Hello everyone, and welcome to my latest blog installment. Today, there are 2 EPL matches on show for everyone to enjoy and the action starts at The Hawthorns, where 9th placed West Brom host 4th placed Tottenham Hotspur at 1:30pm.
Then, at 4pm, title-chasing Manchester City host a stubborn Liverpool side at The Ethiad Stadium in a mouth-watering clash between 2nd and 7th.
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| At The Hawthorns: West Brom host Tottenham Hotspur today. |
West Bromwich Albion vs Tottenham Hotspur - LIVE
Team Line-ups:
West Brom: Foster, Reid, McAuley, Olsson, Popov, Dorrans, Yacob, Morrison, Brunt, Long, Lukaku.
Subs: Myhill, Ridgewell, Thomas, Jones, Rosenberg, Fortune, Tamas.
Tottenham: Lloris, Walker, Dawson, Vertonghen, Assou-Ekotto, Dembele, Parker, Lennon, Bale, Dempsey, Defoe.
Subs: Friedel, Gallas, Naughton, Huddlestone, Livermore, Sigurdsson, Holtby.
37 minutes on the clock, and it is currently 0-0 at The Hawthorns.
14:17: HT - West Brom 0 Tottenham 0
Top scorer Jermain Defoe has been replaced just before half-time by new midfield signing Lewis Holtby after suffering a clash with Shane Long.
14:33:
The teams are jogging out onto the pitch, getting ready for the second half to start.
47: CONTROVERSY! West Brom are down to ten men at the start of the second half, after defender Goran Popov seemed to clash with and spit at Tottenham full-back Kyle Walker.
The referee just instantly showed him the red card!
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| Stupid: Referee Mark Clattenburg sends Popov off for spitting at Kyle Walker. |
Maybe not looking for the win now that their main goalscorer is off the pitch...
West Brom SUB:
Romelu Lukaku OFF
Liam Ridgewell ON
57: Tottenham are pressing for the opening goal, with Bale and Lennon attacking the WBA defence, knowing that they have the extra man advantage. The hosts are sticking firm for now..
66: Tottenham have finally made a breakthrough! Gareth Bale with the goal from 20 yards out after a nice counter attacking break with Walker and Holtby found the Welshman in space for shot. His strike went flying into the top corner, out of Ben Foster's reach and the hosts are now trailing 1-0 with 10 men.
72: Tottenham are comfortable with this 1-0 lead, and can just sit back and relax with the ball.
However, I am sure that manager Andre Villas Boas will want his side to kill off the match with another goal before they sit back..
77: Tottenham SUB:
Kyle Walker OFF
William Gallas ON
At least 10minutes game time for Gallas, as he replaces Walker and moves into the CB position.
3-5-2 formation, with Gallas, Vertonghen and Dawson the back three.
81: West Brom SUB:
Graham Dorrans OFF
Claudio Yacob OFF
Markus Rosenberg ON
Marc-Antoine Fortune ON
Steve Clarke is going for broke now with less than 10minutes to play in this match. Dorrans has already picked up a yellow card, and the hosts are hoping to equalise in this match at least...
85: However, West Brom cannot score without the ball and Spurs have just realised that.. They are playing keep-ball now, and it is a corner for the away side with 5 minutes left to play.
86: Tottenham SUB:
Aaron Lennon OFF
Gylfi Sigurdsson ON
It's a shame that someone of Sigurdsson's quality and attacking flair only gets to play the last 5 minutes of a match, but surely this is only a time-wasting tactic from AVB, because he knows Sigurdsson will hardly get to touch the ball..
Lennon is replaced after a good showing again on the wing today.
90: The fourth official has signalled for 4 minutes of stoppage time to be added on at The Hawthorns.
4 minutes for West Brom to equalise and salvage something at home.
90+3: The cameras show Defoe and Friedel on the bench, with Defoe holding a crutch after his collision with Shane Long in the first half. Looks serious...
90+4: The referee Mark Clattenburg has blown his whistle for the final time to end the match at The Hawthorns. West Brom failed to equalise due to the fact that they were down to ten men for 45 minutes, and as soon as that incident took place, they were chasing the match and Bale's goal made the hosts pay.
Tottenham have moved within 1 point of 3rd placed Chelsea who lost 3-2 against Newcastle yesterday, while West Brom fail to move up to 7th place if they won today.
African Cup of Nations Quarter-Final:
Ivory Coast 0 Nigeria 0 - LIVE:
Still goal-less despite Ivory Coast dominating possession and having the best chances, but 5 EPL players are on display at the Royal Bafokeng Stadium.
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| Manchester City host Liverpool at The Ethiad, as they look to close the gap down to 7 points. |
Manchester City vs Liverpool - LIVE at 4pm:
Team Line-ups:
Manchester City: Hart, Zabaleta, Nastasic, Lescott, Clichy, Milner, Garcia, Barry, Silva, Dzeko, Aguero.
Subs: Pantilimon, Rodwell, Kolarov, Sinclair, Nasri, Tevez, Maicon.
Liverpool: Reina, Johnson, Carragher, Agger, Enrique, Gerrard, Lucas, Henderson, Downing, Sturridge, Suarez.
