THE race for the Barclays Premier League title will go to the last day of the season for the first time in nine years after Chelsea's pulsating win over Manchester United at Stamford Bridge on Saturday, a match so packed with incidents that the actio
n could not be contained to 90 minutes.
A row broke out on the pitch long after the final whistle as Chelsea groundstaff and a group of Manchester United players – including Patrice Evra, Paul Scholes, Ji-Sung Park and Gary Neville – became involved in a scuffle over where the visiting team were conducting their warm down. Now the Football Association are to investigate the matter further.
"We will obviously be asking Chelsea to let us see their CCTV footage of the incident," said an FA spokesman. "This will have nothing to do with the referee's report."
Rio Ferdinand, the United captain, even had to issue an apology to a female steward after accidentally kicking her as he vented his frustrations walking down the tunnel at the end of Chelsea's 2-1 victory.
"Unfortunately, a lady was stood by and I accidentally brushed her with my foot. I apologised profusely and went back to make sure she was OK," said Ferdinand, who captained England in their last match, a friendly in France last month. "I have arranged for a bouquet of flowers to be sent to her. Credit to her, she laughed it off and was very understanding. She said she wasn't hurt."
All of which adds to the impression that Manchester United's season is unravelling at its most critical juncture. They have won only one of their last four league matches and were poor in a goalless draw against Barcelona in the first leg of the Champions League semi-final tie last week. The return match takes place tomorrow night at Old Trafford with the threat of an away goal for the Catalan visitors looming large.
Sir Alex Ferguson also has two major injury concerns. Defender Nemanja Vidic's comeback from a knee injury on Saturday lasted only 14 minutes as he took an accidental knee to the face from Didier Drogba that left him dazed and with a cut mouth. As concerning was the way in which Wayne Rooney warded off his team-mates from jumping on him in celebration of his equaliser against Chelsea due to a hip injury, which saw the striker substituted six minutes later.
Not that everything is exactly rosy in the Chelsea camp. Drogba and team-mate Michael Ballack became embroiled in an unseemly row over a free-kick in the second half which had even Michael Essien burying his head in his shirt and forced Steve Clarke, the Chelsea coach, to have stern words with Drogba.
All was forgiven when Ballack drilled home the 86th-minute winner from the penalty spot after Michael Carrick handled Essien's cross. The German midfielder had put Chelsea ahead with a tremendous header on the stroke of half-time, with team-mates holding up a 'Pat Lampard RIP' shirt in memory of absent midfidler Frank Lampard's mother, who died last Friday.
Rooney equalised on 57 minutes when a lapse in concentration by Ricardo Carvalho sent him clear on goal, drilling the ball past Petr Cech with little indication of an injury only for it to be made immediately clear by his muted celebrations.
United could have snatched a late equaliser. First Ashley Cole booted substitute Cristiano Ronaldo's shot off the line then £30million misfit Andriy Shevchenko became an unlikely hero by clearing a goalbound header from Darren Fletcher, making his return from a knee injury sustained while on Scotland duty last month.
Ballack insists the pressure is all on United having been in a similar position while with Bayer Leverkusen in his homeland.
"In 2000 I was in a similar situation at Leverkusen, but we were the ones leading and Bayern Munich caught us," said Ballack. "In the last game we were three points in front, but lost the game and the title.
"It can happen up to the last minute. The pressure is on them because last week they looked like they were the champions. They had a five-point lead and now we have closed the gap.
"It was our best performance, especially in the first half. We passed the ball and didn't just use long balls. We moved the ball very well in this game and showed we can play good football.
"Manchester United still have everything in their hands but the pressure is on them. It looked like they were champions, but now it's getting smaller and tighter."
At least in Ferguson, United have someone who has seen his fair share of last-day deciders. His first Scottish Premier Division title with Aberdeen in 1980 came in the final round of fixtures, any supposed nerves being dispelled with a 5-0 rout of Hibernian at Easter Road. It became almost routine during the mid-90s for United's title ambitions to be riding on last-day results. In 1995, they travelled to Upton Park needing to beat West Ham United and hope leaders Blackburn slipped up against Liverpool to win the Premiership for the third straight season.
Liverpool did their bit, coming from behind at Anfield to win 2-1 with a late Jamie Redknapp free kick, but despite bombarding West Ham's goal, Ferguson's side could only muster a 1-1 draw, leaving Blackburn and Kenny Dalglish to pick up the title.
The following year, Ferguson gave a masterclass in mind games as United swept past Newcastle to pick up the title with a 3-0 win at Middlesbrough on the final day. Even as late as January, Newcastle had topped the table with a lead of 12 points, but United whittled that down while Ferguson chipped away at rival manager Kevin Keegan's psyche.
The Newcastle manager eventually cracked after a critical 1-1 draw at Nottingham Forest in the penultimate game of the season, prompting his infamous "I would love it if we beat them, love it" outburst in a live TV interview.
The last time the Premier League title race reached the final day, United came from behind to defeat Tottenham 2-1 at Old Trafford with goals from David Beckham and Andy Cole, a vital result that edged out Arsenal, who beat Aston Villa 1-0 at Highbury at the same time, by a single point.
While United and Chelsea are level on 81 points, Ferguson's side have a significant goal difference advantage of 16. That means they must drop points in either of their last two games, against West Ham United at Old Trafford on Saturday or at Wigan on the last day of the season, for Chelsea to have a chance of overhauling them by defeating Newcastle a week today and Bolton Wanderers at Stamford Bridge on 11 May.
Factor in Wigan and Bolton's likely pursuit of Premiership survival in that final round of matches and, from seemingly nowhere, there will be a nailbiting climax to the season both north and south of the border.
