Chelsea will take their Champions League dreams to Old Trafford on Sunday, where they hope Manchester United will still be in their post-title clinching hangover that Arsenal benefitted from a week ago. If so, the Blues will put a capper on a near-perfect week, which began with their clinching a spot in the Europa League final on Thursday,
Arsenal and Tottenham both won on Saturday, putting the onus on Chelsea to match it in Manchester. The Blues are two points back of the Gunners with two matches in hand, but are level with Spurs and would really like a cushion heading into Wednesday's colossal tilt between the two at Stamford Bridge.
The last time these two teams met, Chelsea was coming off of a loss to Southampton and the heat was on the trophy chasing Rafa Benitez for their FA Cup quarterfinal replay with United. But Benitez relieved some of the pressure with a 1-0 win over the Red Devils and ever since, the club has been flying. They haven't lost in the league since, only suffering one setback in any competition, a loss to Rubin Kazan in the second leg of their Europa League quarterfinal that still saw them advance.
Chelsea are a very different team than the one that Manchester United last saw, but then again, so are the Red Devils. Now they are champions for a 20th time and the only thing they are playing for is pride. Well, that and the opportunity for Sir Alex Ferguson to rain on his former nemesis Benitez's parade.
Match date/time: Sunday, May 5; 11 a.m. ET
Venue: Old Trafford, Manchester, England
TV: Fox Soccer Channel (USA English), Fox Deportes (USA Spanish), Sky Sports 1 (UK)
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