Dukey's One 2 Watch: Manchester United 2-0 Stoke City
This match was a danger for United before it even began. Both first choice keepers were out. Anders Lindegaard left training the day before with an injury, and David De Gea called up sick on the day. Rather than go with Tomasz Kusczak (I think that's how to spell it) Alex Ferguson took a chance and handed a Premier League debut to United academy product Ben Amos.
He took his debut against one of the most physical sides in the league and against three strikers - Kenwyne Jones, Peter Crouch and Jonathan Walters, and you know what? He didn't do too badly. Then again, he did only have to make one save as Stoke's attacking threat was nullified by a well organised United defence. United themselves were without 11 players including Rooney and Nani. However, they still managed to attack fluently and controlled play for most of the game. Despite their inability to score from open play, they did register two goals through penalties thanks to Hernandez and Berbatov, who scored in the 38th and 53rd minutes respectively.
United's win moves them level on points with league leaders Man City, and with matches against Chelsea and Liverpool looming this result will be a great boost in confidence after the last gasp defeat against Liverpool in the FA Cup. They are also 5 points ahead of Tottenha in 3rd. Stoke, however, have dropped down to 9th.
Everton 1-0 Manchester City
Former United player Darron Gibson scored the only goal against his old club's title rivals as Everton clung on. Actually, you know, that's not fair. They did have a ball cleared off the line by Joleon Lescott, and Samir Nasri hit the bar twice aswell.
There was also an unfortunate event of a fan handcuffing himself to one of the goal posts (supposedly in protest at his daughter being denied a job at...an airline company? Something like that).
City have now only won once in their last 14 matches to Goodison Park and solid defending from Everton ensured they would leave the stadium top of the table only on goal difference. Everton on the other hand have jumped up to 10th in the league, and can look to the future with great hope, having just secured the signing of striker Jelavic from Rangers. It's about time they signed a recognised goal scorer, and 30 goals in 45 SPL games should hopefully be proof enough that this guy can finally get the goals they need.
Wolverhampton Wanderers 0-3 Liverpool
Liverpool continued their winning streak, having dumped out Manchester City and United from the League and FA cups respectively. One might have expected them to slow down a bit, but no. There was no letting up and it seems they are determined to get one of those coveted Champions League spots.
Goals from Carroll, celebrating one year on Merseyside, Bellamy and Kuyt all gave Liverpool the victory at the Molineux. It was Carroll's 7th goal since his move one year ago, but he finally appears to be finding his scoring boots and his goal set Liverpool on their way to victory. Craig Bellamy then scored his 7th goal in 7 starts and 6th league goal in 17 league matches, before Kuyt notched his 50th league goal for Liverpool.
Liverpool are now 6th. 1 point behind 5th placed Newcastle and 4 points behind 4th placed Chelsea. Wolves are 19th, though a win could see them jump out of the relegation zone, but they are now without a win in 9 games.
Tottenham Hotspur 3-1 Wigan Athletic
Tottenham are in pole position for a champions league space (one of the ones that realistically will not be filled by Manchester anyway) by thrashing Wigan at White Hart Lane.
Luka Modric and Gareth Bale ran circles around the Latics, and Bale struck first in the 29th minute through a chest and volley after a brilliant cross from Modric who then himself got on the scoresheet 5 minutes later. Bale bagged his brace in the 64th minute before McArthur scored a consolation goal for Wigan in the 80th minute.
Tottenham are 5 points behind Manchester United, but are now 7 points ahead of Chelsea, and 10 points ahead of Newcastle, 5th. Assuming they can keep up a mildly good run in the league, they're basically assured of a champions league space for next season. For Wolves, they need to buck up their ideas and start getting some results and racking up the points. They're 2 points away from safety, and have some difficult games coming up.
Swansea 1-1 Chelsea
Maybe it's because I'm a Man United fan, but I'm going to just point out that Fernando Torres has now only scored 3 league goals in 32 league games. Muahaha. Anyway, He didn't score...again. In fact, Swansea scored first, through ex Blues winger Scott Sinclair scored through a low strike against his former club before Ashley Cole was sent off. They also had two chances cleared off the line by Ivanovic and David Luiz.
Swansea then clung on for the rest of the match, holding off wave after wave of Chelsea attack. It was only in the dying seconds of the match, that Swans player Taylor diverted in a Bosingwa shot past the helpless Vorm (who, by the way, has been an inspired signing by Brendan Rodgers).
Swansea have dropped to 14th place, although the yare very close to the rest of the mid-table teams, and a victory could have seen them jump into the top 10. As for Chelsea, they are falling behind in...well they've lost the title race, but they have to focus on the champions league now, and they're only 3 points ahead of Newcastle, and 7 points behind Tottenham. They just need to keep grinding out results and keep picking up points.
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