Cream of Manchester

With 2010 being the year that Chelsea re-established themselves among the elite and won the double, they ended the year in fifth place, grateful for a scrambled win over Bolton to keep them in touch, while Manchester United went into a New Year unbeaten in a season for the first time in Sir Alex Ferguson’s reign; now of course the longest in the Red Devils’ illustrious history. Liverpool fans are calling for Roy’s head after no time in charge, while Mark Hughes has ‘saved his job’ if you believe the tabloid speculation. Both Manchester clubs still sit proudly as first and second in the table.

Chelsea finally earned a brief reprieve from their malaise with a narrow victory earned over Bolton at Stamford Bridge, thanks to a moment of penetration, when the Trotters’ appalling offside trap was sprung by Didier Drogba, who crossed low for Florent Malouda to tap into an empty net. In truth this was a massive opportunity for Bolton to capitalise on Chelsea’s uncertainty missed. Frank Lampard threaded through for Drogba to strike a post, and Michael Essien nearly scrambled the ball in via Ivan Klasnic from a corner. Bolton missed the elegant trickery of Chung-Yong Lee on the wing, and instead had to make do with Matt Taylor’s generally hopeless long-range shooting. Bolton were also missing the midfield guile of Tamir Cohen, whose father; former Liverpool player Avi, tragically died following a motorcycle accident. Still, if Bolton had all been as crafty and purposeful as Stuart Holden they may have got something from this game, but instead it is Chelsea who can look ahead with a little more optimism, as they attempt claw their way back into the title picture in 2011.

Mancitti briefly tasted life as top dogs, after crushing a pitiful Aston Villa side 4-0, leaving a beleaguered Gerard Houllier looking very concerned about his prospects. Villa fans were looking for a much better display after the capitulation at the feet of Spurs, but instead were treated to much worse. Any thoughts of a tight first half were  quashed by the 12^th minute, when Villa were already two goals down, after Mario Balotelli had been hacked down and converted a penalty, and Joleon Lescott had seen his header from a corner cross the line despite the efforts of the diminutive Barry Bannan. Villa were particularly seething at the second goal, because they had been forcibly reduced to ten men after Carlos Cuellar had injured himself executing a brilliant last-ditch challenge on Yaya Toure to concede the corner. Insult to injury if there ever were such an incidence. With Carlos Tevez benched with a tight hamstring, it was up to Adam Johnson and the immaculate David Silva to provide penetration, and they didn’t fail to respond. A lovely move culminated in the Spaniard coaxing a ball into Yaya Toure, taking the return, and avoiding three players to whip a shot in that was spilled to the feet of Mario Balotelli for an easy goal. Villa responded with very little, and it was 4-0 before the hour mark, when Adam Johnson showed his class; cutting outside Stephen Warnock and inside Marc Albrighton, before being sent crashing to the deck. Super Mario stepped up, put Brad Friedel on his backside and celebrated his hat-trick from the spot.

Manchester United were seething after a dubious late goal from Birmingham denied them a clear lead at the top of the table. Ryan Giggs was once again a measure of class, and he sounded an early warning with a floated shot on his weaker foot that Ben Foster tipped against the inside of the post and out. Birmingham showed some restrained ambition in the first half, but this was all over by the second period. Razor-sharp Bulgarian Dimitar Berbatov continued his hot vein of form just before the hour mark; trading passes with Darron Gibson before burying the return inside Ben Foster’s near post. Later, Berbatov weaved more of his magic; shimmying and swaying towards the edge of the Birmingham box before striking the post with his effort. Lee Bowyer had been fortunate to stay on the pitch after an ugly studs-up challenge on Darron Gibson left the Ulsterman thankful his foot had slid away on the turf rather than staying planted, and of all people it was Ryan Giggs who got some measure of retribution with a superb if very heavy challenge which up-ended Bowyer and sent the ball way into the stand. Alex McLeish abandoned the original gameplan of caution laced with more caution, and instead sent for the big man to lump the ball up to. This appeared to work in the last minute, when a high cross was flicked on by Zigic for a suspiciously-offside-looking Lee Bowyer to slide in at the back post; though most people could see on the initial viewing that the Serb had been all over Rio Ferdinand, and that the ball had flicked off his forearm.

