Game of the weekend
The blue half of Manchester’s hold on the title was further weakened this weekend as Liverpool came away from the Etihad with a 2-2 draw. Edin Dzeko had put City ahead before former blue Daniel Sturridge brought Liverpool level, thankfully Sturridge resisted the urge to inflict upon us one of his horribly embarrassing dances. A seemingly rejuvenated Steven Gerrard fired Liverpool in front only for Pepe Reina to produce one of his ‘rare mistakes’ and allow Serio Aguero to bring City level. Despite the goal there was no late show and City dropped more vital points in the title race. To quote Roberto Mancini “In this moment” it will be very difficult for Manchester City to end this season as Champions but a timely reminder of last season should keep them believing.
Fulham 0-1 Manchester United
Earlier in the weekend Manchester United had gone ten points clear with a hardworking victory away at Fulham, Wayne Rooney continuing his good run of form with a late winner. The game was more memorable however for the floodlights failing a few minutes before half time leading to ESPN pundit John Barnes asking the daftest question of the season….‘would there be ten minutes added on time?.
Olympique Newcastle (formerly known as Alan Pardew’s eight year deal) 3-2 Chelsea
Rafael Benitez continues to make friends and influence people at SW6 as Chelsea fell to another second half collapse. The French revolution at Newcastle the latest to torment Chelsea as they deservedly edged a five goal thriller. An eventful game burst into life when returning villain Demba Ba was struck in the face by Fabricio Coloccini, leaving the Senegalese forward with a broken nose. Jonas Gutierrez put Le Toon in front just before half time but despite two wonder goals from Juan Mata and Frank Lampard it was Newcastle who finished with the Je Ne Sais Quo as new signing Moussa Sissoko struck twice to give Ze Geordies the victory and leave a host of people irritatingly throwing around French puns.
Best of the Rest
Another stunning goal from Gareth Bale saw Tottenham close the gap on faltering Chelsea as they defeated West Brom 1-0 at the Hawthorns. Goran Popov was sent off for inadequately spitting at Kyle Walker as Spurs Top 4 finish gathered momentum. Arsenal kept up the pace with a 1-0 victory over Stoke, whilst Everton and Aston Villa shared a six goal thriller in a belter at Goodison Park.
Reading continued their Manchester United parody with another late show to see off Sunderland. QPR’s bus was held or rather held Norwich to a goalless draw whist Wigan and Southampton drew 2-2 in the other relegation six pointer. Finally West Ham eased their own relegation fears with a 1-0 home win over Swansea.
Too Good Too Bad
Transfer deadline day starring Harry Redknapp
Another deadline day, and once again good old ‘Arry managed to outdo Sky Sports presenter Jim White in the attention seeking stakes. The cheeky chappy first of all spent much of deadline day trying to buy players from former club Spurs that he deemed not good enough to play for Spurs. Bentley, Jenas, Townsend and Crouch are four players that Redknapp either sold or left in the reserves in his final two years at Spurs, yet on deadline day these players suddenly became crucial in his attempts to ensure QPR’s Premier League status. Despite the fact he had the entire month of January to sign players better than Bentley, Jenas, Crouch and Townsend.
He also spent a significant amount of time in January talking about not talking about other clubs players……by talking about other clubs players. For example “Mo Diame at West Ham is a triffic player, he’s got triffic tenacity but you know me Geoff, I don’t like to talk about other clubs players”.
His habits also rubbed off on one of the players he attempted to tap up during January - Peter Odemwingie, whom created history by becoming the first ever footballer to tap himself up. ‘Arry was so impressed he felt “sorry for the lad”.
Tony Pulis unfounded outrage watch
This week Tony Pulis hit new heights of unfounded outrage by complaining about Arsenal players rightfully protesting against a wrongly disallowed goal. The goal was subsequently given. Not only were there no Arsenal players offside as Lukas Podolski struck the free kick but the ball deflected off a Stoke City player, yet Tony Pulis manager of Stoke City, yes Stoke City, was outraged with the level of Arsenal protest. Unsurprisingly Pulis did not comment on Ryan Shawcross getting away with a horror challenge that should have resulted in a red card. Next week look out for Tony Pulis being outraged at Reading’s long ball and overly physical tactics.
