It was all change again at the top of the Premiership after Saturday’s fixtures when Chelsea laboured to a 2-0 victory at Stamford Bridge against a spirited Newcastle side, while Man City title challenge came unstuck at Goodison Park where they could only manage a point. Chelsea seemed to be suffering from a touch of the January blues in the first half, or a lack of confidence after their 5-3 thrashing at Spurs on New Years day. They were sluggish and simply outplayed by Newcastle, who came out of the blocks with a real purpose. The Magpies, who ended Chelsea’s unbeaten run at St James Park last month, came close to taking the lead on a number of occasions, but poor finishing and the woodwork denied them. Newcastle missed the quality of top-scorer Cisse in front of goal due to the African Nations Cup and Perez, who has impressed this season, struggled upfront on his own. Newcastle’s main attacking threat came from midfield; Cabella caused Chelsea all sorts of problems and nearly gave his side the lead when he created space after a jinking run in the box, his shot beat Czech, but was just deflected agonizingly wide off the unsuspecting Terry. Sissoko also went close after a driving run down the right in to the box, but his vicious shot crashed off the woodwork. Newcastle looked like they would enter the break at least level, but made the cardinal sin of switching off in preparation for a Chelsea corner; Willian and Ivanovic were quick to notice the confusion and the Brazilians quick corner found Ivanovic, who surged in to the Newcastle box drawing their defenders in and leaving Krul hopelessly exposed off his line. His pull back found Oscar free at the back post and the Brazilian calmly slotted home for a very fortunate lead going at the break. Newcastle never recovered from their blunder and chose to settle for damage limitation rather than adventurously search for the equalizer in the second half. Chelsea top-scorer Costa extended the lead with a well taken second to guarantee the three points, Chelsea’s tenth consecutive home win in the Premier League this season and a two point lead at the summit of the Premier League table. Man City slipped up on Saturday and relinquished their joint lead at the top of the Premier League away to Everton. They clearly missed the creativity and influence of captain Toure in midfield; who is on African Nations Cup duty and Kompany at the back. However, they really cannot make any excuses for their disappointing performance as they had the luxury of starting with a world class recognised striker in Jovetic and the experience and attacking threat of Silva, Nasri and Fernandinho in midfield. The decision to leave Lampard out from the start was a strange one, as his experience and goal scoring threat from midfield may have compensated for the missing Toure. There was some good news for the Citizens as top-scorer Aguero made his return from injury as a substitute, and while he didn’t make an impact on the day its only a matter of time before he starts scoring again. When he regains his full match fitness he will take significant pressure off the midfield and other strikers, who have had to work hard in his absence to compensate for his absence. Neither team was at their best on the day; Everton struggling to maintain possession with a lack of cohesion in midfield and sloppy errors at the back; City kept possession and moved the ball forward well, but had no real threat in the final third. Silva and Navas were lively going forward for City and along with Jovetic created early chances, but none of the three had their finishing boots on and failed to even find the target. The game became more entertaining as the match progressed; Lukaku provided the main attacking threat for the Toffees, he had a handful of great opportunities to turn provider, but chose to go for goal each time and found England keeper Joe Hart to good. City finally broke the deadlock after an Everton attack broke down; they quickly counter attacked through Fernandinho, Nasri and Silva, who’s shot from inside the box deflected to Fernandhino whose header gave City the lead. Everton continued to battle and press for the equalizer and they were rewarded when a trademark Baines free-kick from out wide found Naismith, who timed his run perfectly and his glancing header sailed over the flailing Joe Hart. Liverpool were the only other side to win in the top-half of the Premier League on Saturday, after a hard fought narrow win away to 10-man Sunderland at the Stadium of Light. Lazar Markovic, a £20 million summer signing from Benfica, replaced the injured Lallana in midfield and the Serbian opened the scoring after 10 minutes with a driving run in to the box and clever nutmeg on Sunderland keeper Pantillimon. Liverpool dominated the majority of play and had opportunities to extend their lead, but continued to struggle in the final third without the threat of a recognised world class striker. Captain Steven Gerrard was influential in a more attacking role, driving his team forward, creating chances and coming close to scoring on a handful of occasions. He nearly doubled the Reds lead midway through the first half, when his shot went just wide off the left-hand post and minutes later his free-kick was just parried over the bar by Sunderland keeper Pantillimon. Markovic nearly bagged his second from the resulting corner, when his acrobatic scissor-kick from 25 yards crashed against the bar and Sunderland loanee Borini, who was called back to his parent club due to their striker crisis, nearly doubled the lead before the break after rounding Pantilimon, but he left himself with a tight angle and shot in to the side netting. Brendan Rogers replaced Gerrard at the interval and it came as no surprise their attacking threat diminished as a result. Things went from bad to worse for the host not long after the break when Liam Bridcutt was harshly sent off for his second bookable offence; however they came close to equalizing when Johnson’s long range effort hit the underside of the bar but unfortunately rebounded to safety. This was as close as Sunderland came to scoring for the remainder of the match and the signs for the rest of the season and their survival are not looking good based on this performance. Elsewhere in the top-half of the table Swansea and West Ham shared the spoils at the Liberty Stadium. Swansea created the better chances in the first half, which overall was a scrappy affair, but it was West Ham who took the lead just before the break with a superb bit of individual and strike from Andy Carroll. Swansea almost equalized immediately when Routledge broke free in the box, but he was denied by a last gasp block by Jenkinson, leaving the Swans to ponder their comeback during the interval. Swansea showed their intent making a bright start to the second half when Siggurdsson’s 25 yarder went close