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Premiership MatchDay 20 Review

last updated Thursday 02nd January 2014, 3:37 PM


MatchDay 20 Saturday, January 1, 2014
Time Home   Away TV Referee
12:45 Swansea 2-3 Man City Sky1 20,498
15:00 Arsenal 2-0 Cardiff   60,004
15:00 C.Palace 1-1 Norwich   25,189
15:00 Fulham 2-1 West Ham   25,335
15:00 Liverpool 2-0 Hull   44,627
15:00 Southampton 0-3 Chelsea BT1 31,271
15:00 Stoke 1-1 Everton   25,832
15:00 Sunderland 0-1 Aston Villa   39,757
15:00 West Brom 1-0 Newcastle   26,430
17:30 Man Utd 1-2 Tottenham BT1 75,265
It was a Happy New Year for Arsenal as they went back to the top of the Barclays Premier League with two late goals that sank battling Cardiff City 2-0 at the Emirates. Arsenal again answered their critics to dig deep and overcome their injury problems to leapfrog Manchester City.

Manchester City opened 2014 by maintaining their Premier League title push with a 3-2 victory away at Swansea City. They were made to sweat a little in the closing stages as Bony lashed in his second of the game from distance, but there was to be no late twist in the tale.

Premiership table - after 1st Jan 2014
Pos Team Pld W D L F A W D L F A GD Pts
1 Arsenal 20 7 2 1 18 6 7 1 2 21 12 21 45
2 Man City 20 10 0 0 38 6 4 2 4 19 17 34 44
3 Chelsea 20 9 1 0 22 8 4 3 3 16 11 19 43
4 Liverpool 20 9 0 1 27 6 3 3 4 19 17 23 39
5 Everton 20 6 3 1 19 9 4 5 1 13 10 13 38
6 Tottenham 20 4 3 3 11 13 7 1 2 13 12 -1 37
7 Man Utd 20 4 2 4 12 10 6 2 2 21 14 9 34
8 Newcastle 20 5 3 2 17 10 5 0 5 12 15 4 33
9 Southampton 20 4 3 3 16 12 3 3 4 10 11 3 27
10 Hull 20 5 3 2 15 6 1 2 7 7 19 -3 23
11 Aston Villa 20 2 2 6 7 14 4 3 3 12 11 -6 23
12 Stoke 20 4 5 1 11 7 1 2 7 8 23 -11 22
13 Swansea 20 2 4 4 18 17 3 2 5 8 11 -2 21
14 West Brom 20 3 3 4 12 12 1 6 3 11 15 -4 21
15 Norwich 20 3 3 4 10 11 2 2 6 7 22 -16 20
16 Fulham 20 3 1 6 13 18 3 0 7 8 24 -21 19
17 Cardiff 20 3 3 4 10 15 1 3 6 5 17 -17 18
18 C. Palace 20 3 2 5 8 14 2 0 8 5 15 -16 17
19 West Ham 20 2 3 5 12 16 1 3 6 7 14 -11 15
20 Sunderland 20 2 1 7 10 17 1 4 5 5 16 -18 14
Liverpool were the big movers of the day, climbing back into the top four after seeing off Hull City. They reignited their Premier League campaign with a Luis Suarez masterclass inspiring a 2-0 win.

Chelsea beat Southampton 3-0 at St Mary's Stadium on New Year's Day to keep the pressure on Manchester City and Arsenal. The west Londoners have not been firing on all cylinders since Jose Mourinho returned to Stamford Bridge, yet the ruthless edge that epitomised his first spell continues to shine through.

Leighton Baines scored an injury time penalty to earn Everton a 1-1 draw against Stoke at the Britannia Stadium on New Year's Day. Everton slip from fourth to fifth in the table with the point, while Stoke stay 12th.

A crucial battle towards the bottom also ended all square. Crystal Palace came from behind to earn a 1-1 draw against Norwich City at Selhurst Park in their relegation showdown, with the visitors reduced to 10 men late on.

MatchDay 21 Saturday, January 11, 2014
Time Home   Away TV Referee
12:45 Hull v Chelsea BT1  
15:00 Cardiff v West Ham    
15:00 Everton v Norwich    
15:00 Fulham v Sunderland    
15:00 Southampton v West Brom    
15:00 Tottenham v C.Palace    
17:30 Man Utd v Swansea Sky1  
MatchDay 21 Sunday, January 12, 2014
14:05 Newcastle v Man City Sky1  
16:10 Stoke v Liverpool Sky1  
MatchDay 21 Monday, January 13, 2014
20:00 Aston Villa v Arsenal Sky1  
Fulham offered their survival bid a welcome shot in the arm against 10-man West Ham United. The Cottagers claimed a crucial 2-1 win over 10-man West Ham United as they climbed out of the Premier League's bottom three.

