosphere. It is the first time for me here and I will always have good memories of it. We made it a difficult game for them because we played well and had good control of the game.”
Drogba acknowledged that Gerrard’s error had been critical. “He made a big mistake,” the striker said. “I was lucky to be there and score. It was good because this goal gave us a lot of confidence to play well.” Lampard, the Ivorian’s fellow goalscorer, said the significance of the win could not be overstated. “This was a huge game for us,” he said. “If we had dropped points today we would have given the advantage to Man U.”
Chelsea were immediately installed as 1-14 favourites to end United’s run of three successive titles but Ferguson insisted that his players would not give up hope.
“We just have to get on with it. We will play our game and you never know what can happen. If we do our job right, at least we will stretch it out. All we can do is win against Stoke and we want to do that, in front of our fans in the last game of the season.
“You never know … football is a crazy game. I wouldn’t insult Wigan in any shape or form because they are a really good football team and they will have a go. Manchester City did us a great turn by beating Chelsea twice and Wigan are another neighbour but, listen, we know we are clutching at straws a little bit.
“The important thing is for us to win our game and enjoy it. We will play the right way and with dignity in our game. The fight goes on. We have stretched it out for another week and that is what we wanted to do.”
United’s players barely celebrated their win and Ferguson admitted it had been a bittersweet afternoon. “We knew the result [from Anfield] when we kicked off and that there was nothing we could do about it, so I said just: ‘Go and enjoy yourselves, play the Manchester United way and express yourself.’ We did our job. We played with great confidence and expression in our game which is good to see at this time of the year.”
He was less enamoured with Dimitar Berbatov, substituting the Bulgarian after two second-half misses inside the six-yard area. “We were frivolous,” he said. “We had an awful lot of chances, but we wasted a lot, too, and towards the end I was beginning to think they were going to score because 1-0 isn’t a healthy score. It was just careless finishing. Dimitar could have scored four.”
Premier LeagueManchester UnitedChelseaSunderlandLiverpoolSir Alex FergusonCarlo AncelottiDaniel Taylorguardian.co.uk
