After a miserable week in Europe for the league’s top sides and FA Cup quarter-final action this weekend for United, City and Chelsea, the league’s lesser teams got their chance to shine in a weekend of relegation battles
Good Week For: QPR (Hitting form at the right time), Aston Villa (Won a difficult away game against relegation rivals), Liverpool (Continued their impressive 2013 with a win)
Bad Week For: Swansea (Left to rue bad luck and missed chances), Stoke (Only one win in their last 10), Norwich (Drew a winnable home game against Southampton)
Pundits have said that any team from QPR in 20th to Sunderland in 14th are in danger of being relegated this season and this weekend saw those two sides take each other on at Loftus Road. Harry Redknapp has been adamant since he took over at QPR that they need to win these relegation clashes and after securing a victory last time out, the home fans were keen to see QPR take the game. The home side did start the brightest but were caught out on the break by Sunderland who took the lead through Steven Fletcher after 20 minutes. A bit of good fortune though saw QPR draw level as a deflected Andros Townsend shot landed right at the feet of Loic Remy and from then on the Frenchman couldn’t miss as he made it 1-1. From then on Harry Redknapp’s former Tottenham contingent of Townsend and Jenas took over to give QPR a 3-1 lead thanks to two stunning goals; Townsend’s in particular is worth looking up on YouTube! QPR are still rooted to the foot of the table after this result and if the Harry Redknapp’s assumption that 37 points will be needed to stay up is true then QPR need 14 more points to secure safety this season.
Reading’s home fixture with Aston Villa was more like a comedy show than a football match as embarrassing slips and trips were the cause for most of the goals. Jobi McAnuff was the first beneficiary of this comedic defending as his cross was turned into Villa’s net by Villa defender Nathan Baker; in truth the goal was against the run of play as Benteke and Weimann had been wreaking havoc on the Reading defence up to that point. Aston Villa levelled immediately thanks to Christian Benteke’s 16th goal of the season; his shit deflected off a Reading defender after being played in by a lovely squared ball from Weimann. Gabby Agbonlahor grabbed the second with a vicious half-volley before half-time and the game finished at 2-1 but in truth if Villa had taken more of their chances this would have been an absolute riot. With a few more crunch games coming up for both sides, the next few weeks are going to be crucial.
Southampton’s trip to Norwich City proved to be a battle of the goalkeepers as Mark Bunn and Artur Boruc stole the show at Carrow Road. Both sides threw the kitchen sink at each other in a thoroughly entertaining, end-to-end battle but thanks to some great last-ditch defence and a bit of luck the score stayed goalless throughout. Norwich were denied a penalty in the first half as the referee decided that Grant Holt hadn’t had his shirt pulled in the box by Luke Shaw although replays suggest otherwise. However they were awarded a controversial penalty right at the death for a foul on Grant Holt which was debatably not in the box nor even a foul in the first place. Justice was seemingly done though as Southampton ‘keeper, Artur Boruc saved the penalty anyway. Both sides were good value for the point but with home games against Liverpool and Chelsea coming up for Southampton they’d have liked to have been quite disappointed with the draw.
Liverpool looked to continue their great start to 2013 as they entertained a side doing equally well since the turn of the year, Tottenham Hotspur. The heart of these two teams success has been down to mainly one player, Suarez for Liverpool and Bale for Spurs but it was the former who made the biggest impression on the game early on as the Uruguayan opened the scoring after being played through by Jose Enrique after 20 minutes. Never to be outshone, Gareth Bale snatched the initiative back for Spurs right before half-time with a beautiful cross that landed right at the forehead of Jan Vertonghen who glanced the ball into the net. Bale and Vertonghen were menacing again early in the second half and combined to give Tottenham the lead before they imploded at the back and gifted the home side an equaliser to take the score to 2-2. Liverpool snatched the win right at the death thanks to a Steven Gerrard penalty and took the Reds above their Merseyside rivals, Everton, for the first time in months.
Elsewhere in the league this season’s two surprise packages, Swansea and West Brom, took each other on at the Hawthorns in one of the weekend’s less pressured clashes. Luke Moore opened the scoring for Swansea against his old club with a skilful glancing header from a corner before Romelu Lukaku burst down the other side of the pitch to tuck away a beautiful goal to draw the Baggies level. Lukaku then had a chance to put West Brom ahead from the penalty spot but perennial penalty saver Michel Vorm was equal to the task and saved the Belgian’s effort. The match was decided by an own goal from Jonathon De Guzman which gave West Brom the win but it could have been a draw in the end had it not been for a controversial offside decision which robbed Swansea of an equaliser.
And finally, Newcastle hosted Stoke in the weekend’s last fixture and was another of these less pressured clashes. You wouldn’t have thought it though as the atmosphere and attitude of the players was as physical as it gets. After a dour first half the game came alive in the final 30 minutes as Newcastle came from a penalty down to win 2-1 in added time.
Results:
Queens Park Rangers 3 – 1 Sunderland
Reading 1 – 2 Aston Villa
Southampton 0 – 0 Norwich City
West Bromwich Albion 2 – 1 Swansea City
Liverpool 3 – 2 Tottenham Hotspur
Newcastle United 2 – 1 Stoke City