Aaron Lennon

November 29, 2010: In a day of upsets, Newcastle United held Chelsea to 1-1 draw at St. James’ Park, and Tottenham Hotspur beat Liverpool 2-1 at White Hart Lane.

Newcastle United 1-1 Chelsea FC

Chelsea lost their chance to get back on top of the league table with a 1-1 draw away at St. James’ Park. In the freezing conditions, with temperature conditions touching -9 degrees, the visitors made a less than decent start to the game. Chelsea gave away possession easily and the home side was the more dominant one with the majority of the possession.

Cech was forced to make a brilliant save in the 2^nd minute only when Taylor headed the ball ferociously into the net. If not for Cech’s brilliant reflexes, the ball would have ended into the net. However, Chelsea were punished for their lackadaisical start to the game in the 6^th minute, when a communication error between defender Alex and Cech put the ball in Andy Carroll’s feet, which he put into an empty net.

Soon after the goal, Chelsea started to impose their game upon the homeside, kept most of the possession, but fizzled out in the final third, in want of a through ball to the marksmen. But the effort paid off, just before half time, when Ivorian Solomon Kalou wriggled past the home defence and fired the shot which landed in the bottom corner with the help of a deflection from Taylor.

The second half started in the same manner the first had ended, with Chelsea testing the home keeper many times, but they could not carve a way through for themselves. Kalou missed a sitter in the 80^th minute when he failed to stab the ball in an empty goal. The match ended 1-1.

Chelsea now sit at the 2^nd position in the league table 2 points behind Manchester United with 39 points from 15 matches played. They have earned only 4 points from their last 5 Premier League matches.

Tottenham Hotspur 2-1 Liverpool

In an enthralling encounter which also witnessed a missed penalty, Spurs came from behind to beat the Reds 2-1 at White Hart Lane in West London.

Liverpudlian Martin Skrtel went from hero to villain as he scored for his team in the 42^nd minute, and then cancelled his strike in the 65^th minute with an own goal for the Spurs. The blow was completed when Aaron Lennon put his team in front late into stoppage time at the end of the match.

The match saw missed chances from both sides after an exciting start to the game. Rafael van der Vaart had to go off in the 12^th minute due to injury, after he had been selected to play despite a lingering ankle injury. With the ball rolling from one end to another, Liverpool drew first blood almost at the end of the first half, when Skrtel pounced upon a loose ball in front of the goal when the Spurs keeper failed to hang on to a Meireles free kick.

Jamie Carragher gave away a penalty in the 61^st minute. Jermaine Defoe stepped up to take this one, and blasted it wide. It became the 4^th penalty miss for Tottenham this season.

Just four minutes later, Spurs equalised through a Skrtel own goal. Midfielder Luca Modric ran past the defenders and while trying to cut out his cross, Skrtel put the ball behind the keeper Pepe Reina. Both sides continued their assault on the goal, with Defoe going close in the 90^th minute, but his goal was given off-side. However, two minutes later, Lennon completed the comeback when he latched on to Peter Crouch’s pass and hit it beyond Reina, for a 2-1 scoreline.

This is Spurs 5^th match in the season, when they’ve come from behind to win a match, and the 2^nd time in the last 8 days. This win propelled Spurs into the 5^th spot in the league table behind the top 4, United, Chelsea, Arsenal and Manchester City.

Tags: Aaron Lennon, Chelsea, English Premier League, EPL, Football, Liverpool, Martin Skrtel, Newcastle United, Tottenham Hotspur