Tottenham continued to keep pace with Chelski after a victory over Newcastle, despite being down to ten men for much of the second half. Tim Krul, who had given Manchester City their opening goal with his stupidity last time out, produced a save which rivals Craig Gordon’s against Bolton to liven up proceedings. A devious Aaron Lennon cross was met with a textbook header from Roman Pavlyuchenko, but somehow Krul flew full length to throw both hands up and deflect the bullet header onto the inside of one post and along the goal-line to hit the other, before being cleared. A magnificent save which lamentably for Krul did not inspire his side enough. Andy Carroll was as usual the main goal threat for Newcastle, but even he could not find a breakthrough, and in the second period Tottenham’s relentless attacks bore fruit. Younes Kaboul sent Aaron Lennon away with a fantastic ball, and the winger flew towards Newcastle’s goal, unleashing a cross-shot that nicked in off James Perch. Kaboul, who had been immense, went from hero to zero after a bone-shuddering challenge from Chekh Tiote sent him reeling. Kaboul moved to remonstrate with his assailant, while Tiote seemed to think Kaboul tried to stamp on him. The aggressive expressions of both was destined to lead to a reaction, and Kaboul lost his head by planting it into Tiote’s, for a red card. Tottenham’s second will be much-maligned by Newcastle, because it stemmed from Andy Carroll being fouled as he worked an opening on the edge of the Spurs box. The big man won the ball back with a sliding tackle, but was hacked as he moved across the box and stumbled heavily, but attempted to continue before falling. The referee stupidly allowed play to continue as Spurs dug the ball out and countered in lightning quick time. Luka Modric orchestrated the move and fed Gareth Bale, who, despite the close attentions of more than one defender, raced into the box and launched a shot through two men and across goal for the clincher.

An incredible game, which is typical for Blackpool this season, ensued at the Stadium of Light; a ground no other team had won at this season. Never again will a home team have such a litany of glorious opportunities and not score, let alone lose. The fun began early, when a Blackpool defensive cock-up saw the ball slid past his own goalkeeper by a Tangerine defender. Asamoah Gyan galloped onto it but ran out of pitch and could only fire into the side netting. Richard Kingson then somehow shovelled Jordan Henderson’s rasping drive wide; more through luck than judgment. Gyan then scuffed an absolute sitter wide when a ball missed a mass of players and found him at the back stick. The home fans were left agape when Blackpool took the lead against all known logic, when a lovely Neil Eardley cross was flicked on by Evatt, to find DJ Campbell, normally the most profligate of strikers, who this time volleyed in coolly. Sunderland then resumed their onslaught, but Gyan slid a teasing low cross high, wide and not very handsome. There then followed a moment of utter incredulity, as not one but two Blackpool defenders ludicrously miskicked to leave Darren Bent free with just Kingson to beat, but the goalkeeper stayed big to block the Mackems’ striker’s effort, before Elmohamedy turned in a thunderous follow-up which was dive-headed away from being a certain goal. Darren Bent then must have known it was not his day, as his late free-kick bounced off the crossbar and out. Blackpool provided a keg of salt to rub into the Back Cats’ wounds, when youngster Matty Phillips beat two men and sent in a superb low cross which even DJ Campbell couldn’t miss; though he tried his best, hitting the underside of the crossbar from little more than a yard, but it went in and ‘Ollie went home beaming, as most neutrals did once again.

Arsenal did what they do best at Wigan: defy the odds to drop points. The Latics were in the mood at the DW, and Hugo Rodallega should have finished a magnificent cross from Tom Cleverley, but could only reach it with his hand. Wigan took the lead in the 17^th minute when their most incisive player; Charles N’Zogbia, produced a stunning weaving dribble into Arsenal territory, when a lazy leg from Laurent Koscielny sent him crashing to earth, right on the penalty area borderline. The referee gave Wigan the benefit of the doubt, and Ben Watson stepped up to take advantage. Suddenly Arsene Wenger was regretting the decision to change most his winning Chelsea team. At the other end, a Tomas Rosicky drive was parried by Al-Habsi, into the path of Laurent Koscielny, but the dozy Frenchman was denied a goal by a fantastic challenge from Gary Caldwell. Arsenal did get their rewards though, when slack Wigan play let Nicklas Bendtner in to power in a drive that Al-Habsi could only parry to Andrei Arshavin, whose scissor-kick beat Gary Caldwell on the goal-line. Wigan didn’t learn their lesson though, and Nicklas Bendtner had the favour returned by Arshavin on the stroke of half-time; bundling through numerous challenges with a lovely touch and slid into the corner for 2-1. Arsenal forced the issue at times in the second period, but Wigan had a cracking break led by Charles N’Zogbia and James McArthur, which culminated in the Frenchman having his shot on his weaker side clocked by Fabianski. Ali Al-Habsi got Hendry Thomas out of jail when he saved expertly from Arshavin, but things got a lot more difficult for the Latics, when Charles N’Zogbia lost his head and pushed it into Jack Wilshere’s for a straight red card. Game over, thought the neutral, but they reckoned without some slapstick defending from Arsenal’s gormless Gallic centre-halves. After Laurent Koscielny had given away a penalty and missed a chance to score, it was his centre-half’s turn to embarrass himself, when a deep Wigan corner beat everyone and was nodded back into the middle by Hugo Rodallega, where Gary Caldwell was waiting to nod into an empty net, only to be beaten to it by Sebastien Squillaci’s ‘Superman’ impression; climbing over the back of the Wigan defender to head ludicrously into his own net. There was just enough time for an Arsenal riposte, but they were denied a clear penalty at the death when a free-kick was clearly handled by the fortunate James McArthur.

