ANOTHER weekend full of drama and intrigue, as the race to be Barclays Premiership winner hots up. Five still remain in the race and the bottom of the table continues to tighten up; here are the reports from the latest action.
Sunday 16th January: Liverpool 2-2 Everton
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| BELIEF: The Liverpool fans got behind Kenny, but they didn't win, AGAIN! |
KENNY Dalglish earnt his first point in his second spell as Liverpool manager, but Everton will be the happier of the two sides after a pulsating 214th Merseyside Derby. Liverpool dominated the first half, and had a deserved half-time when Raul Meireles drilled a shot past Tim Howard on the half hour, his first goal for Liverpool. Howard had saved smartly twice from Dirk Kuyt and Fernando Torres smashed the woodwork early on. Less than a minute into the second half, the visitors were level when Sylvain Distin climbed about Martin Skrtel to guide a header home at the back post. Six minutes later and Everton were infront. Leon Osman created it and Jermaine Beckford drove his shot past Pepe Reina. Kuyt converted an equalising penalty midway through the second half with aplomb, after Howard’s unnecessary challenge on Maxi Rodriguez. A draw was a fair result on the balance of play, but Liverpool stay perilously close to the bottom three.
Sunday 16th January: Sunderland 1-1 Newcastle United
NEWCASTLE controlled the Tyne & Wear derby throughout, but Asamoah Gyan scored a priceless equaliser to grab a fortunate point for Sunderland. Newcastle captain Kevin Nolan scored his fourth goal in two games against the arch enemy this season. His clever backheel from Joey Barton’s corner have the Magpies a deserved lead. In the fourth minute of added on time, Phil Bardsley’s shot was only parried by Steve Harper and the ball rebounded off the Ghanaian Gyan, lifting the roof off the Stadium of Light. Both sides remain in the top half, and can dream of European football.
Sunday 16th January: Tottenham Hotspur 0-0 Manchester United
DESPITE training at White Hart Lane, David Beckham could only watch on as Manchester United extended their unbeaten run at Tottenham. In a poor game that failed to live up to its top billing expectations, Peter Crouch blasted wide with Tottenham’s best chance. Wayne Rooney forced two smart saves from Hereulho Gomes for the away side, who had young Brazilian Rafael sent off for two yellow cards; the second an unfortunate collision with Benoit Assou-Ekotto.
Saturday 15th January: Manchester City 4-3 Wolves
UNTIL their rivals point in North London, Manchester City had top spot for 24 hours, but they had to work very hard against Wolves. Nenad Mijias struck to put the visitors infront with a scrappy goal, before Kolo Toure equalised for sleepy City. Edin Dzeko came close on his debut, but the £27million was put in the shade by Carlos Tevez, who was magical again, scoring twice. Yaya Toure put the game beyond Wolves, but they fought to the death at Eastlands. Joleon Lescott bought down Kevin Doyle in the penalty area, the Irishman converted the penalty before an own goal from Nigel de Jong made it a very nervous finish. City held on though, to keep the pressure on United at the top.
Sunday 16th January: Birmingham City 1-1 Aston Villa
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| DESERVED: James Collins earnt Villa a share of the spoils |
A POINT wasn’t ideal for both cities in the Second City derby, as local pride again remained intact. Craig Gardner’s poor free-kick bounced off David Murphy, and fell into the path of Roger Johnson, who turned the ball into the net from seven yards soon into the second half for Birmingham, his first goal since August. Villa, who created the more chances and hit the crossbar four times, earned their deserved point through their own centre-back. James Collins struck via a deflection from Liam Ridgewell, enough to take them out of the bottom three.
Saturday 15th January: West Ham United 0-3 Arsenal
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| DIGNITY: Avram Grant keeps cool, even though his job remains on the line |
ARSENAL kept on the coattails of the two Manchester clubs, on a day when Avram Grant was lucky to make it to kick-off. Intense rumours of his departure can’t have helped the Hammers, who were ripped apart by the Gunners right from the outset. With 13 minutes gone, Robin Van Persie had Arsenal infront and Theo Walcott made it 2-0 before half-time. West Ham were outpaced and outclassed, as Jack Wilshire and Cesc Fabregas pulled the strings in midfield throughout. Wayne Bridge, on loan from Manchester City, had a miserable debut at left-back and having been terrorised by Walcott’s pace all evening, hacked him down in the penalty area. Van Persie duly scored the penalty to complete the scoring. Grant threw his scarf into the crowd at the final whistle, whose dignity remains intact, although the West Ham board deserves to take some stick for the way they have treated the Israeli. It felt like the long goodbye, but with Martin O’Neill pulling out of the race to be manager this morning, Grant now looks like he will stay on as manager until the end of the season at least.
Saturday 15th January: West Brom 3-2 Blackpool
AN ABSOLUTE humdinger at the Hawthorns, which could easily have ended 10-10! David Vaughan had Blackpool infront in the early exchanges, with his goal being cancelled out by the dangerous Peter Odemwingie. James Morrison’s deflected effort had West Brom infront, but Gary Taylor-Fletcher scored his second goal of the week (he netted in Blackpool’s 2-1 win over Liverpool on January 12) to make it 2-2. Odemwingie won it for the Albion, getting goal side of Craig Cathcart and bending an effort past Matt Gilks to give West Brom their first win in six matches.
Saturday 15th January: Chelsea 2-0 Blackburn Rovers
CHELSEA returned to the top four in the league, recording only their second win in ten Barclays Premier League games against a resilient Blackburn side. Despite Didier Drogba continuing to look a pale shadow of his former self, Chelsea scored twice in the second half, courtesy of Branislav Ivanovic and Nicholas Anelka.
Saturday 15th January: Stoke City 2-0 Bolton Wanderers
STOKE moved upto eighth in the table, after recording a deserved victory against a Bolton side, that have now lost their last five matches away from home. It was a miserable afternoon for Bolton keeper Juusi Jaaskelainen. He scored an own goal in the first half, although Danny Higginbotham will claim it. After Zat Knight pressed the self-destruct button by missing the ball and clattering into Matthew Etherington, the Stoke winger just about scored the penalty, despite Jaaskelainen getting two hands onto the ball.
Saturday 15th January: Wigan Athletic 1-1 Fulham
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| DROUGHT: Ended for Andy Johnson |
FOR the fifth year in a row, this fixture ended in a draw, leaving Wigan trapped in the bottom three. Hugo Rodallega broke the deadlock for Wigan in the second half. However, Fulham showed a lot of character to recover and despite Clint Dempsey having a goal ruled out correctly for handball, salvation for the Cottagers came from Andy Johnson. It was a scrappy goal, but AJ couldn’t care less, as he scored his first Premiership goal since February 2009.
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