Chelsea Stay Top Amid Controversy

November 10, 2009

The Premier League is never dull. This weekend produced yet more surprises, lots of goals and as always a little bit of controversy for good measure.

The game of the weekend came at Stamford Bridge, Chelsea vs. Manchester United. In truth, as is often the case, the match failed to live up to the big build-up as Chelsea controversially squeezed out a 1-0 win.

United bossed the majority of the game but failed to create anything clear-cut to test Petr Cech. Then referee Martin Atkinson fancied an ear-bashing from Fergie as he gave a free-kick to Chelsea. Was it a foul on Ashley Cole? Maybe, maybe not. To make Fergie angrier, Chelsea scored from the resulting set-play via a John Terry header with a hint of offside with Didier Drogba to top things off. Fergie turned even more purple than normal as Chelsea ran away with the points.

The other big story of the weekend came at Anfield. Liverpool, minus Fernando Torres, played Birmingham City. Having already lost ground on the aforementioned top two teams, they really couldn’t afford to drop more points against the Blues. You can already tell what happened then? Yes, they dropped two points! After dominating the game from start to finish, they just couldn’t kill off Birmingham.

David Ngog scored a beauty of a volley before ‘Chuchu’ Benitez nodded an equaliser. Then came Cameron Jerome’s moment to remember. He picked the ball up in the Liverpool half and fired a thunderbolt of a shot over Jose Reina and into the back of the net. Another referee to be put in the spotlight was Peter Walton who gave the Reds a second half penalty. Ngog dived over a Lee Carsley challenge to much anger from the Blues players. Nevertheless, Steven Gerrard, appearing off the bench, netted the spot-kick as the game finished 2-2.

Arsenal continued their title challenge with a 4-1 thrashing of Wolves. Cesc Fabregas and Robin van Persie are arguably the two players in the best form in the Premier League at the moment and Fabregas grabbed himself a goal from van Persie’s lay off following two earlier own goals. Andrei Arshavin netted the Gunners’ fourth before Jody Craddock scored a consolation for Mick McCarthy’s men.

Aston Villa went goal crazy at home to Bolton, triumphing 5-1. John Carew was the main man, causing havoc in the Trotters’ rearguard, and got himself a goal. Ashley Young, Gabriel Agbonlahor, James Milner and Carlos Cuellar got the others, Milner’s after he had missed a penalty. Bolton only had a Johan Elmander strike to respond with.

It was a funny old game at Eastlands, with Manchester City and Burnley sharing six goals in a 3-3 draw. Burnley raced into an early 2-0 lead through a Graham Alexander penalty and a Steven Fletcher tap-in. Back came City, with Shaun Wright-Phillips scoring a beauty before the interval. After the break the got themselves ahead with Kolo Toure and Craig Bellamy on the scoresheet, but a late Kevin McDonald strike gave the Clarets their first point on the road this season.

Hull manager Phil Brown has been under immense pressure recently, and his team got off to a bad start against Stoke when Matthew Etherington fired the Potters into the lead. Thankfully for Brown, former Stoke midfielder Seyi Olofinjana equalised for the Tigers before a last-gasp Jan Vennegoor of Hesselink goal gave them the win and possibly kept Brown in a job for another week.

West Ham have now dropped back into the bottom three below Hull after they lost 2-1 at home to Everton. The Toffees went 2-0 ahead with goals by Louis Saha and Dan Gosling, but Everton defender Tony Hibbert clearly wanted to make for an exciting last 20 minutes as he rifled home with a hooked attempt at a clearance to score an own goal!

Portsmouth are still in trouble at the bottom as they fell to another defeat, this time at the hands of Blackburn. Pompey got off to a great start with an early Jamie O’Hara strike giving them the lead. But the half-time introduction of Benny McCarthy and Jason Roberts turned the game in Rovers’ favour, with the former setting up two goals while the latter bagged two for himself, with captain Ryan Nelson scoring the other in a 3-1 victory.

Spurs welcomed former striker Darren Bent back to White Hart Lane for the first time since his summer transfer to Sunderland. Well, I say welcomed… Robbie Keane gave Spurs the lead before Bent’s moment arrived. He was fouled, well dived over the goalkeeper’s challenge to be honest, and won his team a penalty. He stepped up himself to take it only for Heurelho Gomes to save it to his left. Tom Huddlestone hit a 30-yard screamer to give Spurs a 2-0 win to spoil Bent’s day back at the Lane.

And finally, Wigan and Fulham shared the points in a 1-1 draw at the DW Stadium. Emmerson Boyce gave the Latics the lead before Clint Dempsey converted from the penalty spot to level the scores and give both teams a point.

The Premier League has a week off now, as international football takes centre stage. What better than international friendlies eh? Sure some managers disagree but anyway. Brazil vs. England is a mouth-watering prospect, and of course there are some important World Cup qualifying play-offs too with Ireland vs. France one to watch out for.

Paul Harper

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