Manchester 2 : 0 London – EPL Round up

It was a good weekend for the Manchester sides. In the clash of the wealthy, Manchester City overturned a 0-1 deficit, to come back and beat Chelsea 2-1. Emmanuel Adebayor had a very eventful day, having opened the scoring for Chelsea with an own goal, after Joe Hart had performed heroics in keeping Chelsea out. Sadly, his second save in seconds bounced limply back off Adebayor’s back to give the West London side the lead in the 8th minute.

The former Arsenal man made up for it eight before half time, when he provided the equaliser. The second half perhaps showcased City’s expensive signings at their best. Former Manchester United man Carlos Tevez put them ahead in the 56th minute and City generally were excellent value for their win. Chelsea became somewhat petty and distracted and picked up six bookings overall, four in the last 17 minutes. They also missed a late penalty to add to their woes, Frank Lampard perhaps preparing to miss one in a penalty shoot out this summer!

City had drawn seven league matches on the trot prior to this meeting, and some storm
clouds had begun to congregate over Welsh manager Mark Hughes. Not anymore, as City showed they can mix it with the best. They now have 25 points, still nine behind Manchester United, although they can close that to six with a make up game.

United continued to impress with a 0-4 win at troubled West Ham. Gianfranco Zola doesn’t
seem to have any answers to West Ham’s current malaise and they are now on 14 points, just one above Wolves in the relegation zone. They have conceded 30 goals in their last twelve games, ten of those in the last three.

United closed the gap on Chelsea to two points although they have a crisis in defence with the news John O’Shea and Jonny Evans are out of action until January. Chelsea however will soon lose four key players to the African Cup of Nations so there may be a good case to make that both sides will drop points in the upcoming period. Both clubs are at home next week. Chelsea host struggling Everton while United play fifth place Aston Villa. Villa have the second best defensive record away from home and could provide a test for United.

They secured a comprehensive 3-0 win over Hull City, who were relieved to see almost
everyone around them lose too. As well as West Ham, Burnley lost 0-2 at Portsmouth, Wigan 2-3 at home to Birmingham City, and Bolton Wanderers 2-1 at Wolves. This bit of fortune for Phil Brown’s Tigers represented only Wolves and Portsmouth’s second home win.

Everton came back from 0-2 down to secure a 2-2 draw with Spurs, who had a late penalty that was saved by USA keeper Tim Howard dramatically awarded after Tim Cahill’s 86th minute equaliser. Cahill will star for Australia in this summer’s World Cup, and France’s Louis Saha and England’s Jermaine Defoe were also on the score sheet.

Roy Hodgson’s Fulham rose to eighth with a 1-0 home win over Sunderland, Bobby Zamora scoring the winner, a relief after a goal free November for him. Arsenal stay third after an easy 2-0 home win over Stoke City which leaves them six behind Man United with a match in hand.

Liverpool drew 0-0 at Blackburn and dropped to seventh having been overtaken by Manchester City and Aston Villa.

Next week’s fixtures also include Liverpool v Arsenal, and a Lancashire derby at Bolton when Manchester City seek to capitalise on their latest win.

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