Derby dross sees Chelski chuffed

A midweek programme saw the biggest Manchester derby in decades become a contender for the worst Premier League game of all time, Chelsea narrowly increase their lead at the summit, and Liverpool’s resurgence halted by a typically unpredictable Wigan.

Spurs faltered again against a Sunderland side reacting brilliantly to the humiliation against their rivals. Craig Gordon, making his first appearance of the season, had to be at his best to keep out Luka Modric early on, while Tom Huddlestone hit the Mackems’ crossbar with a typical long-range blockbuster. David Bentley tested Gordon again before half-time, reminding everyone he is still around, and then took part in the game’s most contentious moment in the second period, bursting into the box and going down under a challenge from Boudewijn Zenden. Replays showed Zenden attempted to pull out, but still catching Bentley to take him down. Howard Webb controversially decided there was no contact and booked Bentley for diving, much to Redknapp’s fury. It wasn’t until the 64^th minute that Spurs went ahead from the man who has scored in every home game since his arrival; Rafael Van Der Vaart. Spurs’ other talisman; Gareth Bale, delivered a peach of a cross, Crouch knocked down and the Dutchman netted; a familiar Spurs move these days. Just three minutes later, Spurs gave away their lead, when Gallas and Kaboul got in each other’s way to allow explosive Ghanaian Asamoah Gyan time to finish adeptly. Another contentious decision followed, when Lee Cattermole again pushed the rules to the limit, with an x-rated challenge on Luka Modric that had Rafael Van Der Vaart ready to knock his block off. Webb was rather more lenient.

The less said about the Manchester derby the better, quite frankly. Rafael had a spat with Carlos Tevez, Nigel De Jong looked to go to ground, studs showing, whenever feasible, and Paul Scholes was always liable to scythe an unsuspecting blue shirt down. Tevez had a great free-kick brilliantly saved by Van Der Sar and Hart easily saved a Berbatov hook. Both defences were imperious, and City got what they wanted: anything but a defeat.

Chelsea narrowly beat neighbours Fulham with a Michael Essien header on the half-hour, scored with Didier Drogba down in the penalty area, rolling around presumably until he heard the crowd’s roar. The second half saw Salomon Kalou somehow waltz through a static Fulham backline and fire through Schwarzer, who took enough pace off the ball for Aaron Hughes to clear off the line. In a goalmouth scramble, Hughes later blocked a certain goal from Didier Drogba, and Kalou proved as wasteful as ever. Chelsea had Cech to thank for punching away a good Gera effort in the dying minutes, before Essien ruined his winning contribution by stamping into a challenge with both feet, narrowly missing gashing Dempsey’s thigh open. Having made the difference, the Ghanaian powerhouse was red-carded, and will be much-missed by Chelsea.

Marouane Chamakh scored in the first and last minutes to give Arsenal a convincing win over a spirited Wolves side, but the undoubted star man for the Gunners was a man steadily rebuilding a reputation: Lukas Fabianski. The Pole made a couple of blinding saves and dealt with crosses well to enhance his claims to permanently replace Almunia. Normally solid early on, Wolves were caught cold by a marvellous Song cross inside 40 seconds that was consummately finished with his head by Chamakh. Despite both sides knocking at the door the rest of the game, with Sagna making a magnificent block from Milijas and Arshavin thumping the foot of the post, a quick throw from Lukas Fabianski in stoppage time saw Chamakh race clear and finish the game off to send the Gunners a point behind second-placed Manchester United.

Ian Holloway made numerous changes and threatened to resign if the Premier League wade in with a fine, but the fact is Blackpool were 2 minutes away from grabbing a superb draw with Aston Villa, and continued their fine goalscoring exploits in the top division. A horribly deflected shot from Stewart Downing had put the Villans ahead, but Villa old boy Marlon Harewood gloried in his well-taken equaliser right on half-time. Youngster Nathan Delfouneso finally kept his head to score Villa’s second just before the hour mark, but Blackpool did not lose heart and got their reward with 86 minutes on the clock, when the normally profligate DJ Campbell worked an opening and got a helping hand from James Collins, who deflected his effort past Friedel for the equaliser. Lamentably for the Tangerines, there was still time for Collins to make amends, guiding in a header from a corner with just a minute to go, with Chris Basham on the post trying to multi-task; marking Ashley Young at the same time and failing to keep the ball out. The fans must also have been slightly miffed that Sheffield Wednesday reject Luke Varney was left kicking his heels on the substitute’s bench.

