The EPL served up its usual dose of excitement following mid-week action of European football.
Manchester City continued their recent good form with a hard fought 1 nil win over relegation threatened Leicester. City once again ground out a result against a potentially tricky fixture. City are becoming masters of doing that lately. The win came at a cost though with City losing captain Kompany and Dzeko to injuries and the duo look set to miss out on the crucial holiday fixtures. City are now in the middle of an injury crisis and are set to face a real challenge with the busy run of fixtures coming up. With Aguero, Jovetic and now Dzeko out injured, 18year old Pozo is their only recognised striker. The 3 points were priceless in their pursuit of Chelsea. Lampard was once again the hero for City with his 175th goal in the premier league. I was sceptical when City signed Lampard but i have been really impressed by him. His professionalism and hunger even in the twilight of his career is an example to the younger players. 6 goals already from midfield and you start to understand why Pellegrini is keen on extending his loan spell. The real star of the show however was Nasri. The Frenchman seems to have rediscovered his form and has been in a rich vein of form. My man of the match against Roma in midweek, Nasri once again provided the creative spark for City in the absence of David Silva. He has been controlling play very well of late and was the creator for Lampard's goal. All in all, City got the job done in the end and will now head into the festive fixtures hoping to keep in touch with the league leaders.
Chelsea got past Hull in a match that will be remembered for the Blue's diving antics. Costa, Willian and Cahill all tried to fool the referee withblatant dives, the latter lucky to escape a second yellow card. A Tom Huddlestone red card and a Diego Costa goal were enough to make things comfortable for the Blues in the second half and help erase the memories of the previous weekend's loss to Newcastle. Chelsea were not at their fluid best but they still got the three points that mattered.
Arsenal returned to winning ways with a deserved 4-1 thumping of Newcastle. The Gunners were totally dominant and the performance was so good it made those agitating for Wenger's sacking eat their words. In what was a potentially difficult game on paper given the Magpies wonderful run of results, Arsenal came out on top and deservedly so. Giroud was deadly infront with a brace. He missed 3 months of the season but is only a goal behind Welbeck. Birthday boy Cazorla looks to be back to his best and i think Arsenal are a better side when he is playing. Arsenal's defence which has come under a lot of criticism especially following the defeat to Stoke played with better organization. Bellerin filled in at right back and gave a promising display providing good attacking threat down the right side. Oxlade Chamberlain also gave an assured display that reignited the Gunners charge back into the top four.
Manchester United v Liverpool was the highlight of the weekend. United ran out comfortable winners in the end as a lethargic Liverpool side continued their wretched run of poor form. Van Gaal once again went for a back 3 with Valencia and Young as wing backs. De Gea was in excellent form thwarting Liverpool and Sterling so many times, one lost count along the way. Carrick deserves special mention as he marshaled the defence well. There is a lot of talk about United winning without playing well but that might actually be a good thing. Six wins on the trot without playing well makes you wonder what would happen of they actually started playing well. With the injuries easing, United have every reason to feel confident heading into the festive period.
Team of the week
De Gea, Bellerin, Debuchy, Mangala, Clichy, Lampard, Cazorla, Rooney, Mata, Giroud, Hazard
Player of the week
De Gea
Thursday, December 18, 2014
Wednesday, December 10, 2014
The EPL Weekend-Round 15
Another exciting weekend of EPL action.
Chelsea finally got beaten as their 23 match unbeaten run was brought to a sudden halt by hard working Newcastle. It is evidence to the unpredictable nature of the league this season. The Magpies started the season in terrible fashion with Pardew almost losing his job amid pressure from the fans, a run of five successive wins turned the tide and not many would have predicted them to end Chelsea's long unbeaten run.
The Blues were missing suspended Nemanja Matic in midfield but the rest of the team was the usual Mourinho first 11.
