In a time wasting affair for fans, these Manchester giants wrestled each other to the ground, but in a dull and boring manner that be qualify for conspiracy usually associated with the far east betting syndicates. While City were always caught for pace in midfield, they dominated the first half with total authority but their penetration was neutralised by their lack of confidence and lack of nerves.
The match was well suited for the forceful and finishing prowess of Emmanuel Adebayor, but Roberto Mancini played child games hoping Carlos Tevez will revel in the limelight of playing against his former paymasters and haunt them. Football, being none of magic, was always going to be won by football tactics which Sir Fergie did less to instill in his team, hoping for a sell-motivation of the derby. This misfired badly as United failed to turn their total dominance of the second half into anything meaningful.
Liverpool had a fairly good trip to Wigan where Fernando Torres scored again for a vital away draw. The resurrected Merseyside team played well and were unlucky to concede a Hugo Rodallega equaliser at the DW Stadium. The goal came courtesy of that Steven Gerrard telephatic understanding with Torres who made darting run to the right and then finished with the trademark class that had been eluding him for the better part of the current season, firing low to the far post.
Wigan took charge of matters and finally got the goal that mattered in the 52nd minute after Pepe Reina parried the volley back into play and Rodallega embraced the gift with his right foot to take the steam off The Reds. It was a good point for the visitors and with Gerrard hitting the bar late in the match, it was going to be hush for the host to lose that match given their effort. Charles N'Zogbia was the class I had always admired from the days he was at Newcastle United and he seems to be enjoying the confidence of Roberto Martinez, his coach. He had the ball in the net in the 31st minute but his effort was voided by the referee.
They would have headed off into the night with more to show for their output if they had been a little more composed in the visiting area.
Arsenal turned up for 39 seconds and went to slumber before coming back to see the end game in the 94th minute to steal the points away from Wolverhampton Wanderers in the Barclays Premier League encounter at Molineux. The Moroccan striker, Marouane Chamakh complted a swift move from kick off when the headed in a cross from the right in 39 seconds. Lukasz Fabianski, one of my favourite players along Alex Song and Samir Nasri, was just superb as he has been throughout this season so far. Chamakh raced to a through ball at the dearth to put Wolves to the sword in injury time.
Captain Cesc Fabregas showed he drank from the same cup as Liverpool's Fernando Torres as his moral seemed to be rock bottom. Cesc failed to connect clean from close range and had numerous wild shots and wayward passes. His head was often between his legs and he was lucky not to see red with his reckless tackling. The match was well suited for Theo Walcott, as Wolves pushed relentlessly forward, leaving yawning gaps behind. Andrei Arshavin, having his best match of the season, could not accelerate fast enough onto the through ball and even one-on-one cases.
Unlike their last match in which they found themselves pinning their opponents against the wall without any room for Walcott and company to get behind the defence, the Gunners were the ones gasping for thin air and begging for mercy for the entire 90 minutes with Kevin Doyle and Foley terrorising the defence at will. It was more of a case of unlucky Wolves than lucky Arsenal. As it was to be the case, Wolves live to fight another day.
Defending champions looked to Michael Essien's close-range header to steal the vital points in a match they dominated well. Essien was harshly sent off late in injury time for a two-footed tackle on Clint Dempsey which was less malicious than the referee thought. Chelsea desperate for the win after the weekend loss to Liverpool. Salomon Kalou had three excellent chances to bury Fulham but Mark Hughes's side were lucky to escape the drubbing. Kalou came in for injured Nicolas Anelka and was involved in the goal when his cross from the right wing found an unmarked Essien to headed in the ball from close range.
The Blues put a solid performance but were far less intimidating as in the first part of the season. It may be that they are running out of steam or just going through a lean spell, in which case they are happy with it as they pick up the vital points from under-par displays. At this point, do they look like they will retain the title or someone is laying wait for the championship? In that case, who?
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