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On Wednesday night, the postponed 34th round match in the English Premier League was played between the vice-champions London "Chelsea" and the champions of England, "Man Utd." The match ended in a draw with a score of 0-0.
"Chelsea" 0 - 0 "Man Utd"
"Chelsea": Cudicini; Diarra (88‘ Morais), Ferreira, Terry, Bridge; Makelele, Wright-Phillips, Essien, Mikel (45‘ J.Cole); Kalou, Sinclair (54‘ Sahar)
"Man Utd": Kuszczak; Lee, Brown, O‘Shea, Heinze (65‘ Carrick); Eagles, Smith, Fletcher, Richardson; Solskjaer, Dong (73‘ Rooney)
Before the match at the "Stamford Bridge" stadium, the local "Chelsea" players lined up on the field and welcomed the new champions of England, "Man Utd," with applause. Both teams did not start the match with their strongest line-ups.
In the 6th minute, the hosts created the first chance when John Obi Mikel set up Shaun Wright-Phillips one-on-one with "Man Utd" goalkeeper Tomasz Kuszczak, but the Polish goalkeeper blocked the shot.
After ten minutes, a clever shot by S.W-Phillips from the right almost found the top corner of the goal. The game was evenly matched, and sometimes the visitors created half-chances, but nothing came of them. The most significant danger in front of Carlo Cudicini's goal only arose in the 36th minute when John Terry headed the ball away from the penalty area after Chris Eagles' corner, but Alan Smith passed the ball to defender Gabriel Heinze, whose shot missed the target.
Five minutes into the second half, "Red Devils" midfielder Kieran Richardson took a dangerous shot from the penalty area, but the ball missed the goal completely. A moment later, "Man Utd" forward from China, Dong Fangzhuo, tried to chip the ball over C.Cudicini, but the attempt was unsuccessful.
In the 70th minute, "Chelsea" striker Salomon Kalou's long-range shot was saved by T.Kuszczak. Ten minutes later, "Chelsea" defender Lassana Diarra created perhaps the most dangerous chance of the match when he tried to send the ball to the top corner of the goal from outside the penalty area with a surprising shot, but T.Kuszczak managed to defend his goal with a great leap.
At the end of the match, the hosts desperately tried to secure a victory, but despite some misunderstandings in the "Man Utd" penalty area and a somewhat shaky performance by T.Kuszczak, the ball never found the back of the net - the match ended goalless.
Since "Man Utd" had already secured the gold medals and "Chelsea" the second place, the draw had no impact on the league table. All the final matches of the Premier League round will be played on Sunday.
