By Julius Ross
Two weeks ago you would have bet your house, car and children on Manchester United winning a third consecutive English Premiership.
But within the space of a fortnight, United’s title prospects have been thrown into disarray as they faltered miserably at Fulham on Saturday night, prompting bookies to start placing their bets elsewhere.
The Red Devils appear to have hit the self-destruct button at the crucial time of the season, as ex-Liverpool boy Danny Murphy and Zoltan Gera gave eighth-placed Fulham a shock 2-0 victory, and inflicted United’s second defeat in as many games.
The afternoon quickly turned sour for United when Murphy slotted home a spot-kick after Paul Scholes deliberately handled in the box and was given his marching orders on 17 minutes.
The afternoon went from bad to worse, as Gera doubled the Cottagers’ advantage, and referee Phil Dowd sent the short-tempered
Wayne Rooney off for, you guessed it - dissent, to reduce the Red Devils to nine men.
Rooney was the third United player to be shown a red card in seven days, as he joined Nemanja Vidic and Scholes on the suspended list, heading into a pivotal stage in United’s season.
It was only 14 days ago that the red half of Manchester were on an unbeaten streak of 17 games in all competitions, 16 of which they had grabbed maximum points, with the only ‘mishap’ a 0-0 stalemate with Inter Milan in the knockout round of the Champions League.
They led the premiership by a seemingly unassailable seven points with a game in hand over their nearest rivals Liverpool, but Rafa Benitez’ side demolished the reigning champions with a scintillating 4-1 win last weekend, to place doubt in the mind of those who believed United invincible.
With eight matches to go (nine for United), the often-predictable English Premier League title race has been blown wide open, with the chasing pair of Chelsea and Liverpool keen to capitalise on Manchester’s meltdown.
For those who thought that the title race was well and truly over for 2009, think again.
In the wake of their defeat, Ferguson’s side will breath a slight sigh of relief that Chelsea failed to capitalise on their disastrous breakdown; the Blues slumping to a 1-0 loss in the London derby against the temperamental Tottenham.
Croatian Luka Modric hit the solitary goal, to dent Chelsea’s hope of closing the gap on United to just one point, and administered Guus Hiddink’s first loss in charge of the Blues.
Liverpool will be licking their lips at the prospect of closing the gap on United to just one point, and edging three points clear of Chelsea, if they secure maximum points against Aston Villa on Sunday.
Still on the Premiership, and Arsenal continued its recent fine form to record a 3-1 victory over Newcastle at St. James Park, as it leap-frogged Aston Villa into the all-important fourth place Champions League qualification spot, and condemned Newcastle to the relegation zone.
Elsewhere, West Brom’s 1-1 draw with mid-table Bolton made little impact on its current position at the foot of the premiership, and having failed to win a single match since January, the Baggies look destined to play Championship football next season.
In another battle at the bottom, Stoke City scored a precious 1-0 win against second-last Middlesbrough, who have failed to score in seven of their last nine matches in the league.
Portsmouth pipped Everton of three points when they came from behind to win 2-1, and Blackburn and West Ham shared the spoils in a 1-1 draw.
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