Manchester United, Arsenal and Chelsea lose points

This week’s round of Premier League was one the most prolific ever with 43 goals!
The drawbacks of Manchester United, Arsenal and Chelsea made no changes at the
top of the table, but the gap between the top five is now reduced to 10 points and
things might heat up with the clashes among the main contenders to the title yet to
come.

The goal fest of round 26 started early on Saturday with Tevez’s hat trick and
Louis Saha’s poker home wins and the surreal Gunners’ visit to Newcastle.
Arsenal’s blitzkrieg opening at St. James Park gave them a 4-0 lead in the first 25
minutes that seemed to have wrapped up the matter as some Newcastle’s fans
were already leaving the stadium. But those half-time deserters would surely regret
afterwards, for things would take an epic turn that no one could even have
dreamed of. The Gunners’ nightmare started five minutes into the second period
when Abou Diaby was shown a red card after his petulant reaction to an ugly
tackle by Joey Barton, who “should also have been sent off” in Wenger’s opinion.
The Magpies then launched one of the greatest comebacks in Premier League
history with Barton hitting two penalties and Leon Best also finding the net before
Cheick Tiote’s superb late volley settled the final draw.

At Molineux, the ferocious Wolves put an end to Manchester United’s unbeaten run
of 24 games in the Premier League. The Red Devils knew beforehand that Arsenal
had slipped at St. James Park, but that didn’t seem enough to inspire Ferguson’s
boys. Nani scored with a fine left footed shot, just inside the box, only after three
minutes, but Elokobi leveled up with a header seven minutes later and Kevin Doyle
sealed the winner for Wolves five minutes before the break.

In the much-hyped meeting between Chelsea and Liverpool, the Reds confirmed
their good moment with an unlikely victory at Stamford Bridge (they only had one
win since  2004) settled by a single goal of former FC Porto's Raul Meireles, who
grabbed his fourth goal in five games and confirms his well deserved status as the
best player of January. Dalglish produced a stunning defensive display, as he'd
done midweek against Stoke City, fielding three centre-backs, a system to which
Ancelotti's squad didn't seem to respond well. It was noticeable that when Liverpool
attacked, there were always five or even six men thrown forward. Kenny Dalglish
has shown a good tactical flexibility in the last matches and it's hard to say how far
can Liverpool go this season, but they've just climbed to sixth in the Premier
League, only four points from their Sunday hosts. If anyone betting on the Reds for
a European spot a few weeks ago would seem deranged, now it doesn't look too
ridiculous. Dalglish keeps finding all the solutions, such as passing on the problem
Fernando Torres to Chelsea and acquiring two valuable and versatile assets named
Luis Suárez and Andy Carroll. Next chapters to be followed...

Diogo Barroso