Chelsea did not work the Newcastle keeper a whole lot. Newcastle's game plan of hurrying Chelsea and hitting them on the counter worked perfectly. In Cisse, Newcastle have a striker on top of his game and he took his chances well after he came on as a second half sub. Mourinho was left mourning about Newcastle's tactics but in truth the Magpies were thoroughly deserving of the win. It will be important to see how Chelsea respond to this set back. A few days ago they were looking like near certainties to win the league, now they are only 3 points ahead of Manchetser City. All of a sudden the title race is back on and Chelsea will face a real battle to stay ahead of the pack.
Manchester City ensured they took advantage of Chelsea's earlier slip up by scrapping a win against Everton courtesy of a dubious penalty. City had Hart to thank for a late save to deny Lukaku. The win came at a cost though as their talisman Aguero looks set for a spell on the sidelines. The Argentine has been by a distance City's standout performer this season and it will be a big challenge for City, especially during the busy holiday period, to cope without him. City did what they had to do and the gap to Chelsea is now just three points. As long as they keep within touching distance, City will be confident of retaining their title. The interesting bit is City's recent run of good form has been achieved without their creative magician David Silva and Kompany has been struggling with injuries. The two alongside Hart, Toure and Aguero form the spine of the team. The feeling is that City are yet to really hit top form and when they do, the rest of the premiership will be left struggling to catch up.
Arsenal put in a woeful performance at Stoke. Traditionally the Potters away is always a tough fixture for Arsenal but the manner of their collapse was baffling. 3-0 down at half time and lucky not to go 4 nil down in the second half. The Gunners did manage to salvage some degree of respect to the scoreline but this was a disappointing performance. The biggest disappointment however will be that having been 3 nil down Arsenal came back to within a goal of levelling the scores with over 20 minutes still to play, yet they couldn't find that all important goal. Arsenal's defense was all over the place and the ease with which Stoke were able to score is worrying for Arsenal. Wenger started with Mertesacker and Bellerin in defence and that gave Stoke confidence that they could bully the pair. I think it's about time Wenger started pairing Koscielny and Mertesacker. The former has just returned from injury but the urgency with which Arsenal need that pairing back together is huge. Chambers had a torrid day and got himself sent off. Arsenal need to look at this result as a one off since they were on a good run anyway. They need to dust themselves up, forget about Stoke and focus on the next game.
Manchester United made it 5 wins on the trot with a hard fought, and rather fortuitous win over Southampton. The Red Devils are on a really good run and are up to third on the table without really playing well. van Persie scored a brace and looks to have rediscovered his scoring touch with 3 goals in 2 games. United's problems still lie in defense where once again they looked very vulnerable. Van Gaal resorted to a 3 man central defense system. I can understand his thinking since the two wing backs are really not defenders and needed support against a tough side away from home. The problem in defense was not the system but rather the personnel. Mcnair was looking like a disaster in the waiting and Smalling's injury made matters worse. Evans who came on as a sub is hardly a figure of reassurance in such a system and Carrick is not a defender. So under the circumstances, this was a massive win. United next face Liverpool and they will be hoping to have a few defenders back. In the meantime, they can bask in the glory of rising to third in the standings.
Liverpool were booed off by their own fans after playing out a dull goalless draw with Crystal Palace. In truth Palace should have won and left Anfield disappointed. They totally dominated and a combination of wayward finishing and the Reds keeper kept the scoreline goalless. Liverpool lacked bite and quality and it is sad to see how low they have fallen this season. It's hard to pin point exactly where the problem is. Brendan Rodgers is under real pressure and you get the feeling should they go out of the the Champion's League, the fans will apply even more pressure. What Liverpool need to do is start winning games by whichever means. And what a time it would be to start that winning run. Their next match is against Manchester United.
Team of the week,
Green, Jenkinson, Collocini, OShea, Clichy, Colback, Bojan, Sissoko, Bolasie, Cisse, Caroll
Player of the Week,
Collocini
Chelsea finally got beaten as their 23 match unbeaten run was brought to a sudden halt by hard working Newcastle. It is evidence to the unpredictable nature of the league this season. The Magpies started the season in terrible fashion with Pardew almost losing his job amid pressure from the fans, a run of five successive wins turned the tide and not many would have predicted them to end Chelsea's long unbeaten run.
