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Tuesday April 5, 2011

United Smash Hammers!

West Ham United 2 Manchester United 4

Wayne Rooney scored a dramatic hat-trick as Manchester United produced another sensational late comeback to beat West Ham United and edge closer to the Premier League title.
United appeared certain to open the door for Arsenal and Chelsea when their defence went into meltdown, gifting the Hammers two first-half penalties which Mark Noble duly dispatched.
But the leaders were rewarded for going for broke in the second half, Rooney starting the fightback with just 25 minutes remaining, completing his 14-minute treble from the spot before substitute Javier Hernandez sealed the points.
The result moved United eight points clear ahead of Arsenal and Chelsea before their respective fixtures, while dragging West Ham back into the drop zone on goal difference.

Birmingham City 2 Bolton Wanderers 1

Birmingham City catapulted themselves out of the relegation zone with victory over Bolton Wanderers at St Andrew's.
Veteran Blues striker Kevin Phillips made the most of being handed his first league start of the season by opening the scoring in the fourth minute, the 37-year-old meeting Sebastian Larsson's corner and unleashing an effort that Jussi Jaaskelainen could not stop going in.
Craig Gardner made it 2-0 just before the hour mark with a strike that crashed in off the post and although Johan Elmander's reply for Wanderers set up a tense finale, the hosts hung on for three vital points.
The win moves Alex McLeish's team, who had started the day 19th in the table, up five places, although they remain only two points above the drop zone.

Everton 2 Aston Villa 2

Leighton Baines struck a late penalty as injury-hit Everton denied troubled Aston Villa a much-needed win in the Premier League.
England striker Darren Bent appeared to have put relegation-threatened Villa - and their under-pressure manager Gerard Houllier - on course for three vital points at Goodison Park when he responded to Leon Osman's opener with a second-half double.
But Everton, who were aggrieved when Jermaine Beckford was not awarded a goal after a shot bounced down off the bar, battled on and won a spot-kick when Jean Makoun tripped Phil Jagielka.
The draw was no more than Everton deserved after dictating the play for most of the match despite missing several big names and being relatively secure in mid-table.
Villa, by contrast, were sluggish for large periods and could maybe even consider themselves fortunate as, apart from Beckford's effort, Osman missed a host of chances to increase Everton's tally.

Newcastle United 4 Wolves 1

Winger Jonas Gutierrez provided a final flourish as Newcastle United gave themselves breathing space in the fight for Premier League survival with a precious victory over Wolves.
The visitors left themselves with a mountain to climb after Kevin Nolan, Shola Ameobi and Peter Lovenkrands put the Magpies 3-0 ahead with just 50 minutes gone.
They eventually staged a fightback as Sylvan Ebanks-Blake reduced the deficit with 58 minutes gone and then saw a 72nd-minute header cleared off the line.
But Argentina international Gutierrez made sure with a superb solo effort in injury time to the delight of a crowd of 49,939 to take the Magpies' points tally to 39 and leave them within touching distance of safety.

Stoke City 1 Chelsea 1

Chelsea's title defence foundered at the Britannia Stadium where they were lucky to escape with a point.
Jon Walters put Stoke City ahead with an eighth-minute breakaway goal, only for Didier Drogba to head an equalizer just past the half-hour.
The action became more frenetic in the second half with the Potters hitting the woodwork twice and forcing several good saves from Petr Cech, while Drogba was also denied by the crossbar late on.
A draw, coming after Manchester United had turned around a 2-0 deficit to beat West Ham United earlier in the day, leaves Carlo Ancelotti's team 11 point behind the leaders.
Although they have a match in hand, there are only eight fixtures remaining and it is difficult to see where the deficit will be made up in the final six weeks.
Chelsea's £50m striker Fernando Torres, dropped after nine matches for club and country without a goal, was given half an hour at the end but hardly threatened as his drought extended to 662 minutes since he last found the net, as a Liverpool player at Wolverhampton Wanderers in late January.

West Bromwich Albion 2 Liverpool 0

Chris Brunt's second-half penalty double enabled West Bromwich Albion to win the battle of Liverpool managers past and present at The Hawthorns.
Current Reds manager Kenny Dalglish saw Martin Skrtel head his side in front five minutes into the second half.
But his predecessor, Roy Hodgson, was indebted to Brunt for initially levelling matters from the spot and then scoring the 88th-minute winner.
Albion were worthy of their victory and are now unbeaten in five matches under Hodgson.
They had the match's most potent attacker in Peter Odemwingie while Youssouf Mulumbu anchored the midfield effectively.
Luis Suarez again showed flashes of his quality for the Reds but Andy Carroll had a quiet afternoon after scoring his first England goal in midweek against Ghana.

Wigan Athletic 0 Tottenham Hotspur 0

Tottenham Hotspur head for Spain and a Champions League meeting with Real Madrid on Tuesday on the back of a disappointing Premier League draw at Wigan Athletic.
Manager Harry Redknapp was without injured duo Gareth Bale and William Gallas but he must have been concerned that they carried little attacking threat.
In fact Wigan could have sealed victory three minutes from time but substitute Connor Sammon fluffed his lines.
Whether that miss will prove crucial remains to be seen but Roberto Martinez's struggling side now have the daunting task of three matches on the road.
They looked neat and tidy but again their lack of a cutting edge let them down.

Arsenal 0 Blackburn Rovers 0

Arsenal were left frustrated as their title hopes suffered a setback after struggling Blackburn Rovers battled to a goalless draw at Emirates Stadium.
The Gunners - who now trail leaders Manchester United by seven points with a match in hand - had plenty of possession, but were unable to really test Paul Robinson.
Rovers - who had lost five of the last eight matches - grew in confidence and survived the sending-off of midfielder Steven Nzonzi to earn a useful point in their battle against relegation.

Fulham 3 Blackpool 0

Fulham edged closer to Premier League survival with a comprehensive victory over relegation-threatened Blackpool at Craven Cottage.
Bobby Zamora's five-minute double salvo in the first half proved the catalyst as the Cottagers climbed into the top half of the Premier League.
The 30-year-old showed great composure to latch onto a wayward James Beattie pass and smash home in the 23rd minute before heading home Damien Duff's right-wing free-kick five minutes later for his first goals since August - which also came against the Tangerines.
Dickson Etuhu settled the result with a 72nd-minute tap-in to secure Fulham's fifth home win in six matches.

Manchester City 5 Sunderland 0

Manchester City moved up to third in the Premier League with an emphatic victory over Sunderland at Eastlands.
Adam Johnson, making his first start since injuring his ankle in January, opened the scoring in the ninth minute and skipper Carlos Tevez doubled the Blues' advantage on the quarter-hour mark from the penalty spot.
Second-half strikes from David Silva, Patrick Vieira and Yaya Toure completed the rout as City leapfrogged Chelsea in the table and moved further clear of fifth-placed Tottenham Hotspur in the race for Champions League football.
Roberto Mancini's side are now six points ahead of Spurs, who do have a match in hand.
Sunderland, meanwhile, have gone seven league matches without a victory and need rapid improvement if they are to avoid being dragged into the relegation dogfight.