An update

In this week's Premier League action, Everton and Wigan each secured 4-0 victories against Fulham and Newcastle respectively. Meanwhile, Swansea and Wolves were tied at 4-4.

At Carrow Road, Luis Suarez completed a stunning hat-trick which saw Liverpool eased past Norwich City 3-0. Another man scoring hat-trick in this week's fixture was Fernando Torres. This was his first hat-trick for the Blues, making a statement that he is still as prolific as ever, to earn a starting place in the coming Euro 2012.

While the fans of Reds and Blues may be delighted that their strikers are finally scoring for fun at the moment, the race is becoming more intense.

While Liverpool has no hope of earning a top 6 finish this season, their sole hope would be clinching the 7th spot, beating at least their city rivals Everton. Right now David Moyes' men are two points ahead of the Reds. If Dalglish can lead his side to victories in the final three matches, any slip up by his city rivals would then help propel his side to the 7th place.

Since Arsenal drew with Stoke City at Britannia Stadium, the race for the final two places in next season Champions League is opened up. Lost at Wigan means Newcastle are now level in points with Tottenham, both 4 points behind Arsenal with a game in hand. Chelsea continue to keep the pressure on with just one point behind both Tottenham and Newcastle. 

Ealier in the midweek, Chelsea and Bayern Munich both secured victories to book their places in the Champions Leauge final on May 19th. Both team were actually underdogs in the semi-finals. Most fans around the world would have expected and preferred a mouth-watering final between Real Madrid and Barcelona.

Nonetheless, Chelsea have improved greatly under caretaker manager di Matteo and I feel they fully deserved their second Champions League final in five years after the spiritual performance against Barca in the second leg.

Winning penalty shoot-out is always hard for any away team in the Champions League. But after Schweinsteiger slotted in the decisive penalty to send the away team to the final, the fans know that Chelsea will have a strong competitor in the final, facing Bayern Munich at the Allianz Arena.

Barca are super-favourites, aren't they?

As the season progresses, UCL has reached a stage where only elites are left to compete against each other for the top honour in European football. Right now, Real Madrid will play Bayern Munich while Chelsea will play Barcelona in the semi-finals.

Favourites remain between Real Madrid and Barca, while Jose Mourinho has started playing mind-games in the build up to the possible final, hinting Uefa of favouring Barca.

In the match agsint Bayern, Mourinho's men might be favourites, but Bayern might as well provide shocking performances given the quality of players they have, and the possibility of winning the title in their home turf on May 19th.

If Los Blancos win the tie, they will face either their fiercest rival in the league, Barcelona or Mourinho's old team, Chelsea.

The Catalan club will face Chelsea in the sixth semi-final in nine years. Chelsea, knowing that a loss will possibly knock them out of the UCL for next season, will try to get the revenge where they only won once of their previous five semi-final outings. They are currently fifth in the table and five points afrift of both Arsenal and Tottenham, third and fourth place respectively.

During their last meeting, Iniesta scored the winner in the controversial tie against Chelsea. This time around, the matches will surely be entertaining as usual as the physicality and strength of Chelsea players met the elegant qualities of Barca, orchestrated by Guardiola.

Quote of the day:

"Barcelona aren't the favourites, they are super-favourites," The Special One.