On Friday afternoon, Arsenal defender and planetpmc favourite Thomas Vermaelen was ruled out for for the rest of the season after suffering a calf injury in Wednesday's 2-1 defeat by Tottenham. The Belgian international hobbled off after twenty minutes at White Hart Lane and was replaced by Mikael Silvstre. Arsenal had initially expected the 24 year old to play again before the end of the current campaign but Gunners boss Arsene Wenger confirmed on Friday that "Vermaelen's season is over." Vermaelen has missed only one league game, through suspension, since joining Arsenal from Ajax last summer.
Saturday lunchtime brought all the drama of a Manchester derby - or not. Paul Scholes gave Manchester United the points with a free header in the third minute of stoppage time and that's as exciting as it got. This most eagerly awaited of derbies served to prove that Manchester is no longer where it's at.
Manchester City 0 - 1 Manchester United
Come teatime and Chelsea took a hammering; they don't half sulk when they're not getting their own way. And what was Ancelotti thinking of, using up all his substitutes by the time the second half had started?! Joe Cole was miserable, Drogba hard done by (but, it has to be admitted, remained upright for most of the game) then joy of joys ... John Terry was sent off! Oh, how we laughed.
Spurs 2 - 1 Chelsea
Wigan beat an half-hearted Arsenal 3-2, Arsene Wenger blaming his players' lack of discipline for losing a 2-0 lead. On-form Villa dealt with Portsmouth efficiently, beating them 2-1 at Fratton Park. Liverpool's Fernando Torres went under the knife on Sunday evening to repair cartilage torn during Liverpool's 4-1 win over Benfica in the Europa League quarter-final second leg at Anfield on 8 April. He will miss the rest of the Reds' season, but hopes to return in time for Spain's opener against Switzerland on 16 June.
Liverpool went on to beat West Ham 3-0 at a much-depleted Anfield, probably the result of Norwegian and Irish fans being unable to fly there due to the volcanic ash cloud. They didn't miss much. We look forward to the UEFA semi-finals with much disinterest. The pubs must be gutted.
