Wow. Just wow. The ending to this game typified the kind of late drama we see in the Premier League week in, week out, and it was an ecstatic start to this new year of football.
This season has been a roller coaster for both teams, most notably Carlo Ancelotti's men. One win in seven since Ray Wilkin's departure, these were looking like turbulent times at Stamford Bridge. Chelsea's dismal form seemed to have been halted following their gritty 1-0 win over a high flying Bolton side but a late leveller from Irishman Ciaran Clark, shared the spoils. Gerard Houllier has been under pressure ever since he took the reign from northern Irishman Martin O'Neill. Aston Villa had laid 16th previous to this encounter, and showed determination and grit from the off as they looked to tackle Chelsea's poor form and release a bit of pressure off under fire boss Houllier.
Match Report:
Aston Villa started the better of the two, and were unlucky not to go ahead as Chelsea continued to show that abysmal form that sees them trapped in 5th spot.
Unfortunately it was the Blues who took the lead through a controversial Frank Lampard penalty. Lampard had flicked a ball into the box and James Collins inadvertently used Florent Malouda as a climbing frame, before the Frenchman stumbled and fell over, leaving Lee Mason no choice but to award a penalty. Frank Lampard calmly stepped up and fired it past Friedel, who was having an excellent day at the office.
18 minutes later and the score was all squared. Hesitence in the Chelsea defence led to Essien taking out Nigel Reo Coker just inside the box. Ashley Young volunteered for the penalty and repeated Lampards penalty, placing it beyond Cech's reach.
Ashley Young Celebrates
We reached half time with the scores level at 1-1 and miraculously there were six Aston Villa players on bookings. Two were for dissent, four for poor tackles, so the Villains had to be extra careful in the second half.
We had barely reached three minutes into the second half when Aston Villa took a surprise lead through Emile Heskey. Stewart Downing raced past Ashley Cole on the wing and floated in a deft ball, and Heskey met it, towering above Chelsea debutant Jerffery Bruma to head home and give Villa the slimmest of lead.
Cue the dominance from Chelsea, as Aston Villa decided to defend for the entirety of the second half. Chelsea's top guns had been misfiring all day but that was all about to change in the 89th minute. A resilient Aston Villa defence was broken and Drogba was the perpetrator. Drogba pounced on a loose ball inside the ball, rounding the keeper and shooting between three Villa defenders to get Chelsea that much sought after equaliser, after Friedel had endured a wonderful afternoon prior to that second goal, saving well from Malouda and Kalou on separate occasions.
But it didn't stop there. 5 minutes later Villa crumbled and Chelsea took the lead. Albrighton had lost the ball on the wing and Essien raced past him, delivering a cross that was met by the head of Drogba, which was saved well by Friedel. However, the ball found its way to captain John Terry, who side footed home, for what seemed a likely winner. Alas, it was far from over.
Villa, having been dominated by the Blues for the whole second half, had had barely a shot since Heskey's goal, but an Albrighton cross made it's way over to youngster Ciaran Clark who nodded home, stunning Stamford Bridge.
Lampard, Terry & Co. were flabbergasted and yearned for yet another goal but the Villains held out for a memorable draw, leaving Chelsea in 5th place, a point behind London rivals, Tottenham.
Harry Redknapp yesterday spoke of his admiration to land ageing Premier League Veteran David Beckham on a three month stint from LA Galaxy. He also mentioned that David had agreed to arrive at White Hart Lane. Both clubs are now waiting on permission from LA Galaxy to loan Beckham out to the London side.
Redknapp said:
‘David could make a big impact. It’s whether Galaxy will let him go on loan. If they did we’d be interested. He’d give the whole place a lift.
"He’s been a fantastic player and someone the players would look up to and respect. He can do a job for sure. If he’s over his injury and is as fit as he thinks, then he could still play at the top level."
"I'm not sure Beckham would start in place of Aaron Lennon but Harry would definitely play him from time to time and if Lennon gets injured Beckham could get a run out as there's not much support on the right wing at White Hart Lane at the moment as David Bentley's been linked to Newcastle on a loan deal."
David Beckham is loved by many in England, most memorably Manchester, and would welcome a move back to England to aid Harry's midfield. He could also do with the fitness for March, when the MLS season to start up again.
Many blogs, websites and journalists are currently debating whether or not Liverpool would be a better team without the services of Fernando Torres. In my mind, it's absolutely preposterous. This is the man who has scored 45 goals in his last 50 games at Anfield, and now people are pleading Liverpool to sell him? It just doesn't make any sense. I mean sure, he's been misfiring this season, having only scored 6 goals this term, but this is the same player that tore Chelsea to shreds just back in November. He has shown signs during this campaign of his class, most notably with his goal against Bolton today, and surely Liverpool wouldn't want to miss that?
