THE final hurdles in the Premiership season have seen the whole of the bottom half engulfed by the biggest relegation scrap in the league’s history, whilst at the top, Manchester United regained control of their own destiny.
Despite having Sir Alex Ferguson banned from the touchline for six matches, following his comments about Martin Atkinson after a recent loss at Chelsea, United had to work extremely hard to edge out Bolton Wanderers 1-0. Ferguson was sat in the stands, but was on the phone half the time to the dugout, as his leaders struggled against Owen Coyle’s determined Wanderers outfit. Manchester United’s defensive problems continued as Wes Brown limped off injured and Jonny Evans was sent off for a crunching tackle on Stuart Holden, which has left Holden on the sidelines for the rest of the season. Despite playing very poorly, the home side nicked it through substitute Dimitar Berbatov. The Bulgarian pounced on Juusi Jaaskelainen spilling Nani’s shot to score the most valuable goal of his career.
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| OOPS: Manuel Almunia made another blundering error at the Hawthorns |
It earnt the Red Devils a four point lead at the top of the table, after Arsenal dropped two more points, this time at West Brom. The Gunners had to fightback from 2-0 to leave the Hawthorns with a battling 2-2 draw. Steven Reid headed improving West Brom infront inside of four minutes, and the second Albion goal was indefensible as far as Arsenal concerned. Manuel Almunia entered no man’s land, got into a horrible muddle with Sebastian Squillaci, which allowed Peter Odemwingie and easy goal. Jens Lehmann has been bought out of retirement as a back-up may be needed sooner rather than later, especially as Almunia looks like a clown juggling away in a circus! A brilliant hit from Andrei Arshavin bought Arsenal back into the game, before Robin Van Persie bundled in a late leveller.
Chelsea moved into third place, as they comfortably beat a negative Manchester City 2-0 at Stamford Bridge. City’s key threat Carlos Tevez was missing through injury and they failed to show any attacking intent whatsoever. Meanwhile, Mario Balotelli was dropped after his Europa League kung-fu kick had seen him sent off against Dynamo Kiev three nights earlier. Chelsea had to wait for their goals, and they came in the last ten minutes. A David Luiz header and a brilliant solo effort from Ramires were the difference, as Fernando Torres continued to misfire badly at Stamford Bridge.
Torres’s old club Liverpool closed to within four points of fifth placed Tottenham, after getting more than a friendly helping hand in a 2-0 success at Sunderland. The main controversy came in the first half. Jay Spearing was fouled by John Mensah, after the Ghanaian made an awful mistake. Referee Kevin Friend gave a free-kick, but one of his linesman, 40 yards away from the incident amazingly decided that contact was made inside the box and consequently, a penalty was awarded. Dirk Kuyt duly converted the spot kick calmly. A dynamic finish from Luis Suarez with 13 minutes to go, helped by a poor piece of goalkeeping from Simon Mignolet sealed the result and to make matters worse for Sunderland, they only had one shot on target and Mensah was given a straight red card for fouling Suarez. This red card has since been rescinded. Tottenham missed their chance to close the gap on the top four, as they shared a belting 0-0 draw with West Ham United. There were over 30 shots on goal, with Robert Green in inspired form. Jermain Defoe, Gareth Bale and Roman Pavyluchenko were all denied spectacularly by Green, who showed form not seen since his England gaffe in Rustenberg.
At the bottom, there were more questions created rather than answers given. Everton reached the 40 point mark and probable Premiership safety, with a 2-1 victory over Fulham at Goodison. David Moyes celebrated his ninth year in charge and with a potential takeover at Goodison Park being reported, life seems much better on the blue side of Merseyside. Seamus Coleman made the breakthrough with a diving header in this match, with Louis Saha scoring against his former club, driving a free-kick in early in the second half. Clint Dempsey did pull a goal back, but Everton deserved their victory.
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| OPENER: Charlie Adam strikes home the penalty at Blackburn |
The relegation battle at Ewood Park turned into the ultimate game of two halves. Blackburn Rovers and Blackpool shared the spoils in a 2-2 draw; a result that helps neither side. Luke Varney was denied a goal by the offside flag and then the Tangerines were given a dubious penalty. Charlie Adam scored the penalty, and then produced a perfect free-kick to have Blackpool 2-0 up at half-time. Christopher Samba pulled a goal back early in the second half after a spot of penalty pinball and in stoppage time, Richard Kingston flapped at a free-kick and Junior Hoillett turned in the equaliser for Blackburn.
In the other matches, Stoke City recorded their biggest ever Premiership win, to all but guarantee their own Premiership safety. They thrashed Newcastle United 4-0, who had a miserable day and still need at least two wins to follow Stoke’s survival state. Birmingham are now second from bottom, after losing a crunch match at Wigan Athletic. Maynor Figueroa produced a stunning late winner to earn the home side a 2-1 victory and throw a lifeline into their season. Finally, Wolves first win at Villa Park in 37 years has thrown Aston Villa into serious trouble. Matt Jarvis headed in the winner in a 1-0 win, resulting in a deserved England call-up. Villa got booed off the pitch and the fans demanded Gerard Houillier to be sacked. They are now only one point clear of the bottom three. Two months remain, and who goes down, it’s still far too close to call.
