As the Six Nations Rugby came to its conclusion this weekend and Formula 1 returned, football took a bit of a back seat in the sports news but the amount of action that took place over the weekend was sure to bring the focus back to the Premiership over the next few weeks.
Good Week For:- Manchester United (Extended their lead at the top to 15 points), Southampton (Dismantled Liverpool), Aston Villa (Won a crucial six-pointer over QPR)
Bad Week For:- Manchester City (Damaging loss to 10-man Everton), Swansea (Continued their post Cup slump), QPR (Their mini-revival was halted)
In one of the most unpredictable relegation scraps of recent memory Aston Villa hosted QPR at Villa Park in a thrilling 5-goal exchange that saw Villa grabbed their first back-to-back wins in two years. With both sides aware of what was at stake in this match, the atmosphere and the intensity was at an extremely high-level and thanks to some stunning goalkeeping from Villa’s Guzan. The score stayed level until the 23rd minute when Villa’s defence fell apart and allowed a resurgent Jermain Jenas to snatch the lead. If the first half belonged to QPR then the second was certainly Villa’s; a late first-goal from Agbonlahor saw Villa go into the break level and from then on they never looked back as Weimann and Benteke sealed the deal for Villa.
Everton, fresh from a battering at the hands of Wigan Athletic in the FA Cup, hosted Manchester City in Saturday’s early kick-off as they sought to continue their good home record against the Champions. Kevin Mirallas gave City a scare early on as he lashed a volley past Joe Hart in the early moments but the effort was ruled out for offside. City then sought to respond immediately but were caught out by a wonder-goal from the influential Leon Osman; the Everton veteran striking a Paul Scholes-esque bullet into the top corner to completely fool Hart in the City goal. City seemed to be able to manage everything but a goal as they came close time and time again but the luck seemed to turn their way when Steven Pienaar was sent off for a second yellow card. City then went on to dominate the game but thanks to some great scrambling defending and great goalkeeping from Jan Mucha. Jelavic then sealed the deal for Everton as City overcommitted in attack, Fellaini and Jelavic combined to put the game and possibly the title beyond City.
As one Merseyside squad saw good fortune at home, another saw terrible fortune away as Liverpool were beaten 3-1 by Southampton at St. Mary’s. Morgan Schneiderlin opened the scoring after six minutes for the home side and Southampton continued to test the Liverpool rearguard for the remainder of the half. Rickie Lambert got a bit of fortune with a free-kick to take Southampton two goals ahead but in truth Liverpool had had no attacking presence in the game at all until the end of the half when Phillipe Coutinho capitalised on a rebound to bring Liverpool within a goal on the stroke of half-time. Finally Jay Rodrigues finished the match off for Southampton with a stunning solo effort at the end of the game.
Elsewhere in the league, Manchester United capitalised on City’s shortcomings with a hard-fought win over Reading. Wayne Rooney continued his recent return to goal-scoring form by putting United ahead after 19 minutes but the home side couldn’t push on and stretch their lead as Reading more than held their own against the league leaders but ultimately fell to a 1-0 loss.
Swansea dropped into a mini-slump after a 2-0 loss to Arsenal saw them lose two games in a row since their League Cup triumph. Michu was menacing for the Swans but at times found himself isolated and Arsenal capitalised on this as they snatched two good goals from the unlikely sources of Nacho Monreal and Gervinho. Swansea though already have European football guaranteed for next season therefore this result will have meant a lot more to Arsenal than to Swansea.
Tottenham lost their third consecutive game in rather shocking circumstances against a Fulham side who had previously only won two away games all season. Former Spurs star, Dimitar Berbatov took a break from his Harlem Shake antics (check it out on youtube) to break Tottenham hearts and condemn Spurs to their third loss in eight days.
Norwich took a point away from Sunderland in a result that really doesn’t do much for either side. Norwich took the lead in the first half but had ‘keeper Mark Bunn sent off after 30 minutes. In truth both sides had plenty of opportunities to take the lead and win the game but it’s Norwich who can feel most pleased with the result for keeping the score level for so long with 10 men.
Frank Lampard joined the 200 club as he and Eden Hazard condemned West Ham United to defeat at Stamford Bridge. In truth, the European Champions were wasteful and should have been out of sight by the interval but West Ham were stubborn in defence and held on to keep the deficit at just two goals.
Unfortunately the talking point in Wigan’s match with Newcastle wasn’t so much the result (Wigan won 2-1) but the tackle on Massaido Haidara by Callum McManaman. Goals by Jean Beausejour and Arouna Kone sandwiched Davide Santon’s effort to give Wigan a vital win.
And finally, in a match never expected to produce greatness, Stoke City and West Brom played out a dour 0-0 draw at the Britannia Stadium.
Results:-
Aston Villa 3 – 2 Reading
Everton 2 – 0 Manchester City
Southampton 3 – 1 Liverpool
Manchester United 1 – 0 Reading
Swansea City 0 – 2 Arsenal
Stoke City 0 – 0 West Bromwich Albion
Tottenham Hotspur 0 – 1 Fulham
Sunderland 1 – 1 Norwich City
Chelsea 2 – 0 West Ham United
Wigan Athletic 2 – 1 Newcastle United