Chelsea

So Chelsea are officially the English Premier League champions for the 2004/2005 season when they beat Bolton 2-0 with a brace from their midfield dynamo, Frank Lampard. Although i'm a die-hard Manchester United fan, i recognise that Chelsea are the deserving champions of England. How much i hate seeing Chelsea winning the title instead of Man Utd, i must give credit to where it is due. Guided by probably the most charismatic manager the English league have ever seen, Jose Mourinho, Chelsea played some of the best football this season, especially when flying winger Arjen Robben (i think that one of Ferguson biggest managerial mistakes was his failure in signing Robben when he actually gave Robben a personal tour of Old Trafford earlier in the season) danced and waltzed around bemused defenders to set up and score goals. Chelsea defence, marshalled by inspirational captain John Terry, are also the best defence in England and probably in Europe leaking only 13 goals in 35 games this season and Petr Cech has kept a remarkable 24 clean sheets.

Every successful team must have a strong backbone and Chelsea has this in Cech, Terry, Lampard and Gudjohnsen. To me, Cech, Terry and Lampard are the best goalkeeper, defender and central midfielder respectively in world football at the moment. United too had a very strong backbone when they won the Treble in 1999, Schmeichel, Stam, Keane, Cole & Yorke. United do not have a strong backbone now because of their failure in finding a keeper capable of filling Schmeichel's boots. Since Schmeichel left, United have tried 6 different keepers: Bosnich, "unforgetable" Taibi, Barthez, Howard, Ricardo, Carroll and all of them have manage to produce a moment or two of comical goalkeeping for the amusement of the fans. I hope that United will solve this problem sooner rather than later so that we can challenge for the title next season.

Anyway, congratulations to Chelsea for a job well done but you better watch out cause United will be taking back the trophy to its rightful place in Old Trafford come May 2006.

*contributed by ys