Aston Villa ended a five-game winless streak with a 1-0 victory at Sunderland to heap more misery on the bottom club. Gabriel Agbonlahor's early goal was enough to win the match for the visitors and leave Gus Poyet's side now three points from safety at the foot of the Premier League.

Saido Berahino's late penalty gave West Brom a much-needed victory in their battle against the drop against 10-man Newcastle United at The Hawthorns. After the goalless first half the game burst into life just after the hour mark when Mathieu Debuchy was shown a straight red card for a two-footed lunge on Claudio Yacob.

Manchester United slumped to their fourth home defeat of the season after going down 2-1 to Tottenham at Old Trafford. Goals from Emmanuel Adebayor and Christian Eriksen put Tottenham in control and, although Danny Welbeck pulled a goal back, Tim Sherwood's men held on for an impressive win. The defeat was United's sixth in the Premier League this season and leaves them 11 points behind leaders Arsenal.

Wednesday 1st January 2014


12:45 Swansea (1) 2 Manchester City (1) 3 ~ Sky Sports 1


Manchester City opened 2014 in style as they proved too strong for Swansea City in a 3-2 victory at the Liberty Stadium in Wednesday's lunchtime kick-off. It took the Blues just 14 minutes to record the first goal of the new year, with the ball breaking kindly for Fernandinho to rifle home from a corner.

Wilfried Bony restored parity with a powerful header on the stroke of half-time, but City pulled out of sight around the hour mark as Yaya Toure drilled into the bottom corner and Aleksandar Kolarov netted a rare goal with his right foot. Bony lashed in a spectacular second of the game in the closing stages, but there was to be no late twist in the tale.

Swansea (4-2-3-1): Tremmel 5; Rangel 6, Flores 5, Williams 6, Davies 6; De Guzman 6, Canas 5; Hernandez 6 (Lamah 10), Shelvey 6 (Pozuelo 81), Routledge 5, Bony 7
Subs not used: Zabret, Tiendalli, Amat, Taylor, Vazquez.

Scorers:Bony 45, Bony 90

Booked: Canas, Shelvey

Man City (4-4-2): Hart 5; Zabaleta 6, Kompany 7, Nastasic 6, Kolarov 7; Navas 7 (Rodwell 90), Fernandinho 7, Toure 8, Nasri 6 (Milner 70, 6); Negredo 6 (Garcia 59, 6), Dzeko 6
Subs not used: Pantilimon, Lescott, Clichy, Boyata.

Scorers:Fernandinho 14, Toure 58, Kolarov 66

Booked: Dzeko, Nasri, Kompany, Milner, Zabaleta

Referee: Phil Dowd 6

Attendance:
20,498


15:00 Arsenal (0) 2 Cardiff (0) 0


Arsenal left it until two minutes from time before ensuring that they ended New Year's Day in the same position as they started it - at the Premier League summit. Cardiff City battled bravely at Emirates Stadium, but ended up leaving north London on the wrong end of a 2-0 scoreline.

Potential new Bluebirds boss Ole Gunnar Solskjaer, who was flown in to watch the game from the stands, will have been impressed by the never-say-die attitude of the Welsh outfit, showing that they have the stomach for a fight. Cardiff were, however, undone very late on as Nicklas Bendtner pounced to crash into the roof of the net after David Marshall could only parry in front of him and Theo Walcott was sent scampering into the box to carefully dink in a match-settling second.

Arsenal: Szczesny 6, Sagna 6, Mertesacker 6, Koscielny 6, Monreal 6, Flamini 6 (Rosicky 65, 7), Arteta 6, Walcott 7, Wilshere 7, Cazorla 7, Podolski 5 (Bendtner 64,7 (Vermaelen 89))
Subs not used: Fabianski, Jenkinson, Miyaichi, Gnabry

Scorers: Bendtner 88, Walcott 90

Booked: Mertesacker

Cardiff City: Marshall 6, McNaughton 6, Caulker 7, Turner 7, John 6, Noone 6, Medel 6 (Gunnarsson 61, 5), Mutch 7 (Cowie 68, 5), Kim 5, Whittingham 6, Campbell 5 (Maynard 80)
Subs not used: Hudson, Cornelius, Smith, Lewis

Booked: Turner, Marshall

Referee: Jonathan Moss (West Yorkshire) 6

Attendance: 60,004


15:00 Crystal Palace (1) 1 Norwich (1) 1 


Crystal Palace slipped back into the drop zone after being held 1-1 by Norwich City. The Selhurst Park ground staff worked minor miracles to get the game on, amid dreadful conditions in south London, but the hosts were unable to reward their efforts. Tony Pulis' side were able to dominate for long periods, but had to come from behind to take something from the tie. Gary Hooper cut back for Bradley Johnson to sweep in an impressive opener off the inside of the post.

