Did Shady Buisness stop Chelsea Match?

Manchester United have no issue over Sunday's game at Chelsea being postponed.
The match was called off on Saturday after heavy snow, but much of it had melted by Sunday and the pitch looked to be playable.
United defender Rio Ferdinand questioned the decision not to play the game between the two title rivals.
But United are thought to be happy with the decision, especially as Anderson and Nemanaja Vidic were doubtful.
Captain Vidic and midfielder Anderson were struggling with illness, while key midfielder Paul Scholes is out until the new year.
Chelsea are also likely to be pleased with the outcome as Didier Drogba and Michael Essien are both struggling to find their best form and Frank Lampard has only recently recovered from injury.

Our football department will have contingency dates in mind and will work closely with the affected clubs Premier League spokesman

But Ferdinand initially reacted with surprise, especially as other matches on Saturday went ahead.
He said on Twitter: "Did anyone see the Ipswich game? Pitch covered in snow....so how come that game is played and ours is postponed?"
Some Manchester United fans on the BBC's internet forum 606 questioned whether Chelsea, who have picked up only three points in their last five league games, had called off the Premier League game to delay playing their in-form opponents.
However, only the match referee, police, the local authorities or the Premier League can call a game off. And the Premier League confirmed the game was called off some 27 hours before kick-off at the behest of the police and the local authority.
A Chelsea spokesman confirmed on Monday: "The decision to postpone the game was taken on safety grounds after comprehensive consultations between the club, local authorities and the police.
"A high-profile event of this scale affects an area much wider than Stamford Bridge, and considering the icy conditions forecast, an early decision was taken to ensure the safety of both fans and those staffing the event."
The Premier League argues that, had a decision been made on the day, it would have faced criticism from fans who had already travelled from the north west.

606: DEBATE Was the game called off because Chelsea wanted to get more players back from injury? Chelsea said it was because of snow. I thought Chelsea had underground heating les (U14728287)

In a later tweet, United defender Ferdinand referred to the safety issue, adding: "Safety for fans travelling to the game is the general feedback....I get it tweeps!"
Meanwhile, the Premier League is confident the big freeze will not lead to serious fixture congestion at the end of the season.
Eight matches have been postponed because of the weather so far - including two involving United.
But Premier League officials say there are sufficient dates set aside to cope.
A spokesman said: "Our football department will already have contingency dates in mind and will work closely with the affected clubs to get new dates agreed as quickly as possible."
The game between Blackpool and Manchester United at Bloomfield Road has already been rearranged to the last week in January.

Tight Race Heats up Storied Rivalry

Monday night at Old Trafford, Manchester United will face Arsenal in a game that has the potential to be another memorable episode in what has been long and storied rivalry.

Each team would like to believe that it embodies pretty much all that is right about English football, and both arguably have a solid claim. And both sets of fans hate each other. In other words, it’s a classic grudge match. Monday’s game may prove to be a bellwether, as it has the potential to set the winner on course to lead the league at Christmas. Thanks to the current British weather the match even has a sting in its tail: Arsenal lead the Premiership, but Manchester United are but a single point behind, and have a game in hand after last weekend’s match with Blackpool was postponed. As a result, a United victory Monday could effectively offer them a five-point cushion on the Gunners.

Both teams must now feel they can prevail in what has become one of the most wide-open Premiership races in recent memory. There’s not much distance between these two. Each are struggling with injuries and erratic form. We’ve seen little of thee well-oiled Arsenal attacking machine lately. And everyone is wondering when Wayne Rooney will reclaim center stage in Manchester where Carlos Tevez is suddenly the city’s star at Manchester’s “other” club.

But United have yet to lose a league game this season, despite getting little to date out of Rooney. The Red Devils, in fact, have only lost one game in any competition -- that 4-0 shocker in the Carling Cup to West Ham. Arsenal, on the other hand, are losing games at home, and seem to be struggling under the weight of expectations and players lost to injury.

There’s always been a rivalry between an Arsenal side long seen as the choice of the privileged, and the far more successful, but “second city” side of Manchester United. A decade ago, a bitter edge crept in, stemming from a long-simmering feud between Arsenal manger Arsene Wenger and Ferguson, which once exploded in a memorable post-game row that degenerated into a food fight between the teams.

The roots of the conflict were fairly standard. Ferguson has long been perceived as a bully by his colleagues. No one questions the Scot’s ability or genius, but many feel that he crosses a line with his repeated criticisms of officials. Wenger -- an almost polar opposite in terms of personality and heritage -- was unwilling to suffer Ferguson’s barbs, and began firing back with his characteristically intellectual wit. This merely ratcheted up the situation, as Ferguson, a man with stolidly lower-middle class roots, chafed at what rapidly became a feud with class overtones.
The funny thing is that both men are cut from the same cloth. Ferguson and Wenger were mediocre players who have made a career in management out of obsessive attention to detail on the pitch and a brilliant scouting network off of it. Both managers display an appetite for football that might stun even the most rabid fan and both, with cause, have been accused of cherry-picking talent from other teams. While Ferguson has the reputation of being more outgoing, it is in fact Wenger who can regularly be seen post-match at any one of the restaurants that ring Emirates, happy to chat with fans and journalists alike.

In the aftermath of what the English press dubbed “Pizzagate” -- the incident where Cesc Fabregas apparently flung a pie at Ferguson as the teams traded words and blows postgame in 2004 -- the two men have made a concerted effort to lower the tension. While it might surprise partisans, the two managers now seem to be on friendly terms, trading jokes and sharing dinner tables.

