Premier League weekend roundup– Gameweek 9

Manchester United’s Belgium midfielder Adnan Januzaj (R) vies with Stoke City’s Honduran midfielder Wilson Palacios (L) during the English Premier League football match between Manchester United and Stoke City at Old Trafford

It was the echoes of the nervy late comebacks for Manchester United as they were staring down the barrel of a fourth defeat in nine games. With a rather unconvincing win at home against Real Sociedad as the result of an own goal, United looked to come back stronger against a Stoke team that hadn’t done much in their opening fixtures except concede many goals. But the Old Trafford singing section was silenced when the lanky Peter Crouch pounced on a ball crossed by left back Erik Pieters who was unmarked, sending it past Chris Smalling and then the former Liverpool man sending it into the net. In true United fashion, the defense was exposed once more leaving most of the work up to David De Gea which the Spaniard happily accepted producing some sublime saves and proving his worth as United’s no.1. The hosts pulled back with two minutes to half time as Nani, who had been rubbish all match, crossed into the box to allow Wayne Rooney to head the ball straight into Asmir Begovic’s hand but failed to control the rebound which allowed the ever waiting Robin van Persie to slot home the equaliser. This celebration was short-lived as Marko Arnautovic smashed home an almost perfect free kick, fouled by Phil Jones, from 30 yards out that required some help from De Gea. The hosts, behind once again, controlled most of the possession in the second half but barely were able to get any shots past the resilient Stoke City defence who were happy with the scoreline. But it’s never over until the whistle blows and the Potters experienced this when a flurry of corners allowed Rooney to apply the slightest of touches to a van Persie corner to equalise. David Moyes, criticized for his choice of subs at the Saints game, brought on Adnan Januzaj, who won a handful of freekicks for his team, Antonio Valencia, who injected some pace into the scared home team and the super-sub Javier Hernandez. Chicharito, being booked two minutes after coming on, showed his new boss why he is known as United’s saviour, when he struck a powerful header from Patrice Evra’s cross to give immense relief to fans, players and manager alike!

While in last weekend’s match, David Marshall was unfairly dispossessed by Chelsea striker Samuel Eto’o to award the Blues the win, this weekend he was the star of the show at Carrow Road as he denied the Canaries any chance and piled more pressure on Norwich City boss Chris Hughton as they are above only Sunderland and Crystal Palace in the table currently. The game was brought to a stalemate not because of lack of chances thereof but because of the antics of both goalkeepers. While Marshall remained attentive to deny Canaries strikers Gary Hooper and Ricky van Wolfswinkel numerous chances. A penalty shout against Steven Caulker for a handball frustrated the home fans further as chants of ‘You don’t know what you’re doing’ rang through Carrow Road when Hughton substituted Hooper for Johan Elmander, while Nathan Redmond was brought on for Anthony Pilkington who had also come close to scoring. The Bluebirds brought on Craig Bellamy with another Norwich connection besides their goalkeeper Marshall. John Ruddy also had his hands full with Frazier Campbell, Aron Gunnarsson and Peter Odemwingie being denied while a superb save from a Jordan Mutch strike point-blank. The Canaries were unfortunate to having being denied that earlier penalty, while also another goal being cancelled when a van Wolfswinkel throw-in found Leroy Fer only to shoot it in past Marshall after shoving which prompted the referee to cancel the strike and leave each team with one point.