First, the Manchester United vs Liverpool derby match at Old Trafford before Arsenal host 2nd placed Manchester City at The Emirates.
Manchester United 1 Liverpool 0 - LIVE
Second half has just started at Old Trafford, with striker Robin van Persie scoring the only goal of the match so far in the 19th minute, when he used some quick footwork to get past defender Daniel Agger and slot the ball home past goalkeeper Pepe Reina into the net.
Midfielder Michael Carrick has played very well, passing through balls inside the Liverpool half, spliting the Liverpool defence in half.
Manchester United winger Ashley Young has been replaced by Antonio Valencia after not being able to shake off a knock he suffered in the first half, while Daniel Sturridge has replaced defensive midfielder Lucas Leiva who picked up a yellow card.
Manager Brendan Rodgers wants his side to get back into this match, and is now playing a 4-3-3 formation (Sterling, Suarez and Sturridge).
53: Danny Welbeck is given a through ball by Evra and tries to get past the Liverpool defence, but is brought down by Liverpool defender Martin Skrtel.
Yellow card given to the defender.
54: GOAL!
Great back into the back post from van Persie for Evra to head towards goal.
The ball takes a slight deflection off defender Nemanja Vidic and beats Reina! 2-0 to United.
57: GOAL!
Liverpool are back in the match!
Great work from midfielder Steven Gerrard in the midfield to win the ball and have a shot at goal. De Gea makes a great save to deny the Englishman, but Sturridge lurks and taps in the reboumnd! 2-1, and Liverpool are suddenly back in the match!
14:57 - BREAKING NEWS:
French club Marseille and Newcastle have agreed a deal in excess of £8million pounds for French striker Loic Remy.
He has been allowed to leave the club ahead of their match tonight against to speak to The Toon.
63: Liverpool substitution: Borini ON Sterling OFF
Borini returns to action for the first time since October after breaking his ankle.
64: Manchester United midfielder Shinji Kagawa has a shot on the edge of the 18-yard box tipped over the bar by goalkeeper Pepe Reina.
He has kept his side in the match, still 2-1.
65: Play has stopped as Vidic and Wisdom clash at a corner. Both players are recieving treatment.
72: Liverpool pressing United for an equaliser now, Suarez and Sturridge both putting pressure on the Manchester United defence.
74: Fabio Borini has a chance but his volley is wide of the goal. Still 2-1.
77: Manchester United substitution: Phil Jones ON, Shinji Kagawa OFF
Sir Alex Ferguson playing defensive for the last 10+minutes. Interesting.
90+4: Referee Howard Webb has blown his whistle to end the match at Old Trafford. Manchester United move 10 points clear at the top of the EPL in action against Arsenal at The Emirates at 4pm.
Liverpool played very well today despite losing 2-1 to their bitter rivals. Manager Brendan Rodgers should sign a few more players before the end of the transfer window with rumours of Tom Ince and Wesley Sneijder moving to The Reds.
They need to bolser their squad, if they want to consistently play in Europe every season.
Liverpool will feel disapointed that they lost today, because results went their way yesterday and a win would have moved them into 7th place.
Arsenal vs Manchester City - LIVE Coverage:
Arsenal vs Manchester City:
Arsenal: Szczesny, Sagna, Koscielny, Vermaelen, Gibbs, Diaby, Wilshere, Cazorla, Oxlade Chamberlain, Podolski, Walcott.
Subs: Mannone, Mertesacker, Andre Santos, Giroud, Ramsey, Coquelin, Jenkinson.
Strong Arsenal side, with Abou Diaby returning to first-team action for the first time since September.
Mikel Arteta does not start, while Olivier Giroud and Aaron Ramsey both drop to the bench.
Man City: Hart, Zabaleta, Kompany, Nastasic, Clichy, Javi Garcia, Barry, Milner, Silva, Tevez, Dzeko.
Subs: Pantilimon, Lescott, Sinclair, Kolarov, Suarez, Rekik, Balotelli.
Dzeko and Tevez both start the front line for the away side as first-choice Sergio Aguero is out injured.
Mario Balotelli and Scott Sinclair are among the players on the bench, while the Toure brothers are away at the African Cup of Nations.
Referee: Mike Dean
4pm: The referee Mike Dean has blown the whistle to start thi first half at whether mirates Stadium.
