LAST weekend saw frosty handshakes between managers, star-studded footballers getting away with blatant elbows and crucial results at both end of the Premiership table. Consequently, it felt like a typical weekend then.
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| BOILING: DJ Campbell lost the plot and saw red at Molineux |
The performance of last weekend came from Mick McCarthy’s Wolves, as they thrashed sorry Blackpool 4-0 at Molineux. The result was to be overshadowed by the news of Dean Richards’s tragic death. Richards, a huge favourite at Wolves will be sorely missed by everyone in the game. His old club put in a performance that would have made him proud. DJ Campbell certainly didn’t make Ian Holloway very proud, losing his rag completely in an unnecessary spat with Richard Stearman. He raised his hands into Stearman’s face, and deservedly saw red for his actions. Matt Jarvis already had the home side infront after just three minutes and from that moment on, there only ever looked like one winner. Only the heroics of Tangerines goalkeeper Richard Kingston kept the scoreline past a cricket battering. Jamie O’Hara’s second goal of an impressive week sealed the final outcome, before Sylvain Ebanks-Blake added some gloss onto the final scoreline, with two late strikes. Quite frankly, Blackpool played rubbish from start to finish, and need to stop the alarming slide. Thank goodness they had beaten Tottenham in midweek before this Molineux mauling.
Fellow relegation rivals West Ham United put in an excellent performance too, outplaying Liverpool at Upton Park to win 3-1 on Sunday afternoon. The heartbeat of the Hammers side, Scott Parker led by example again, scoring the first on 22 minutes with a beautifully placed shot tantalisingly out of Pepe Reina’s reach. West Ham deserved a 2-0 lead for their first half dominance and they got it just before half-time, as Demba Ba headed home Gary O’Neil’s cross. Despite being on a run of seven unbeaten matches, Liverpool got outmuscled all day on the East End, which shows that Kenny Dalglish still has work to do. They got back into the game with five minutes to go, through Luis Suarez clever skill, which bamboozled Parker and squaring the ball for West Ham old boy Glen Johnson to tap-in from close range. Any hopes of a late revival were ended by Carlton Cole. Only on the pitch for a minute, he robbed Martin Skrtel and powered a shot inside Reina’s near post to lift the Hammers off the bottom of the table. They are only now behind Wolves on goal difference.
However, it is West Brom who still is just outside the bottom three, after they rescued a late 1-1 draw at Stoke City on Monday night. Poor marking at a corner allowed Rory Delap to power the Potters infront early in the second half. It was a dismal match, completely bereft of quality, but the Albion didn’t give up and got their rewards with three minutes to go. Carlos Vela was the forgotten man at Arsenal, but his second goal in successive games earnt the Baggies a very valuable point.
The real losers of the weekend ended up being Wigan Athletic. A 4-0 home loss to Manchester United not only took United four points clear at the top, but dumped Roberto Martinez’s team to the bottom of the Barclays Premiership for the first time since the second weekend of the campaign. The talking point of the match was Wayne Rooney throwing an elbow into the back of James McCarthy in the opening exchanges. The incident was foolish, but referee Mark Clattenburg somehow missed it and seemed to share a joke with Rooney over the incident to add insult to injury. Rooney has gone unpunished by the FA for his childish actions. Wigan fans made an early dash home, after witnessing some suicidal defending all day, which allowed Javier Hernandez to continue his scoring spree with two more strike. The Mexican youngster now has an impressive 13 goals in his debut season at Old Trafford. Rooney tapped in a third and there was even time for Fabio to score his first ever goal for the Red Devils. On this evidence, Wigan will find it very difficult to beat the drop this time around.
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| FROSTY: Hughes and Mancini won't exchange Christmas cards this year |
Manchester City’s outside hopes of the title were all but ended in a forgettable 1-1 draw with Fulham at Eastlands. A rather frosty handshake between Mark Hughes and Roberto Mancini, simmering the pot from Hughes’s controversial departure from City in December 2009 was the highlight. Sparky’s first return since his sacking saw his team fight hard and deserve their point. Andy Johnson’s swept ball across the box found Damien Duff, who beat Joe Hart three minutes into the second half. This cancelled out a wonderful first half strike from the temperamental Mario Balotelli for the home side.
Elsewhere in the Premier League and 37-year old Robert Pires stole the show in Aston Villa’s impressive 4-1 demolition of Blackburn Rovers. The Frenchman rolled back the years with a vintage display of sheer quality and class. Ashley Young scored twice and Stewart Downing once, as both looked like they are beginning to return to their best form at a crucial time of the season. On a difficult week for him with the earthquake in New Zealand, Ryan Nelsen compounded Rovers misery with a late red card. Ryan Taylor also saw red in Newcastle’s 1-1 draw with Bolton Wanderers at St. James Park. Daniel Sturridge scored his fourth goal in four games, wiping out the Magpies advantage, given to them by ex-Bolton favourite Kevin Nolan. At Goodison Park, Jermaine Beckford scored two first half goals to help Everton record a 2-0 win over Sunderland. The result wiped the smile off Steve Bruce’s face, 24 hours after he’d signed a new contract with the Black Cats. It leaves Sunderland on a depressing run of four successive Premiership defeats.
As March is now here, the time for grave mistakes is over. The 2010/11 Premiership season is approaching its final furlong. The question is who has the stamina and strength to deliver in the final two months of this gripping campaign.
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