Saha double stuns Chelsea, Diaby resuscitates Arsenal’s title hopes, and Villa held by 10-man United
Saha double stuns Chelsea, Diaby resuscitates Arsenal’s title hopes, and Villa held by 10-man United
Arsenal injected new life into their title bid as Abou Diaby’s header saw them end a three-game winless sequence with victory over Liverpool.
After a unconvincing first forty-five, both teams stepped up their play in the second half. David Ngog and Tomas Rosicky came close soon after the second-half kickoff.
On 72 minutes, Abou Diaby bagged his seventh goal of the season after he nodded Rosicky’s cross past Pepe Riena.
Throwing men forward, Liverpool had several chances to level the scores in the final twenty minutes. Liverpool had a penalty shout after Steven Gerrard’s free kick looked to have struck Cesc Fabregas’ arm in the wall but Howard Webb saw nothing and awarded Arsene Wenger his 300th Premier League victory.
More after the jump, including MOTD highlights.
Liverpool manager Rafael Benitez:
“It was a pity because in the last 20 minutes we were pushing hard and had chances.
"It was just quality in final third that made the big difference. The second half was much better and we could have got something.
"It’s important for us to have a good run of results. There’s a long way to go and we need to keep on going.”
Everton striker Louis Saha scored twice as Chelsea’s lead at the top of the Premier League is cut to one point.
The visitor dominated the early stages of the match. Florent Malouda latched onto Didier Drogba’s flicked on header and tucked the ball past Tim Howard to put Chelsea up 1-0 on 17 minutes.
Louis Saha leveled the score after he beat John Terry to Landon Donovan’s near-post corner and flicked the ball past the helpless Petr Cech.
Saha had another chance, this time from the penalty spot, as Ricardo Carvalho brought down Landon Donovan. Saha’s scuffed penalty was saved rather comfortably by Petr Cech.
Saha put Everton ahead after 75 minutes. Terry failed to deal with a long cross-field pass that Saha controlled with his first touch before striking the ball beyond Cech with the outside of his left boot.
Chelsea nearly responded with an equalizer but Drogba’s powerful header struck the crossbar and Frank Lampard’s driven strike was finger-tipped away by Howard.
Everton manager David Moyes on his first win over Chelsea:
“It has been a long time coming.
"After the weekend defeat to Liverpool I thought that we showed great character. And we did it without two of our important players.
"I thought that we deserved our victory, which was against one of the top teams in the country.”
Chelsea assistant boss Ray Wilkins:
“If you look at the game as a whole you could say that Everton just about deserved to win it.
"It is disappointing but all good things must come to an end. We have got to be disappointed with the goals that we gave away.
"We have been on a good run but now we have to go on another one.”
Manchester United survived the early dismissal of Nani to secure a well-earned draw at Aston Villa and close the gap on Chelsea at the top of the Premier League to one point.
Villa opened the scoring on 19 minutes when the United back-line failed to deal with Steward Downings whipped in cross and Carlos Cuellar nodded the ball past Van der Sar.
On twenty-three minutes, Ryan Giggs’ volleyed cross was deflected by James Collins into the Villa net. It was the 10th own goal in United’s favour this season.
Nani was shown a straight red card for a 28th-minute two-footed tackle on Stiliyan Petrov - and the resulting three-game ban rules the Portuguese international out of the Carling Cup final against Villa at Wembley later this month.
Neither side was able to find a winner in the second half although James Milner, Michael Carrick, and Wayne Rooney all came close to a game-winning goal.
Aston Villa manager Martin O'Neill:
“I thought we could maybe take advantage but we were a bit tired in the second half and we didn’t create enough to cause them undue worry.
"But they haven’t been gallivanting around Europe winning Champions Leagues and titles without being a top side.
"I thought it was a red card, when you go in two-footed nowadays there is a decent chance the referee will show a red card.”
Manchester United manager Sir Alex Ferguson:
“It was an important night and, with Everton winning against Chelsea, we have gained one point and one goal.
"Nani is not a malicious player but he has gone in with his foot raised off the ground and we cannot complain about it.
"We should have had a foul seconds before when Agbonlahor came in with his foot up on Wes Brown’s ribs.
"That was disappointing but we have no argument at all with the red card, it was a naive tackle.”
Highlights:
