Advantage United

Manchester United hold the advantage over their London rivals, Chelsea, going into next week’s Champions League Final in Moscow. Seeing off the stern challenge of Wigan 2-0, the Red Devils clinched their 10th Premier League title in 17 years.

At the end of a long season, injuries to key players have been critical to both United and Chelsea for their league run in as well as their Champions League semi-finals.

Sir Alex Ferguson had the luxury of welcoming back both defender Nemanja Vidic and Wayne Rooney into his starting 11. Both lasted 90 minutes.

In contrast, Chelsea started without defender Ricardo Carvalho and ended the game without captain John Terry, who left the pitch with a dislocated elbow after a clash with goalkeeper Petr Cech. Didier Drogba also suffered an injury at the end of the game, jarring his knee, and now both are rated doubtful for Moscow. However, Terry did believe he would be in a position to play in the final.

So with United at full strength and Chelsea potentially missing at least one of their talismen, not to mention the United players with Premier League medals around their neck, it is advantage United as they travel to Moscow for the first-ever all-England Champions League final.