The Centre Circle

At the Emirates, Arsenal took early control but it was Wolves who had the best early chance, Michael Mancienne, on loan from Chelsea hitting a 25 yard drive which shaved the bar. Eduardo should have then scored as Arsenal responded, miss-kicking when in front of goal. In the second half Carl Henry was harshly red carded for a tackle on Rosicky. Arsenal pressed and pressed and in the dying moments the pressure exerted finally paid off. Substitute Nicklas Bendtner broke Wolves hearts scoring in the 94th minute with a diving header from a Sagna cross. A priceless goal in their pursuit of Chelsea and Man Utd, and the umpteenth time that Arsenal had scored in the last 10 minutes of the game this season. How important will this goal be come the end of the season? Arsenal now go to the Nou Camp in good spirits, and are just 3 points behind Chelsea.

 

There was a crazy game at Sunderland. The home team hit very early at The Stadium of Light with two Spurs old boys doing the damage. Frazier Campbell’s diving header was saved by Gomes after 30 seconds but Darren Bent buried the rebound against his old club. Then the north east club got a penalty. Walker handled after Gomes palmed out a Steed Malbranque shot and Darren Bent finished expertly from the spot to get his second. Then Sunderland got a second penalty, Campbell was brought down by Modric, but this time Bent couldn’t complete a first half hat-trick as Gomes made a great save. Into the second half and amazingly there was a third penalty given to Sunderland by referee Lee Mason. Palacios fouled Jordan Henderson and Gomes saved his second spot kick of the afternoon from Bent who was never destined to get a third. Sunderland then had a goal disallowed from Anton Ferdinand after Campbell apparently fouled Gomez. Spurs gave their fans hope when Peter Crouch pulled one back, nodding home from a Nico Kranjcar cross however Sunderland clinched their three points with a rasping volley from Bodo Zenden.

At Stoke, Ricardo Fuller kept up his good form from the previous week by latching onto a Kitson header and finishing expertly with the outside of his right boot. Stoke’s Liam Lawrence then wrapped up the points late in the second half, side-footing a neat finish. The game was marred was by a nasty head injury to Hull’s George Boateng who was taken off on a stretcher and onwards to hospital.

Aston Villa took the lead at the Reebok Stadium via a superb curling strike from Ashley Young. Slack defending allowed the Villa winger to place a shot into the top corner past a despairing Jaaskelainen. Hard though Bolton tried, they were unable to find an equaliser with Villa who took the three points and moved closer to Spurs at that time in fourth spot.

At Portsmouth, David Dunn for Blackburn went close in the first half when he struck a post. At the other end Jamie O’Hara’s header was cleared off the line by Gael Givet. Just before half-time Blackburn hit the post for a second time, Chris Samba this time the unlucky player. Portsmouth were hampered in the second half when Van den Borre was sent off for his second bookable offence but they held on for a 0-0 draw which preserves their Premiership status, for now…

At Turf Moor in the late game, Man City raced into an unassailable 3-0 after just seven minutes. First Adebayor chested down the ball when half cleared from a corner and lashed home, then Bellamy sped between two Burnley defenders and finished well. Tevez added the third who tapped home after Jensen was unable to handle an Adebayor shot. After 20 minutes, it was 4-0. Patrick Viera headed home after an Adam Johnson corner.  This was starting to look embarrassing and it got worse for sorry Burnley as Adebayor got his second and City’s fifth breaking the offside trap to finish sweetly. City made it six in the second half, Vincent Kompany, finishing with his head from a corner. By now the only thing threatening a thumping City win was the weather, the rain starting to form puddles on the pitch. After 71 minutes the Burnley fans finally had something to cheer as Steven Fletcher struck a consolation high into the net from the left hand side of the penalty area. The rest of the game fizzled out as Man City declared on six, a win that moves them up to fourth in the league.

 

Arsenal 1-0 Wolves

Sunderland 3-1 Tottenham

Stoke 2-0 Hull City

Bolton 0-1 Aston Villa

Portsmouth 0-0 Blackburn

Burnley 1-6 Man City

Tottenham 3-1 Fulham

FA Cup night’s at White Hart Lane are always full of atmosphere, so get a midweek London derby in the pouring rain with two sides in form vying for a place at Wembley and you have the recipe for a cracking game. Spurs and Fulham produced one.

In the first half it was Fulham who controlled things. A well hit blast from 25 yards by Simon Davis, who was given acres of room, forced Gomez into a flying save and minutes later it was the West London side who went deservedly 1-0 up. Damien Duff picked out the in form Bobby Zamora with a defence splitting pass and he finished across the keeper with aplomb. Tottenham tried to respond, Gudjohnsen forcing a low save from Schwartzer after a neat flick from Crouch. Gudjohnsen then chested down Bale’s cross for Modric to flash a volley a couple of feet wide.

