As the Premier League takes a week long break courtesy of international football, TF90M's Sunit Thakurta take this opportunity to look back at last weekend’s Premiership results and analyze the week’s losers and the winners both at the top and bottom of the table.
The weekend took off with all the talk surrounding Liverpool’s smashing win over title rivals Manchester United at Old Trafford the week before. So all eyes were on a possible United backlash against Fulham in addition to a grueling and exciting relegation battle.
Portsmouth Vs Everton:
The Premiership kicked off with a lunch time clash between relegation battlers Portsmouth and David Moyes’ ever improving Everton side. The Toffees arrived at the south coast unbeaten in the league since their loss to Manchester United at Old Trafford in January. On the other hand Paul Hart’s boys are staring at relegationin the face after a highly disappointing season that has seen Harry Redknapp leave the club for Tottenham and Tony Adams sacked for a series of poor results. The defending FA Cup winners had to get all three points at Fratton Park to get out of the relegation zone. Things did not start according to plans for Pompey as the home side fell behind to a fourth minute strike from Leighton Baines. Baines celebrated his England call up with a well taken left footed free kick after Younes Kaboul fouled Louis Saha just outside the box. The shaky Fratton Park came to life in the twenty second minute when Peter Crouch rose the highest to head in the equalizer although TV replays showed that the home side should not have been awarded the corner at the first place. With a sudden burst of luck Pompey settled well into the match and in the second half Everton were increasingly stretched at the back but the resistance was broken when the six foot seven Crouch timed his run perfectly to head home the winner after seventy five minutes to wrap a vital victory going into the international break.
Fulham Vs Manchester United:
Everybody expected defending champions United to come back strongly after the 4-1 mauling at home to Liverpool as the Red Devils traveled to Craven Cottage to take on Fulham. But the story was so different at the end of the game as Sir Alex Ferguson was left virtually speechless after his side crashed to a shock 2-0 loss at the hands of Roy Hodgson’s side leaving the champions humiliated two weeks in a row. Rubbing salt into the wound, both Paul Scholes and Wayne Rooney were sent off, the former being red carded for deliberately handling a goal bound header that resulted in Fulham being awarded a penalty that Danny Murphy coolly converted to give the home side the lead. After Mark Schwarzer’s heroics under the bar, the match was wrapped by the Cottagers when Hungarian substitute Zoltan Gera acrobatically finished off a Fulham counter attack late on in the game leaving United shaky at the top of the table.
Blackburn Vs West Ham
West Ham earned a valuable away point as Sam Allardyce’s Blackburn Rovers missed a golden chance to pull away from the relegation zone. For long periods of the game it was the home side that dictated the terms of the game but Mark Noble’s exquisite finish in the thirty fifth minute gave Gianfranco Zola’s side a lucky break that stunned Ewood Park. But amidst all the missed chances, the home side drew level as second half substitute Keith Andrews fired home the equalizer with virtually his first shot of the game. The game proved to be an exciting one but the home side squandered plenty of chances to pull clear of the danger zone.
Stoke City Vs Middlesbrough
This was a relegation six pointer at the Britannia Stadium. Gareth Southgate’s struggling side are deep in trouble after going down to an eighty fifth Ryan Shawcross header in which the dreaded Rory Delap throw in had a big part to play. The win pulls Stoke out of the danger zone and Tony Pulis’ energetic side looks very strong at home which could prove crucial at the end of the season. The problem is the Riverside stadium up in the Northeast may not be able to host Premier League matches next season as Boro fall deep into the abyss just above bottom side West Bromwich Albion.
West Brom Vs BoltonGary Megson returned to his old club as Bolton hoped to steer clear of the danger zone. The relegation battle this season is so close that no team in the bottom half of the table is safe with as little as ten points separating 12th place Bolton from bottom placed West Bromwich Albion after the 1-1 draw between the two sides at the Hawthorns. The point proved crucial for Bolton Wanderers while Tony Mowbray’s side remain rooted to the bottom of the ladder.
Tottenham Vs Chelsea
Always a feisty London affair, the latest edition kicked off half an hour late from the scheduled start after a suspicious package was reported in and around White Hart Lane. That delayed start seemed to work in favour of the home side as Guus Hiddink’s side failed to impress against a confident Spurs side led by a strong midfield. Harry Redknapp’s side have been revitalized recently and last week’s victory over Aston Villa at Villa Park has provided the Tottenham players with a renewed self belief that was heavily lacking earlier in the season that saw Spurs hover around the relegation zone for most of the season. Even then the current form of Chelsea under caretaker boss Hiddink and history between the two clubs made the Blues hot favourites to overcome Spurs at their own den. However Chelsea went down 1-0 to deserved opposition who had the hunger to play an exciting game, thus missing the chance to close the gap with Manchester United. Croatian Luka Modric scored the winner in the 50th minute to virtually take the sting out of Chelsea’s title challenge.
Newcastle Vs Arsenal
Arsenal produced a devastating second half display to see out a fighting Newcastle side at St. James’ Park that increased the Gunners chances of qualifying for next season’s Champions League ahead of Aston Villa but at the same time increased the gloom around Tyneside as the Toon Army are in danger of failing to stay at the Premier League.
After Obafemi Martins missed a penalty in the first half, Niclas Bendtner gave the Gunners an early lead in the second half only for Martins to equalize within seconds of the goal. Yet the match was put beyond Newcastle’s reach by goals from Abou Diaby and Samir Nasri.
Wigan Vs Hull City
Ben Watson scored an 85th minute winner to give Steve Bruce’s Wigan Athletic a deserved 1-0 victory that took the side from the JJB stadium up to seventh spot for a final European spot and deepen Hull’s relegation fears as Phil Brown’s side remain precariously situated in the danger zone. The Tigers are four points adrift of the relegation zone and face a real uphill task to survive the fall.
Man City Vs Sunderland
A wasteful Manchester City did just enough to see off 10-man Sunderland at Eastlands after Micah Richards headed in the only goal of the match just before the hour mark courtesy of an Elano free kick. Honestly, Mark Hughes’ side should have won by more goals with Robinho being most wasteful with a first half penalty miss.
Liverpool Vs Aston Villa
The weekend’s last Premiership fixture pitted high-flying Liverpool against Martin O’Neil’s Aston Villa at Anfield. After handing Manchester United the biggest hammering in 73 years, Rafa Benitez’s side faced a tricky side in the form of Villa who are very much capable of destroying parties of big clubs. Yet Liverpool proved their title credentials by dismantling Villa 5-0, with captain Steven Gerrard netting his first Premier League hat-trick. If the Old Trafford mauling was a warning by the Reds, Sunday’s walk in the park against a Champions League hopeful side is a direct challenge by Liverpool for a fight for the title until death.
The Premier League takes a break next week but football will be in full flow as the biggest international stars of the league get busy with their respective national teams for a spot at next year’s World Cup in South Africa. Maybe it will prove useful time for the club’s coaches to regroup their strategies ahead of the league’s finale, but all the managers would hope that their players return unscathed from the international duty.
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