Palace were then fortunate to see Marouane Chamakh stay on the field as the first half drew towards a close, after he raised his hands to Wes Hoolahan, but moments later they levelled as Leroy Fer - who was sent off late on - shoved Mile Jedinak in the box and Jason Puncheon made no mistake from 12 yards out.

Crystal Palace (4-4-1-1): Speroni 6, Mariappa 6, Gabbidon 5, Delaney 6, Ward 7; Puncheon 7, Dikgacoi 5 (Parr 45' - 5), Jedinak (c) 7, Bolasie 6 (Williams 79'); Chamakh 5; Jerome 5 (Gayle 62' - 6).
Subs not used: Price, Moxey, Bannan, Phillips.

Booked: Dikgacoi, Chamakh

Norwich City (4-2-3-1): Ruddy 6, Whittaker 6, Turner 6 (Bennett 54' - 6), Bassong 6, Olsson 6; Fer 4, Johnson 7; Snodgrass 6, Hoolahan 6 (Elmander 69' - 6), Redmond 6; Hooper 6 (Martin 86').
Subs not used: Bunn, Murphy, Becchio, Van Wolfswinkel.

Booked: Hoolahan, Fer

Red card: Fer

Referee: Mike Dean 8

Attendance:
25,189


15:00 Fulham (1) 2 West Ham (1) 1 


Fulham, who were hit for six at Hull City over the weekend, hauled themselves out of the bottom three with a crucial 2-1 victory over capital foes West Ham United at Craven Cottage. The Hammers took the lead on derby day, with there just seven minutes on the clock when a long clearance from Jussi Jaaskelainen fell to Mohamed Diame and he spun to fire into the back of the net.

That was to be as good as it got for the visitors, though, with Steve Sidwell escaping the attentions of George McCartney from a 32nd-minute corner to nod home. Things went from bad to worse for the Hammers shortly before half-time when skipper Kevin Nolan saw red for kicking out at Fernando Amorebieta and the 10 men were unable to hold out after the break as a cross from the left was touched into the path of Dimitar Berbatov by Scott Parker and the mercurial Bulgarian could not miss with the goal gaping.

Fulham: Stockdale 6; Riether 7, Senderos 5, Amorebieta 5, Riise 6; Duff 6 (Kasami 78) Parker 8, Sidwell 7, Richardson 6 (Kacaniklic 59, 6); Taarabt 7 (Bent 69); Berbatov 7.
Subs not used: Bettinelli, Kasami, Hughes, Dejagah, Bent, Dembele

Scorers: Sidwell 32, Berbatov 66

Booked: Berbatov, Amorebieta

West Ham: Jaaskelainen 6; Demel 6, O'Brien 5, Diarra 5, McCartney 6; Collison 5, Diame 5 (Downing 56, 5), Noble 5 (Rat 32, 5), Nolan 4, Taylor 5; Maiga 5 (Carlton Cole 69).
Subs not used: Adrián, Jarvis, J Cole, Potts.

Scorers: Diame 7

Booked: Rat

Red card: Nolan

Referee: Mark Clattenburg 6

Attendance: 25,335


15:00 Liverpool (1) 2 Hull (0) 0 


Liverpool moved back into the UEFA Champions League spots after offering the perfect response to back-to-back defeats over the festive period. The Reds saw Luis Suarez put in another talismanic display during a 2-0 victory over Hull City, with the Uruguayan seeing an early header ruled out for offside.

Liverpool were to make the breakthrough, though, on 36 minutes, with Daniel Agger rising highest to nod a Philippe Coutinho corner past a clutch of despairing defenders on the line. Suarez then enjoyed his moment in the spotlight five minutes into the second half, with his 20th league goal of the season crashed home in spectacular style from a 25-yard free-kick.

Liverpool: Mignolet 6; Johnson 7 (Toure 55min, 6), Skrtel 6, Agger 7, Cissokho 6; Lucas 6, Henderson 6; Sterling 6 (Moses 76), Coutinho 8, Aspas 6 (Gerrard 62, 7); Suarez 8.
Subs not used: Jones, Alberto, Kelly, Rossiter.