Subs: Jones, Wisdom, Skrtel, Allen, Shelvey, Sterling, Borini.
Both teams will be desperate to win at The Ethiad today, after both drew during midweek against QPR (City) and Arsenal (LFC).
Life after Mario Balotelli starts for City today at home, while new Liverpool signing Phillipe Coutinho does not feature today.
16:00: The first half has started at The Ethiad.
1: David Silva came close to an early opener, after his half-volley strike had to be acrobatically tipped over the bar by Liverpool goalkeeper Pepe Reina.
LATEST - Ivory Coast 0 Nigeria 1: Spartak Moscow striker Emmanuel Emenike broke the deadlock in the 43rd minute with a strike from 30 yards out which should not have beaten Boubacar Barry, but did. Second half just started.
16:48: HALF-TIME:
Manchester City 1 Liverpool 1
Bosnian striker Edin Dzeko broke the deadlock for the hosts in the 23rd minute, after some nice interplay on the left wing, before James Milner put in a low cross into the box for the striker to slot home.
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| As you do: Dzeko slots the ball into the net past Reina to give City the lead. |
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| Great strike: Daniel Sturridge scores his 4th goal in Liverpool colours after his £12m switch from Chelsea. |
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| Respect: Sturridge shows respect to his former club by not celebrating his goal against City. |
LATEST - Ivory Coast 1 Nigeria 2 FT
The Super Eagles move into the semi-finals, with a 2-1 win over runners-up from last year Ivory Coast.
51: Liverpool are pressing for another goal now, with Downing looking dangerous on the wing.
56: Manchester City SUB:
Matija Nastastic OFF
Aleksandar Kolarov ON
An attacking minded change for Mancini sees Kolarov a wing-back replacing Nastastic.
61: Cameras are showing Manchester City striker Carlos Tevez warming up on the touchline.
65: Liverpool goalkeeper Pepe Reina will be happy to see the ball go over his roof of the net, as a City counter attack sees Barry's effort over the bar.
69: The referee brandishes a yellow card out for Portugese defensive-midfielder Javi Garcia, who cynically trips over Liverpool's talisman and striker Luis Suarez.
That is his 6th yellow card this season.
70: Sturridge, Downing and Gerrard all pressing the City defence now in the final third, but cannot test Joe Hart as of yet.
73: WHAT A GOAL! Liverpool are ahead for the first time in the match, and English legendary midfielder Steven Gerrard is the goalscorer!
Manchester City partially clear a cross, and the ball falls to Gerrard from 25 yards out who unleashes a piledriver past Joe Hart into the bottom corner of the net.
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| Piledriver: Steven Gerrard scores a spectacular half-volley against City to put Liverpool ahead. |
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| Jubilation: Gerrard celebrates his goal to put Liverpool 2-1 ahead in the 73rd minute. |
David Silva OFF
Maicon ON
A defensive change for Mancini, despite City trailing... Maicon is deadly going forward however.
Liverpool SUB:
Jose Enrique OFF
Martin Skrtel ON
Brendan Rodgers is quite happy to shut up shop for the last 15 minutes of the match and take a 2-1 win.
76: Gerrard whips a ball into the box from a free-kick... Sturridge heads towards goal.. JUST WIDE!! The ball needed a touch from defender Martin Skrtel, and it narrowly missed his head. That was almost 3-1.
78: GOAL! Liverpool's lead lasted only 5 minutes, with Argentine striker Sergio Aguero equalising for the hosts!
A nice through ball was thread through to him by midfielder Gareth Barry and he used electric pace to get past Martin Skrtel before going around Reina from an outrageous angle and striking the ball into the net.
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| Outrageous angle: Aguero gets past Reina before striking the ball into the far corner of the net. |
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| Tale of two faces: Aguero celebrates his equaliser, while Reina looks shocked. |
What a last 10 minutes we have in store at The Ethiad. Great, exciting match which has just exploded in the last 10 minutes.
84: Liverpool still looking to score again, but Gerrard's effort on goal is blocked well and cleared away by Manchester City defender Joleon Lescott.
The ball falls to Aguero who does well to weave past two Liverpool defenders before his through ball towards Dzeko has too much power and finds the gloves of Pepe Reina.
87: Manchester City SUB:
Gareth Barry OFF
Samir Nasri ON
Nasri is replacing Barry, in the hope of coming on and scoring/assisting a late winner... Fresh legs also.
90: The fourth official has signalled for 5 minutes of stoppage time to be added on at the end of the match at The Ethiad. A tense 5 minutes all round then..
90+2: Nice 1-2 play by City, with Maicon and Aguero mixing well, before Maicon's effort at goal is blocked by Skrtel and goes out for a corner. Pressure.
90+5: The referee has blown the whistle to end the match at The Ethiad. Manchester City have come back from 2-1 down to equalise late on thanks to an Aguero goal.
However, they are still 9 points behind local rivals Manchester United in the chase for 1st place.
Liverpool also fail on making ground on 6th placed Arsenal, and are still stuck in 7th place.
Thank you for reading my EPL Blog, and I will speak to you all next week! Please spread the word to all of your football-loving friends about my blog! :)
Hopefully you enjoyed today's exciting action as much as I did, and have a nice day!
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