Can Gerrard lift the Premier League crown?

This weekend proved to be one which saw the Premier League title race thrown wide open, with four sides in the hunt for the crown.  The leaders lost and the chasers won, as this looks like being one of the tightest title races in years. 

The main talking point of the weekend was as ever at Old Trafford, for the most recognised fixture in English football, Manchester United vs Liverpool.  I was very much looking forward to this game, it always is good to watch, heated encounters, wonderful goals and a lot of controversy.  In the league, United are having what seems their worst season for a decade and Liverpool having their best, with Brendan Rodgers' philosophy very much clicking into place and with what has been named the best attack in the country in the SAS and co.  Despite David Moyes having a well proven attacking squad in Robin Van Persie, Wayne Rooney, Juan Mata and Adnan Januzaj.  However, it seems the Spaniard doesn't fit into United's system.  As said many times when he arrived, I can't see where he fits in with Rooney on a new deal and Van Persie seemingly following suit, Mata's preferred role is in the hole, yet both Rooney and Van Persie cannot play if Mata is put there.  So he's shoved out wide, constantly cutting inside as he does instinctively, meaning there's no width, it certainly is troubling for Moyes.  Heading into this clash, after a season of embarrassing home displays, could it get worse?  The answer, in a word, yes. 

It was by far, the worst performance I've seen of a United side in a very long time, they looked lost, clueless and lacked fight.  Speaking of Juan Mata, that game proved how unsuited he is to Manchester United and when needed to track back, he is weak and careless.  Januzaj can be given some sympathy.  In his first season, only 18 years old, he's being looked upon to deliver in games of this stature week in and week out in his first season, he shouldn't be expected to produce moments that can save his side with his age and lack of experience.  As for Van Persie, it makes me glad to see United fans now calling for him to leave a year after he was the 'best striker in the country'.  He's been complaining about other players 'getting in his way', well even if he had the whole pitch to himself he'd still complain.  Now they know what he was like for 6 years at the Emirates for us; injured, inconsistent and moaning.  It was a master class though from Rodgers, all out attack, attacked the wings with Raheem Sterling and Daniel Sturridge, with Henderson and Gerrard bossing the midfield and Luis Suarez constantly on the move.  It was a tale of three penalties in the end, two scored and one missed.  Steven Gerrad converted and was a post's width away from a famous hat-trick of penalties at Old Trafford.  Nemanja Vidic saw red again against Liverpool, this would be his last against the famous rivals.  Rafael somehow was not sent off for deliberate handball for the first spot kick, with Phil Jones at fault for the second.  A well executed dive from Sturridge was the action in which Vidic went, but Gerrard struck the post.  Suarez got a deserved goal after a Sturridge miss hit.  It finished 3-0 but Liverpool could easily of had at least another 2 penalties, it was embarrassing and Moyes' darkest day at the helm.  With the Reds facing two of their tile rivals at Anfield from now till May, surely they are in with a chance of lifting their first crown for over 20 years.  Captain Steven Gerrard has won it all in his career, there is a very good chance of him completing the collection, if Liverpool keep winning, it could be theirs to lose.

Then, there was a mere matter of the game which I look to as soon as the fixture lists are out, Spurs vs Arsenal at White Hart Lane.  After beating them twice already this season with considerable ease, I knew this was not going to be easy at all.  Arsenal had just been knocked out of the UEFA Champions League valiantly in Germany but booked a place at Wembley with a FA Cup win over Everton.  Spurs had been thrashed 4-0 at Chelsea at humiliated in the Europa League in the same week by Benfica at home.  Tim Sherwood gave his side a reality check after their capitulation last week.  I was tense, nervous and extremely worried as all form goes out the window when it comes to North London Derbies.  As it proved, it was backs against the wall, withstanding a lot of Spurs attacks and trying to counter which was the game plan.  It took just over a minute for the nerves to settle, as a wonder goal from Tomas Rosicky fired us into the lead after miss-control from Alex Oxlade-Chamberlain.  Chamberlain had a great chance to make it two but what seemed to be a shot floated wide.  After that Spurs stepped it up but Laurent Koscielny and Per Mertersacker, as for most of the season, were reliable and solid.  Spurs kept coming but didn't really test Woijiech Szczesny, until a mistake from Szczesny led to Spurs' best chance of the game through Nacer Chadli.  After latching to a dropped catch from the keeper, he struck towards goal, only to see Koscielny block the ball away off the line.  After that it was pressure with no real end result and Arsenal hung on.  It as third straight win over the Spuds and was the third time this season Spurs have failed to score against Arsenal.  After a spend of over £110 million, you'd think that Spurs could manage a goal against Arsenal.  It seems that none of the players that have been bought have made a change to the squad, Spurs are still where they were before, 5th.  New men Paulinho and Roberto Soldado were on the bench for there biggest game of the season whilst they played one man up top as apposed to two in a game they needed to win.  Now Spurs lie 9 points off the Gunners and Arsenal have moved 4 points off the top with a game in hand.  With this win, can Arsenal's title chase really be back on?

