Best Result – Liverpool 2-0 Chelsea
For many years now, the premier league has seen, felt, sensed, enjoyed and talked about the ‘red revival’; there have just been too many of them. However, there is hardly a better sight in English football than the Anfield stadium buzzing with an intensity that reflects the whole-hearted effort the Reds put on the field, on a given day. Unfortunately for Chelsea, November 7, 2010 happened to be that day.
Fifteen league positions separated the two teams before the day started; and the difference of fifteen league positions were covered up by the much-awaited, hyped and anticipated return to form of Fernando Torres. Two goals from the Liverpool talisman made short work of the Chelsea defense and secured a third consecutive league win for the Reds, to help them climb to ninth in the league standings.
Finally, the king returns!
Carlo Ancelotti dearly missed the services of Essien and Lampard in a match that was keenly contested in the midfield. Didier Drogba’s second half introduction tilted the balance of play towards Chelsea, but an inspired performance from Pepe Reina and his defense disabled most of the Chelsea attacks.
Roy Hodgson and Liverpool will dominate the front pages of British newspapers, yet again – but for the right reasons this time around!
Best Goal – Fernando Torres (Liverpool)
Roman Pavlyuchenko (Tottenham) scored a stunning left-foot volley at Bolton, while Charles N’Zogbia (Wigan) curled in a wonderful free-kick past Paul Robinson. However, the sheer execution, timing and consequence of Fernando Torres’s second goal makes it our goal of the week. It’s not often that Petr Cech, John Terry and Alex are all left standing, absolutely motionless – such was the perfection and cleverness of the Spaniard’s second strike of the day.
Best Assist – Dirk Kuyt (Liverpool)
Kevin Davies (Bolton) set up his side’s fourth goal with a brilliant back header. It may have looked simple, but it takes a lot to knock down a seventy yard pass. However, Dirk Kuyt’s pass for Fernando Torres’s first goal was so good, it not only took John Terry out of the equation but let Torres complete his goal without breaking a stride. Bergkamp-esque perfection from the Dutchman!
Most entertaining match – Bolton 4-2 Tottenham
A wonderful advert for the Premier League, the match left a comical Harry Redknapp talking to himself during the post-match interview, wondering about his own tactics. Great goals, brilliant tackles, a sensational atmosphere, end-to-end football and the world’s best player – the match had it all!
Unfortunately, Gareth could not bail Tottenham out this time around. Bolton were cruising at 3-0 through a brace from Kevin Davies, either side of a Steinsson strike, before a mini Tottenham revival threatened to spoil the Wanderers’ party. Two stunning strikes in quick succession – a sweet curler from Hutton and a sweetly-struck volley by Pavlyuchenko – made it a nail-biting finish, but Bolton secured all three points when Petrov raced through on goal and slotted past Gomes.
Owen Coyle was cheekily asked where Bolton stood in the pecking order, after comprehensively defeating a team that beat the European champions three days back. Fortunately, common sense prevailed and the Bolton manager resisted the temptation to go overboard with his side’s victory. Perhaps, a remark or two towards Rafa would have sealed the completeness of this Bolton victory. However, not everyone is a Sam Allardyce. We are all thankful for that, aren’t we?
Shock of the week – Arsenal 0-1 Newcastle
‘Same old Arsenal, always choking’ – Well, the actual chant is slightly different, but this one is pretty apt as well. Judging by the amount of Arsenal supporters cheering on Liverpool to beat Chelsea even before the weekend started, one would have thought they had their own points wrapped up and ready to be served. Instead, what they got served is a Tyneside special – tasty for the Toons but awful for the Londoners – with a noisy composition from the belly boys.
Andy Carroll’s Shearer-esque header gave Newcastle all three points at The Emirates, and took them up to fifth. Arsene Wenger, on the other hand, was left frustrated as year after year his sides fail to show the mettle to go one step further and grab the big prize.
Andy Carroll’s lofty jump made the difference!
Most controversial moment – Lee Cattermole (Sunderland)
It was a dual controversy moment – one being whether the ball crossed the line, the other being whether Cattermole had handled the ball. The Sunderland midfielder clearly handled the ball on the line, in order to prevent Kenwyne Jones from scoring against his old side. Referee Martin Atkinson failed to spot the incident, even though the ball rolled up on Cattermole’s arms for quite a long period of time. It was a lucky escape for Sunderland, as two Asamoah Gyan goals helped them bounce back with a 2-0 win, to recoup some of the damage inflicted on them by Newcastle United last week.
