With Champions League action resuming this week and England bouncing after a friendly win over the mighty Brazil, the Premier League threw one big spanner into the works at the top and bottom of the table.
Good Week For:- Manchester United (Extended their lead to 12 points), West Brom (Deserved win away at Liverpool), Southampton (Finally got the win their performances deserved)
Bad Week For:- QPR (Faced a drubbing at the hand of Swansea), Wigan (Blown out of the water by Chelsea), Newcastle (Not clinical enough in front of goal against Spurs)
As Roberto Mancini said earlier in the week, Southampton have been incredibly unlucky of late as they’ve played some stunning football – their luck changed emphatically today! It took the Saints just twenty minutes to score the first two goals thanks to comedic defending from Manchester City; the defending for the first goal was diabolical (to put it mildly) and for the second Joe Hart was completely at fault. City pulled one back but it was down to some awful communication at the City backline again to put the visitors further behind as Gareth Barry passed the ball into his own net. This performance from the reigning Champions, yes … reigning Champions … has to be seen to be believed (cue Youtube video insert) and if City are to retain this title then they better start getting their act together!
Swansea, like Southampton, had a very good weekend as they picked up where they left off from their previous clash with QPR to decimate Redknapp’s team 4-1. Michu broke the deadlock in the opening exchanges with his first goal in six games and from then on Swansea’s Spanish contingent just took over. The returning cool head of Bobby Zamora gave the visitors some hope when pulling one back at the start of the second half but it was not to be as Swansea picked QPR apart with ease and condemn them to another weekend at the foot of the table.
After another week of tough criticism for Rafael Benitez, Chelsea faced an apparently ‘must-win’ fixture against Wigan Athletic. It was Wigan who started the brightest too until Fernando Torres got in on the act testing Al-Habsi before setting up Ramires for the opener. Torres continued to test the Wigan keeper but nothing was falling for him; the same couldn’t be said for the rest of the Chelsea side though as they eventually cantered to a 4-1 win over Roberto Martinez’s side.
After a convincing few victories of late Newcastle United will have fancied their chances on their trip to Tottenham; unfortunately though Gareth Bale had other ideas. The Welsh winger, drawing more and more comparisons to Cristiano Ronaldo of late, put Spurs ahead after just seven minutes with a Ronaldo-esque free-kick. Sissoko and Gouffran combined to pull a goal back for Newcastle but Bale dragged Spurs back into the game again finishing off a lovely move with a great finish after 58 minutes.
Elsewhere in the league Arsenal geared themselves up their upcoming Champions League clash with Bayern Munich with a hard fought 1-0 win over Sunderland. Santi Cazorla opened the scoring for the Gunners after 35 minutes but it only took the Gunners so long to score because of the excellence of Simon Mignolet in the Sunderland goal. The second half was a very different story though as Sunderland crept their way back into the game before Carl Jenkinson swung the door wide open for tham as he got sent off. Arsenal held on though but will hope to do without said mishaps against the Germans in midweek.
Stoke and Reading played out and entertaining clash at the Britannia Stadium with the home side edging it 2-1, but it wasn’t for the want of effort on Reading’s part. Jonathon Walters put the Potters ahead but his goal wasn’t a patch on the spectacular nature of Stoke’s second goal. Cameron Jerome, scorer of four goals this season (and each more spectacular than the last), put Tony Pulis’ side 2-0 up with a brutally powerful volley on the turn and this was enough to see Stoke grab their first win since Boxing Day.
The Merseyside teams faced a turbulent weekend both falling to 2-0 losses. Everton faced a trip to Old Trafford and were hosted by Manchester United who had the opportunity to go 12 points clear should they win against Everton. Thanks to Ryan Giggs and Robin Van Persie though United did manage to grab the win despite fantastic play by Everton and managed to capitalise on City’s embarrassing shortcomings earlier in the weekend. Liverpool fell, perhaps more embarrassingly, at home to West Bromwich Albion. Steven Gerrard surprisingly missed a penalty in a rare moment of excitement in a dour game of football before West Brom scored twice in the last 10 minutes to do the double over Liverpool.
Aston Villa and West Ham took each-other on in what could turn out to be a relegation six-pointer. Villa had the advantage from the outset and should have had the lead from six minutes in but Andreas Weimann, usually so good in front of goal, couldn’t score an open goal from six yards. Benteke eventually spearheaded the Villa cause as Paul Lambert’s side took a 2-1 win.
And finally, entertainment was at a premium in Norwich’s clash with Fulham. Both sides created the odd chance here or there but neither was really impressive and the match ended in a 0-0 draw. Both sides have had a bit of a tough season but a few wins each between now and the end of the season should be enough to see them through to safety.
Results:
Southampton 3 – 1 Manchester City
Swansea City 4 – 1 Queens Park Rangers
Chelsea 4 -1 Wigan Athletic
Tottenham Hotspur 2 – 1 Newcastle United
Sunderland 0 – 1 Arsenal
Stoke City 2 – 1 Reading
Norwich City 0 – 0 Fulham
Manchester United 2 – 0 Everton
Liverpool 0 – 2 West Bromwich Albion
Aston Villa 2 – 1 West Ham United