Since Torres' arrival to the Premier League in 2007, he's adapted to life pretty quickly, netting 62 goals in 97 appearances, a feat which is extrordinary considering his swift arrival. His presence upon Anfield was imminent, and rapidly became Liverpool's next sensation, in his first season he scored 33 in 46 appearances, justifying his price tag at Athletico prior to his arrival at Liverpool. He has endured a successful time at Anfield, but unfortunately a dip in form has seen the team follow in his footsteps, as they currently lie 9th.
It seems blindly obvious that whenever Torres performs well, Liverpool perform well as a whole. For example, in Torres' inaugural season, he led the line for the Merseysiders as they finished a well deserved 4th. In the 2008/09 season, Liverpool had arguably their best ever season in the Premier League, and with Torres & Gerrard in full flow scoring 41 goals between the two, Liverpool finished second, just a mere two points behind rivals Manchester United.
In Torres' presence at the club, Liverpool have depended largely on their hit man, as well as with influential skipper Steven Gerrard but those two won't last forever. It's a known fact, and with Gerrard nearing the age of 31 this May, his time may nearly be up. Torres will probably be around for considerably longer than Gerrard, but he will need a decent team around him if they're to challenge for any trophies in the near future.
This January will be a testing time for the Merseyside club, battling off considerable interest from top European clubs for the service of Fernando Torres. Real Madrid & Juventus have been linked with the striker recently, and it will be a miracle if Liverpool still have Torres by the end of the month. Fernando Torres said upon arriving at Anfield that he wanted to battle for trophies whilst in England, but that dream has diminished following the sales of Liverpool key men Xabi Alonso & Javier Mascherano, who grew restless at Anfield and decided that they wanted to compete amongst Europe's finest, both making their way to Real Madrid and Barcelona respectively.
At the start of today West Brom lied 13 places below United in the table, but recent performances against the supposed 'big four' beating the likes of Arsenal and taking a point away from Old Trafford have proved they're no pushovers. West Brom went into this match on the run of 2 wins in their last 6, not ideal for a team wanting to avoid relegation. United had let a 1-0 lead slip away to the hands of Birmingham on Monday night, as they once again proved their defencive capabilities. Today was the first match of 2011 and we couldn't have been treated to more of a feast, with open football on display the whole match and that was accompanied by a few goals as well. United prevailed, just, but it was undeserved with West Brom dominating large portions of the game and could have won it early on in the second half, only for striker Peter Odemwingie to squander a game changing penalty.
Match Report:
Rooney opens the scoring
From the off, this game was played with tenacity and an early goal paved the way for United. Obertan had done well on the left wing attracting two West Brom players and when he passed it back to Evra, he supplied the vital cross that led to Wayne Rooney claiming his first open goal since March and also ending his drought of going 1418 without a goal in open play.
The lead was short lived, however, when West Brom equalised through James Morrison. A long ball from the back was nodded towards Morrison, who produced a fantastic half volley to level the scores. The game continued to enthrall, with West Brom uncharacteristically the stronger of the two. West Brom were first to everything and were gifted possession from United nearly every time they had the ball.
Midway through the first half West Brom should have had a penalty. Graham Dorrens was put through from a lovely ball from Odemwingie, controlled it well and a sliding tackle from Gary Neville seemed to have given West Brom a penalty but Chris Foy was having none of it. It caused some controversy upstairs in the Sky studio and also with Andy Gray as it was clearly a penalty.
The second half was more or less the same as the first, with the Baggies bossing possession, but often failing to produce an end product. Fergie decided enough was enough, and reduced Gary Neville, bringing on Rafael to try and get some more fluency amongst the United offence.
Halfway through the second half, West Brom were given a golden chance to dent United's title aspirations when Jerome Thomas had broke free and was tripped by Rio Ferdinand. Odemwingie stepped up for what would be his 7th goal of the season but poor concentration led to him missing the target altogether, dragging it right of Kuszczsak's goal.
What was influential in United's winner was the introduction of Javier 'Chicharito' Hernandez. Berbatov had been virtually non existent and so, Fergie decided to bring on the 'little pea', hoping he could get on the end of something and lead United to a win. And he did just that on 75 minutes.. A corner from Wayne Rooney had reached Hernandez who had been marked inadvertantly, nodded home, getting only United's second away win of the season.
It was undeserved to say the least for the visitors, but that's what happens when you're top of the league. Luck swings in your favour when you're at the summit and it dealt a massive blow to the Baggies', considering they were on top for chunks of the game.