Booked: Suarez

Scorers: Agger 36, Suarez 50

Hull City: McGregor 7; Chester 6, Bruce 6, Davies 6, Figueroa 6; Elmohamady 5, Livermore 6, Huddlestone 6, Koren 5 (Graham 58, 6), Meyler 5 (Boyd 58, 6); Sagbo 5 (Fryatt 58, 6).
Subs not used: Harper, Rosenior, Faye, Quinn.

Booked: Bruce

Referee: Craig Pawson 5

Attendance: 44,627


15:00 Southampton (0) 0 Chelsea (0) 3 ~BTSports 1


Chelsea remain just two points off the pace after grinding out a 3-0 win away at Southampton. The Blues bossed proceedings at St Mary's, with Fernando Torres in particular catching the eye. The Spaniard was to grab the opening goal of the game on the south coast after 60 minutes, with a speculative cross from Oscar deflecting over Saints keeper Kelvin Davis and back onto the head of the Chelsea striker off the base of the post.

Oscar, who was booked for diving in rather controversial circumstances during an eventful cameo off the bench, also teed up the Blues' second - squaring for Willian on 71 minutes to take a touch to set himself and blast low into the bottom corner. The Brazilian schemer then grabbed the third himself eight minutes from time, racing through to fire in left footed.

Southampton: Davis 4; Chambers 5, Fonte 5, Lovren 5, Shaw 6 (Clyne 46; Ramirez 6, Davis 7 (Ward-Prowse 76, 6), Cork 6 (Lambert 60, 6), Schneiderlin 6, Lallana 6; Rodriguez 6.
Subs not used: Gazzaniga, Yoshida, Hooiveld, Gallagher.

Booked: Ramirez, Cork, Lovren, Clyne.

Chelsea : Cech 6; Azpilicueta 6, Cahill 6, Terry 7, A Cole 7; Ramires 7, Mikel 7; Mata 6 (Oscar 53, 8), Hazard 7 (Essien 85,6), Schurrle 6 (Willian 53, 7); Torres 7.
Subs not used: Schwarzer, Ba, Eto'o, Kalas.

Booked: Oscar.

Scorers: Torres 60, Willian 71, Oscar 82

Referee: Martin Atkinson 8.

Attendance: 31,271


15:00 Stoke (0) 1 Everton (0) 1


Luck was not on Everton's side during their trip to Stoke City, but they snatched a 1-1 draw from the Britannia Stadium. The Toffees could have been in complete control by half-time. Kevin Mirallas twice struck the woodwork in the opening 45 minutes, with a thunderous drive cannoning off the crossbar and a superb free-kick crashing off the upright.

Stoke were to make the visitors pay for their inability to get the ball over the line, with the deadlock broken four minutes after the re-start. Oussama Assaidi found himself in the right place at the right time, with the on-loan winger collecting a loose clearance to the edge of the box and returning the ball with interest from 20 yards out. Everton kept pushing, though, and their persistence was rewarded in the final minute when Leon Osman was sent tumbling inside the box by Jermaine Pennant and Leighton Baines stepped up to send Jack Butland the wrong way from the spot.

Stoke: Sorensen 6 (Butland 46, 6); Cameron 7, Shawcross 7, Wilson 6, Pieters 7; Walters 6 (Pennant 72, 5), Nzonzi 6, Adam 7 (Palacios 82), Whelan 6, Assaidi 7; Crouch 6.
Subs not used: Muniesa, Palacios, Jones, Arnautovic, Ireland.

Scorers: Assaidi, 49.

Booked: Cameron, Whelan, Shawcross, Pennant.

Everton: Howard 6; Coleman 7, Stones 5, Alcaraz 6, Baines 6; Pienaar 6 (Jelavic 72, 6), McCarthy 6 (Osman 72, 7), Barry 6, Barkley 7, Mirallas 8; Lukaku 6 (Naismith 81).

Scorers: Baines pen 90
Subs not used: Robles, Hibbert, Oviedo, Vellios.

Booked: Mirallas.

Referee: Andre Marriner.

Attendance: 25,832


15:00 Sunderland (0) 0 Aston Villa (1) 1


Sunderland remain rooted to the foot of the table after suffering a 12th defeat of the season at the hands of Aston Villa. One goal was all that was required to settle the contest, and Gabriel Agbonlahor was the man to get it.

