English Premier League Weekend Report - 23rd March

Well folks the weekend's fixtures have just ended and what a Super Sunday it has turned out to be. Manchester United strengthened their grip on the English Premier League title with a resounding 3-0 win at home against a Liverpool team for whom the EPL title remains elusive. Chelsea meanwhile leapfrogged Arsenal into 2nd place with a 2-1 win over the Gunners to close the gap to 5 points on ManUtd thus dealing a major blow to the Arsenal's hopes of securing the title.

Manchester United dominated proceedings from the beginning and could have gone ahead as early as the 9th minute of play when Wayne Rooney was put through with a defence pass from Anderson. However the England hitman's poor form infront of goal continued as he fluffed his chance. From then on it was just one way traffic as rooney as well as ronaldo came close to giving Man Utd the lead. Liverpool briefly threatened when a Steven Gerrard long range effort took a deflection and just went over the bar. On 34 minutes though the Red Devils took the lead courtesy of the unlikeliest of goal scorers in Wes Brown who headed in a Wayne Rooney cross.
Things went bad to worse for Liverpool when Javier Mascherano was red carded for dissent. The second half began in the same pattern with Man Utd dominating possession and Liverpool soaking it all up aiming to hit on the counter attack. However the Liverpool attacks and in particular Fernando Torres were expertly shut out of the game by the Man Utd defence marshalled by Rio Ferdinand and Nemanja Vidic. Chances were created with relative ease but wasteful finishing from Rooney, Tevez and Ronaldo still gave Liverpool a glimmer of hope of snatching something from the game. On 79 minutes though the game was killed off when Cristiano Ronaldo rose highest to head home a corner from substitute Nani. By now the Anfield were deflated and just 2 minutes conceded a third through a superb strike from just on the edge of the penalty box by Nani. There was huge euphoria among the old trafford faithful and on this sort of form who can stop them?

The answer was provided by chelsea who staged a remarkable comeback from a goal down to defeat Arsenal. Didier Drogba was the hero scoring twice late in the game to cancel out Bacary Sagna's opener from Fabregas corner kick. How the wheels have come off for Arsenal. Just a month ago they were 5 points clear at the top and odds on favorites. Now they sit 3rd ,6 points behind Man Utd.

Easter Sunday fixtures over the years has produced so many twists in the EPL and it has been no different this time. We have seen Liverpool slip out of the reckoning and Arsenal's hopes take a major bashing. Chelsea's boring yet effective game has yet again reaped dividends as they now are the biigest challengers to Manchester United. Though there are 7 games to go a 5 point lead for Man Utd is by no means a comfortable lead. Sir Alex and team have to still play Arsenal at home and travel to chelsea which for sure would go a long way to determining the destiny of the title. An intriguing end to the season thus beckons. Will Manchester United successfully retain their title or will either chelsea and Arsenal sneak in? Lets just wait and see as the events unfold over the next 7 weeks.

Meanwhile at the other end of the table, Newcastle finally got their first win under Kevin Keegan with a 2-0 win over Fulham who are deeply rooted in a relegation struggle. Michael Owen and Mark Viduka got the goals to ease their own relegation fears. Fulham now face an uphill struggle to survive as they have now fallen 4 points away from safety as Birmingham now sit in 17th place on 27 poins while Fulham are deeply rooted in 19th spot on 23 points.

Sunderland though have moved slightly clear of the relegation positions with 1-0 win over Aston Villa. They now sit on 30 points.

It now seems like Derby and Fulham are doomed with Bolton and Birmingham battling to avoid the drop.

Well folks another week has gone by in the EPL with lots of thrills and spills. As usual i will bringing you the latest scores and comments from next weeks' matches so watch out for it

Ciao for now
Sporty Shank