Simple Sparrow

A Manchester Race For The Title

A Manchester Race For The Title

With nine rounds left in the Premier League, the battle for the title will be between two rivals, two neighbors, two teams from Manchester: Manchester United and Manchester City.

Currently with 73 points the Red Devils are enjoying the top spot, with three points lead to Manchester City, who have recently stepped down on spot two. And while Manchester United has won 12 title since the creation of Premier League, with the most recent one, last season, Manchester City hasn’t won one since season 1967-68, or over 54 years.

City’s defensive midfielder Patrick Vieira had called United, ‘desperate’ last week from bringing Paul Scholes out of retirement and back to the team. Of course manager Alex Ferguson’s response was just as teasing, replying that he doubts that brining the best midfielder in Premier League back is desperate, but bringing back a suspended player (Carlos Tevez) after 5 months of punishment is.

This is just the beginning of what’s coming up, and perhaps all ends on April 30^th 2012, when Manchester City will meet Manchester United on Etihad Stadium, and the title will most likely be decided there, if both teams continue to win match after match.

Manchester United Advantages: Best attack in the league with 74 scored goals. Wayne Rooney in exceptional shape with 21 goals in the season so far. The best visitor in Premier League with 36 points so far.

Manchester City Advantages: Best defense in the league so far with only 22 conceded goals in 30 games. Almost as good attack as United, with 72 goals scored. Sergio Aguero has a great season with 17 goals scored in the league so far.

Manchester United Disadvantages: Problems with injured defensive players. Naïve mistake from goalkeeper De Gea, could cause problems for the team.

Manchester City Disadvantages: Lack of creativity in the second half of the season. The performance drop of David Silva is noticeable, and has an impact on the overall game.

Both teams are out of all tournaments at this point, as both teams dropped out of Champions League, after the group stage, and out of Europa League in the elimination stage. In addition both teams were knocked out of FA Cup and Carling Cup.

However one of these teams will call it a season, and will triumph with the title.

Got a favorite or a hunch on who is going to win this season? Choose from a variety of free bets and back your winner today. Visit e-sportbets.org that has information on how to get your Betfair free bet to bet on the matches. 

Meanwhile get the lastest news on bbc football here:

http://www.bbc.co.uk/sport/0/football/

Michael Schumacher one last title push

Michael Schumacher burst on to the Formula One scene in 1991, making an immediate impression. In his F1 debut as a replacement driver with the Jordan team he equaled the team's season-best qualifying position with seventh place, but was forced to retire from the actual race in the first lap. The qualifying performance was enough to make Benetton sit up and take notice. Benetton essentially poached Schumacher from Jordan after that first race, starting a huge legal battle, which was ultimately worth it for the team.

It was with the Benetton team that Michael won the first of his seven world titles in 1994, following up with another championship the next season. At the end of the 1995 season, however, he made the decision to leave for a new challenge with Formula One's most historic team, Ferrari. The team had been experiencing several seasons of poor performances, but it took Schumacher just one season to have them back to competitive ways. It takes him until 2000 before he brought the driver's championship title to Ferrari and then went on to win the next four seasons with pure dominance.

In 2005 and 2006 his performances waned, leaving him in third and second place in the drivers' standings, respectively. Having been knocked off the top of the mountain by younger drivers, he decided it was time to retire and left at the end of 2006. Schumacher remained with Ferrari in a consultant capacity for the next few years though, so he didn't really leave the sport.

The lure of the sport eventually coaxed him back into the car in 2010, with a drive in the Mercedes team. Previously known as Braun-Mercedes, the team had won the 2009 season impressively, so Michael may be forgiven for thinking he would be coming back with a top-flight team. This was not the case, as Mercedes performed badly in 2010 and Schumacher could not recapture the magic.

In 2011, Mercedes improved and Michael Schumacher produced several impressive performances to remind the field that he is one of the greatest of all time. The question now remains: will Schumacher, in what could be one of, if not the last seasons of his career, win the title one more time? Michael undoubtedly has the experience and the skill to beat any driver in the field. At 42, however, he is one of the oldest drivers in the field and does not have the same fitness he had when he was at his prime. Mercedes finished fourth in the constructor's championship in 2011 and Michael was seventh in the drivers' standings. 

It will take a serious improvement from both the car and Schumacher to overcome the top three teams and the six men who beat him last season. Of those six drivers ahead of him, four are themselves former champions. Until the first wheel is turned in anger no one can say for sure how well Michael will do, but every driver in the field knows that he is a legend and should never be counted out of contention.

Source: f1-bettings.com via f1admin on Pinterest

UFC Rashad Evans vs Jon Bones Jones

The next light heavyweight title fight will be exciting for many reasons including the feud between these 2 fighters that used to train with each other: Rashad Evans and Jon Jones. 

Rashad Evans is the former UFC light heavyweight champion but the title has since been tossed around like a hot potato until Jon Jones destroyed Shogun Rua and has defended the title with ease against Lyoto Machida and Rampage Jackson. Rashad left his training camp probably because Jon Jones wasn't going anywhere else. For those that don't know, Rashad was due to fight for the title but was injured and Jones was the replacement fighter meaning if Jones wins, he would have to fight his training partner. Rashad has never liked the move but how can anybody blame Jones? Is this guy just supposed to wait for his next chance which could never happen? Time is now and Jones is no idiot.

Jon Bones Jones. This young man has dominated everyone he has fought and it is starting to look like nobody is going to dethrone him anytime soon and we could be looking at the best light heavyweight fighter of all time. He is simply too big, too strong and has too long of a reach for punching and kicking. He looks better suited for heavyweight and maybe if he puts on 20-40 more pounds he could certainly fight in that class without any problems. 

These 2 fight April 21st, it should be fireworks.