Wow

Not bad for Chelsea's right back. For those keeping score, this is twice in recent weeks that Chelsea have fallen behind one of the other "Big Four" in England, then rallied for a 1-1 draw after moving Michael Essien to right back, where he's very dangerous. The move also allows them to take off Geremi, who is probably their weakest starter (other than Hilario when Cech and Cudicini are both injured). Prior to Matthew Flamini's opener for Arsenal and then Essien's equalizer, the game was primarily marked by a bunch of macho shoving and posturing between the players, culminating in a truly hilarious, Masterpiece Theatre-caliber encounter when 6'3 Jens Lehmann and 6'4 Didier Drogba took dives after minimal contact with one another. A lot of shouting and gesticulating resulted before two inconsequential yellow cards were issued and the game went on.

By the way, it occurs to me that there is one aspect of the Premiership that I'd love to see the SEC mimic: the coaches actually sit in the crowd, basically across the aisle from opposing fans. I'd pay $100 to see Phil Fulmer do that in Tuscaloosa.

And while I'm showing highlights from the weekend, it's not every day that I get to show a defensive Barcelona highlight, but here you go:



The defending is charitable, at best, but what a stop by Victor Valdes.