There were some great goals in the Premiership this week and none better than the one scored by Tottenham's Gareth Bale, a goal which pulled Tottenham back level with Manchester City, at the Ethiad Stadium, Spurs had gone 2-0 down after half time and then some slack defending from Savic allowed Jermaine Defoe to get one back and then the wonder goal from Bale, should have given Spurs the point that they had deserved, however it was not to be, Man City substitute Balotelli wriggled his way through the Tottenham defence in the 94th minute, before Spurs Captain Ledley King fouled him and conceded a penalty, Balotelli stepped up and calmly stroked the ball into the net, giving City all three points, but the story does not end there, just before
scoring the penalty, Balotelli had unceremoniously tried to stamp on the head of Scott Parker and had the referee seen it, it was a clear red card, the referee Howard Webb did not see it and Balotelli was able to stay on the pitch and score the winner.

Retrospectively Balotelli will now face a charge from the English FA and will probably get a three to four game ban, which is hardly any consolation for Spurs who are now eight points behind City and five points behind Manchester United.

Click here to see the great goal from Bale and the Balotelli stamp -
http://footyroom.com/manchester-city-3-2-tottenham-hotspur-2012-01/

Arsenal entertained Manchester United at the Emirates stadium and after an initial period of both teams just Sparring with each other, United took control of the game and just before half time a great cross from Ryan Giggs found Valencia who headed home, in the second half Robin Van Persie (who else) equalised, but it was still United who were dominating the game and a strike from Welbeck was the deciding factor as United went back to Manchester with all three points and condemned Arsenal to another demoralising defeat.

Click here for the action from the Emirates - http://footyroom.com/arsenal-1-2-manchester-united-2012-01/

With four of the top teams playing each other it gave the chasing pack a chance to catch up, but all of the teams squandered the opportunity, Chelsea were away at Norwich and could only manage a 0-0 draw.
 
Click here to see Torres squander more chances - http://footyroom.com/norwich-city-0-0-chelsea-2012-01/

Liverpool lost 3-1 away at Bolton and Newcastle were thrashed 5-2 at Fulham.
  
click here to see Liverpool's defeat at Bolton - http://footyroom.com/bolton-wanderers-3-1-liverpool-2012-01/

At the bottom, Wigan lost 3-1 at QPR, a first win for new manager Mark Hughes, Wolves lost 3-2 at home to Aston Villa, Blackburn picked up an unexpected point away at Everton, whilst West Brom got three very important points away at Stoke

Click here to see West Brom take vital points at Stoke - http://footyroom.com/stoke-city-1-2-west-bromwich-albion-2012-01/

Have a good week,

Gary