Best Of The Rest
Aston Villa 1-0 Chelsea: A frustrating game for Jose Mourinho and Chelsea as they saw three sent off, including Jose.  A second yellow for Willian and a straight red for a shocking lunge by Ramires was compounded by a beautiful flick from Fabian Delph as Mourinho continues his winless record at Villa Park.
Everton 2-1 Cardiff: A battling display from Cardiff was undone by a mishit winner from Seamus Coleman.  It was a gutsy and tough performance from the Welsh as they had keeper David Marshall to thank, not for the first time, for keeping them in the game with a string of stunning saves.  Juan Cala equalised after Gerard Deulofeu's opener.  It looked to be a massive point for Cardiff, till a stroke luck went Coleman's way as it looped in for 2-1.
Stoke City 3-1 West Ham: A big battle between two sides still reaching for safety was always going to be messy and physical.  The two sides with the fewest number of headed goals this season, inevitably opened the scoring with a header, from West Ham's Andy Carroll.  Yet, Mark Hughes' influence on Stoke proved as they passed West Ham to death and out played the Hammers on the deck, with goals coming from Marko Arnautovic and a double for Peter Odemwingie, doubling his tally for the season.

The Rest
Hull 0-2 Manchester City
Fulham 1-0 Newcastle
Southampton 4-2 Norwich
Sunderland 0-0 Crystal Palace
Swansea 1-2 West Brom

Wenger reaches Wembley Way

This weekend, the FA Cup took centre stage as Arsenal took on Everton, Hull faced Sunderland, Wigan traveled to Manchester City and Sheffield United met Charlton.  It proved to be a very profitable weekend for Arsene Wenger!

Arsenal 4-1 Everton

I was at the Emirates as the Arsenal faced yet another top six side in the cup as Everton were the latest to travel to North London and try knock out Wenger's men.  It was always going to be a tough game for Arsenal and I was very apprehensive ahead of this and feared a cup exit, as Everton have been by far one of the best teams t visit Arsenal this season when they drew 1-1 here in December.  Roberto Martinez has transformed Everton into top 4 wanna-bee's to top 4 contenders.  Romelu Lukaku was back from injury for the game, but Phil Jagielka was out for Everton and Jack Wilshere for Arsenal.  It proved to be a very, exciting game full of chances and end-to-end action.  The Everton fans were great all game, loud, lively and provided their part to a cracking atmosphere.  I had my Hot Dog, lovely as usual, got my programme and Coke, scarf waving and music booming, my first FA Cup match was going to be good.

Arsenal were quick out of the blocks and the man with a point to prove, Mesut Ozil, put the gunners in front with a delicate pass into the corner.  It was all Arsenal for the next 20 minutes as Everton keeper Joel was having a tough time, nearly tipping in a Bacary Sagna cross and having to palm away efforts from Alex Oxlade-Chamberlain.  Yet, Everton still threatened on the counter attack with England bright spark Ross Barkley standing out.  It was the first time I've seen him live and judging on this, his ticket for the plane might as well be booked now.  His surging run created a fortuitous goal for Romelu Lukaku to equalise.  His superb run and cross was inadvertently set back by Kevin Mirallas and with Arsenal keeper Lukas Fabianski and Bacary Sagna committed, Lukaku had an empty net to put the ball into.  The rest of the half was very tightly contested and closely fought.  The second half was very open and was waiting for the breakthrough, I was sensing there was gonna be a winner from this match and Everton were on top with Ross Barkley only inches away from putting the Toffees in front.  But the tie turned on a brilliant piece of work by The Ox.  He burst past Leighton Baines, who defensively looked very weak, skipped past Gareth Barry, but the trailing leg caught him and Mark Clattenburg gave the penalty.  Now, I was praying Mikel Arteta would take charge, he's normally reliable and calm on the spot, this definitely proved it.  Not once......... but twice did Arteta have to beat Joel, he did superbly and Arsenal had hold of the quarter final, the relief was huge around the ground.  Then a substitution changed the game, the hard working Yaya Sanogo was taken off, he is clearly promising but needs time to improve, and Olivier Giroud came on to a rapturous applause, he was proving a point.  He needed to forget about his personal issues and play his football, not long after he got his goal.  Lovely interplay down the right channel with Tomas Rosicky and Sagna, Sagna did wonderfully to find his French partner and Giroud clinically found the gap to send the 'Que Sera Sera' chants into full swing, Wembley Way was in sight.  Then a slick, fast and devastating counter attack maybe made the scoreline a bit flattering to Arsenal.  Santi Cazorla who was also quality all game weaved his way out of a cluster, found Rosicky, who slid in Ozil who first time laid it on a plate for that man Giroud who again was clinical, 4-1, we were at Wembley now.  The game petered out to chants of Wembley songs and a sense of belief that this could be the year the trophy drought ends!  It was a superb game, two great teams, wonderful players and a Wembley date on the calender.  

