Chelsea 2 Man. Utd. 1

With just seven minutes left and United level thanks to Wayne Rooney's equaliser, referee Alan Wiley gave a penalty for Michael Carrick's hand-ball on the advice of his assistant.
That left United manager Sir Alex Ferguson and his players furious, and Ballack with a two-minute wait before he could step up to the spot, taking over the penalty duties from Frank Lampard, who was not playing after the death of his mother.
For the German, however, who had headed Chelsea in front in the first half, it was just the kind of challenge he relishes. He said: "For me, it is no problem, I can handle the pressure. It is always a good situation and I like this. We had just a little chance with a win and we did it."
Ballack had rowed with team-mate Didier Drogba over who should take a second-half free-kick, but he played down any suggestions of a rift, insisting the whole team were fired up for victory.
"Everyone after the game is fine," he said. "Him, me, everyone. It was a great victory and everyone played very strong."
Chelsea manager Avram Grant dedicated the win to Lampard, and was happy with the way his players had taken the game to United. Players held up a Chelsea shirt with the name Pat Lampard and RIP on it after Ballack had opened the scoring late in the first half, and Grant said: "I want to express my sympathy to Frank.
"We thought about him in the game and it's for him.
"In the game, we did what we had to do — we put them under pressure — and we hope we are happy at the end of the season. It's not easy when you are under pressure to win two games."
Grant was particularly pleased with the way Chelsea ground out a win after Ricardo Carvalho's back-pass blunder had gifted an equaliser to Rooney.
He said: "One of our best players made a mistake but this team have a lot of character and we also played good football."
Chelsea face another big hurdle on Wednesday in the Champions League semi-final second leg against Liverpool at Stamford Bridge.
Captain John Terry stoked the fires by branding the treatment his side received from the fans at Anfield last week as 'horrible'.
Chelsea have lost two semi-finals to Liverpool in the last three years, but both times the second leg has been at Anfield, and Terry urged the Stamford Bridge crowd to give Liverpool a taste of their own medicine.
Terry said in his programme column for yesterday's match: "I've got to say that the stick us players took from their fans was horrible, but I'm sure every Chelsea fan will give it back to them on Wednesday night.
"We've heard about their fans around the last two semi-finals and how the second leg at Anfield is to their advantage.
"Well, I'll tell you what I think. Our fans are just as great as theirs when the game's a big one."

Liverpool 1 Chelsea 1

Frank Lampard felt Chelsea deserved to come away from Anfield with a draw, courtesy of John Arne Riise's injury time own goal.
The Blues looked to be heading for defeat after Liverpool had taken the lead through workaholic Dirk Kuyt just before the interval but, moments after Petr Cech had kept the score at 1-0, Chelsea broke out and fortune smiled on them as Riise failed to clear a cross.
Chelsea boss Avram Grant's job has been the subject of constant speculation, but this result could alleviate some pressure.
Hero keeper Cech pulled off a number of saves with the score at 1-0, notably to deny Steven Gerrard and Fernando Torres.

Blackburn Rovers 1 Manchester United 1

Last-gasp Tevez saves United blushes
Sunday, April 20, 2008
Manchester United's 10th title in 16 Premier League seasons, taken for Avram Granted after Chelsea surrendered two critical points at home to Wigan last Monday, was plunged into doubt for more than an hour last night until Carlos Tevez finally managed to beat the heroic Brad Friedel with a header two minutes from the end of normal time.
Impending defeat on a bitterly cold April evening had sent a chill through the 7,000 visiting supporters and brought a breath of fresh air to the race, offering Chelsea the chance to become champions by winning their last three games – starting at home to United on Saturday. Instead Tevez's header means the reigning champions can now afford to lose at Stamford Bridge and stay on top because of a far superior goal difference. A victory would effectively seal the title, with games against Wigan and West Ham to spare.
Although United's performance failed to reach the standards they have set over the season – especially in the first half – the game slowly became a dramatic one, with countless hair's-breadth decisions. Four strong penalty appeals (three of them to United) were turned down and close scrutiny of television replays revealed that the corner leading to the equaliser should have been a goal-kick.
Sir Alex Ferguson's front four, for all their interchanging, failed to threaten in the opening half an hour and Blackburn deserved the lead given to them by Roque Santa Cruz's 20th goal of the season. At that stage the old United warrior – and future manager? – Mark Hughes appeared to have won a tactical battle by using Santa Cruz on the right and flooding the midfield. Ferguson, the old master, then responded by replacing an anonymous Ryan Giggs with the energy of Nani, and as Cristiano Ronaldo emerged from an unusual shell, United at last demonstrated the quality that ought now to win another crown.
The visiting manager was more impressed with their commitment in adversity. It will be a happy Sunday in the Ferguson household after his son Darren led Peterborough to promotion in his first managerial job.
Even with Wednesday's visit to Barcelona in mind, Ferguson Snr still went for his strongest available side, which should be reinforced with the return of Edwin van der Sar in Spain. Owen Hargreaves was not involved, and can apparently no longer be considered a part of the first XI, Michael Carrick again being preferred in the principal holding midfielder's role.
Paul Scholes was required to sit alongside him for much of the time as Santa Cruz sat deep, but the first time the Paraguayan assumed his usual position at centre forward, he set Ewood alight with a goal. Morten Gamst Pedersen took a throw on the left that confused Rio Ferdinand and Nemanja Vidic, who both moved to challenge Jason Roberts. The ball squirmed between all three of them, falling perfectly for Santa Cruz to tap in.
There had been a couple of alarming moments before the goal, notably when Scholes failed to clear and Blackburn felt that Tomas Kuszczak fouled Roberts inside the penalty area. To be fair, that decision by Rob Styles was cancelled out when he failed to see Steven Reid – unexpectedly playing at right-back – trip Wayne Rooney, whose frustration came out with a wild challenge on Christopher Samba that brought a yellow card.
Ronaldo, finally making his way into the game, offered the best hope of an equaliser, forcing Friedel into the first of many excellent saves with a header before half-time, then striking a post with his left-footed drive.
For the remaining 25 minutes the ball seemed to be in or around the home team's area. The referee turned down confident penalty appeals for Johann Vogel's challenge on Ronaldo and Brett Emerton's block with his elbow of Carrick's header; Friedel brilliantly foiled Rooney and John O'Shea.
The last save, however, only delayed what had become the inevitable when, from Nani's disputed corner, Scholes headed on and Tevez nodded in.

Chelsea maintain title hopes with win at Everton

Chelsea kept their title hopes alive when they beat Everton 1-0 at Goodison Park on Thursday with a first-half goal from Michael Essien. The victory lifted Chelsea, who have three matches to play, on to 78 points, two behind leaders Manchester United who have a game in hand. Manchester United visit Chelsea on April 26. Defeat dented Everton's chances of catching Liverpool and securing fourth spot and a Champions League qualifying berth next season. With three matches to play, fifth-placed Everton have 61 points, five behind Liverpool, who have a game in hand. The only goal of a dour match came with Chelsea's first shot on target. Shaun Wright-Phillips's reverse pass into the box was deflected into Essien's path and the Ghanaian midfielder chested the ball down before lifting it over goalkeeper Tim Howard. Essien was also on target in Chelsea's 1-1 draw with Wigan Athletic at Stamford Bridge on Monday, when a late Wigan equaliser dented Chelsea's title aspirations. Although they stretched their unbeaten league run to 18 matches, Chelsea will fail to win the title if United win their next two matches at Blackburn Rovers and Chelsea. Neither side produced much of note and Everton rarely threatened to score as they bid to beat Chelsea for the first time in 20 matches dating back to May 2001.