We were given a warm-up to the David Haye-Audley Harrison bout when Joey Barton decked Morten Gamst Perdersen with a ‘one-inch punch’ to the chest after he assumed the Norwegian had body-checked him on purpose. The little man with anger management issues was fortunate that Michael Jones was looking elsewhere, but his assault made no difference to Blackburn, who won the game thanks to Pedersen’s and Jason Robert’s continuing renaissances. The Norwegian profited in only the 2^nd minute, when impressive Newcastle midfielder Cheik Tiote had one of those moments that you hope is used up in a game you are already 5-0 up in. Unfortunately for him, his failure to get the ball under control inside his box led to the opening goal for Rovers. Toon were indebted once again to gangly target man Andy Carroll just after half-time, when pugilistic midfielder Barton delivered the kind of cross he has been providing every week, which Carroll nodded back across Robinson and in, finally managing to get away from fellow giant Christopher Samba. Blackburn still had the resolve to come back though, and deflated Newcastle in the 81^st minute when Jason Roberts outmuscled Mike Williamson and finished, reacting by pointing at his manager and the back of his shirt to leave us in no doubt what he was thinking.

Liverpool could only draw with an improving Wigan team, despite another masterful goal from Fernando Torres, and Steven Gerrard thundering the crossbar. Wigan came into the game especially in the second period, with Charles N’Zogbia angry to be denied a goal for offside, after cleverly exchanging passes with Hugo Rodallega. The Colombian Rodallega scored the equaliser on 51 minutes, after Jose Reina could only tip Ronnie Stam’s probing cross out to him, and despite Gerrard’s woodwork hit, the game finished a stalemate.

Everton continued their unbeaten run, but only through a fabulous last-minute equaliser from Jermaine Beckford. The game seemed to be heading for a goalless draw, when Matt Taylor drove on and found a perfect cross for Klasnic to walk the ball in at the back post with just ten minutes remaining. When Marouane Fellaini was red-carded for kicking the always-aggressive Paul Robinson, it seemed defeat was inevitable for the Toffees, until the normally weak Leighton Baines found the strength to hound Chung-Yong Lee into giving him the ball on the touchline, fed Beckford, and the striker turned and whipped a sumptuous strike into the top corner of Jaaskelainen’s net. Seven games unbeaten for Everton.

A battle of the Wests saw Ham draw with Brom, but only after the Hammers had mounted a stirring comeback, and the Baggies found the vigour to regain parity. West Brom’s early season talisman Peter Odemwingie opened the scoring from the penalty spot, after Luis Boa Morte was harshly adjudged to have barged over Steven Reid, though replays suggested the West Brom midfielder had played for it. Either side of half-time the Hammers turned it around. Scott Parker sent a rocket into the top corner to equalise, before Frederic Piquionne netted his own penalty, following Tamas’ challenge on Kieron Dyer. The source of the Baggies equaliser was, typically, Chris Brunt, who whipped that delicious left foot around the ball to deliver a pinpoint cross to Pablo Ibanez at the far post, who headed it back into the opposite corner. Try as they might, the Hammers just can’t claw their way off the foot of the table.

Stoke City arrested their recent slide, taking a 2-0 lead against Birmingham City through an opportunistic strike from Robert Huth, and a magnificent solo effort from the powerful trickster Ricardo Fuller, who beat Barry Ferguson on the touchline before cutting in and unleashing the fury. Birmingham typically did not lie down, and a Keith Fahey strike was added to by a Cameron Jerome header for 2-2. What wasn’t so typical was the abysmal defending from the normally immaculate Brum backline, which let in Dean Whitehead, who bundled in a late winner.