Don’t Believe The Hype
As is always the case, the matches failed to meet up to the expectations of the build-up. Not that either of Sir Alex Ferguson or Arsene Wenger will care, their respective charges ending the weekend five and six points clear at the top of the Premier League following single goal victories over their nearest rivals.
Manchester United kicked off Sunday with a Carlos Tevez goal being the difference between themselves and Liverpool. There were few clear opportunities for either side in the match; Rooney spurned a glorious opportunity to finish the game off as United hit an ever-desperate Liverpool on the break. The goal came from a corner on the United right; Giggs picked out Rooney on the edge of his area whose shot was going wide until it reached the right boot of Tevez who diverted it into the roof of the net. Reina should have done better in his attempt to reach the ball, his dive laborious in trying to cut out the ball before it got to Tevez. Liverpool can have little complaint about the result. Had van der Sar not been so fortunate, they might have capitalised on his errors but the United defenders invariably got to the ball first and the hosts restricted to long-range efforts.
At The Emirates, a typical London derby emerged. Almost chess-like in the first half, open and frenetic in the second as Chelsea tried to claw their way back into the match leaving gaps for Arsenal to exploit. It might have been four; van Persie and Adebayor had goals chalked off for fouls and offside; Fabregas and van Persie both missed good opportunities to increase the lead. The only goal of the game came from a goalkeeping error. Cech missed a routine catch from a seemingly harmless Fabregas corner and William Gallas rose unchallenged to head home. Both sides came away with injury concerns, John Terry and Emmanuel Eboue may be out for a few weeks with ligament damage but Arsenal deserved the points.
Those two matches overshadowed the rest of the fixtures. On Saturday, Manchester City reclaimed their spot in the top four with a 4 – 2 win over Bolton, Michael Johnson’s man of the match performance springing hope that there may yet be talent in the English gene pool. City took the lead through Johnson before Diouf and Nolan gave the visitors the advantage at the interval. Cue the re-emergence of Darius Vassell, re-invigorating the hosts. Surprisingly galvanised by an Eriksson team talk at half-time – something that he palpably failed to do for England – City struck back with a Michalik own goal, Vassell and substitute Etuhu scoring in the final minute, earning himself a yellow card in the process for his celebrations. Bolton wilted and remain in the relegation dogfight.
Their plight is considerably lighter than that of Derby County. If they had ambitions to remain in the top flight, Paul Jewell is going to need to work a bigger miracle than he did in keeping Wigan up last season. A home fixture against Middlesbrough is a game you have to win in these situations; Derby failed succumbing to Tuncay Sanli’s first half winner. Fulham are equally struggling, Joey Barton’s injury time penalty separating the two teams at Craven Cottage. Lawrie Sanchez’s team have started to slip into the same rut as last season and with teams around them picking up points, they may find that the bottom three is their home by Christmas if they do not up the ante on the pitch.
Tottenham took full advantage of the slips by those around them with Dimitar Berbatov scoring the only goal in their surprise victory at Portsmouth. ‘Appy ‘Arry’s men blow hot and cold at Fratton Park; free-scoring on their recent travels, they struggle to find the net at home although when they do, visitors tend to be on the receiving end as Reading recently found out to their cost. The Berkshire team are suffering second-season syndrome but picked up a useful point at St Andrews, Stephen Hunt’s penalty just after the interval cancelling out Mikkel Forsell’s fourth minute strike.
The two-footed lunge is becoming a common feature of many matches but Dwight Yorke was on the receiving end of studs to the chest at the Stadium of Light, Villa’s Gardner only booked when the requisite punishment of a red card for serious foul play should have been meted out. Villa are blowing hot and cold at the moment and their rise to the upper echelons of the table may be halted unless they pick up more points following home defeats to Arsenal and Portsmouth. Shaun Maloney’s seventy-first minute equaliser robbed Sunderland of all three points following Danny Higginbotham’s tenth minute opener. Roy Keane’s men seem to be picking up enough points at the moment to indicate they will avoid the dogfight at the end of the season.
Everton completed a win double at Upton Park, with late goals in either half. Having won in the Carling Cup Quarter-Final, Yakubu scored on the stroke of half-time, adding to his goals earlier in the week. West Ham had no answer and the points were sealed when Andy Johnson scored in injury time at the end of the match.
When your team scores a treble on the road, it is generally a good sign for a victory. Blackburn Rovers proved that to be wrong with Roque Santa Cruz’s hat trick counting for nothing as they slumped to a 5 – 3 reverse at the JJB. Wigan stormed into a three goal lead through Landzaat, Bent and Scharner before Santa Cruz’s first reduced the deficit at the interval. Within fifteen minutes of the restart, he had levelled the scores and seen team mate Brett Emerton take an early plunge in the team bath for a second yellow card. Numerical advantage and comedy Blackburn defending allowed Marcus Bent to complete his hat trick in fifteen second half minutes.
