By Camilla Mancini
All of the changes on the board for this weekend happened to the clubs between the 9th and the 15th positions, except for Tottenham and Chelsea that interchanged their positions again. The Spurs which have been the revelation of the season, climbing from the very bottom to the very top, fell one spot in the past round, after Stoke City put a stop to their undefeated strike of 11 games. So Chelsea, that couldn’t get more than a 1-1 draw on Saturday, is back to the fourth position with 32pts. While Tottenham that won 1-0 in its fixture with Sunderland now carries 34pts.
Chelsea went to The DW Stadium and although it reached the Latics’ area in few opportunities during the first half, the hosts stood up firmly protecting their box, making it impossible for The Blues to score. Roberto Martínez says that the triumph should have been for his men, especially because they should have had a penalty in the first half when the ball struck Branislav Ivanovic’s left arm. Anyway both goals were left for second half. First in 58th Daniel Sturridge made a shot from close range to Ali Al-Habsi’s net to score his 8th goal of the season. But within 5 minutes to wrap things up, Hugo Rodallega stood out assisting Jordi Gomez to even up the scoreboard and save the day for his team –which can’t afford more losses. Thanks to the draw Wigan has a better chance to leave the relegation zone now that is just a point behind the Wolves and Sunderland, who hold 14 points each.
On the other hand, Manchester City continues earning points and saving its position at the peak of the standings. As expected the Citizens recovered fast of the knock out from Chelsea on Monday 12th. City received the Gunners on Sunday at a packed Etihad Stadium that celebrated the thrilling match, which concluded with a single goal scored by David Silva. Certainly, Arsenal wasn’t a gentle rival, shooting at City’s box numerous times, but Joe Hart defended his team over and over, preventing Van Persie, Gervinho, Walcott and Ramsey from scoring. Mancini’s men had also their chances to score more than once; the most obvious was an easy shot that Agüero missed within five minutes of the encounter. But in the end, it didn’t matter too much how many goals the Citizens converted but that they won.
The second-best from Manchester also succeeded in its fixture against Queens Park Rangers on Saturday, when they visited the Londoners. The Red Devils are doing a lot better than some weeks ago, with the urgent changes Ferguson had to make in the line-up and all. Even Rooney is coming back as a top goal scorer and this game allowed him one more. When the match had less than a minute played, Rooney gave the lead to his site with a header that set the 1-0. Also that Ferguson placed Michael Carrick in central midfield along Phil Jones helped the Red Devils to kill off the Hoops. Carrick’s first goal of the season arrived at 15 minutes from the beginning of second half, the 30 year-old stroke the ball into the left corner of the goal to give his partners and fans the 2-0.
The other matches from round 16: Wolves 1-2 Stoke; Newcastle 0-0 Swansea; Fulham 2-0 Bolton; Everton 1-1 Norwich; Blackburn 1-2 West Brom; Aston Villa 0-2 Liverpool.
About the Author: Camilla Mancini is one of the most qualified copy writers on Sports Betting and currently writes for Instant Action Sports. Feel free to reprint this article in its entirety on your site, make sure to leave all links in place and do not modify any of the content.
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