Pic form Eurosport.
Manchester United pulled one from the bag to pocket 3 points against a better Liverpool side that was nonetheless shocking in their defending. The Reds shaky start was characterised by the static defence that seemed to be perplexed by crosses on countless occasions. Manchester won 3-2, Berbetov scoring all three for United.
Dimitri Berbetov was superb as evidenced by his excellent acrobatic goal that was donated by Pepe Reina, Liverpool goalkeeper. Berbetov proved to be a powerful and strong target man who United will need to chase the champions. The class of the Bulgarian was always a media concern when the expectations were misplaced on his goalscoring abilities. This eventually weighed on the man until he decided to stop caring and now he is proving the point.
Pepe was generally poor as he was flat-footed more than once and was deep rootedly planted when admiring the acrobats and flight of the Berbetov lob. It was the same story with the form of off-form Fernando Torres. I never had doubts about his scoring ability but I have always waited for him to prove he is not over-rated. This match did not help his cause in that regard as he toiled all day without producing much except for winning the penalty.
The cool-headed Steven Gerrard did well to convert the penalty and free-kicks to give Liverpool hope to collect a point. The Red Devils were on over-drive as Nani crushed the crossbar in the first half. Wayne Rooney was anonymous, taking all the defenders’ attention and leaving room for Berbetov to shine with a hat-trick.
Chelsea were ruthlessly rampant as usual, routing Blackpool with 4 first half goals coming from double scorer, Flourent Malouda as well as Salmon Kalou. Super Didier Drogba was in sublime form as he provided assists and unselfishly fed his wasteful teammates. He lost his touch from working in overdrive for 90 minutes as he wasted a few glorious chances he usually converts with his eyes closed.
Blackpool for their part, not conceding in the second half was a very notable achievement that they have to build on. They were a wasteful lot and had glorious chances they fluffed. At least they have something to build on.
Manchester City came to the party with Carlos Tevez turning on the music. An average dink over the goalkeeper was a superb opening goal of the class we know Tevez can be. Wigan were never going to match City who came from a good mid-week Europa win.
Arsenal were helpless yesterday huffing and puffing and finally surrendering the lead to Sunderland. Cesc Fabregas put the Gunners ahead with a very lucky goal. Ferdinand’s attempted clearance hit Fabregas so hard and went over Ferdinand’s head. flying over 40 yards lobbing over the goalkeeper. Darren Bent had the last word in the last-minute with an equaliser with the last kick of the match.
The match of the week, was, of course, Tottenham Hotspurs who overcame a stubborn Wolverhampton. Wolves were almost running away with the match with 15 minutes to go, when Spurs decide to put things to order. A three goal salvo was enough to silence Harry Redknapp‘s critics, at least for now. The doubting Thomases will find it hard to accept the ascendance of Spurs, which is very slow but very much alive. The nay-sayers already compare Spurs to the top four teams. They are not yet in that league, but they are surely on the right track.
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