The other controversy of the week came at Ewood Park. The commentators and experts refused to take a deeper look into it, but Charles N’Zogbia (Wigan) was adjudged to have fouled Mortan Gamst Pederson en route to scoring a goal. Replays suggest the Wigan midfielder did nothing wrong and Pederson got away with poor shielding of the ball!
Worst Cliché of the week – Alan Parry (Sky Sports)
The good ol’ London bus analogy. By now, you would think that the London buses were never on time and people actually enjoyed the inefficient service. Unfortunately for the premier league, 25% of the clubs are from London and thus, you can hear the phrase week-in, week-out! After being corner-deprived for over seventy minutes, Newcastle earned two corners within a minute at The Emirates (London), and Alan Parry just couldn’t resist.
The other one thrown around this weekend was ‘Form is temporary, Class is permanent’ – a consequence of Torres’s reawakening.
StevieG-style Saviour of the week – Park Ji Sung (Man Utd)
He is one of Fergie’s gems! Ji-Sung Park is a player for the big occasions. In the absence of many key players, Man United’s game against a gutsy Wolves side became tougher than expected. It required a moment of brilliance from the flying Korean, deep into stoppage time, to earn three points for Sir Alex’s men. It takes a lot of nerve to cut inside a defender, dummy past two more and coolly slot the ball into the bottom corner with less than ninety seconds to play on the clock!
Best Save – Ben Foster (Birmingham)
The ball was behind him! When Carlton Cole headed goal-wards, it looked destined to nestle into the bottom corner. That’s when Foster’s fingertips came in the way, to deflect it onto the post. A top drawer save, indeed.
Other noteworthy heroics of the weekend included Ali Al Habsi’s (Wigan) reaction save from a Morten Gamst Pederson header and Pepe Reina’s (Liverpool) save from point-blank range to deny Florent Malouda. While Reina’s Liverpool ended up with a vital win, Al Habsi’s Wigan went down to Blackburn 2-1.
“This ain’t Italy, son” moment of the week – Mario Balotelli (Man City)
Perhaps, goalscorers are allowed a kick or two in the Serie A? In England, though, it remains a red card offence irrespective of whether you have just scored a brace to announce yourself in the big league. In an hour, Mario Balotelli had put City two goals up, but one man down. Although it did not cost City as they won 2-0 at The Hawthorns, manager Roberto Mancini will have to work on the temper of his young striker if he wants to avoid future losses.
Not-so-super, Mario!
Guest appearance of the week – Owen Hargreaves (Man Utd)
It was a pretty dampening sight for any football lover. Having been out of action for over two years, Owen Hargreaves was handed a start against Wolves at the weekend. It lasted less than six minutes, as he pulled a hamstring and walked off. Little did he know that even with a pulled hamstring, he would have performed better than his replacement, Bebe.
Biggest Heartbreak – Man Utd 2-1 Wolves
Mick McCarthy’s men toiled hard for ninety minutes, but like most teams find out at Old Trafford – ninety minutes isn’t enough. Wolves were brave in their approach and deserved a point, if not all three, from their trip to Old Trafford. The visitors had as many chances as United and were unlucky to be undone by an inspired South Korean in the 92nd minute!
Gerard Houllier was virtually celebrating an away win for Aston Villa, when Brede Hangeland (Fulham) scored with the last action of the game to steal a point for Mark Hughes’s men. Unlike Wolves, at least Villa got a share of the points in the 1-1 draw.
Best Comeback – Birmingham City
Although they were playing a team at the bottom of the league, at home, Birmingham showed immense character in earning a point against West Ham United. The visitors had the better of the first half and scored twice early in the second-half to race to a two-goal lead. However, the home side rallied and score twice in nine minutes to secure a point from the match. They almost completed a sensational comeback, but Jerome was incredibly unlucky to see his shot hit Gabbidon on the goal-line and come off the bar.
In other news..
The Tangerines were denied a victory by Seamus Coleman, a player who had been on loan at Blackpool and had played a major role in their promotion. The young Irishman popped up with an equalizer just after half time, and did not celebrate the goal, in order to return the respect he had received last season at the same ground.
The table doesn’t lie..
Chelsea’s lead has been cut down to just two points at the top by United, while Arsenal and Man City are level on points, five from the top. Liverpool are level on points with Tottenham. Considering how one club was said to be in a crisis and the other was said to be in dreamland a couple of weeks back, that is quite an astonishing turn of events.
Only three points separate sixth position Bolton from sixteenth position Blackburn. The Barclay’s Premier League is becoming tighter by the season; this could just be the most memorable one, ever.
Watch out for coverage of the midweek games on www.thehardtackle.com!
