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The Legendary Liverpool manager Bill Shankly, once said
"Football is not a matter of life and death, it is much more important than that"
Last Saturday I was at White Hart Lane for the Spurs v Bolton FA Cup quarter final game and what happened that afternoon proved that Bill Shankly was so so wrong !!!
After 41 minutes of the game, Fabrice Muamba the talented 23 year old Bolton player, collapsed to the ground and the game of football was put into perspective as it completely paled into insignificance.
Players from both teams immediately called for help and the medical teams from both teams and the paramedics were on the scene in seconds, the 37,000 people in the stadium watched on in disbelief as they watched a young man fighting for his life.
At the top of the table, nothing much has changed, Manchester United got their hat trick of 5-0 away wins, this season, demolishing Wolves in style, leaving United still on top and Wolves still on the bottom.
The big game was at the Ethiad stadium in Manchester, where Manchester City were hosting Chelsea, rejuvenated after the sacking of Villa Boas, Chelsea took the lead but a fairytale goalscoring return for troublesome Carlos Tevez gave City a 2-1 victory and all three points, which keeps them one point behind United at the top.
Arsenal leapfrogged over Spurs, with a victory away at Everton, an early Vermeulen goal was enough to take the Gunners above their bitter rivals Spurs, who could only muster a 1-1 draw at home to Stoke, scoring to equalise in the 92nd minute of the game through Van Der Vaart.
The top of the table clash in week 30, was at Stamford Bridge where the rejuvenated Chelsea were taking on a Spurs side whose form had dipped over the last few weeks, the first half was a non event with both teams refusing to throw caution to the wind, hence a very nervy, tense and uninteresting first half, fortunately things changed after the break and both teams came out with a far more attacking policy which made it a very exciting second half, both teams had their chances to score, an incredible save from Cech, followed by a block on the goalline from Ashley Cole denied Spurs the three points, but overall a draw was a fair result and it has set up nicely the semi final of the FA Cup, when both teams meet at Wembley in two weeks time to see who will go through to the FA Cup final on May 5th.
Click here for the action and the amazing save from Petr Cech
Manchester City were odds on favourites to beat Sunderland at the Ethiad Stadium, but after going 3-1 down it took an almighty effort and two goals fron bad boy Mario Balotelli to get themselves a point, which has done little to help their title claims, Larsson gave Sunderland the lead, before Balotelli scored from the penalty spot, after a poor decision from the referee gave City a penalty. Bendtner restored Sunderlands lead with a well taken header, before he set up Larsson for his second of the match to give Sunderland a 3-1 lead, Balotelli then scored a wonder goal and finally it was Kolarov whose left footed shot found it's way into the net, a 3-3 draw that never seemed likely.
Click here for the action
Manchester City's nerves are jangling !!! a 1-0 defeat at Swansea has left their fans sweating, a tough game at Swansea was predicted, but all the betting was on Manchester City to come through with three points, but it was not to be !! a goal from Luke Moore, seven minutes from the end, ended Manchester city's domination at the top. click below to see a wonderful goal from Swansea, after winning the ball in their own half, they played some lovely football, before crossing into the box where Moore rose above the City defence to head home.
The early kick off on Saturday was at Anfield, where Liverpool were hosting Arsenal, Liverpool dominated the game but just could not score, they missed a penalty, hit the post and even their opening goal was an own goal, Van Persie equalised with a well taken header, then in injury time Van Persie ghosted to the far post and a lovely pass from Song was caught on the volley by Van Persie and the ball flew in past Reiner at his near post, with Arsenal going away with all three points and once again Van persie rescuing Arsenal, without him this season Arsenal would have been in dire straits.
It has been a very madcap week in English football, even by our standards !!!
The Tottenham manager Harry Redknapp was cleared of all charges in his tax evasion case, then within hours Fabio Capello had resigned as the manager of England and Harry Redknapp was installed as the odds on favourite to take over the England post, which has not pleased the Spurs fans.
The highlight of week 24, was the much awaited visit of Manchester United to Chelsea, the media had made much about whether the two captains would shake hands before the game, as the Chelsea captain John Terry is facing criminal charges for allegedly racially abusing United's captain Rio Ferdinand's brother Anton, but all the attention was not necessary, as Terry failed to recover from injury to play in the game.
More importantly the game hit the headlines for the right reasons, Chelsea took a 3-0 lead thanks to an own goal from Johnny Evans and then goals from Juan Mata and David Luiz, United looked dead and buried, but two goals from the penalty spot from Wayne Rooney brought United to life and then an equaliser from Javier Hernandes in the 84th minute, sealed an incredible comeback and the six goal thriller ended in a point apiece .
Manchester City were three points clear of Manchester United and eight points clear of Tottenham, going into the week 23 games, but a 1-0 defeat at Everton thanks to a Darren Gibson goal, gave the other two a chance to close the gap on the leaders. Everton have become Man City's bogey team with eight victories in the last ten games against them, Man City maybe did not deserve to lose the game, but these are the sort of results that can cost you the title !!!
Manchester City continued their dominance of the early part of the season , with a 3-1 victory at home to high flyers Newcastle, Alan Pardew's men have been the surprise package of the season so far and until this game they had the best defensive record in the premiership. Manchester United struggled but finally overcame a good Swansea team, with a 1-0 win at the vetch field, United are still on the heels of City, but they now have a five point lead at the top.
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