The Blues were missing suspended Nemanja Matic in midfield but the rest of the team was the usual Mourinho first 11.
Chelsea did not work the Newcastle keeper a whole lot. Newcastle's game plan of hurrying Chelsea and hitting them on the counter worked perfectly. In Cisse, Newcastle have a striker on top of his game and he took his chances well after he came on as a second half sub. Mourinho was left mourning about Newcastle's tactics but in truth the Magpies were thoroughly deserving of the win. It will be important to see how Chelsea respond to this set back. A few days ago they were looking like near certainties to win the league, now they are only 3 points ahead of Manchetser City. All of a sudden the title race is back on and Chelsea will face a real battle to stay ahead of the pack.
Manchester City ensured they took advantage of Chelsea's earlier slip up by scrapping a win against Everton courtesy of a dubious penalty. City had Hart to thank for a late save to deny Lukaku. The win came at a cost though as their talisman Aguero looks set for a spell on the sidelines. The Argentine has been by a distance City's standout performer this season and it will be a big challenge for City, especially during the busy holiday period, to cope without him. City did what they had to do and the gap to Chelsea is now just three points. As long as they keep within touching distance, City will be confident of retaining their title. The interesting bit is City's recent run of good form has been achieved without their creative magician David Silva and Kompany has been struggling with injuries. The two alongside Hart, Toure and Aguero form the spine of the team. The feeling is that City are yet to really hit top form and when they do, the rest of the premiership will be left struggling to catch up.
Arsenal put in a woeful performance at Stoke. Traditionally the Potters away is always a tough fixture for Arsenal but the manner of their collapse was baffling. 3-0 down at half time and lucky not to go 4 nil down in the second half. The Gunners did manage to salvage some degree of respect to the scoreline but this was a disappointing performance. The biggest disappointment however will be that having been 3 nil down Arsenal came back to within a goal of levelling the scores with over 20 minutes still to play, yet they couldn't find that all important goal. Arsenal's defense was all over the place and the ease with which Stoke were able to score is worrying for Arsenal. Wenger started with Mertesacker and Bellerin in defence and that gave Stoke confidence that they could bully the pair. I think it's about time Wenger started pairing Koscielny and Mertesacker. The former has just returned from injury but the urgency with which Arsenal need that pairing back together is huge. Chambers had a torrid day and got himself sent off. Arsenal need to look at this result as a one off since they were on a good run anyway. They need to dust themselves up, forget about Stoke and focus on the next game.
Manchester United made it 5 wins on the trot with a hard fought, and rather fortuitous win over Southampton. The Red Devils are on a really good run and are up to third on the table without really playing well. van Persie scored a brace and looks to have rediscovered his scoring touch with 3 goals in 2 games. United's problems still lie in defense where once again they looked very vulnerable. Van Gaal resorted to a 3 man central defense system. I can understand his thinking since the two wing backs are really not defenders and needed support against a tough side away from home. The problem in defense was not the system but rather the personnel. Mcnair was looking like a disaster in the waiting and Smalling's injury made matters worse. Evans who came on as a sub is hardly a figure of reassurance in such a system and Carrick is not a defender. So under the circumstances, this was a massive win. United next face Liverpool and they will be hoping to have a few defenders back. In the meantime, they can bask in the glory of rising to third in the standings.
Liverpool were booed off by their own fans after playing out a dull goalless draw with Crystal Palace. In truth Palace should have won and left Anfield disappointed. They totally dominated and a combination of wayward finishing and the Reds keeper kept the scoreline goalless. Liverpool lacked bite and quality and it is sad to see how low they have fallen this season. It's hard to pin point exactly where the problem is. Brendan Rodgers is under real pressure and you get the feeling should they go out of the the Champion's League, the fans will apply even more pressure. What Liverpool need to do is start winning games by whichever means. And what a time it would be to start that winning run. Their next match is against Manchester United.
Team of the week,
Green, Jenkinson, Collocini, OShea, Clichy, Colback, Bojan, Sissoko, Bolasie, Cisse, Caroll
Player of the Week,
Collocini
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