With the first of the cup final weekends upon us the focus shifted slightly from the league action but some interesting results and fantastic goals came to the forefront as the weekend went on.
Good Week For: The fans (Some truly stunning goals and play to make the fans proud of their league), Wigan (A crucial and emphatic win away at Reading), West Brom (A definite indication of a return to form)
Bad Week For: Arsenal (Despite the win over Villa they’ve had a horrible seven days), QPR (They really need to start picking up points soon, especially at home), Chelsea (Outclassed by Manchester City)
After swearing in a press conference, the media smelt Roberto Mancini’s blood ahead of Manchester City’s clash with Chelsea. Mancini has said often in recent weeks that City would need to win all their games to catch United but Chelsea would pose more than a substantial threat to that requirement. Or at least that’s how it looked on paper as in all honesty Chelsea were pretty poor throughout as Mancini had set his team up perfectly and ended up walking away with a 2-0 victory thanks to Yaya Toure and Carlos Tevez to pile the pressure back on United.
Another manager under immense criticism is Arsene Wenger. A pitiful couple of displays has seen the usually calm Wenger lose his temper with the media and as a result was under intense scrutiny in the build-up to Arsenal’s clash with Aston Villa. Arsenal came away with a 2-1 victory but in all honesty it was barely deserved. Santi Cazorla, a man who any and all of Arsenal’s ‘successes’ this season can be attributed to, grabbed both the goals for the Gunners as they looked worryingly shaky against Paul Lambert’s Villa side. Arsenal’s sloppiness gave Villa plenty of chances and against a better team these chances will be taken and Arsenal are going to struggle to hold onto fourth.
A team not struggling at all at the moment though is Manchester United. A difficult trip to Queens Park Rangers was taken care of in a pretty straightforward fashion as the league leaders came away with a 2-0 win thanks to another goal from Ryan Giggs and a peach of a strike from Rafael. The only real concern that United had during the game was the injury to Robin Van Persie in the build-up to the opener. Van Persie is expected to be fit for United’s second-leg clash with Real Madrid but with this being the first real injury he’s had in recent memory will his injury history come back to haunt him?
Reading and Wigan had a chance to capitalise on QPR’s misfortune as they clashed at the Madjeski Stadium in a thrilling encounter; ultimately though it was Wigan who came out on top with an emphatic 3-0 victory. Reading didn’t make life easy for themselves though as they had a player sent off to put the game firmly beyond their grasp.
Fourth place seems to be something firmly beyond the grasp of Everton now too as they lost 2-1 at Norwich. Everton had control of proceedings throughout the first half, taking a 1-0 lead through a Leon Osman header but they collapsed in the second half as Norwich equalised and eventually won the game through a debateable Grant Holt goal.
Elsewhere in the league Romelu Lukaku starred again for West Brom as the Baggies showed some of their early season form to beat Sunderland 2-0 at the Hawthorns. Peter Odemwingie grabbed a few headlines by featuring on the bench but no-one could steal the show from Lukaku in this match as the 21-year-old showed why he’s so often compared to Didier Drogba. The youngster dispatched a penalty in a calm and collected fashion and notched the second after chasing down a loose ball before winning a 50/50 with the Sunderland keeper to score the second. If Lukaku chooses to stay at WBA next season expect some serious goals from this man.
Lukaku has been a driving force at West Brom this season but he has had some help. Dimitar Berbatov on the other hand has been the driving force of Fulham. When Berbatov is allowed to control the game, despite the criticisms of him, he is one of the best forwards in the world. Whilst some saw his “keep calm and pass the ball to me” t-shirt as a bit brash; consider how much that man’s done since he’s been at Fulham. If you need another reminder of his prowess then check out his screamer from the Stoke game. Fulham walked away with a 1-0 win and once again it was Berbatov who was the difference.
Moussa Sissoko was the star again for Newcastle United as they overcame Southampton 4-2 at St. James’ Park. Morgan Schneiderlin shocked the home crowd early-on by shooting Southampton into an early lead but a fight-back by Newcastle’s French contingent, particularly Sissoko and Debuchy, saw Newcastle overcome the deficit and run out deserved winners.
Finally, Tottenham Hotspur took on West Ham United in Monday’s fixture and the two sides took time before the fixture to honour Bobby Moore. By the end of the night though Spurs fans were honouring Gareth Bale as the Welshman’s wizardry saw Andre Villas-Boas’ side come away with a 3-2 victory thanks in no small part to an absolute screamer by Gareth Bale.
Check out this weekend’s goals; they’re absolutely superb! Speaking of superb, the next few weeks’ action is going to be stunning so be sure to stick with us here to stay right up to date with it all!
Results:
Arsenal 2 – 1 Aston Villa
Queens Park Rangers 0 – 2 Manchester United
Reading 0 – 3 Wigan Athletic
Norwich City 2 – 1 Everton
West Bromwich Albion 2 – 0 Sunderland
Fulham 1 – 0 Stoke City
Manchester City 2 – 0 Chelsea
Newcastle United 4 – 2 Southampton
West Ham United 2 – 3 Tottenham Hotspur