The Rest

Hull 3-0 Sunderland- (Davies, Meyler, Fryatt)
Manchester City 1-2 Wigan- (Nasri), (Jordi Gomez, Perch)
Sheffield United 2-0 Charlton- (Flynn, Brayford)

The semi-final draw threw up two Premier League versus Championship games as Arsenal take on Wigan and Hull face Sheffield United.  Arsenal are clear favorites, but we cannot take Wigan likely, they are one of four teams all season to beat City at their ground, so we need to do the business and get to that final.  As for the other tie, it should be interesting as Hull are without January signings Nikica Jelavic and Shane Long, so United may feel they are at a even patch, after all they have dumped Fulham and Aston Villa out already.  I predict it to be a Hull vs Arsenal final, hopefully with the Gunners coming out on top, we need this drought done and dusted! COYG 




Barclays Premier League


After suffering another blow in their fight for survival, it seems Felix Magath and Fulham need a miracle to avoid the drop, needing six wins in their remaining ten games, despite only winning six games all season!!!  A manger merry-go-round at Craven Cottage has caused unease and confusion around the club, with Magath still inheriting signings made by Martin Jol and Rene Meulensteen and trying to fit players who've arrived in January into a side with no experience of fighting at the bottom of the league.  Players like Kostas Mitroglu, Lewis Holtby, Scott Parker and Brede Hangeland are being needed to step up for the Cottagers at this point of the season, but it looks very hard for Fulham to get out of this being bottom of the league and four points from safety with teams above them having games in hand.  After a real six-pointer against Cardiff, Fulham came out of it, bottom and with a defeat against a rival for survival.  A double from Steven Caulker and a Sasha Riether own goal gave victory to the Welsh side.  Magath believes six wins will save his side, but being new to the Premier League, most of his side being allowed no time to settle and having the worse defence in the league, it looks bleak for Fulham.

Elsewhere, Spurs capitulated at Stamford Bridge, but did have a referring decision go against them once again.  A quiet first half which was dominated by Spurs possession and Chelsea counter attacks.  But it all changed in the second half when Spurs went into self destruct, a slip from Jan Vertonghen put him in trouble, he panicked and diverted a pass back to Samuel Eto'o who put it past Hugo Lloris.  Spurs didn't recover and things only seemed to get worse for Tim Sherwood.  A challenge on Samuel Eto'o from Younes Kaboul was penalised, a penalty was awarded and Kaboul subsequently sent off, Eden Hazard duly converted and Chelsea were strolling.  Then Spurs went into complete capitulation, mistakes from Sandro and Kyle Walker gifted two goals for Demba Ba and a 4-0 rout for Mourinho's men sending them seven points clear.  Sherwood was not shying away from the sheer destruction of his side calling them, "gutless", "weak" and "too nice".  With a North London Derby next, Spurs better shake it off and move on or it could be another embarrassing day.  Whereas, for Chelsea, they seem unstoppable, seven clear at the top and with a consistency in the selection.  A settled defence in Petr Cech, Ivanovic, Terry, Cahill and Azpilicueta, which happen to be the best in the league.  After saying Manchester City will win the league this season and Mourinho saying he'd rather have three games in hand than be 9 points clear of Manchester City, I'm starting to think that Jose's mind games are just playing down his side's chances all the time, they must be considered favorites now.

The Rest

Crystal Palace 0-1 Southampton
Norwich 1-1 Stoke
West Brom 0-3 Manchester United