That hasn’t stemmed the feuding in the stands. United this week has urged their fans to stop some particularly offensive chants aimed at the Arsenal coach; Arsenal fans have particularly choice words for their counterparts as well. While the fixture is not considered “high risk” by the police, there will be a heavier contingent of security than usual at Old Trafford.

Both teams are currently depending too much on flashes of individual brilliance. United’s Dimitar Berbatov exploded for five goals a fortnight ago against Blackburn; there have been important goals for Nani and Patrice Evra and the usual steadying contributions of Paul Scholes, but this has still been a strange-looking Sir Alex Ferguson side.

Early in the year it was Theo Walcott giving Arsenal the big games, but after injury slowed him down Samir Nasri has single-handedly won two big games for the Gunners and is in the midst of his best season to date. World Cup-worn-down Cesc Fabregas has flattered without delivering and Andrei Arshavin has been downright awful at times this campaign.

Arsenal’s defense has been appalling, particularly on set pieces, while Manchester United has so far failed to impose their traditionally muscular side on their opponents. Strangely, goalkeeping has not been the concern it should be in London, with Lukasz Fabianski offering more consistency than was believed possible. At United, there have been times when the communication between United ace Edwin Van der Saar and his back four has been erratic.

Arsenal has also been depleted by a steady stream of defensive injuries: latest to go down was left-back Kieran Gibbs, who injured his ankle in Wednesday’s Champions League match against Partizan. He joins Thomas Vermaelen (Achilles’), and Abou Diaby (ankle) as key men likely to be absent for Monday’s clash. The only other legit central defender Arsenal have on their books, Johan Djourou, may be able to make a return from his thigh injury while wingback Gael Clichy is expected to be fit after a bout of flu. Also questionable for the match is Fabregas (hamstring), who will certainly play if able, given the paucity of other options.

United have their own injury woes, but not in numbers. Scholes (groin) and Rio Ferdinand (hamstring) may not pass fitness for Monday’s match, and Valencia, Owen Hargreaves and Michael Owen remain long term doubts.

What United do have are solid core players in Berbatov, defender Nemanja Vidic, winger Nani and midfielder Park Ji-Sung. Rooney seems to be finally showing flashes of his old form, and United have slowly grown in confidence as the season as gone on.

The best thing that Arsenal have going for them is that they are a far better team this season on the road. But it’s hard to see how a team that has now had to play two straight emotionally-draining matches, and is missing so many key players, can handle United’s withering flank play.

Evra comments irks Wenger

Arsene Wenger says Manchester United defender Patrice Evra showed a lack of respect by branding Arsenal nothing more than a "training centre".
The Gunners leapfrogged United to the top of the table last weekend with victory over Fulham as the Red Devils had their match at Blackpool postponed.
Evra turned up the heat ahead of the meeting between the two sides during an interview with French television, in which he claimed Arsenal offer style but little substance and declaring the club was in "crisis" for not having won a trophy since 2005.
Wenger, however, feels a war of words serves no purpose.
"He gave you some good stuff to make it all hot before the game," the Arsenal manager said.
"We are guided by the way we want to play football and not by the statements of anybody who plays against us.
"Personally, I believe if you are a big player you always respect your opponent and that is what we try to do."
Asked if Evra had been disrespectful, the Gunners manager said: "I leave that judgement to you. We do not want to go into any unneeded talking before a game like that.
"We want to focus on the way we want to play and ignore any provocation before a game.
"We are motivated by the desire to win the game and by the quality of the football we want to play."
Evra maintains Chelsea are United's "real enemy" as they look to regain the Premier League crown.
He told Canal Plus: "Arsenal is a training centre. I watch them play and enjoy it but will they win the title? That's what people remember.
"Arsenal are a great club but it has been five years since they won anything and that for me is a crisis.
"We could lose to them on the 13th but then what? There is nothing (for them), there will be no trophy, nothing.
The showdowns between United and Arsenal may not now be as feisty as they were in the days of 'Pizzagate' when the duo battled for Premier League supremacy, but it is certainly set to be a decent atmosphere at Old Trafford on Monday night.
United boss Sir Alex Ferguson has called on home supporters not to subject Wenger to a torrent of sick abuse as has happened in previous visits.
Last season, Wenger received an apology from referees' chief Keith Hackett after he was dismissed from the dugout for kicking a water bottle and, unsure of where to go, had to climb up into the stand with fans before eventually being ushered along the touchline to the tunnel as the game concluded.
"I said you want to respect everybody and to be respected as well," Wenger reflected.
"That's why whenever Manchester United comes to Arsenal we always invite our fans to respect him and respect our players. I cannot do more than that."

 Wenger continued: "You know what happened over the years.

"I believe in individual responsibility of what you do in life. I cannot master 70,000 or 80,000 people. I try to do my job that is all."
On his now seemingly cordial relationship with once bitter rival Ferguson, Wenger observed: "It has changed a little bit by the length of the surviving of both managers in their team and there is a respect and understanding of the difficulty of this job. That's maybe what you call 'mellowing'.
"But what is important is that it's not Ferguson v Wenger, it's Manchester United v Arsenal.
"What is important is how well both teams will play and all the ingredients are there for an exciting game, that's what we want to produce."
Wenger will leave a decision on the fitness of captain Cesc Fabregas, battling to recover from a hamstring problem, until the last moment.
"We will not take an unreasonable gamble, that is for sure, even if it is a big game," the Arsenal boss said.
"We have to assess if it is a risk for him to play, is he ready to play in a very intense game, then I will make a decision.
"But overall I am more focused on the team performance than on any individual performance, You know you only win any big game if the whole team competes well."