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United Slay London Neighbours, Tevez blow for City, Arsenal return to Form
Published by Ian John on April 13, 2011
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It has been a busy week for some of the biggest names in the English game, none moreso than Manchester United who emerged from their Champions League clash with Chelsea with a comfortable 3-1 victory on aggregate. United’s 1-0 win at Stamford Bridge, courtesy of a Wayne Rooney strike, set them up for a relatively easy night at Old Trafford where goals from Luis Hernandez and Park Ji Sung, either side of a Didier Drogba strike earned United a semi-final place, most likely against Schalke 04.
In the league, United survived a few early scares to summarily despatch Fulham 2-0 at Old Trafford and open up a ten point gap over second place Arsenal, who had two games in hand.
The Gunners reduced that gap to seven points on Sunday afternoon with a hard-fought 3-1 win over Blackpool at Bloomfield Road. Despite going into an early 2-0 lead, Blackpool severely tested the Gunners in the second half and pulled one goal back from Taylor-Fletcher early in the second half and were then very unlucky not to have a penalty awarded a few minutes later. At 2-2, the game would have been anybodies but Arsenal weathered the storm and Robin Van Persie’s late goal sealed a much needed win.
It was not the best week for Chelsea or their striker Fernando Torres. Defeat at Stamford Bridge by Manchester United left their Champions League dreams in tatters, while a narrow 1-0 home win over Wigan was hardly a ringing endorsement of any title credentials. The second leg at Old Trafford proved equally frustrating as Carlo Ancelotti admitted he gambled in selecting an out-of-sorts Fernando Torres for the clash. It was a gamble that backfired as United won 2-1 on the night, 3-1 on aggregate and Chelsea saw Ramires sent off, not to mention Didier Drogba, the man axed for Torres, look by far the best Chelsea striker on the pitch.
It was a grim week too for Manchester City and manager Roberto Mancini. A difficult trip to Anfield loomed on Monday night and Mancini, with one eye on the FA Cup Semi final this coming Saturday, elected to play a much changed team to the one that defeated Sunderland so impressively last weekend. It was a poor decision and one which backfired royally as Liverpool raced to a 3-0 first half lead, with two goals from £35m striker Andy Carroll and another from the tireless Dirk Kuyt. Worse still for City, Carlos Tevez picked up a muscle tear and is now almost certain to miss the crucial FA Cup Semi-Final clash with Manchester United at the weekend.
In contrast, Liverpool will be buoyed by the comfortable win over City. However, while victory was welcome it was the manner in which it was achieved that will delight most Liverpool fans. It was arguably the best Liverpool home performance all season, full of endeavour, sparkle and of course, capped off with two goals for Carroll, who will gain enormously in confidence from those goals. Luis Suarez energy and imagination, not to mention exquisite first touch, were also a highlight in what was a good win for the Reds, though Sunday’s test at the Emirates against Arsenal will be a much sterner test of their credentials.
For Spurs, it is best described as being a sobering week. Peter Crouch’s madness at the start of the Champions League clash with Real in Madrid saw him sent off after quarter of an hour and any chance of Spurs winning the tie seemed to evaporate with him as Real ran out comfortable 4-0 winners. In the league, Spurs bounced back to defeat Stoke 3-2 at White Hart Lane, but all eyes are now on the second leg tonight, where many football purists are hoping for a miracle and for Spurs to turn the tie on its head, even if it looks an entirely forlorn hope.
In essence, it was a week where United and Arsenal maintained their leads, Chelsea failed to convince, Liverpool saw a ray of hope for the future, Man City did not perform and Tottenham now need a miracle.
Miracles though do happen. Tranmere took on Bournemouth at Dean Court at the weekend and emerged with an impressive 2-1 victory. Put this into context, Bournemouth beat Tranmere 3-0 at Prenton Park earlier in the season and it could have been ten. Better still, Tranmere led until injury time when Bournemouth equalised, which was cue for me to let forth a stream of expletives. However a young striker by the name of Adam McGurk, who has by and large been hopeless this season, decided it was time to aim at the goal, rather than over or around it and thumped home a fourth-minute of injury time winner!
So there you go Harry, if we can win at Dean Court, 5-0 at White Hart Lane even against Real Madrid, should be a doddle!
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