and another trademark attacking run from Routledge left him free on goal, but again Jenkinson denied him. West Ham had chances to extend their lead through Carroll again after a quick counter attack, but he guided his attempt wide and Collins went close from a corner but couldn’t steer his effort on target. The Hammers would later live to rue their missed opportunities when Swansea found the equalizer through top scorer Bony’s replacement Gomis. He rose highest for a 74th minute corner, and while his header hit the post it rebounded in off the unsuspecting Hammers captain Mark Noble for an own goal. The Hammers could have easily regained the lead towards the death when Downing, Jenkinson and Tomkins came close to scoring, but Swansea keeper Fabianski made fine saves to deny Downing and Jenkinson while defender Taylor cleared Jenkinson’s effort off the line. Alan Pardew’s arrival at Crystal Palace has certainly had the desired effect with two wins in a row, the most important being their one over Spurs in the Premier League at Selhurst Park on Saturday. While there was real excitement off the pitch, nothing much seemed to have changed on it for the Eagles, apart from some resolute defending. The visitors dominated, but couldn’t break down the home side mainly due to wayward finishing and the half ended goalless. The match didn’t really come to life until after the break and it was Spurs who responded best when top-scorer Harry Kane waded in with another brilliant individual goal and finish, taking his tally to 18 for the season in all competitions. Going behind seemed to spark Palace in to life, and they responded well finding the equalizer 20 minutes later when Ledley was brought down by Stambouli in the box for a penalty, which Palace top-scorer Gayle put away in impressive fashion. The game was by now fitting of a London derby; Palace had the momentum and they were roared on by a passionate home crowd and Pardew from the touchline. The Palace winner soon followed through the trickery of Zaha down the left; his dribble in to the box set up Puncheon for the winner, which he steered home well with his left foot through a crowded defence and past the sprawling Lloris in to the bottom left corner. At the bottom of the table there were three important games all between relegation threatened sides. Leicester continued their upturn in form with a narrow hard fought 1-0 win at home to struggling Villa, and the winning margin would have been more if striker Nugent was in the type of form that fired Leicester to promotion last season. The Foxes had defender Konchesky to thank for the lead, which he gave them just before the break when his well timed volley found its way in off the inside of the inside of the post. Villa offered little in response and the home side’s desire and fight for survival was clearly the difference between the two sides on the day. The game ended on a sour note when James and Clark clashed in the middle of the park; both responded angrily and were shown straight reds for violent conduct, and further action may ensue as they clashed again outside the tunnel. Burnley collected a vital three points at home to QPR, who set a new Premier League record by losing their tenth straight away game in the league this season. The loss compounded Rangers woes even further as Burnley jumped above them in the table leaving their opponents second bottom and just two points ahead of Leicester. Burnley started the game well and deserved their lead after eleven minutes when Arfield showed great skill and footwork, cutting in from the left hand side and curling his shot past Green inside of the left hand post. The goal fired QPR in to life and top-scorer Austin came agonisingly close to levelling with his first attempt of the match, which struck the left post. QPR continued to dominate and their effort was rewarded on the half four when the influential Austin scored the penalty he won. QPR’s exuberance was short lived however, when Burnley top-scorer Ings got in on the action with a fine individual goal to give his side the lead at the break. There were chances for both teams in the second half, the best falling to Burnley and while QPR came agonisingly close to an equalizer at the death, Burnley fully deserved the three points and are definitely capable of surviving if they continue to play like this. The new manager effect continued at the Hawthorns where Tony Pulis led his new side to only their third Premier League home win and fifth overall this season against fellow strugglers Hull. The game looked like it was heading for a goalless draw as Hull offered little in attack, especially once they lost forwards Jelavic and Hernandez to injury in the first half, while West Brom continued to squander decent scoring opportunities. The deadlock was finally broken after Elmohamady made a school boy error passing back to his keeper and from the resulting free-kick top-scorer Berahino fired home a vital winner just shy of 80 minutes. On Sunday Arsenal got back to winning ways against Stoke with a comfortable 3-0 win that took them above Spurs in to fifth, and within one point of Man United. Stoke thrashed the hosts in the reverse fixture last month, but the tables were turned on this occasion. Arsenal delivered a consummate performance, spearheaded by the world class Sanchez who assisted the first for Koscielny before netting a brace either side of half-time. The brace took Sanchez tally for the season to 18, his first was a brilliant jinking solo effort and after he left Shawcross for dead inside the box he expertly clipped the ball over the advancing Begovic. His second was a more fortunate deflected free-kick just after the break, which Begovic managed to reach but he could only guide it on to the post and the ball crept over the line to leave the game beyond the visitors reach. In the following Super Sunday game Manchester United lost their first Premier League home game since the opening game of the season against Southampton, who gained revenge for their unlucky defeat in the reverse fixture last year, with a narrow well disciplined 1-0 win. United had enough talent on the field, and possession to at least make a game of it; but they were poor for the most part and the decision to leave Falcao out, play di Maria upfront and Rooney in midfield begs the question if Van Gaal is actually aware of how to best accommodate all his star players. The win meant the Saints jumped ahead of United in third and closed the gap on Man City to eight point’s, thanks to substitute Tadic’s 69th minute strike. The United fans were not surprisingly frustrated with their team’s performance, while Saints fans were in fine voice and manager Koeman will have been feeling very smug after getting one over his compatriot, especially after they fell out when they were at Ajax together.
Posted on: Mon, 12 Jan 2015 05:40:55 +0000