Despite the mountains of snow we have been presented with over the weekend, Premier League action continued and a cracking few games were enough to warm the hearts of football fans across the country.
Good Week For:- Reading (First away win of the season), Sunderland (Continued good form to beat Wigan in thriller), Swansea (Big win ahead of Cup clash with Chelsea)
Bad Week For:- Manchester United (Saw lead over City shrink), Arsenal (Disappointing against Chelsea), Fulham (Toothless against Manchester City)
One of few bigger talking points in the league this weekend than Fernando Torres’ new haircut was the fact that he managed to start ahead of Demba Ba for Chelsea against Arsenal. He had a hand in the opening goal though as he beautifully set up compatriot, Juan Mata, to finish in typically stylish fashion. The apparently departing Frank Lampard then put his side 2-0 up after converting a blatant penalty after Arsenal’s goalkeeper had brought down Ramires in the box. The Chelsea dominance continued until the second half where Theo Walcott took control for the Gunners and pulled one back for the away side. Chelsea hung onto the win though to keep pace with the Manchester clubs at the top of the table.
Two teams at the opposite end of the table took each other on in an entertaining encounter at St. James’ Park. Newcastle would have confident of getting a result against Reading as the away side hadn’t won an away game all season. Newcastle started the brightest, testing Reading goalkeeper Adam Federici on numerous occasions as their dominance in midfield limited Reading to sporadic counter attacks. However, the opening goal came from a set-piece as Yohan Cabaye curled a beautiful free-kick into the top corner of Reading’s net. Reading’s equaliser however was far less elegant as Adam Le Fondre bundled the ball into the Newcastle net. His second though, was a lovely finish as Reading scored again to condemn Newcastle to another defeat.
Tottenham hosted Manchester United this weekend in a delightful clash at White Hart Lane and dominated the majority of the match. United took the lead after 25 minutes thanks to the sharpshooting Robin Van Persie. From then on though, like the bitter weather, Tottenham’s attackers wreaked havoc upon the United defence and in turn gave United a taste of their own medicine by scoring a very late equaliser to seal a deserved 1-1 draw. This result saw United’s lead over City; who cantered to an easy 2-0 win over Fulham thanks to the superb Spaniard, David Silva, decrease to five points.
Liverpool bounced back in emphatic fashion from their loss to fierce rivals, Manchester United, in the previous round of fixtures. Daniel Sturridge’s impressive start to his Liverpool career earned him a start alongside Luis Suarez but the opening goal came from the unlikely source of Jordan Henderson. Whilst Liverpool’s new strike partnership had been lighting the game up with their skills, even they would have been proud of Henderson’s finish as he rifled a shot into the top corner. From then on the floodgates opened as Suarez and Sturridge in particular ran Norwich ragged on the way to a crushing 5-0 victory. Norwich are rumoured to be after some more firepower up front and on today’s evidence it looks like that firepower will be very much required; Liverpool’s performances in the last few weeks have shown the difference a bit more firepower can make.
Of course, a lot of firepower leads to a lot of goals (although bad defending can help) and we certainly saw our fair share of goals in the clash between Wigan and Sunderland. A five-goal battle between the two sides ebbed and flowed throughout the match but Sunderland, continuing their recent run of good form, just had the edge over Wigan in the end, running out 3-2 winners.
Elsewhere in the league West Ham and QPR played out an entertaining 1-1 draw at Upton Park. Many were interested to see how Loic Remy would perform after his eight-million-pound move from Marseille and the Frenchman did not disappoint, grabbing the lead for the away side after just thirteen minutes. West Ham, however, only improved as the game went on and they grabbed a deserved equaliser through crowd-favourite, Joe Cole. West Ham continued to press until the end but QPR, who’s collective defending have improved greatly over the last few weeks, hung on to snatch the point.
Silky football met physical presence as Swansea took on Stoke at the Liberty Stadium and it was the former who came out on top in this four-goal thriller. Swansea took a 3-0 lead thanks to a Ben Davies opener and delightful De Guzman brace before veteran forward, Michael Owen, netted a late consolation goal for the Potters. The Welsh side looked in impressive form which bodes well for them as arguably the biggest fixture of their recent history was just around the corner in the form of a Capital One Cup semi-final second-leg clash at home to Chelsea and were very good value for their three points.
West Brom and Aston Villa shared the spoils in the West Midlands derby after an enthralling clash ended in a 2-2 draw. Villa fans will be happy with the good result away from home ahead of a crunch clash versus Bradford to come on Tuesday but may also be disappointed that their side couldn’t seal the win as Villa were in control for the majority of the game. Christian Benteke scored his 10th goal of the season in stunning fashion to put Villa ahead before Agbonlahor doubled their advantage. However The Baggies showed some of the fight they’d displayed earlier in the season to come back to snatch the 2-2 draw very late on.
Finally Southampton ended a turbulent week, within which they saw manager Nigel Adkins sacked for controversial reasons, with a bore draw again highflying Everton. The biggest event of the match was the home fans’ protest at their former manager’s sacking; protests are expected to continue in the coming weeks.
Results:-
Newcastle 1 – 2 Reading
Liverpool 5 – 0 Norwich City
Wigan Athletic 2 – 3 Sunderland
West Ham United 1 – 1 Queens Park Rangers
Manchester City 2 – 0 Fulham
Swansea City 3 – 1 Stoke City
West Bromwich Albion 2 – 2 Aston Villa
Chelsea 2 – 1 Arsenal
Tottenham Hotspur 1 – 1 Manchester United
Everton 0 – 0 Southampton