BPL gameweek 14: Saturday review

It was a Saturday in the Premier League with goals, goals and GOALS! 25 goals scored in the 7 games played, and and one red card. We’ll have a look back in brief of what happened on this fantastic Saturday.

Newcastle United 0-3 Chelsea:

A match filled to the brim with incidents at The Sports Direct Arena ended in a 3-0 victory for Chelsea over Newcastle. Goals from Didier Drogba, Salomon Kalou and Daniel Sturridge did the trick for the visitors, but that didn’t tell the whole story. Chelsea were trying to ease the pressure off their manager with a win, and they succeeded in doing so, but it wasn’t easy. Just after 5 minutes in the game David Luiz should have been sent off for a foul on Demba Ba, who was clear on goal, but the Brazilian got away with it. Frank Lampard saw a penalty saved from Tim Krul later on in the game before the deadlock was broken after 38 minutes, when Didier Drogba came up with a fine finish to take the lead for Chelsea. In this match, both the sides together hit the woodwork a total of 5 times, out of which 3 were by Newcastle. It was very late in the game when Salomon Kalou in the 89th minute and then Daniel Sturridge in stoppage time scored to seal the 3 points. Now, Chelsea find themselves 2 points above Newcastle in fourth place.

Wigan Athletic 0-4 Arsenal:

Arsenal’s Premier League resurgence continued as a comfortable 4-0 victory over Wigan at the DW Stadium saw them move into fifth place in the table. Mikel Arteta, Thomas Vermaelen, Gervinho and Robin Van Persie were all on the scoresheet for Arsenal, who recorded their sixth league win in their last 7 matches. Wigan, who are now bottom of the table, hardly troubled the visitors in the game. This was Arsenal’s biggest away victory since the opening day of the 2009-2010 season when they beat Everton 6-1. Wigan’s Jordi Gomez missed an easy chance in the game, but Wigan had little else going for them, for they lacked the composure to go on and score against Arsenal.

Blackburn Rovers 4-2 Swansea City:

Nigerian striker Yakubu scored four times for Blackburn as he earned his side a crucial victory over Swansea. The striker scored a fantastic goal earlier in the game to take the lead before Swansea equalised through Leroy Lita. Just before the half time whistle, the Nigerian struck again with a header at the far post to restore the lead. He then made it 3-1 right from close range after the break. Swansea substitute Luke Morre reduced the deficit for Swansea, but Yakubu finished his incredible day from the penalty spot with a fourth goal to complete Blackburn’s big victory at Ewood Park.

Tottenham Hotspur 3-0 Bolton Wanderers:

Tottenham came into the game with one change, replacing the injured Ledley King with William Gallas to partner Younes Kaboul and duly took took all the three points at White Hart Lane to stay third in the Premier League. Gareth Bale opened the scoring for Tottenham from a Luka Modric corner. The game also saw Gary Cahill sent off for a rash challenge on Scott Parker, but it looked a dodgy decision as Parker was a long way away from goal. In the second half, Aaron Lennon doubled the lead for Spurs and Jermaine Defoe chipped in with a header at the hour mark to complete the victory.

Manchester City 5-1 Norwich City:

It was yet another five star performance by Manchester City. This was the third time this season that Man City scored 5 or more goals in a game, after mauling Tottenham and Manchester United earlier this season. This match saw the big money spenders dominate completely, for they had five different goal scorers. Man City took the lead through Sergio Aguero, who scored a fine goal after 32 minutes. Samir Nasri doubled City’s lead with a free-kick that seemed harmless before a goal-keeping error by John Ruddy let it in. Yaya Toure tripled the lead with a low shot before the Canaries pulled one back from a Steve Morrison header. Then came substitute Mario Balotelli who scored a memorable tap-in and made it 4-1. Adam Johnson completed the rout and made it 5 for City, who extended their lead to 8 points at the top for at least two hours.

Queens Park Rangers 1-1 West Bromwich Albion:

Shane Long scored a late equaliser to rescue a point for West Brom after Helguson had given the London side the lead just after 20 minutes. The West London side should have been 2-0 up a matter of minutes after the opener, but Shaun Wright-Phillips’ exquisite volley was wrongly disallowed for offside. After excellent link up play between Alejandro Faurlin and Armand Traore, the latter played a fantastic through ball to Wright-Phillips. Wright-Phillips, on the left side, brought it down with his chest, cut inside and smashed a volley into the top right hand corner. It would have been a contender for the goal of the season had the flag stayed down. Unfortunately for Wright-Phillips and QPR, it didn’t and West Brom managed to get an equaliser late on. Aston Villa 0-1 Manchester United:

Manchester United managed to get a 1-0 win at Villa Park to remain second in the Barclays Premier League table. It was a must-win game for United after rivals City had won 5-1 earlier in the day. The Red Devils scored in the 20th minute through Phil Jones, who got his first career goal. Injuries to Javier Hernandez, Shay Given and Jermaine Jenas marred the game. It was a job well done for United, who were not entirely convincing but managed to keep themselves in the chase for the top behind City with three valuable points.

So, it was a fantastic Saturday in the Premier league and there are another 3 games to go this Gameweek on Sunday and Monday. Hope they will turn out to be crackers too!