After a midweek of dominance by German football’s elite and United having wrapped up the English Premier League last Monday, focus was firmly set on the remaining Champions League places and the ever-present battle against relegation.
Good Week For:– Liverpool (Beat a hapless Newcastle by six goals without their star striker), Stoke (Continued their return to form with a win over Norwich City), Chelsea (Where Arsenal and Spurs stuttered, the Blues won again to creep closer to Champions League football)
Bad Week For: Wigan (Conceding last minute equaliser to Spurs dented an otherwise good performance against Spurs), QPR & Reading (Relegated with three games to spare)
We kick off this weekend’s roundup with one of the most important fixtures of the weekend as Europe-chasing Tottenham travelled to relegation threatened Wigan on Saturday. An action-packed start coupled with some horrendous goalkeeping saw both sides get on the score-sheet within 10 minutes to make the score 1-1 but from then on the pace of the game dropped off as it became a very scrappy affair in midfield. Callum McManaman capitalised on some lazy defending by Spurs early in the second half to give Wigan a 2-1 lead but the home side couldn’t build on their advantage as Hugo Lloris stood firm in the Spurs goal to deny the threat before an own-goal by previous goal-scorer Emerson Boyce after a controversial free-kick gifted Tottenham the draw. A share of the spoils doesn’t do either side any favours but it was definitely a fair result.
Liverpool responded well to the previous week’s events in stunning fashion as they brutalised Newcastle in a 6-0 win at St. James’ Park. Phillipe Coutinho was again in fantastic form for the Reds in an attacking midfield role as Liverpool stormed to a 2-0 lead after just 17 minutes thanks to Daniel Agger and a tap-in from ex-Sunderland man Jordan Henderson. It took Newcastle 36 minutes to mount an attempt on the Liverpool goal after some brilliant work on the wing by Haidara to get a cross in for James perch who headed wide in a situation where it seemed more difficult to miss than to score. Coutinho’s presence was relentless again as Liverpool grabbed their 3rd and 4th by the 60th minute thanks to a double from Daniel Sturridge. Borini and Henderson scored again to sandwich a Debuchy sending off before the final whistle for Liverpool and to be honest it’s a wonder they didn’t score more.
Southampton and West Brom were involved in an end-to-end clash that ultimately saw the latter come out on top. Romelu Lukaku was dominant for West Brom again but was denied time and time again by Southampton stopper Artur Boruc despite the fact that Marc-Antoinne Fortune was able to beat the Pole on very early on in the match to give West Brom the lead. Lukaku eventually beat the offside trap to double Albion’s lead but mayhem ensued from there on in as three red cards and another West Brom goal put the game firmly beyond Southampton.
Manchester City played their first game since surrendering their league title to cross-city rivals, United as they took on West Ham at the Etihad. It was a very open affair in the opening stages until the former champions took control on the half-hour mark thanks to a powerful finish from the in-form Sergio Aguero. West Ham remained resilient and it took City until the 83rd minute to double their lead as Yaya Toure scored with a nice finish. Andy Carroll reminded everyone of his prowess though as he pulled one back for West Ham thanks in part to a mistake by Joe Hart. Manchester United, on the other hand, were given a guard of honour as they entered their away fixture at Arsenal. Respect went out of the window after 90 seconds of the match though as Van Persie lost possession against his old club to gift Arsenal a goal on the counter-attack, whether or not it should have stood or not though is another matter. Robin Van Persie got redemption though after 44 minutes from the penalty spot to draw United level. More chances came and went throughout the second-half for Arsenal but none were taken and Van Persie’s United walked away with a share of the spoils.
Chelsea were able to capitalise as everyone around them floundered with a 2-0 win over Swansea City. Brazilian starlet, Oscar scored the opener for Chelsea as he was fed by Frank Lampard before the English international got on the score-sheet himself after converting a first-half stoppage time penalty to take his goal tally for Chelsea to 201 goals. Chelsea now move into 3rd place with a game in hand over fourth placed Arsenal.
Elsewhere in the league Everton continued their unlikely push for Champions League football after a 1-0 win over Fulham. Steven Pienaar scored for the Toffees in a result that sees Everton keep pace with the other Europe-chasing sides.
Aston Villa knocked their opponents for six as Christian Benteke and co. were in stunning form against Sunderland. Paolo Di Canio’s men have been resurgent in recent weeks but Villa were just on a whole other level as they smashed Di Canio’s side 6-1 at Villa Park. After Wigan’s last-gasp draw against Spurs, Villa managed to open up a five point gap between them and the drop zone even though Wigan do have a game in hand to make up the difference.
QPR and Reading finally realised their fate as they were consigned to a return to the Championship. The two sides clashed at the Madjeski Stadium in a dour encounter that ended in a 0-0 draw. Esteban Granero starred for QPR but one has to wonder if the bigger stars like him and Loic Remy will be happy with the situation they’re facing now for next season.
And finally Stoke continued their return to form with a 1-0 win over fellow strugglers Norwich City. Neither sides will be too worried about the result however as the relegation battle now seems to be taking place between just Wigan Athletic and Aston Villa. Which two of these sides actually will be relegated remains to be seen so stick with us here at Fortitude to keep up with all the latest new as it happens!
Results:
Wigan Athletic 2 – 2 Tottenham Hotspur
Newcastle United 0 – 6 Liverpool
Southampton 0 – 3 West Bromwich Albion
Manchester City 2 – 1 West Ham United
Arsenal 1 – 1 Manchester United
Chelsea 2 – 0 Swansea City
Everton 1 – 0 Fulham
Aston Villa 6 – 1 Sunderland
Queens Park Rangers 0 – 0 Reading
Stoke City 1 – 0 Norwich City