It never disappoints,Super Sunday it was!Lots of action,high-profile matches,controversial decisions and few superb goals.Newcastle United,Manchester United and Tottenham won their respective matches while Manchester City and Arsenal played to a lone goal draw.
Rafael and Robin Van Persie celebrates during their 2-1 win over rivals Liverpool on Sunday at Anfield stadium.
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 up 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 one man down Liverpool broke the deadlock through skipper Steven Gerrard who rocketed past a nicely chested ball past United’s goalkeeper.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 76th minute as Valencia was brought down in the penalty area.The penalty was a bit 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.
Arsenal team celebrates after Koscielny scored the equalizer against Manchester City on Sunday at Ethiad stadium.
Arsenal continued their unbeaten run this season as they secured a draw at Ethiad stadium against league champions Manchester City.The north London club dominated most part of the game but went down in the 40th minute when Lescott went on to head the ball from a corner kick into the top right corner of the goal.City asserted their authority on the game in the second half 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 Gunners by smashing a failed corner kick clearance into the back of the net. With this draw both teams are unbeaten in the league.
Demba Ba scores the winner for The magpies against Norwich City on Sunday.
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.
Jermain Defoe’s celebrates after scoring the second-half winner against QPR at White Hart Lane.
Tottenham Hotspur came from behind to beat QPR 2-1 to deliver Manager Andre Vilas Boas him 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 a own goal in the 59th minute from Damian Faurlin leveled the match.This made Spurs push for victory and were rightly awarded the lead in the 61st minute by Defoe who placed the ball into net after 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.
Be it the tactically doctored Serie A, combinative ability and shear nidus of the bundesliga and great possession of flamboyance by the La Liga, but it is the intense rage and furiousness characterized by the English Premier League that makes it the ‘Best league in the world’ .
EPL has a style of football where the stride is galvanic and the teams go at it like ‘ghost and hell dust’. Apart from illustrating a excellent example of football, it is also a mountain money producing beast attracting billion of viewers and companies around the four corners of the world. The revenue derived from the EPL is the highest in any football league only to be surpassed by the NFL, NBA, and MLB. Any team hence the league as a whole as three sources of revenue, merchandise, match day tickets. It has been a criticism that the more money the worse it will get. That simply is not true. In fact the reverse has been the case. There won’t be a single football spectator anywhere who hasn’t watched a minute of an EPL match.
It is pretty hard to call any league competitive where one or two teams can rake in excess of 90 points. The almost certainty of the score line, total points dropped, huge goal margins by some clubs and the outrageous score line between the top teams in the various leagues doesn’t indicate any form of competition.
And then we have EPL where every single goal changes the status of the match, which is a remarkable episode of action.
EPL often introduced as ‘the greatest show in the world’, it is broadcasted to over 600 million viewers worldwide across 211countries much more than any league. The media tending the premiership receives is unbelievable. The media have a bent for blowing things out of proportion, twist any issue and exaggerate its implication even though with a bad taste which has been a key ingredient in the success of the EPL.
A major factor in the success of a league has been in terms of European performance in last couple of decades. Taking into consideration UEFA club coefficient , according to which Manchester United ,Chelsea, Liverpool and Arsenal in top 6 over the last decade. Association coefficient designed by Uefa serves the purpose of establishing which leagues representative to European competitions has been better on a collective level and also the club coefficient which aims to ascertain the best club side in European competitions. It is here where premier league wins in terms of intensity and rhythm.
There really isn’t any ultimate answer and neither should there be ‘The Best League’, but if there is one that comes close then it should without a doubt be the English Premier League.
Even before all the final day drama the transfer window had been a dismal failure for the Merseysiders who hadn’t spent a single pound.So for the Toffees to lose Mikel Arteta in the closing moments of deadline day and not have time to find a worthwhile replacement was a disaster.
The only major signings were loan deals for Royston Drenthe and Denis Stracqualursi – both unproven in the Premier League with the former a major flop at Real Madrid. Yakubu and Jermaine Beckford have moved on, leaving an injury prone Louis Saha and a raw Victor Anichebe as the club’s only recognised strikers.
For Moyes to now even consolidate on last season’s 7th spot would be an incredible achievement. But knowing David Moyes I am sure he will make something happen.
Yes I know the deadline day was a success but over the whole window Arsenal have lost out in a big way.In fact, Manchester United’s 8-2 hammering or mauling or thumping call it what you may like to, of the Gunners could be a blessing in disguise as it finally forced Arsene Wenger to add to his depleted squad.
Cesc Fabregas and Samir Nasri have been replaced by Mikel Arteta and Yossi Benayoun but while they may not be of the same calibre, they are much needed if they are a little desperate signings. Gervinho also arrived to strengthen the attack .
Defensively Wenger has brought in Per Mertesacker, which is a positive move, but question marks remain over fellow arrivals Andre Santos and forward Chu Young Park and their ability to mix it in the Premier League. Before deadline day, Arsenal’s summer business looked a dismal failure but deadline day deals have improved the squad .
Despite finishing in the top half, Villa spent most of last season battling against relegation.It could have been worse had they not had Stewart Downing and Ashley Young in their ranks. But so impressive were the two wingers they were snapped up early in the transfer window by Liverpool and Manchester United respectively.
Alex McLeish responded by signing Charles N’Zogbia and Spurs duo Alan Hutton and Jermaine Jenas, but that has only stopped Villa falling further behind rather than improved the squad that ended the last campaign.Shay Given’s arrival to replace Brad Friedel is good business but their transfer window is headlined by the relative ease in which they allowed their star players to leave.
There was plenty of times last term where Latics looked doomed for relegation and on each occasion they battled back, it all came through winger Charles N’Zogbia and Tom Cleverley.While the former has now joined Villa the latter has gone back to his parent club.
Roberto Martinez tried to find replacements but only succeeded in bringing in Shaun Maloney and pint sized Albert Crusat from Almeria in La Liga.The only other major additions to a side that struggled to beat the drop last season are Wolves’ David Jones and Chelsea’s Patrick van Aanholt on loan.
On paper at least it points to another season of toiling at the wrong end of the table.
The exodus that started in January with the departure of Andy Carroll, went into full swing during the summer.The situation at the club was so bad for skipper Kevin Nolan that de dropped a division to join West Ham, while crucial players Joey Barton and Jose Enrique also showed their displeasure in the north east prior to their departures.
Alan Pardew has worked on finding replacements and has done well to bring in Davide Santon from Inter Milan and Yohan Cabaye from French champions Lille both of whom are talented blokes.The search for Andy Carroll’s replacement goes on but another test will be how the new signings replace the old spine in the team.