Liverpool heaped more shame on their long-suffering fans with a defeat to the Premier League’s bottom club at Anfield; a club which rarely scores and even more rarely keeps a clean sheet, particularly away from home. But do that they did. All it took for Wolves to celebrate one of the finest results in their recent history was for Sotirios Kyrgiakos to nod weakly away to Sylvain Ebanks-Blake, and then attempt to intercept his flick at the same time as Martin Skrtel, leading to the ball squeezing between them and letting in Stephen Ward, who scampered to the loose ball and stabbed it under Reina in the nick of time to find the corner of the Liverpool net. The only Liverpool attack of note was a disallowed goal from ‘Evil Egg’ Skrtel; played offside by an excellent offside ploy from the Wanderers, who came away justifiably proud of their efforts. Roy Hodgson meanwhile has to contend with a section of his club’s fans calling for Kenny Dalglish to step in, whilst another section of apparent amnesiacs call for the return of Rafael Benitez.

Mark Hughes lifted the ridiculous ultimatum heaped on him by the tabloid press by winning at the notoriously difficult Britannia Stadium; not so notoriously difficult now as Blackpool also won there not so long ago, but then they have a nice habit of winning at intimidating away grounds. The game was sewn up within the first ten minutes. Northern Irish defender Chris Baird caught the ball sweet as a nut for a superb half-volley in off the post with just three minutes gone, and then cracked an even more impressive free-kick across the goal and in on ten. Danny Murphy later nodded a scrambled Ryan Shawcross header off the line, and Fulham were resilient to the end. The game ended with Tony Pulis proving he may look like a grumpy old man, but he can play a little girl when the mood arises; the Stoke boss refusing to shake Mark Hughes’ hand at full-time. Not for him a sullen scowl down the tunnel, no, he was actually childish enough to approach Hughes and offer his hand before taking it away. The camera didn’t pick him up putting his thumb to his nose and sticking his tongue out, but you sensed he would have relished it. This of course dates back to a League Cup tie early in the season, where Mark Hughes refused to shake Pulis’ hand. In Hughes’ defence, he had just witnessed Danny Collins execute a ‘ridiculous’ tackle in the last minute that had injured one of his players, so I think we can chalk it up to ‘heat of the moment’. Pulis’, however, was very much stage-managed and premeditated. It seems he dreams up revenge in the playground as well as tactics.

Steve Kean actually disproved the notion that Blackburn may well not win again without Big Sam’s ‘up and at ‘em’ motivation and rigorous tactical deployments at set-pieces. A long ball from El-Hadji Diouf managed to completely bamboozle the snoozing West Brom backline, giving Nikola Kalinic an age to take it down, take a couple of paces, set himself and slot in past Scott Carson. Somen Tchoyi brought the Baggies back into it with an exquisite low cross fed around four Blackburn defenders, to leave Jerome Thomas sliding it into the unguarded net for 1-1. But after that the Baggies strangely lost their ‘boing’, and Kalinic bundled in his second after Ryan Nelsen nodded a set-piece back across goal. Mame Biryam Diouf made the game safe; diving to head in a cross from his namesake El-Hadji where the boots were flying. Kalinic then disgusted most inside the Hawthorns with a horrendous challenge on Paul Scharner, who was fortunate his feet did not plant in the turf. The hot-headed Croatian was sent off, and was later followed, as is often the case, by a West Brom player. Not Gonzalo Jara for once, but Gabriel Tamas; given a red for a professional foul as last man, despite being far from the penalty box.

West Ham picked up another useful point but not three at the Boleyn, while Everton still fail to put together a meaningful run of results. Tony Hibbert is a lot like Jamie Carragher. Neither has particularly prominent football ability, but they both run their hearts out and throw themselves in the way. Unfortunately for Hibbert, his football ability was needed rather more than his dedication, when he spooned a clearance into his own net following a frantic goalmouth scramble. He had also netted an own goal the last time he was at Upton Park. David Moyes bizarrely benched all his strikers to leave Tim Cahill leading the line, and it looked to pay off somewhat when the Samoan-Aussie crossed for Seamus Coleman to gamble and volley in coolly at the back post. Ayegbeni Yakubu could not make an impact after being introduced on the hour, while Robert Green had to be alert to save a late Fellaini header.

Until 2011…