It didn't change anything for either team as the Baggies stay 14th and United stay atop of the Premier League.
As yet another fantastic year of football comes to an end, I took a look at what made this years highlight reel.
Match Of The Year
Tottenham 3-1 Inter Milan
What a bloody match. As debutant's of the world's finest European competition, Spurs were paired with last years champions Inter Milan and with the presence of German's Wolfsburg, they were unexpected to progress from the group. But, as we have come to learn since September, Spurs can take on anyone on their day and they defied the odds to top their group, only losing once in the process.
This match was the return fixture of that fateful night at the San Siro, with the presence of a certain Mr Bale earning credibility for Spurs when anything was looking unlikely. Bale was again phenomenal in this match at White Hart Lane, setting up two and starring in a rather marvelous performance to beat Inter Milan.
Player Of The Year
Florent Malouda
I was forced to think long and hard about this one. On one hand we had the likes of Messi, Ronaldo, Xavi etc. who perform superbly year in, year out. Then we have the players who have really come on as their own, and i decided to go with the latter, since the others have received huge amounts of praise over the years.
Malouda had not really established himself come 2009 and that was a big year for him. He proved to be a massive hit with the fans upon his arrival from Lyon. Last season he finished with a fine goal to assist ratio, netting 16 and assisting 14. Prior to January 2010 he had not been such a success, but hard work finally paid off when he helped Chelsea to a Premier League & FA Cup double, finally regaining what was rightfully theirs, following a tight campaign with arch rivals Manchester United.
Goal Of The Year
Matty Burrows - Glentoran
Irish football goes relatively unnoticed these years but one goal changed it all. In a match between Glentoran and Portmarnock, the home side continually pushed for an equaliser, and in the 92nd minute they scored what proved to be football's goal of the year. The extent of the goal was exquisite. A cross was delivered for Matt Burrows and with his back to goal, he - rather flimsily, attempted a back heel volley. Usually such an attempt would end up soaring high and wide but somehow he managed to perfect it and the video itself became a massive hit on youtube, racking up more than 4 million hits.
Messi & Co. eat your hearts out:
Moment Of 2010
Year Of The Pigeon
It inevitably summed up England's world cup campaign. In the dire match that was England vs Algeria, a pigeon seemed to have perched itself on top of the Algerian goal, as it sensed there it would be no sense of danger throughout the 90 minutes. England lacked any real venom going forward, and in truth never looked like scoring. When the final whistle went, Algeria celebrated like they had won the World Cup, holding on for a famous 0-0 draw against a country in decline.
Best Signing Of 2010
Rafael Van Der Vaart - Real Madrid to Tottenham
Virtually a last minute signing for Harry Redknapp, Van Der Vaart proved imperious from the off. He quickly established himself as a fan favourite with 6 goals in as many games. Unfortunately, injuries have prolonged his goalscoring record, for the time being and he returned to action on fine form, grabbing a double against a weak Aston Villa side taking his tally to 8 goals and 4 assists for this seasons campaign.
Worst Signing Of 2010
Joe Cole - Chelsea to Liverpool
Cole's career took a turn for the worst after Chelsea declined to extend his contract. He was snapped up by Liverpool, which was labelled as the "bargain buy" of the season but a red card against Arsenal on his Premier League debut for the Merseysiders didn't do his confidence a whole lot of good. As a result, Cole lost his place in the team, and he has resorted to taking up a spot on the bench, not what he had intended upon arriving at Anfield.
Worst Moment 2010
Mike Ashley Sacks Toon Manager Chris Hughton
Mike Ashley's decision to sack Chris Hughton sparked outrage amongst the world of football after Hughton had guided the Magpies to a solid tenth in the league. Football fans worldwide were shocked as he was the one who guided Newcastle to Championship glory, directly after they had gone down. This was news to Hughton who recalled being called into David Levy's (chairman) office along with goalkeeping coach Paul Barron and was unexpectedly given the boot.
Ashley appointed Alan Pardrew as Hughton's successor and has had a mixed spell since taking over, beating Liverpool but also losing to Tottenham and Manchester City.
Best Moment 2010
Spain Win World Cup
It was delight for Vincente Del Bosque & Spain as they won their first ever World Cup this past June. They also broke a few more records in the process, being the only side to win the World Cup after losing their first match. They also posted the record by winning the World Cup with the least amount of goals, only managing 8 goals, with hitman David Villa netting 5.
Iniesta became a hero in the eyes of the Spaniards after he sent the fans into jubilation following his 116th minute winner. It was ecstasy for Spain and agony for Holland as they also, were competing for a first World Cup.
Any inclusions I may have left out please comment.
