Another interesting weekend of Premier League and FA Cup action which saw teams at the bottom claiming valuable points highlighted by Sunderland crushing Newcastle under the management of a certain controversial Italian. This segment will offer some quick fire analysis of each game.
Arsenal 3-1 Norwich - The Emirates boo birds were warming up with 5 minutes left to go in this one before Arsenal found their shooting boots. But a brave performance by Norwich masks the fact that this really should have been an even heavier win for Arsenal and the Canaries are right in the relegation scrap.
Aston Villa 1-1 Fulham - This was two points dropped for Villa against a Fulham side with nothing to play for and they will be looking with regret, thinking that they would be 14th in the table if they hadn’t gifted Fulham, who were once again Berbatov and ten others, a poor own goal.
Everton 2-0 QPR - A decent first half from QPR but they gave up in the second, which allowed Everton to coast to an easy win, which was once again lit up by the mesmeric Kevin Mirallas.
Reading 0-0 Liverpool - Liverpool dominated the entire game and should have scored seven or eight, but an inspired performance by Reading goalkeeper Alex McCarthy, combined with their own truly abysmally wasteful finishing, means they will finish below Everton again this season.
Southampton 1-1 West Ham - This was a brilliantly entertaining game which showcased the two sides to Premier League football as the passing of Southampton mixed well with the directness of West Ham to produce an end to end game with plenty of chances for two teams that look good value for Premier League survival at the first attempt.
Newcastle United 0-3 Sunderland - As predicted here, Paolo Di Canio had an immediately positive influence on Sunderland, who pressed very high and played with a quick and direct tempo, which made things uncomfortable for Newcastle all game and they topped it off with three excellent goals to complete a critical win.
Stoke City 0-2 Manchester United - Stoke’s slide towards relegation continued as they meekly allowed United to pass the ball in front of them and didn’t register any attacking threat to challenge the supposedly vulnerable De Gea, who has now kept 7 clean sheets in his last 8 games.
Wigan 2-0 Millwall - Wigan made their first cup final with a very easy win over Millwall with the main question marks relating to whether it will negatively affect their survival hopes, and yet more crowd turbulence from Millwall.
Man City 2-1 Chelsea - By far the best game of the weekend as both teams’ attacking players showed up wanting to put on a show, which led to an open and thrilling game that had good goals, poor tackling and total commitment with Man City in sight of a third consecutive trophy winning season.
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title: “Premier League Round Up Each Game In A Sentence” ShowToc: true date: “2023-01-07” author: “Sandra Thomas”
It was a hectic weekend of Premier League football which saw the teams at the bottom of the table making moves towards safety and doom, and further twists and turns in the pursuit of a valuable spot in the top 4. This segment will offer some quick fire analysis of each game.
Reading 0-2 Southampton - Southampton played some glorious football and looked every inch a Premier team in this Nigel Adkins derby but Reading are heading for relegation.
Norwich 2-2 Swansea - Norwich halted their run of defeats with a scrappy draw but only because Michu’s usual cool headed finishing betrayed him with an awful late game miss.
Stoke City 1-3 Aston Villa - Villa continued their recent surge of form highlighted by a sumptuous volley from Matt Lowton and showed Stoke that a team with pace and variation in attack can win games despite defensive weaknesses. But this was a critical blow to Stoke, who are my pick for 18th place.
West Brom 1-2 Arsenal - This was a vital and impressive win for an Arsenal side that have re-settled after their wobble to get right back into the race for 4th place. But they will have been pleased that the rampant Romelu Lukaku was inexplicably benched by West Brom.
Liverpool 0-0 West Ham - Liverpool brought back memories of the last two seasons with a profligate performance against an unambitious West Ham who will be delighted with an important point.
Spurs 2-2 Everton - This was the best game of the weekend, highlighted by a sublime mazy run and finish from Mirallas for Everton, who then wrote themselves out of a top 4 spot with a soft late equaliser which Spurs ill-deserved.
Chelsea 2-1 Sunderland - Paolo Di Canio wore a garish jumper and then hugged no time team mate John Terry on the way out of the tunnel but neither of those were the most bizarre things in this game of two own goals and a deflected third to keep Sunderland right in the mire.
Newcastle 1-0 – Dimitar Berbatov - Newcastle spent the whole game attacking the flimsy looking Dimitar Berbatov defence without success until a late moment of inspiration from Cisse sent the crowd and Pardew into delirium and Premier League safety, but this was only after two gorgeous attempts from Berbatov were just about kept out.
QPR 1-1 Wigan - QPR were their own worst enemies as Zamora’s 10 point head shot and Taarabt ducking out the way of Maloney’s late free kick cancelled an astonishing display of technical prowess from Loic Remy, who improbably battered in QPR’s goal with the side of his foot.
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