Voy Por Ustedes

I know it's the sabbath and all and I hope God will forgive me, but I'm having a bet today. I can't allow Aston Villa layers to offer up 10.5 and me not have a piece of it. I can't I can't.

The way I see it, Manchester United are the most over-rated team in world football and given that Rooney, Berbatov, Vidic and possibly Ronaldo won't play, I can't accept that Villa can't win more than one game in nine under these circumstances.

Even if fake Ronaldo is playing, he's made it plainly obvious he doesn't want to be there and I'm sure his mind will be on a different kind of Villa such as the cazzillion squillion pound kind he'll be living in soon and whether the shampoos available in Madrid are resplendent and rich in frog oils and the milk protein drinks contain adequate levels of L. Casai Immunitas and Bifidus Digestivum.

I've said this once people and I'll say it again. The old maxim the league doesn't lie was indeed a lie last year. Arsenal were better than them and so were Chelsea. Same this season. They don't deserve to be where they are and although I'd much rather they won the Championship than Liverpool, I don't think they will. And if they're not to win it, this is the kind of game they ought to be losing.

Villa haven't won since February and I don't think they've won at Old Trafford ever, so they're due. That's the logic I'm employing on this one and why not? Ironically of course, I don't want them to win as a Manchester United win secures Arsenal's future and I'll gladly sacrifice the £20 of monies I've wagered on Villa for this to occur. But I feel I'm right on this one. I've got a funny feeling in my waters.

**Update: By jove that was exciting. In real terms this was the perfect result for me as a Gooner and a wagerer but one must take exception to the bias Manchester United receive from officials. Although I really needed Manchester United to win for the sake of Arsenal's Champions League future, I must confess to feeling a little sympathy for Villa when the injury time board showed five minutes!!

That is utter bullshit. No games ever have five minutes of injury time unless someone has been seriously injured. I don't recall seeing either physio on the pitch during the second half. Manchester United are the only team who receive treatment so preferential. I know their winner came in the third minute of injury-time so would have stood without the extra couple of minutes, but it's still bollocks and Villa's players must have felt like utter shit when they saw how long they had to hold out.

Still I'm over it now. I have won £20 which I shall shrewdly invest on some South American fixtures and Arsenal are nearly guaranteed Champions League football for another year.