At Old Trafford, Manchester United welcomed a Newcastle side trying to put behind them the 3-1 loss that was handed to them by Manchester City last week. Newcastle welcomed back Red Devils old boy, Gabriel Obertan, while Manchester United made a couple of changes to the side that could only get a point off Benfica in midweek.
The home side took the lead through Mexican Javier Hernandez, although few could claim he knew much about the ball as a Rooney shot ricocheted off a Newcastle defender to strike Hernandez and trickle its way into the net. Newcastle drew level from the spot through Demba Ba, after the referee awarded them a very dubious spot kick. Rio Ferdinand was adjudged to have brought down Hatem Ben Arafa in the box, but replays showed the United and England defender getting to the ball before the player.
After that it was a matter of Manchester United efforts pouring onto the Newcastle defense and goalkeeper, with Tim Krul making a few vital saves. Argentine Jonas Gutierrez’s red card made the Magpies’ job a bit harder, but they showed why they’ve maintained their position at fourth in the table by keeping United at bay and leaving Old Trafford with a point.
Arsenal’s run of wins also came to an end with a 1-1 home draw against Fulham. Thomas Vermaelan was the main focus of the game with goals at both ends of the pitch. The Belgian defender equalized for Arsenal after having given the lead to Fulham earlier in the game. The match also saw Robin Van Persie miss the chance to equal his goals scored vs. games played ratio for 2011.
League leaders Manchester City dropped points for only the second time this season, as they drew 1-1 with Liverpool at Anfield. But, it could have been worse as they saw Mario Balotelli sent off and relied on some excellent saves by England’s goalkeeper Joe Hart to keep them as the only unbeaten team in the league. Liverpool fans could still be wondering, myself included, how they didn’t win and what they need to do to win at Anfield as it has been 5 draws in a row at home!
So, with all those draws, the 3 points were in favor of Chelsea and Tottenham. Chelsea’s boss had been under pressure in recent weeks after losses to Arsenal, Liverpool and Leverkusen, so a 3-0 win over Wolves was welcome relief for the young tactician. Goals from John Terry, Daniel Sturridge and Juan Mata in the first half secured the win and allowed the Chelsea boss to focus on Tuesday’s league cup tie with Liverpool. Chelsea have the upper hand of an extra day’s rest for the tie with Liverpool playing Manchester City on Sunday.
Tottenham went to WBA following a string of excellent results, and although they went behind to a Mulumbu goal, an Adebayor brace and Defoe goal saw of the Baggies’ challenge and gave Harry Redknapp’s side all 3 points. Keeping in mind Spurs have a game in hand (Their first game of the season with Everton was postponed due to the London riots), which could see them move up to 2nd in the table and 4 points behind Manchester City. This has encouraged manager Harry Redknapp to declare that it’s not an impossibility that Spurs win the league.
Yasir says:
• With about a third of the league gone, some interesting statistics that might catch the eye:
o 129 games have been played, 351 goals scored, averaging 2.72 goals per game
o 97 wins, 32 draws, 66 clean sheets and 9 hat tricks!
o 412 yellow cards (3.2 per game), 23 red cards (a sending off in every 5.6 games)
o 1,723 shots on target (13.4 per game), 1,325 shots off target (10.3 per game)
o 449 different players have graced the pitch from 66 different nationalities.
o In an age where people fear that TV coverage is ruining the game, 4,460,767 attendees have been to the games. That’s an average of 34,580 viewers per game.
• Respects were given in the past few days to former Welsh manager and Everton & Leeds player Gary Speed who died at the age of 42. It has been said that police will open an investigation over his death, while many clubs offered the one minute silence of respect in his memory before last weekend’s games.
