With the draws for the European competitions over and the football world still salivating over the prospects some of the fixtures that were churned out, focus swiftly shifted back to the Premier League and the awesome weekend of football it threw at us.
Good Week For:- Liverpool (Found their scoring boots at last), Newcastle and West Brom (Hard-earned wins to set them back on the right track)
Bad Week For:- Norwich (Saw their run of good form snapped by West Brom), Fulham (Blitzed by a Liverpool side who’ve not been known for goals this season), Aston Villa (Unbeaten run snapped emphatically by Chelsea)
Two Red Cards, the lack of a third and a disallowed goal served as evidence that controversy had followed Everton from Stoke on their trip to West Ham. A good game of football between the two sides was overshadowed by some abysmal refereeing as Everton came from behind to win 2-1 at Upton Park. Leon Osman had a goal disallowed in the early stages of the game as the referee had adjudged the Everton players to be unfairly blocking Jussi Jaaskelainen in the build-up to the goal.
It was a debatable decision to say the least and the rules about blocking are definitely something that need clarifying by the FA. The two red cards came as a result of both offenders having their feet at the opposition’s head-height but when this happened on a third occasion, the referee didn’t deem it an offence. It’s a shame the refereeing was so bad because it took away from how good the game actually was.
Another manager who felt aggrieved by the refereeing towards his team was Brian McDermott. His Reading side were doing incredibly well at the Etihad against Manchester City, until the home side showed exactly why they’re champions through fighting until the end to grab a last-minute winner. Whether the goal should have stood or not was another question as Gareth Barry appeared to obstruct Nicky Shorey prior to scoring but the referee didn’t see it that way. McDermott was clearly very frustrated and perhaps rightly so after the effort his side had put in in the game.
While McDermott was furious with the officiating, Harry Redknapp in QPR’s game was furious with his players. His side slumped to a 1-0 defeat at Newcastle and Redknapp, known for speaking his mind, wasted no time ripping into his players. The money QPR have has been apparent in recent Summers and Redknapp seems to think that some of it has been spent fairly unwisely on player wages – he’ll definitely be looking for his players to step up to the mark soon.
Liverpool bounced back to form in dramatic fashion, pasting a poor Fulham side 4-0 at Anfield. Skrtel, Gerrard, Downing and Suarez all got on the score-sheet for the Reds as Brendan Rodger’s side looked more fluent and confident in possession than they have done all season. Luis Suarez’s goal took his tally to 11 for the season, already equalling his tally for last year – the Uruguayan will be instrumental if Liverpool are to continue climbing up the table.
Elsewhere in the league, two sides clashed in a great encounter at the Hawthorns. West Brom and Norwich went at each other blow for blow in what was one of the most entertaining fixtures of the weekend and it was only fair someone came out on top. In this case it was West Brom; a win that couldn’t have come at a better time just before the Christmas period gets into full flow.
Steven Fletcher settled affairs for Sunderland as they ran out 1-0 winners at Southampton in another entertaining clash; the bottom of the table is very tight and clashes like this will prove crucial towards the end of the season. A team with experience of end-of-season relegation trouble is Roberto Martinez’s Wigan. Arsenal and Wigan have a history of good clashed and this was no different, if a bit shy of goals. Both sides made a serious effort to win the game but Arsenal just came out on top thanks to a Mikel Arteta penalty in the middle of the second half.
Arsenal’s North London rivals, Spurs, moved level on points with the Gunners in rather unspectacular fashion due to an absolutely dire bore draw against Stoke City. Stoke will be overjoyed with the point but AVB needs to get his team winning these home games because he won’t get many easier opportunities to pick up points.
Swansea, on the other hand, were faced with a much tougher home game as they hosted league leaders Manchester United. Two chances in quick succession saw United take an early lead thanks to Patrice Evra’s third goal of the season. However the away side couldn’t take full advantage of their early dominance and soon enough Swansea equalised through Michu as they went on to hold for the draw. Two millions pounds was looking like a bargain at the start of the season but now that the Spaniard is at 13 league goals and scoring some crucial ones at that, is Michu the buy of the season?
The surprise of the weekend though came from Stamford Bridge as Chelsea beat Aston Villa 8-0. Much has been made in recent weeks of Aston Villa’s young side and how well they were doing as well as when they would come unstuck and it seemed that that occasion passed this weekend. It took three minutes for Fernando Torres to open the scoring and from then on in it was plain sailing for Chelsea as they breezed past Paul Lambert’s side in emphatic style. Frank Lampard gave the powers that be at the club another example as to why he should get a contract extension with a fantastic performance in the centre of the park.
With a flurry of fixtures in the over the next few days of the Christmas period, consistency and intensity will be crucial to teams’ success in the league. Stick with us here to keep up to date with it all!
Results:
Swansea City 1 – 1 Manchester United
Chelsea 8 – 0 Aston Villa
Liverpool 4 – 0 Fulham
Wigan Athletic 0 – 1 Arsenal
Manchester City 1 – 0 Reading
Newcastle United 1 – 0 QPR
Southampton 0 – 1 Sunderland
Tottenham Hotspur 0 – 0 Stoke City
West Ham 1 – 2 Everton
West Brom 2 – 1 Norwich