Manchester United 2 Tottenham Hotspur 0. It was a pathetic performance by Spurs and a very dull match given the quality of United and at Old Trafford. Factoring their recent form, The Red Devils faithful will not care much about the tidiness of anything. Nani scored the most bizzare goal one will ever see with minutes of play remaining. After going down in the box and expecting a penalty, the referee did not budge and Nani handled the ball, which Gomes picked up for a free-kick. When Gomes placed the ball to take a restart free-kick, Nani rose and kicked the ball into the empty net. The referee's assistant saw what happened and alerted the referee, who had none of that. It looked like an act from a comedy, but they all count. It was a goal Arsene Wenger would not count as fair play, but United are desperate and anything is welcome.
The trademark first-minute bad defensive behaviour of Tottenham Spur at the beginning of every match was not punished by Manchester United as Park Jung Sung struck the woodwork and Nani claimed a penalty, all in the first 2 minutes of play. So awful were Spurs that they donated possession in a way Manchester United could not believe and therefore could not utilise. An out-of-this-world Rafael van der Vaart effort almost uprooted the goal posts in the 8th minute as United survived an act of class. The rest of the match was a very dull affair that characterised Arsenal's 1-0 victory over West Ham at the Emirates.
There was no clue how much effective Wayne Rooney would be, given the United attack was never methodical. It was a series of sporadic attacks that were more random than planned. Nonetheless, the hosts were dangerous with each penetration while Spurs were very ordinary. A dead ball situation exposed the Spurs defence as Nemanja Vidic hammer a Nani free-kick past Gomes for the opening goal in the 30th minute. Moments later, a well worked corner-kick from van der Vaart to Modric was well dealt with by Man U goalie, van der Saar. Spurs struggled with their final ball in attack and maintaining shape at the back.
Arsenal 1 West Ham United 0. The Emirates hosted one of the dull encounters in years as Arsenal struggled to stamp their authority at home. So organised were West Ham defence that, the Gunners side that opened the Newcastle defence 7 times in the opening 5 minutes in the Carling Cup 4 days ago, managed the same feat in 45 minutes. To their credit, Robert Green had to be at his very best as Cesc Fabregas and Alex Song were denied point blank range efforts. Alex Song had the final say in the 87 minute, taking the Gunners point tally to 20 and to a second spot behind Chelsea. So ordinary were Arsenal that Arsene Wenger's relief was visible as the punched the air at the final whistle.
Wolverhampton Wanderers 2 Manchester City 1. David Silva raced into the box and was hacked down from behind and Emmauel Adebayor converted the penalty. He turned villain when he missed a seater moments before the end. Shocking defending by City saw them lose the match as they were caught twice on the wrong foot and they paid by the dear points. It was clear that the impact of the injured Carlos Tevez was the tonic City needed to stay in the hunt, but all is not lost for City.
A Blackburn 1 Chelsea 2 result was characterised by incredible goalkeeping from Petr Cech, but Benjani Mwaruwari headed in a cross from the right. Nicholas Anelka was set up by Didier Drogba for the equaliser after 2 central defenders went for the same ball and exposed the central position that Anelka exploited. Christopher Samba and Jason Roberts could have won it with glit edged chances before Ivanovic closed matters in the 84th minute with a header. Chelsea remained on top of the standings with 25 points.
Fulham 2 Wigan Athletic 0. Clint Dempsey scored twice for Mark Hughes's much needed points given they were playing at home. Dempsey finished off a cross with his head before the final goal he took on the second touch. Yakubu scored the only goal as Everton beat Stoke City at home. City have lost 3 matches in a row and it is really sad that their working ethics are not being rewarded.
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