Liverpool 1-1 Newcastle United
After a tough last week, both teams wanted to win this week in order to move up in the table. However, Liverpool came into this game with a winning streak of 5 games without a defeat. Anfield was filled with almost 45,000 supporters and Liverpool started the game well with a lot of possession. Suarez came close to scoring, but found his master in Newcastle keeper Tim Krul who saved it superbly. The Toons, on the other side, showed Liverpool how it is done. Ben Arfa with a beautiful cross to Cabaye, who netted a fine volley in the back of the net – 0:1 Newcastle (43rd minute). Liverpool failed to take advantage of the possession and the chances they created and it took them until the 67th minute to score the equalizer. Suarez, who was in great shape once again, scored a world-class free-kick to equalize – 1:1. Later on, Coloccini was dismissed in the 84th minute and Liverpool tried to pressure on last time to secure the win. However, they seemed about to run out of ideas. Liverpool winning streak is still unbroken and this was the 6th game in a row without a defeat.
Queens Park Rangers 1-1 Reading
Queens Park Rangers still looking for their first win of the season. The team of Mark Hughes is bottom of the table, but was supported by nearly 20,000 supporters at the Loftus Road. The Royals, on the other side, showed no sign of tiredness after the Capital One showdown against Arsenal midweek and started the game confident. The early dominance was rewarded in the 18th minute when Gorkss volleyed a cross bar reflection into the net and gave the Royals the deserved lead – 0:1 Reading. QPR stated the second half much stronger and was rewarded. Cisse scored Cisse the equalizer after a fine Bosingwa cross in the 62nd minute – 1:1. QPR was much improved and Taarabt almost scored the winner but Alex McCarthy saved superbly.
Norwich City 1-0 Stoke City
Norwich had every reason to go optimistic into this game after drawing Aston Villa last week and a lucky and impressive win over Tottenham in the Capital One Cup. Stoke on the other side, hasn’t won an away game since beating Blackburn in January. The host from Norwich had mostly the possession and pressured Stoke especially through Wes Hoolahan and Pilkington. After 44 minutes, it was Johnson who converted a Snodgrass free-kick for Norwich. Stoke got better in the second half and started to create chances. Jon Walters missed a one-on –one with Norwich goalie Ruddy. Norwich secured the second home win of the season.
West Ham United 0-0 Manchester City
The Hammers started well in the game and were unlucky when a Nolan goal was ruled out for offside. The Hammers had an excellent start even after Yossi Benayoun slammed a volley against the bar. The only notable chance for City came in form of Mario Balotelli who missed a great chance just before half-time. West Ham’s Nolan and Carroll were always dangerous, however, City started to get better after the half time. Mancini tried everything to attack, but City became seemingly frustrated with Tevez, Berry and Dzeko Balotelli wasting good chances. Balotelli was subbed for Sergio Aguero. City will now have to start planning for the Champions League encounter with Ajax Amstedam.
Tottenham Hotspur 0-1 Wigan Athletic
Tottenham suffered a shock defeat against Wigan Athletic on Saturday at White Hart Lane after Ben Watson scored the only goal of the game. Wigan won its second Premier League away game of the season. Tottenham coach Villas-Boas faced some critic after he replaced Defoe with Adebayor. Both should have played together up front to give Tottenham more attacking power. Instead Villas-Boas replaced Defoe. Bale and Caulker had great chances to secure 3 points for Tottenham but missed both of them. This was the second consecutive home defeat for Tottenham.
Manchester United 2-1 Arsenal
One man was in the centre of attention at this game: Robin van Persie. Against his former club, van Persie wanted to prove himself and show everyone that his £24m move from Arsenal to United was the right thing. On the other side, Arsenal needed to win to close the gap to the top 4. However, to everyone’s surprise, Theo Walcott was only named as a substitute after his great performance in the 7-5 Capital One Cup win at Reading. It took van Persie only 3 minutes to show off his skills when he put a low right-foot finish past Arsenal keeper Vito Mannone. What a great start to this game -1:0 ManUnited. Arsenal struggled and not much was seen of Podolski and Giroud. ManUnited was so dominant that they even missed a penalty (Rooney) right before half-time after Cazorla blocked a Young cross with his hands. Evra, however, headed the 2:0 for United in the second half after a great corner by Rooney in the 67th minute. Arsenal’s situation was worsened when Wilshire received his second yellow after a foul on Evra and was dismissed from the game. Cazorla, however, scored a consolation goal in the 90 the minute. ManUnited with a great win over Arsenal stays on top of the table.
Sunderland 0-1 Aston Villa
Sunderland needed to make up for the mid week defeat against Middlesbrough in the Capital One Cup. Villa, on the other side wanted their first away win. Fletcher almost scored in the opening minutes but was ruled out because of off-side. However, Gabriel Agbonlahor scored the winner for Villa goal in the 57th minute after an assist by Christian Benteke. His fist goal in 28 Premier league games. Saha had a great chance to equalize in the last minutes, but headed Larsson cross over the goal.
Swansea City 1-1 Chelsea
Swansea started this game with a lot of confidence after the Liverpool defeat mid-week in the Capital One Cup. Chelsea created most chances in the opening minutes and Britton had to clear a Torres header on his own goal line. Than Hazard was the centre after he missed a low shot and a great free-kick. In the 61st minute was it Moses who scored his first goal of the season for Chelsea after a corner. Pablo Hernandez, however, beat Petr Cech from the edge of the penalty area just before the end of the 90 minutes and rescued a point for the Swansea. The draw meant that Chelsea failed to regain the top spot in the Premier League.
Fulham 2-2 Everton
One of the top games of the weekend – Fulham vs Everton. Everton played a great season so far and is 4th in the table. Fulham, on the other side wanted to close the gap to the top 4 in the Premier League. The game started well for the Cottagers. Free-kick for Fulham in the 4th minute and Ruiz with a great shot in the right hand corner. Goalie Howard got his fingers on the ball but was only able to push the ball to the post from where the ball crossed the line – 1:0 Fulham. After the goal, Everton started to improve and tested Schwarzer more and more. In the 55th minute was it Fellaini who scored the equalizer from eight yards. In the 72nd minute even the lead for Everton when Fellaini scored a low shot. However, Fulham substitute Steve Sidwell rescued a point for Fulham with a last minute equaliser in a game which Everton should have won.
