Alex Reid looks at whether the once ever-present appearance of English clubs in the later stages of the Champions League is set to become a thing of the past
Craig Dobson looks at QPR's decision to sack Neil Warnock and replace him with Mark Hughes
Andy Pakes previews this Sunday afternoon clash in the first edition of Game of the Week for 2012
Dave Hughes tells us about his sporting hero, Wes Morgan
If there was ever any doubt over Manchester's threat of dominance in the forthcoming season, it was put to rest this week, with emphatic wins over their respective North London rivals.
The weekend started with a fairly uneventful 0-0 draw between Aston Villa and Wolves, which saw Mick McCarthy's team go top of the league at least for a few hours, with a very impressive 7 points from their opening 3 games.
Chelsea aimed to keep up the pressure on their Northern rivals, when they hosted Premiership newbies, Norwich City for the 3pm fixture. Although coming away with a 3-1 win, their performance suggested they are still finding their feet under new boss Andre Villas-Boas, as a determined Norwich held a 1-1 scoreline until the 82nd minute, where Lampard converted a spot kick. The result was put beyond doubt when new signing Juan Mata scored a third in the 101st minute. The reason for such a large chunk of stoppage time was a rare genuine injury for Chelsea striker Didier Drogba, who fell awkwardly after a collision with the Norwich keeper, and had to be stretchered off unconcious. Reports say that he is making a full recovery. £50m signing Fernando Torres once again failed to hit the back of the net, and when Chelsea's new Striker Juan Mata, equalled the goal-scoring record of his compatriot after just 30 minutes of being on the field, it did make us wonder, just how many more chances will the former Anfield legend get?
Saturdays late kick off saw a new-look Liverpool team take on an all too familiar Bolton. Liverpool have been one of the big spenders this summer, only being matched by the likes of Manchester City and Chelsea. Bolton on the other hand have made only 2 purchases, spending a mere £8.4m. Unlike Chelsea however, Liverpool were making the money count, and brushed aside a poor Bolton team in an impressive display, and a statement to their rivals, that they're back amongst the big boys... The ubiquitous Uruguayan, Luis Suarez, led the charge in a more than convincing 3-1 win, with goals from Martin Skrtel, and midfielders Charlie Adam and Jordan Henderson.
On the blue half of Merseyside, Evertonian's were counting their lucky stars, after a 92nd minute penalty robbed Blackburn of a deserved point, giving a below-par Toffees team all three points. This was made all the worse for Blackburn, by missing TWO penalties themselves during the course of the match.
However it was the events which too place on Sunday which really grabbed the attention of the footballing nation...
At White Hart Lane, what was forecasted to be a closely fought match turned out to be a massacre, when a rampant and revamped Manchester City side trampled all over their hosts Tottenham Hotspur, scoring 5 times to beat them 5 - 1. Edin Dzeko finally seemed to come of age in this match. His intelligent runs, crisp first touches, and hard work inspired his teammates, and earned him 4 well deserved goals. New signing Aguero continued his flying start to his premiership career, by grabbing the fifth. Sergio Aguero couldn't have asked for a better first few games with his new club, Scoring 3 goals in 3 matches, however he would be the first to admit that the pace of the Premier League has shocked him, and recently said in a press conference:
“It has been a real surprise and I have to adapt to it quickly. In Spain, the game is much more stop-start, and here it is the opposite. It's very fast, very pacey, but very, very exciting.”
This win meant that Man City kept up their 100% record this season, and their impressive goal difference meant that they would almost certainly top the Premier League this week, unless rivals Man United could win by 7+ goals against Arsenal a few hours later. Surely not?...
For Sunday's final game, all eyes turned to The Emirates, where an eagerly anticipated clash between giants Arsenal and Manchester United got underway. The First 20 minutes acted out as expected, the visitors were undoubtedly on top, creating chances at will and dominating possession, however Arsenal were managing to keep out the perpetual United attack, and with the pace of Theo Walcott, still looked dangerous on the counter.
United got the opener on 22 minutes, when a sloppy piece of defending and and improvised pass by Anderson, gave Danny Welbeck an easy header to put it past the Arsenal Keeper. It went from bad to worse for Arsenal from this point on, when United's new signing Ashley Young curled a beautiful shot into the top corner, followed by a goal from Wayne Rooney to put United ahead by 3 goals. Walcott scored a good individual goal on the stroke of half time, to put them in 3-1 down at half time.
Many teams would have come out in the second half and shut off, seen the game as won, and played it out defensively... but not Manchester Utd... Arsenal's makeshift back 4 just could not deal with the continued onslaught, and after a further 5 top drawer goals from Rooney (2), Young, Ji sung Park and Nani, Arsenal were officially humiliated. A 74th minute consolation goal from Van Persie barely holding an spot of significance.
The aftermath of the game brought many questions to the table regarding the two teams.... Did United play well? Or was it just a poor performance by Arsenal? Who is to blame? Has Wenger outstayed his welcome? And most importantly, Is this the end of an era for Arsenal's Top 4 status? Or is it just a blip which will bare no significance at the end of the season? Only time will tell...
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