It went a little something like this: because of a poor ball from Kolo Toure in his own half, Manchester City's David Silva lost possession to Aston Villa's Gabriel Agbonlahor. Immediately, Ashley Young, in a more advanced, central midfield role, tore off his marker, Yaya Toure, towards goal. Poised over the ball, Agbonlahor placed an inch perfect ball into the path of the streaking Young. With the pass, Gabby temporarily eliminated the brothers Toure from the movement.
English Premier League Weekend Review: Darren Bent’s Predatory Propensity Pays Off For Aston Villa
Gameweek 24 witnessed Manchester United extend their lead at the top of the table while it seems Darren Bent’s transfer to Aston Villa was a smart one.
Young, equally as poised as his attacking teammate, patiently allowed the roller to meet his right foot and chose to strike with his first touch. The attempt was brilliantly saved by England's Joe Hart who was forced to dive low and to his left, but also an attempt that burdened Hart's save into the path of the recently acquired Darren Bent who beat Aleksandar Kolarov to tap in from close range.
The strike turned out to be the game’s only goal, most dramatic moment and realistically, it was a perfect example of why Aston Villa decided to spend 24 million pounds on the striker to begin with: his predatory instincts. Upon multiple reviews of the goal, Bent flawlessly allows himself the opportunity to get in the only space where a goal scoring opportunity could potentially present itself - because of the angle from which Young struck combined with Hart’s positioning in goal, a spill could only have been offered in the exact space Bent moved into.
When Young strikes from just outside the box, Bent immediately peels off Kolarov towards the right, knowing that if a rebound is offered, he’d meet it. And meet it he did. Bent’s goal was the winner against one of the league’s best while many have already said that if Villa stay up by two points this season, Bent will have payed off his massive transfer fee after just 18 minutes.
In a match where City’s blazing attack cooled slightly allowing the Bent strike to claim three points, Aston Villa, Randy Lerner and the Villa supporters who backed the transfer were instantly gratified.
Good Manchester United, or Great?
Premier League fans shouldn't be foreign to the idea of United putting four or five past an opponent currently hovering just above the relegation zone. We've seen it all before, but those thumpings usually come from title-winning United sides. That said, did Saturday's thrashing of Birmingham City tell us anymore about this current United side?
Critics of this most recent installment of Manchester United will say they've quietly and indecisively grasped the league once again yet upon review, the Red Devils are tied with Arsenal for the most goals scored thus far with 48, still unbeaten in league play and have the chance to go five points clear of second place Arsenal with a win away to Blackpool on Tuesday. Until otherwise noted, United are your favorites for the league this season and could potentially run away with the league regardless of the strength of Arsenal and Manchester City.
The story again on Saturday was the finishing of Dimitar Berbatov who became only the third player in Premier League history to score three hat-tricks in a season. Joining Alan Shearer and Ruud van Nistelrooy, Berbatov was again the recipient of good service from Ryan Giggs and Wayne Rooney.
Yet to Concede a Goal in 2011, Arsenal Keep Pace
If your best player of the first half is your goal keeper, you’re unlikely to score and even more likely to concede multiple times. That was the case on Saturday in North London where Wigan’s Ali Al Habsi was in good form but couldn’t keep Robin van Persie from completing a hat-trick. The brightest moment of the match was Van Persie’s second. Club captain Cesc Fabregas found the streaking Dutchman from deep in midfield with a diagonal ball and Van Persie finished with a one touch sumptuous volley. Arsenal’s movement, fluidity and passing were brilliant and because of Manchester City’s 0-1 loss away to Aston Villa, the Gunners find themselves in second spot.
Kenny Dalglish and the Way Forward
Saturday's early match witnessed Liverpool travel to Wolverhampton to take on struggling Wolves in a not-quite-relegation six pointer. Liverpool entered into the match five points ahead of Wolves and looked quite good in extending that point lead to eight. Raul Meireles was man of the match for the Reds, enjoying a fine performance from an advanced, central midfield role and scoring a brilliant second half volley. His passing was sharp and creative without being dominant but before he scored arguably the goal of the weekend, his cut back into the box to find Fernando Torres from a Christian Poulsen ball was a moment of pure Liverpool quality that gave the Reds a lead they never looked back from.
