Hiddink believes Didier Drogba is the man to wrest the Premier League title from Manchester United’s grasp.
If Manchester United have already got the Premier League title in their grasp nobody has told Chelsea manager Guus Hiddink.
His side staged another late show to beat strugglers Portsmouth 1-0 at Fratton Park on Tuesday and close the gap on champions and leaders United to just four points — however United can restore their seven point lead should they beat Newcastle, and they also have a game in hand.
Hiddink believes Didier Drogba is the man to wrest the Premier League title from Manchester United’s grasp after rediscovering his best form since the Dutchman’s arrival at Stamford Bridge.
Drogba scored his first league goal since December but his second in Hiddink’s four games at the helm as Chelsea rallied to another late victory by beating battling Portsmouth 1-0 at Fratton Park on Tuesday.
The Ivory Coast striker made no secret of the fact he wanted to leave Chelsea during Luiz Felipe Scolari’s ill-fated six month spell in charge but Hiddink believes he has helped rekindle Drogba’s enthusiasm for the Blues.
‘Beat ’em or forget it’Liverpool manager Rafael Benitez has told his side to forget their faint Premier League title hopes if they fail to win at Manchester United on March 14.
Benitez too saw his team move to within four points of Sir Alex Ferguson’s leaders with a 2-0 win over Sunderland at Anfield on Tuesday.
Liverpool, who have 10 league games remaining, have played two more matches than United but visit Old Trafford in their next league encounter with confidence sky high
following goals by young French striker David Ngog and Yossi Benayoun.
However, Benitez knows that his side’s domestic season will be over if they do not win at Old Trafford for the first time in five years later this month.
“If you cannot win there it will be very, very difficult. We’ll have to wait and see what happens with United first,” the Spaniard added. “We have to approach each game with confidence and just think about ourselves.”
Bendtner bends it In West Bromwich, Arsene Wenger said that Nicklas Bendtner finally started to prove his class after the striker inspired a 3-1 rout of West Bromwich Albion.
The Dane has been subjected to stinging criticism from sections of the Arsenal support this season thanks to some lacklustre performances, but the travelling fans at the Hawthorns on Tuesday were bellowing his name by the end of an evening where he pulled Albion’s dreadful defence to pieces.
Bendtner rattled in two first-half goals — one curled into the bottom corner and another crunched past Scott Carson from an acute angle — and was only denied the match-ball when his low shot struck the post in the second period.
That took his season’s tally to 11 and Wenger believes the young striker could now be running into form at the perfect time, with Arsenal’s Champions League last 16 decider at AS Roma looming large next week.
“He has shown he has the talent to be an Arsenal player and that he is on the right way to maturity,” Gunners manager Wenger said.
“I liked his presence, I liked his determined attitude and the way he took people on. That shows how much he has improved
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