Half time came and I don’t know what Harry Redknapp must have said but it certainly worked. in the 47th minute, Spurs won a free kick on the left hand side. Bentley, who was on as a substitute, swung in the ball and it missed everyone in the penalty box finding the far corner of the net. Spurs were buzzing now and things were getting heated. Bassong and Zamora both got booked for some shirt pulling, had Bassong connected with his flailing arm he may have seen worse than yellow. Then 2-1 Tottenham; Bentley’s cross to the back post found Pavlyuchenko whose sweet volley flashed past Schwartzer.  Soon it was three, Modric setting up Gudjohnson, who jinked around the Fulham keeper before rolling the ball into the net. White Hart Lane was now rocking and much as Fulham laboured there was no way back. Three huge games in a week were taking their toll.

So it is Tottenham who now progress to the FA cup semi finals and a date versus Harry Redknapp’s old team Portsmouth.

Oh dear, sounds like there is a bit of a spat going on between on-loan Spurs player Jamie O’Hara and Spurs boss Harry Redknapp. With tomorrow’s FA Cup quarter final game between Tottenham and Fulham approaching, Jamie (currently on loan from Tottenham at Portsmouth) has come out and said that he hopes Harry and his team lose, so that he will be able to play at Wembley – as you may be aware Portsmouth are due to play the winner’s of the Spurs Fulham game tomorrow so O’Hara would be ineligible if Spurs go on to win. It is reported that Harry Redknapp has told O’Hara in no uncertain terms to “shut up!!”.

It sounds like a calculated move by O’Hara to get a transfer at the end of the season, as he has made it clear all year that he wants to play regular football, and he would never be guaranteed that at Tottenham. I think he may well be granted his wish….

In the early game at Villa Park, Wolves earned a creditable 2-2 draw with Aston Villa who missed the chance to put pressure on Man City, Spurs and Liverpool in the chase for 4th place. John Carew scored a brace of goals but Wolves earned the draw through a James Milner own goal and a  rare strike from Jody Craddock.
Sunderland hit Birmingham early at the Stadium of Light with Darren Bent scoring twice in the first 11 minutes. However Birmingham reduced the deficit in the 60th minute when Cameron Jerome broke the offside trap and finished sweetly. Sunderland wrapped up the three points with a goal from Frazier Campbell.
At Stoke after a scoreless first half, the game burst into life when Eidur Gudjohnson latched onto a Peter Crouch pass and he made no mistake. To make matters work for Stoke Dean Whitehead was then sent off after receiving a second yellow card after a tackle on Modric. Amazingly, Stoke fought back and levelled with a Matthew Etherington penalty, Assou-Ekotto fouling Kitson in the box but Spurs restored their lead through Krancjar.
In the battle of the teams at the bottom, it was 1-1 at half time at Fratton Park, Craig Fagan scoring for Hull and Tommy Smith for Pompey. Hull restored their lead with Caleb Folan poaching a goal after good work from Richard Garcia but Portsmouth levelled again through Jamie O’Hara and stunned Hull with a last minute winner from substitute Kanu. An amazing fight back!

At Wigan, there was not much to shout about for the first 75 minutes as there were few chances. Burnley were holding out for a welcome away point, which would have been only their second of the season with two fantastic late saves from Brian Jensen, but it was not to be. Wigan broke Burnley hearts with a last minute diving header from Hugo Rodallega.
Everton had a comfortable victory over Bolton, with Michal Arteta punishing Bolton severely after Grettar Steinssen was sent off for bringing down Yakubu. He struck the resulting free kick curling into the top corner. Stephen Pienaar completed the win in the 90th minute.
In the late game at the Emirates, Arsenal took an early lead against West Ham through a sharp finish from Denison after a one-two with Nicklas Bentner. Arsenal seemed to be cruising, but just before Tomas Vermaelen saw red after he brought Franco down in the box. Diamanti stepped up but saw his penalty saved by Almunia. The second half saw West Ham pressure without a cutting edge, and Arsenal slowly hauled themselves into the ascendancy, culminating with Matthew Upson handling the ball in the area. Fabregas made no mistake from the spot, taking Arsenal top of the premiership for at least 24 hours.

Aston Villa 2-2 Wolves
Sunderland 3-1 Birmingham
Stoke City 1-2 Tottenham
Portsmouth 3-2 Hull City
Wigan Athletic 1-0 Burnley
Everton 2-0 Bolton Wanderers
Arsenal 2-0 West Ham