Ferguson: Easter fixture list favours
Chelsea
Sir Alex Ferguson has hit out at the crazy fixture scheduling he
believes has handed Chelsea an unfair boost in the race for the
Premiership title.
Although Manchester United remain in pole position, six points
clear with just seven games left heading into tomorrow's evening
clash with Portsmouth, Chelsea are strongly fancied to halve the
deficit against Tottenham a few hours earlier.
Spurs have been pressed into action just 39 hours after completing
their draining UEFA Cup quarter-final first leg in Seville.
Chelsea rejected Tottenham's efforts to get the Stamford Bridge
clash put back 24 hours as is usually the case after Thursday UEFA
Cup games because of their own scheduled flight to Valencia ahead
of Tuesday's Champions League quarter-final return leg, throwing
the decision back into the Premier League's hands.
And, much to Martin Jol's displeasure and Ferguson's disbelief, the
authorities decided the original date and kick-off time should
stand.
'Given the power Chelsea seem to have over issues like this, I am
not surprised,' said Ferguson.
'If the game had been played on Sunday lunchtime, Chelsea would
still have had well over two full days to prepare for the Valencia
game. As it is, Tottenham get 39 hours. What is the right
decision?
'It seems the Premier League are quite happy to give Chelsea the
extra time but not Tottenham.
'If Tottenham lose, and lose out on a European place because of it,
I don't imagine they will be very happy.
'But it is the Tottenham supporters I feel sorry for. They have
travelled to see them play in Seville and now their team is asked
to play again so quickly. It is letting them down in some
ways.'
If Chelsea do emerge victorious from the London derby, United's
lead will be cut to its lowest level since Christmas.
Ferguson has already spoken about the psychological effect
perceived swings in fortune can have, even when nothing has
fundamentally changed.
So it is no surprise he is even more anxious than usual that United
should approach the Fratton Park trip caring only about their own
performance and result.
'We have to concentrate on ourselves,' he said.
'We have been doing really well. Our form is good. I have no issues
about that at all. Hopefully that will continue.'
In order to ensure his team were fully prepared for the Portsmouth
encounter, Ferguson took the unusual step of keeping them in Italy
after Wednesday's draining Champions League tussle with Roma.
By flying straight to the south coast, Ferguson has cut down his
side's travelling time and with their eyes firmly focussed on
ending a four-year championship drought, the United boss does not
believe there will be a problem with focus as attention shifts from
major European challenges to huge ones on the domestic front.
'We have the league title uppermost in our thoughts and that is the
best motivation you could possibly have,' said Ferguson.
'It is not easy coming out of a European game but it really helps
that we are challenging for the title and I also believe we have
done the right thing by staying in Rome.
'We have avoided a long trip back, which has allowed us to prepare
properly to give ourselves the best chance possible of getting a
result at Portsmouth.'
No Surprise If no man utd fan hit out @
SAF for saying this things that is very similar to what jose
said