Manchester City’s hopes of retaining their Barclays Premier League crown suffered a major setback as Roberto Mancini’s side were beaten 3-1 at Southampton.
The Saints, who raced into a two-goal lead with goals inside the first 22 minutes from Jason Puncheon and Steven Davis, sealed their first victory under manager Mauricio Pochettino after Gareth Barry’s 48th-minute own goal restored the hosts' two-goal cushion, which had been halved by Edin Dzeko’s strike late on in the first half.
The defeat leaves Man City nine points behind Manchester United, who will stretch their lead to 12 points if they beat Everton at Old Trafford on Sunday afternoon.
Chelsea regained third place in the Barclays Premier League with a 4-1 victory over Wigan Athletic. Tottenham Hotspur’s 2-1 win over Newcastle United earlier in the day had taken them above their West London rivals, but Rafael Benitez’s side returned to third thanks to goals from Ramires, Eden Hazard, Frank Lampard and Marko Marin.
Ramires gave Chelsea the lead halfway through the first half, somewhat against the run of play, slotting home after being played in by Fernando Torres, who started ahead of Demba Ba. Hazard, who was back from a three-match ban, doubled the lead, converting Cesar Azpilicueta's cross. But the lead was soon back to one when Shaun Maloney broke the offside trap and put the ball past Petr Cech. Frank Lampard got his 11th league goal of the season to make the match safe and Marin got his first for the club in injury-time.
Two goals from Michu meant Swansea City handed bottom-side Queens Park Rangerstheir first Barclays Premier League defeat this year with a 4-1 win. The Spaniard opened the scoring after eight minutes as he followed up after QPR’s goalkeeper Julio Cesar had parried Nathan Dyer’s shot. Swansea’s second was similar, this time Angel Rangel reacting quickest after Julio Cesar had saved his initial shot. Bobby Zamora, a half-time substitute for QPR, scored within three minutes of coming on, but Pablo Hernandez restored the two-goal lead on 50 minutes and Michu got a second.
Ten-man Arsenal held on to beat Sunderland 1-0 at the Stadium of Light. The away side dominated the first half but only had Santi Cazorla’s strike to show for it. Sunderland’s hopes were raised when Carl Jenkinson was sent off for a second yellow card with 22 minutes remaining but could not get past Wojciech Szczesny in the Arsenal goal who made crucial saves.
Stoke City returned to winning ways with a 2-1 victory over Reading, who were unable to repeat the late heroics of recent matches. After a goalless first half, Robert Huth scored the first for Stoke from a corner and Cameron Jerome doubled the lead before Adrian Mariappa gave Reading hope.
At Carrow Road Fulham and Norwich City played a goalless draw.
Earlier in the day, Spurs beat Newcastle thanks to a Gareth Bale double. His free-kick put Spurs ahead after five minutes, but Newcastle hit back through Yoan Gouffran. Bale struck the winner after a brilliant interception and run and missed two great chances to get a hat-trick.
Two goals from Gareth Bale gave Tottenham Hotspur victory over Newcastle United and temporarily put them in third position in the Barclays Premier League.
Gareth Bale lived up to his billing as Tottenham Hotspur's Cristiano Ronaldo after firing Andre Villas-Boas' side to a 2-1 victory over Newcastle United at White Hart Lane.
Villas-Boas was at pains to point out the similarities between Bale and Ronaldo during the week, and the Welshman put in a performance the Portuguese would have been proud of today. He beat Tim Krul with a 25-yard free-kick to open the scoring and sealed the win with a breakaway goal that ended with him slotting the ball between the Newcastle goalkeeper's legs.
Newcastle dominated large parts of the game but Bale, like he has done so many times this season, swung the game in Spurs' favour. The 23-year-old, who scored the decisive goals in Tottenham's last two matches, has 19 goals for club and country this season. Only the athleticism of Krul prevented Bale taking home the match ball for the second time this season.
Newcastle's goal came from Yoan Gouffran, who was later carried off on a stretcher with a leg injury.
The win stretched Tottenham's unbeaten Barclays Premier League run to 10 matches and put the North London club in to third, although Chelsea will have a chance to move ahead of their rivals if they beat Wigan Athletic later.
Just 70 seconds of the match had elapsed when Bale burst down the left after a clever one-two with Lewis Holtby, but Davide Santon cut the Welshman's cross out before Clint Dempsey could convert.
Three minutes later and Spurs had the lead. Fabricio Coloccini clattered into Dempsey 25 yards out and Bale stepped up to deliver a free-kick which dipped over the wall past a diving Krul. Spurs dominated the rest of the opening quarter with some scintillating attacking football.
Mousa Dembele penetrated the box and rolled the ball back to Holtby, who came within inches of scoring his first goal for the club. Thereafter Newcastle came back in to the game. Hugo Lloris saved from a Gouffran curler and Papiss Cisse directed a free diving header just wide of his compatriot's goal.
Holtby momentarily raised the hopes of the home crowd, but Newcastle remained on top and the seemingly inevitable equaliser came with 24 minutes gone.
Sissoko galloped down the right on a Newcastle counter and pulled the ball back to Gouffran who beat Lloris via a deflection from the diving Michael Dawson. Gutierrez whipped a cross in to the box to find Yohan Cabaye, but the Frenchman miscontrolled and Lloris came to the rescue.
Tottenham failed to up their performance straight after the break. The game came to a pause for seven minutes as Gouffran received treatment for what looked like a serious injury.
Kyle Walker clipped the forward's right shin on the halfway line and he needed oxygen before being carried off on a stretcher. He was taken to hospital for an X-ray.
Bale looked to be Tottenham's best hope of finding a winner. The Welshman, who fired his country to victory over Austria in midweek, picked the ball off Lennon and fired a low cross in to the box but it was cut out before Dempsey could score.
Bale came forward again, charging at the defence before firing a powerful shot which Taylor blocked bravely. But a Taylor mix-up with Coloccini allowed Bale to race through the Newcastle defence and fire past Krul to make it 2-1.
Caulker had a chance to seal the win moments later with a free header when Krul missed a corner, but the defender nodded wide. Only Krul's fingertips prevented the Welshman from adding a third after he raced through from a long punt down field before firing a powerful volley at goal.
Newcastle threatened to equalise in the second of seven added minutes through substitute Shola Ameobi, but Lloris saved well to deny the striker. Krul's acrobatics denied Bale his hat-trick twice in added time, but the winger did not mind. He had already done enough damage to see off Alan Pardew’s side.
Spurs head coach Andre Villas-Boas: "We are fortunate to have players of this dimension who can decide games. He's enjoying his football through the middle.
"Today we started where he finished the second half against West Brom [last weekend]. We gave him the same freedom. When a player feels good about the position he enjoys it more."
Newcastle manager Alan Pardew: "Well he [Bale] is difficult to contain. We tied him down in certain areas but he's always going to get some freedom. He was electric. The first goal was class. We should have done better for the second."
"They started really fast, but after that we dug in and played some good stuff. It was an even game really other than after that second goal which opened it up.
"I was pleased with the performance but not the result. We should be all right now.
“[Gouffran’s] shinbone looks sore. It's fingers crossed. We don't want to lose him, he's only just come to the club."
No comments:
Post a Comment