C'mon, c'mon, c'mon ...

Besides the handiwork of "Evil Jintao", part of the reason I've been laid up sick for most of this week is because of this agonizing two weeks since the last match. Now, granted, that match was Portsmouth 2 – Liverpool 3, with the killer comeback from Torres in stoppage time. So things aren't all bad.

But I can only watch those last 8 minutes on DVR so many times, you know? I tore through it again this morning after getting up. First cup of coffee complements those two goals so well. Now though, it's time to fire up for City on Sunday. United's going to be 8 points clear when that sucker kicks off and The Director is out with a one-game suspension for too many yellows. Gerrard's going to be a last-20-minutes substitute at best, so we're also looking at friggin' Lucas starting. Great.

Still, I stand by my view of the City match I wrote in this post a couple weeks ago. They shouldn't be overly troubled by Robinho and Friends. Liverpool's the only team realistically left in this thing with United, even though most everyone else has already handed Fergie the silverware. They'll likely have to win them all until March 14 and then hope for "The Landmark Victory of the Benitez Era in the League" at Old Trafford – just to get it down to 2 points. It's looking a longshot, but it's a shot, and everyone else is finished.

I remain cautiously optimistic.