There were fears whether the match would start at the scheduled time, because there were reports of a "suspicious package" in a car park near the ground.
4:51pm:
Half-time score:
Arsenal 0 Manchester City 2
Arsenal defender Laurent Koscielny was given a straight red card in the 9th minute, after he pulled down striker Edin Dzeko inside the penalty area who was through on goal and could have scored.
 |
| Silly: Koscielny was given a straight red card after a foul on Dzeko. |
Dzeko had the resulting penalty saved by goalkeeper Wojciech Szczesny.
Arsenal's young startlet midfielder Alex Oxlade-Chamberlain was forced to come off as a result of the red card and was replaced by German defender Per Mertesacker, in Arsene Wenger's hope of covering the defensive hole.
But in the 21st minute, City broke the deadlock thanks to a fabulous goal by midfielder James Milner who unleashed a powerful shot across goal and beat Szczesny into the corner of the net.
 |
| Ahead: Manchester City midfielder James Milner celebrates his goal against Arsenal. |
Dzeko made up for his penalty miss in the 32nd minute when he doubled the lead for the visitors. Milner's low cross into the box found Tevez, and his shot across goal was parried away by Szczesny.
Unfortunately for the Polish goalkeeper, the ball fell straight to Dzeko and he tapped home the rebound to make it 2-0 and give Arsenal a mountain to climb in the second half, with TEN MEN.
 |
| Making amends: Edin Dzeko celebrates his goal to put City 2-0 ahead. |
17:04 - The second half has started.
17:50:
Full-time score:
Arsenal 0 Manchester City 2
Manchester City have cut down the leaders Manchester United's 10-point gap down to 7, after a comfortable 2-0 away win at Arsenal.
James Milner and Edin Dzeko scored the goals for the visitors inside the first-half. City made sure that they did not slip up, as United also won earlier today at OT against Liverpool.
Manchester City manager Roberto Mancini will not be happy however as his captain and defender Vincent Kompany was given a straight red card in the 75th minute after a two-footed challenge on midfielder Jack Wilshere.
Arsenal will feel disappointed that they lost the match at home today, simply because of the fact that they were playing against a weakened City side and that they were down to ten men for 80 minutes of the match.
They will take spirit from the fact that players like midfielder Jack Wilshere played very well, and was an engine throughout the match, never stopping until the final whistle was blown.
However, this is not a good sign for a club that has a full host of tough fixtures ahead with Chelsea and Liverpool in the EPL, and German giants Bayern Munich in the Champions League Last 16.
Transfer Rumours - Part 5:
Liverpool are ready to hijack Turkish side Galatasaray's move for Inter Milan playmaker Wesley Sneijder, as he has said that he is interested in a move to England.
Atletico Madrid are ready to sign former striker Fernando Torres, initally on-loan for the rest of the season.
QPR manager Harry Redknapp and chief scout Ian Broomfield travelled to France yesterday night to watch defensive midfielder Yann M'Vila in action for Rennes against Bordeaux.
Rennes manager Frederic Antonetti has hinted that QPR want him, saying "The bottom club in England want to sign one of our best players."
- QPR and Tottenham drew 0-0 at Loftus Road
- Rickie Lambert scored from the penalty spot to give Southampton a 1-0 win over Aston Villa
- Everton and Swansea also drew 0-0, with Vicente Del Bosque in attendance
- Franco Di Santo rescued a point for Wigan against Fulham as they moved out of the relegation zone
- Norwich held Newcastle to a 0-0 at Carrow Road
- Reading came back from 2-0 down with 8 minutes to play to win 3-2 at home against West Brom
- Chelsea thrashed Stoke 4-0 away from home at The Britannia, with Jonathan Walters scoring 2 own goals
- Sunderland beat West Ham 3-0 at home, with 3 midfielders all scoring
- Manchester United beat Liverpool 2-1 in the North-West derby thanks to goals from Vidic and van Persie
- James Milner and Edin Dzeko both scored for City, as they beat Arsenal 2-0 at The Emirates
The EPL table:
http://news.bbc.co.uk/sport1/hi/football/eng_prem/table/default.stm
(MORE TO FOLLOW - AS THE DAY CONTINUES)
No comments:
Post a Comment