Chelsea 2-3 Manchester United - Man United finally won at Stamford Bridge in the league for the first time in 10 years but it's hard to argue with the fact that refereeing decisions influenced the game massively. United started like a house on fire and took the lead after just 4 minutes through a quick counter attack that ended with a Robin Van Persie shot hitting the post and going in off the hapless David Luiz. This was only the 3rd time United have taken the lead in their 9th Premier League game this season! Robin Van Persie scored to make it 2-0 after another lightning counter attack down the right hand side. This was his 6th goal at Stamford Bridge and according to Opta Joe he has now scored more goals there than any other visiting player in the Premier League. Chelsea took control from around the half hour mark and scored either side of half time and David De Gea deserves a lot of credit for holding Chelsea out for so long. After his first half free kick Juan Mata has now been involved in 9 goals in his last 5 league games (scoring 4, assisting 5) and he seems to be in the form of his life. Then, enter Mark Clattenburg. Branislav Ivanovic can have no complaints really for his sending off. Ashley Young was through on goal and whether it was intentional or not he clipped Young, was the last man and prevented a goal scoring opportunity. Fernando Torres' red was contentious to say the least. Depending on your allegiance you may feel it was harsh, you may not. Personally (call me biased) I didn't see any contact between Evans and Torres, but Evans did dive in and it could easily have been a foul the other way. United then scored late on through Chicharito, and again Mark Clattenburg was at the centre of controversy as Hernandez was in an offside position. Niall Quinn said 'you have to feel for Chelsea don't you?' As Man Utd and QPR fans we can tell you Niall, no you don't! In our humble opinion any club that celebrates a captain charged with racist abuse and whose fans boo the victim of said abuse and his brother - for having the audacity to be racially abused and to be related to said victim - doesn't deserve any of our sympathy whatsoever! All in all though it seems a bit of a shame that such a fantastic game had to be influenced so heavily by Mr Clattenburg. This was a massive win for United though, and shows that Chelsea aren't going to run away with the title. This makes things a lot more interesting now anyway as only 1 point separates 1st to 3rd place.
Everton 2-2 Liverpool - Earlier this pulsating Merseyside derby was also marred by a late dubious refereeing decision that prevented Luis Suarez (shame!) and Liverpool from claiming a late late victory against Everton. Suarez was clearly motivated by David Moyes' pre-match comments about the Uruguayan's propensity to dive. He was right up for it all game and showed his displeasure with those comments by diving along the ground right in front of Moyes after Leighton Baines' own goal put Liverpool ahead. Suarez had double the amount of shots of any other player on the pitch. The first half was enthralling and all the goals were scored in the first 35 minutes. Liverpool had a goal disallowed in the last minute as Suarez was adjudged (wrongly) to be in an offside position before turning the ball in from a Coates knock down. It was a feisty affair with 7 yellow cards and it almost seems like the biggest hurdle for Everton now to beat Liverpool is psychological rather than based on inequality on the pitch. Everton have all the tools to beat Liverpool and showed their quality by coming back from 2-0 down but they seemed to be a bit fearful of Liverpool's fast start leading to them not really getting started until they were 2 down. That's 3 draws on the trot for Everton and they need to start picking up wins again soon if they want to challenge for 4th position this season. Liverpool meanwhile continued their habit of only showing up for the big games - something they've continued for a couple of seasons now.
There were some big surprises in the Championship this week as Birmingham won at Leeds, Crystal Palace produced an excellent display to continue where Dougie Freedman left off as they won away at leaders Leicester whilst Millwall trounced strong starters Huddersfield.
(Brief) round-up of our sides
QPR's kamikaze performances continued this week with an 11th red cards in 47 Premier League games and another defeat to go hand in hand with it. C's match report is here.
Crewe and Union Berlin compounded C's misery with 0-1 defeats against very mediocre opposition (no disrespect to Yeovil Town or SC Paderborn 07 fans among our readers). Crewe were defeated by a disappointing goal scored by a defender from a set piece, whilst Union, who were five games unbeaten before the weekend, will be looking to bounce back in the DFB-Pokal (FA Cup in English money) as they play Offenbacher FC Kickers away as they gear up for the big East German derby against old enemy Dynamo Dresden next Sunday. Apparently Steve Davis is interested in bringing Ryan Lowe back to the Alexandra Stadium from MK Dons - an experienced goalscorer at this level can only be a good addition to such a young side and we hope it happens!
And finally, of course, we've glossed over Manchester United's three points at Chelsea above already.
Things we learnt this week
- The 'Bairdinho' train keeps rolling as Chris Baird scored his second goal in 2 games to equal the amount of goals he scored in his first 120 Premier League appearances.
- Were MOTD having a special on old supporters this week? Apparently there was a centurion fan present at Arsenal and Wigan and both were honoured by their clubs, which is quite a nice touch really. We didn't even think Wigan had been going that long though?!
- Gordon Bennett that was a lot of Bennetts in the Aston Villa v Norwich game! Elliott and Ryan were both playing for Norwich, while Joe was playing for Villa. It was as if that many Bennetts on one pitch would make the universe implode so Joe got himself sent off to reduce the Bennett number by one.
- Phil Neville obviously got altitude sickness from being so high up the pitch. That's why he dived.
- Jose Fonte looks really out of his depth in the Premier League, and it appears his lack of ability is what is continuing to cost Southampton dear
- G4S security staff do have their uses, it seems. In spite of having their name dragged through the mud all Summer at the Olympics, one of their staff stepped up from being spectator to run the line in Dunfermline v Cowdenbeath after the original linesman stepped up to referee following an injury
- Oxford United - Adam Chapman joins the list of crazies football injuries of our time - playing through the pain barrier after burning his nipple with hot dairy products - proof that there is no point in crying over spilt milk!
- The Davids effect is continuing to impact on the Football League's bottom club Barnet, who recorded a first away win of the season in what has been a productive week or so since the Dutchman's arrival - that's now two wins and a draw in three games.
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