The Black Cats shot themselves in the foot by trying to play along the edge of their own area, with Lee Cattermole left holding his head in his hands. The Sunderland midfielder saw the ball slip under his boot on 15 minutes and Agbonlahor raced in to round Vito Mannone and roll into an empty net.

Sunderland (4-2-3-1): Mannone 7; Celustka 5, Diakite 5, Roberge 4 (Johnson 77, 5), Bardsley 5; Cattermole 5 (Borini 46, 5), Ki 6; Ji 4 (Altidore 66, 4), Colback 5, Giaccherini 6; Fletcher 5.
Subs not used: Dossena, Larsson, Gardner, Pickford.

Booked: Giaccherini, Ki.

Aston Villa (4-3-3): Guzan 6; Lowton 6, Baker 7, Vlaar 6 (Albrighton 70, 5), Luna 6; Bacuna 7, Delph 8, Westwood 6; Benteke 7, Agbonlahor 7, Weimann 7.
Subs not used: El Ahmadi, Tonev, Bowry, Kozak, Donacien, Steer.

Scorers: Agbonlahor 15

Booked: Bacuna, Delph.

Referee: Mike Jones 5.

Attendance: 39,757


15:00 West Brom (0) 1 Newcastle (0) 0


One goal also separated West Bromwich Albion and Newcastle United at The Hawthorns. The Baggies, who remain without a manager, snatched the spoils three minutes from time to break out of a nine-match winless run. The game had been keenly-contested until just after the hour when Mathieu Debuchy overstepped the mark and was dismissed for a reckless, two-footed lunge on Claudio Yacob.

West Brom made the most of being a man up when Matej Vydra was picked out in the box and was sent sprawling by the onrushing Tim Krul. Saido Berahino was entrusted with the responsibility of converting from the spot, and he did just that as he drilled low into the bottom corner - despite Krul going the right way.

West Brom: Foster, Ridgewell, Yacob, McAuley, Olsson, Amalfitano, Mulumbu, Anelka (Gera 88), Sessegnon (Vydra 77), Brunt (Berahino 45)
Subs not used: Morrison, Long, Myhil, Lugano

Scorers: Berahino pen 87

Newcastle: Krul, Debuchy, Santon, Tiote, Wiliamson, Coloccini (Yanga-Mbiwa 65), Gouffran (Ben Arfa 45), Cabaye, Ameobi (Haidara 76), Sissoko, Remy
Subs not used: Anita, Cisse, Elliot, Taylor

Red card: Debuchy

Referee: Lee Mason

Attendance: 26,430


17:30 Manchester United(0) 1 Tottenham (1) 2 ~ BTSports1


Six straight wins in all competitions suggested that the Manchester United juggernaut was clicking through the gears once more, but the Red Devils were knocked off track again by Tottenham Hotspur at Old Trafford. Spurs left the Theatre of Dreams with a 2-1 win and a standing above United in the top flight table - two points adrift of the top four.

Tim Sherwood's decision to return Emmanuel Adebayor to the Spurs fold was rewarded again after 34 minutes, with the Togolese frontman rising high above a static Chris Smalling to loop a Christian Eriksen delivery back across David de Gea. Spurs doubled their advantage on 66 minutes, with Eriksen this time getting in front of his man - Antonio Valencia on this occasion - to meet a bundled centre from Aaron Lennon with a diving header. United responded inside 60 seconds, with Adnan Januzaj rolling in Danny Welbeck to chip over Hugo Lloris, but David Moyes was left to reflect on a sixth home defeat of the season.

Man Utd: (4-3-2-1) De Gea 7; Smalling 6 (Kagawa 61, 6), Evans 7, Vidic 7, Evra 7; Carrick 6 (Hernandez 61, 6), Cleverley 6 (Young 84, 6); Valencia 5, Rooney 7, Januzaj 7; Welbeck 7
Subs not used: Ferdinand, Lindegaard, Fletcher, Buttner.

Scorers: Welbeck 67

Booked: Rooney

Tottenham: Lloris 8; Walker 6, Dawson 7, Chriches 7, Rose 6; Capoue 6 (Bentaleb 64, 6), Dembele 7, Eriksen 8; Lennon 7, Adebayor 7 (Chadli 70, 6); Soldado 7 (Kane 75)
Subs not used: Lamela, Naughton, Friedel, Fryers.

Booked: Dembele.

Scorers: Adebayor 34, Eriksen 66.

Referee: Howard Webb (S Yorkshire) 5

Attendance: 75,265



















Source Sky/ Sporting Life
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