Also a positive for the Reds,Torres scored his eighth and ninth league goals of the campaign and Christian Poulsen showed some promise from a deep-lying midfield position. Kenny Dalglish will now have a selection headache to deal with as Saturday's win at Wolves marked the last match of Steven Gerrard's three game suspension. With Gerrard and Meireles both available for Liverpool's midweek match against Fulham and only one central attacking midfield role to fill, all eyes will be on Dalglish's team sheet to see who the Scot thinks is the key to Liverpool's route forward.
American Enterprise
Everton 2-2 West Ham United- West Ham are still rooted to the bottom of the Premier League table thanks to an injury time equalizer from Marouane Fellaini. The Hammers spent most of the first half in the ascendancy and took a deserved 0-1 lead into the half at Goodison Park thanks to a nice finish by US international Jonathan Spector. But seven minutes after substitute Diniyar Bilyaletdinov leveled the score at one each in the 76th, West Ham's Frederic Piquionne put West Ham back into the lead with an emphatic header.
Oddly enough, Piquionne was sent off in the moments following his goal when he jumped into the stands to celebrate with the away support. Already on a yellow, referee Peter Walton had no choice but to send off the Frenchman by awarding a second caution. Now in stoppage time, Everton pushed forward in search of the equalizer and they found one when Marouane Fellaini danced around Matthew Upson to score from inside the box.
Fulham 2-0 Stoke City- The story from Craven Cottage was a brace from US international Clint Dempsey which took the struggling London side up to 14th in the table. Dempsey's first was brilliantly set up by Andy Johnson who found the American feet in front of goal and produced a perfect right-sided cross into the box that Dempsey finished. Stoke City weren't without chances of their own, Ryan Shawcross and Kenywne Jones both coming close for the Potters.
After the break, Dempsey got his second from the spot when Stoke’s Shawcross dragged him down in the box. Shawcross saw red and Dempsey blasted down the middle to beat Asmir Begovic. Dempsey completed his brace with the penalty and claimed three points for a needy Fulham.
Blackburn Rovers 2-0 West Bromwich Albion- In a match where US international Jermaine Jones made his Blackburn debut, West Brom nearly spoiled it for Jones in only the first minute of the match at Ewood Park. Paul Robinson saved brilliantly from a Peter Odemwingie shot after just 30 seconds to keep the match scoreless. That early strike was about as good as it got for the Baggies who were attempting to win only their second match in seven attempts. Although they defended well for long spells, WBA lacked strength in numbers up front and Blackburn took advantage of their dominance in possession.
First by forcing WBA’s Gabriel Tamas into heading into his own net just before the half and then by a brilliant Junior Hoillet second half strike, Blackburn were able to see off Brom at home to claim seventh spot in the league. It was Blackburn’s fourth win out of eight under new manager Steve Kean who earlier in the week was awarded a full contract with the Lancashire club until 2013.
Around the League
Blackpool 1-2 Sunderland- Sunderland took to the Bloomfield Road pitch on Saturday for the first time without Darren Bent who completed his high profile move to Aston Villa earlier in the week. It only took Steve Bruce's side 15 minutes to unlock the Blackpool defense when an Asamoah Gyan ball found a streaking Kieran Richardson in the box. With his first touch, Richardson scored his first goal of the season for Sunderland and gave the Black Cats an early lead over the Tangerines.
Blackpool at home didn't go quietly into the night. Charlie Adam and Luke Varney forced Craig Gordon into a couple of fine saves before Richardson again found the net for Sunderland in the 35th. This time, Steed Malbranque played provider to Richardson's brilliant pace and movement up front for Sunderland. Late on, Charlie Adam converted a penalty but Blackpool failed to find an equalizer and have now lost five of their last six in the Premier League.
Newcastle United 1-1 Tottenham Hotspur- Newcastle conceded in stoppage time for the second time in two league matches to allow two points to slip from their grasp. It was a slow match that took 30 minutes to get going at St. James' Park until Jose Enrique crossed from the left side and found Leon Best whose header hit the crossbar 15 minutes before the half.
0-0 to start the second half but Spurs soon found themselves down by a goal when Fabricio Coloccini's strike rivaled Raul Meireles' volley for goal of the weekend. Receiving a long ball into the box from Danny Guthrie, Coloccini chested down to set up a brilliant strike from the left side of the box to beat Alan Hutton then Carlo Cudicini in the Tottenham goal.
Cudicini then saved well from Shola Ameobi to keep Spurs in the game and In the 91st, Spurs were rewarded for their resilience when Aaron Lennon struck from inside the box to equalize and keep the London club close to a Champions League spot.
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