Premier League – The New Year Rewind
The Barclays Premier League which was once a league dominated by four teams has turned out to be a league where anyone can beat anyone. There have been upsets, classics, controversies and most importantly Entertainment.
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To choose five games as the best ones is a difficult task after all the goals we’ve seen. We saw Chelsea trash Aston Villa 8-0, we saw Arsenal and Newcastle score 10 on a day together. We’ve seen West Bromwich causing the biggest upsets. We saw derbies that were a level above all the other previous derby fixtures.
Manchester United vs Tottenham Hotspur, Old Trafford, 29th September, 2-3
Tottenham ended their 23 year old wait to secure a win at Old Trafford to win a thrilling encounter. Verthongen and Bale put the North Londoners ahead, but Nani struck to pull one back. Clint Dempsey then restored the two goal lead. Kagawa then struck to make it 2-3. The post match comment by Alex Ferguson saying that the added injury time was an insult sparked some debate. It was an end to end encounter after Rooney and Carrick came on as substitutes and struck the wood work twice.
Chelsea vs Manchester United, Stamford Bridge, 28th October, 2-3
A David Luiz own goal and a Robin Van Persie goal put the visitors ahead early on. Chelsea then turned the momentum around with goals from Juan Mata and Ramires. Controversy followed as Match referee Mark Clattenburg showed red cards to Ivanovic and Torres. Torres’s red card was the harsh one among the two. Chelsea were reduced to nine men but kept fighting to draw the match. Super Sub Javier Hernandez then slotted in the winner from close range, but he was clearly offside. This agitated the then Chelsea manager Roberto De Matteo. Chelsea were unbeaten in the league at this point with a two four point lead over United. More controversy followed as Clattenburg was accused of racially abusing a Chelsea player.
Everton vs Liverpool, Goddison Park, 28th October, 2-2
Another breath taking Merseyside Derby that started off with a war of words before the match. Everton manager David Moyes had said that Liverpool star Luis Suarez was a diver and a cheat and should be banned for diving. Suarez created Liverpool’s early first goal after his shot deflected off Leighton Baines and went in. The Uruguayan celebrated by diving in front of the Everton Bench, right in front of David Moyes. Everton equalized through goals from Osman and Naismith. The second Everton goal shouldn’t have been one, because Everton were wrongly awarded a throw in which led to the goal. The moment of the game came in the dying minutes when Liverpool were awarded a free kick which was taken by Steven Gerrard, Coates connected with it and it fell to Suarez who headed it in from close range to score. The linesman flagged offside and the goal was disallowed. Replays showed that no Liverpool player was offside. Another Merseyside Derby another controversy.
Arsenal vs Tottenham, Emirates Stadium, 17th November, 5-2
The score line was a repeat of the one on the same ground in January in the previous season. The man in the middle of things was ex Arsenal player Emmanuel Adebayor. The Togolese man scored in the 10th minute and got sent off a few minutes later after a dangerous tackle on Santi Carzola. Arsenal then scored through Podolski Giroud and Carzola, before Bale scored one for the vistors. Theo Walcott who was the engineer behind the goals scored on in the end to make it 5-2 and also showing why he is a key player to the Gunners.
Manchester City vs Manchester United, Etihad Stadium, 9th December, 2-3
It was revenge served on a platter for United as Rooney struck twice in the first half to give a 2-0 lead, City responded with a goal from Yaya Toure and then a late goal by Zabaletta, but a free kick conceded by Carlos Tevez in the dying minutes was taken by Robin Van Persie and he found the target to give the visitors the lead and paint Manchester Red.
Tags: Arsenal, Barclays Premier League, Chelsea, Emirates Stadium, EPL, Etihad Stadium, Everton, Goddison Park, Liverpool, Manchester City, Manchester United, New Year, Old Trafford, Premier League, Rewind, Stamford Bridge, Tottenham Hotspur
