EPL Match Recap - Week 5

It never disappoints! Lots of action,high-profile matches, controversial decisions and a few superb goals. Newcastle United,Manchester United and Tottenham won their respective matches while Manchester City and Arsenal played to a lone goal draw.

Liverpool 1-2 Manchester United

Rafael celebrates his goal

Manchester United took on Liverpool at Anfield on a day when both teams paid tribute to the 96 fans killed at Hillsborough. Both teams were charged up to pick three points from this, one of the most fierce rivalry matches. The Reds dominated most of the first half without being rewarded with a goal. Instead before the first half came to an end, Shelvey was shown a straight red for a controversial two-footed lunge on Evans reducing them to 10 men. Despite being one man down, Liverpool broke the deadlock through skipper Steven Gerrard who rocketed a nicely chested ball past United’s goalkeeper. The Red Devils gave a fitting reply within five minutes when Rafael curled home a screamer in the 51st minute. Liverpool, expecting a draw, were handed another blow when referee Mark Halsey awarded a penalty in the 76^th minute as Valencia was brought down in the penalty area. The penalty was a little controversial as it wasn’t clear if there was enough contact to justify the call. Dutchman van Persie stepped up to take the spot kick and scored the winner in the 81st minute. With this win Manchester united are one point behind European champions Chelsea while Liverpool need to turn around things in order to get out of relegation zone.

Manchester City 1-1 Arsenal

Arsenal continued their unbeaten run this season as they secured a draw at the Etihad stadium against league champions Manchester City. The North London club dominated most parts of the game but went down in the 40th minute when Lescott headed a ball from a David Silva corner into the top right corner of the goal. City asserted their authority on the game in the second half after that, creating some close chances via Ageuro. For the Gunners it was Gervinho who found the ball most of the time and took hits on target. In the 82nd minute, defender Laurent Koscielny managed to equalize for the Gunners by smashing a failed corner kick clearance into the back of the net. With this draw, both teams are unbeaten in the league.

Newcastle united 1-0 Norwich

Newcastle United took the lead in the 19th minute when the man-in-form, Demba Ba broke the offside trap to collect the ball slotted by Hatem Ben Arfa behind the Norwich back four and executed a calm finish. Cisse had an opportunity to double the lead just before the break, but missed a penalty kick .Despite being behind Norwich remained composed creating chances but failed to score the equalizer.

Tottenham 2-1 Queens Park Rangers

Tottenham Hotspur came from behind to beat QPR 2-1 to deliver manager Andre Vilas Boas his first home win in charge. Hoping to carry on from where they left last week after beating Reading 3-1, Spurs found themselves a goal down when Bobby Zamora lifted the ball over the goalkeeper and into the back of the net following a through ball from Alejandro Faurlin in the 32nd minute.

But an own goal in the 59th minute from Damian Faurlin got the match on level terms. Spurs then pushed for victory and were rightly rewarded with the lead in the 61st minute by Defoe who placed the ball into net after a rebound from a thunderous strike onto the crossbar from Welshman Bale. Spurs move up to eighth position after the win, while Queens Park Rangers remain second from bottom in the Premier League.