Saturday 3 November 2012

EPL Super Saturday Results Analysis:



Hello and welcome to my LATEST EPL blog post.
This is part 1 of 3, in week 10 of this season's English Premier League. 
There are 7 matches played today, including Manchester United vs top-4 challengers Arsenal, and Everton vs Fulham.

Early Afternoon Match:

Manchester United 2 Arsenal 1:

This match was played at Old Trafford, as 3rd placed Manchester United hosted 6th placed Arsenal in an interesting clash.

The main story going into this match was that Robin van Persie would be playing against his old club Arsenal for the first time after moving to United for £24million in the summer transfer window.
Everyone was asking how he would fare, and the reception that he would get.


8 years: van Persie played for Arsenal from 2004 to 2012 and would play against his old club today.


Arsenal started the match off slowly, and paid the price after three minutes when defender and captain Thomas Vermaelen mis-kicked a clearance, and former Arsenal striker Robin van Persie broke the deadlock with a piledriver past Vito Mannone into the net. He showed respect and did not celebrate after scoring.

Piledriver: Manchester United striker Robin van Persie takes advantage of a mistake by Vermaelen to score.
We celebrate, you don't: United team-mates mob van Persie after scoring against Arsenal.
Respect: van Persie shows respect to his former club Arsenal by not celebrating his goal in the 3rd minute.

Arsenal midfielder Jack Wilshere got a yellow card in the 14th minute after a late challenge on Manchester United midfielder Tom Cleverley. 

Manchester United were then controversially given a penalty just before half-time when winger Ashley Young's cross into the box hit midfielder Santi Cazorla on his hand.

He and the rest of his Arsenal team-mates were angry at the decision as he felt that the ball would have hit his face, and the handball was unintentional.

Dispute: Arsenal defenders Sagna and Vermaelen both argue the case along with Cazorla after the penalty was given.
 
However justice was done, when striker Wayne Rooney had his penalty missed wide.

Justice served: Manchester United striker Wayne Rooney has his penalty missed at the end of the first half.

After the half-time break, Arsenal failed to get out of their shell despite good passing and keeping possession.

Left-back Andre Santos was playing poorly, and was getting dominated on the wings by Valencia and Young every time. 

In the 67th minute, defender Patrice Evra doubled United's lead after a header from a corner found the back of the net. 

Towering header: Defender Patrice Evra doubles United's lead in the 67th minute to almost kill off Arsenal's chances of winning.
 
Important cushion: Evra celebrates his 2nd goal of the season with his team-mates to make it 2-0.


Arsenal midfielder Jack Wilshere got a second yellow card two minutes later after a late tackle on full-back Patrice Evra. 

Disappointing: Arsene Wenger looks on after Wilshere is sent off in only his second match back from injury.

Arsenal midfielder Santi Cazorla made it 2-1 in the 90+3rd minute with a fantastic strike past Manchester United goalkeeper David De Gea, but The Gunners left it too late to salvage something at OT and left empty-handed.


Great strike: Arsenal midfielder Santi Cazorla scored a fantastic strike to make it 2-1.

United move up to 1st place with 24 points, while Arsenal fail to move up in the table, and stay in 6th place.

3pm kick-offs:

Fulham 2 Everton 2

This match was played at Craven Cottage as 9th placed Fulham hosted 5th placed Everton.

Fulham broke the deadlock in the 7th minute, after winger Bryan Ruiz's free-kick was saved and parried away by goalkeeper Tim Howard. 


Howard failed to keep the ball under control and ended up scoring an own goal.



Fulham forward Bryan Ruiz' free-kick ends up in the net, after Howard fails to control the ball.
1-0 to the home side: Ruiz celebrates the goal with team-mate Damien Duff.

Everton midfielder Marouane Fellaini equalised for the away side in the 55th minute to make it 1-1 after some great running down the wing by forward Kevin Mirallas before his through ball into the box was cooly slotted into the net.

Fellaini scored again in the 72nd minute after a lofted cross just outside the box found him, and he shrugged off a challenge from two Fulham defenders before hitting a low half-volley past goalkeeper Mark Schwarzer to give Everton the lead away from home.



Back in it: Everton midfielder Marouane Fellaini celebrates scoring the equaliser

With just over 15 minutes to go of the match, Fulham were determined to salvage the game especially after going 1-0 ahead.


This happened dramatically in the 90th minute when midfielder Steve Sidwell scored at the far post after Berbatov's volley span straight to him.



Late equaliser: Fulham midfielder Steve Sidwell celebrates his late goal against Everton.


The match finished 2-2, with Fulham the happier of the two sides.

Everton will feel hard done by after letting a lead slip in the dying minutes and will feel as though they could have won the match.

The Toffees need to stop DRAWING matches and win them because if they want a Europa League spot at the end of the season, this is an important place to pick up maximum points.


Norwich City 1 Stoke City 0

This match was played at Carrow Road as Norwich hosted Stoke in a bottom-of-the-table clash.

Defender Bradley Johnson scored the only goal of the game in the 44th minute of the match.



Important: Norwich defender Bradley Johnson celebrates scoring the only goal of the match.

Norwich are now in 14th place, while Stoke move down to 15th.


Sunderland 0 Aston Villa 1

This match was played at The Stadium of Light, as 16th placed Sunderland hosted 17th placed Aston Villa. 

Aston Villa striker Gabriel Agbonlahor added to his goal during midweek in the Capital One Cup to score the only goal of the match in the 57th minute.


Nicely done: Aston Villa striker Gabriel Agbonlahor scores his first goal in 29 matches.

The two sides stay where they are in the table, with Aston Villa winning their second match of the season.

Swansea City 1 Chelsea 1

This match was played at The Liberty Stadium in Wales as tough side Swansea hosted 2nd placed Chelsea who looked to go back to the top of the table with a win away from home, after losing to Manchester United last Sunday (who are currently first)

Both sides started the match off slowly, with Chelsea breaking the deadlock with young winger Victor Moses scoring in the 61st minute after defender Gary Cahill's strike deflected off him into the net.


Victor Moses celebrates his first goal for Chelsea against Swansea after a £10million move from Wigan.

Swansea winger Pablo Hernandez equalised for the home side in the 88th minute to make it 1-1, and give The Swans a well-deserved point at home.

Well-deserved: Swansea winger Pablo Hernandez points to the sky after scoring against Chelsea.


This result ensured that Manchester United move into 1st place until at least next week, with Chelsea dropping more points in the early stages of the title race.


Tottenham Hotspur 0 Wigan Athletic 1

This match was played at White Hart Lane, as 4th placed Tottenham hosted 17th placed Wigan in a predicted mis-match.

Wigan midfielder Ben Watson scored the only goal of the match in the 56th minute, after a Wigan corner was parried out by Brad Friedel.

The ball came out to Watson, who hit the ball towards goal. Friedel tried to prevent the ball from going into the net by pushing it, but it was already in.

FACT: Ben Watson is the first Englishman to score for Wigan this calendar year. 

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