Premier League Sunday: Manchester City, Fulham Earn Emphatic Wins

Bobby Zamora announced his return to action with a brace as Fulham dispatched relegation-threatened Blackpool by a score of 3-0 at Craven Cottage. Blackpool’s spectacularly inept defence wilted under the threat provided by Fulham’s front line, which was much improved thanks to Zamora receiving his first start since he suffered a broken leg against Wolverhampton in September.

Ian Holloway will be displeased with the manner in which his team conceded their first goal - Zamora was sent clean through in the 23rd minute after a misplaced pass from Blackpool striker James Beattie, and the sometimes England man made no mistake as he powered a right footed shot past Richard Kingson. Five minutes later, and Zamora had his brace, heading home a fine delivery from Damien Duff after the Irish winger had been fouled by Stephen Crainey.

We’d been waiting all season for Roberto Mancini’s side to just go out and crush somebody, and generally we’d been thoroughly disappointed. Manchester City have all the attacking talent they need to be regularly winning games by three or four goals, but something about them (mostly the tactics, I suppose) has never been quite right. Two weeks ago City were subject to a demeaning loss at Stamford Bridge, where they managed half a shot at goal while giving Chelsea the freedom of the pitch. Was today going to be any different?

Erm, yes. City ditched their holding midfield pairing and went with a 4-4-2, pairing Carlos Tevez and Mario Balotelli up top with David Silva and Adam Johnson on the wings. Yaya Toure supported the frontmen while Nigel De Jong was left to clean up in case any Sunderland play looked to threatening. Whether this was a response to the constant criticism of style or simply a recognition that the Black Cats are a team in freefall and City’s goal differential would one day be important nobody’s really sure, but one thing is clear - it worked.

So much for Patrick Vieira for Adam Johnson being a defensive switch. Within seconds of come on, the ex-Arsenal man makes it 4-0 after sliding home a neat delivery from Aleksandar Kolarov. Simon Mignolet scrambled to clear the ball, hurling it back out of the goal, but it had crossed the line by at least a foot and was correctly awarded by the linesman. This game isn’t really turning into a rout - it’s been one since minute fifteen, at least, but now the scoreline’s starting to reflect that.

Oh, and Yaya Toure’s just made it five. Perfect. The Sunderland defence should probably just go home right now (they may have done so already, in fact). Lee Cattermole’s passing has been somewhat poor so far today, and it’s gotten worse - for some reason he attempted a backwards diagonal pass under pressure near his own penalty area. The ball went straight to Toure, who trundled into the box and finished cheekily over Mignolet.

David Silva has compounded Sunderland’s misery by adding yet another tally to Manchester City’s scoresheet. Phil Bardsley had been tormented by Adam Johnson throughout the first half, so he was pulled off the pitch in favour of Ahmed Elmohamedy, with Anton Ferdinand shuffling over to left back to cover. Turns out that didn’t go so well either.

Carlos Tevez rather easily got the better of Ferdinand on City’s right flank before sending in a low pass to Mario Balotelli, who attempted some sort of backheel flick thingy that was well blocked by Michael Turner. Unfortunately for Sunderland’s toiling defence, the first player to react to the loose ball was wearing sky blue. David Silva nipped in between the defenders and dinked the ball over a helpless Simon Mignolet to make the score 3-0.

Those early goals are the difference between Sunderland and Manchester City at the Eastlands, with the visitors trailing by two goals to nil as we go into half time. Sunderland are in a slump, having not scored since early February, and they don’t look likely to emerge from it here - their defence is terrible, their attack flashy rather than substantial, and referee Howard Webb is handing out bookings like he’s Willie Wonka distributing chocolate (and only slightly less flamboyantly dressed.

Adam Johnson got the party started early for Roberto Mancini’s men, exchanging passes with Yaya Toure before zipping in a shot past Simon Mignolet for a ninth minute goal, and less than five minutes later Phil Bardsley clattered Carlos Tevez to hand City a penalty, which Tevez duly converted. Three Sunderland players are in the book already - Lee Cattermole might as well come pre-booked, Bardsley was cautioned for the foul that saw the penalty conceded, and John Mensah was shown yellow for making a great challenge on Tevez by the touchline. Yeah, I don’t really get that one either.

Well that’s not the start Steve Bruce was looking for. Not ten minutes have gone by and Sunderland find themselves down at the hands of Manchester City thanks to the left foot (does he had a right foot) of England winger Adam Johnson and then the trusty penalty taking of captain Carlos Tevez. Johnson was the beneficiary of a neat cutback to the edge of the area after good work from Yaya Toure and planted a nifty finish past Simon Mignolet to make it 1-0, and although Sunderland mounted a spirited response they found themselves further down on the next City attack five minutes later.

David Silva laid down a delicious cross-field pass that split the visiting defence and allowed Tevez to burst into the area. His attempted chip was off-target, but no matter - haf a second later left back Phil Bardsley had come in and flattened the Argentine for a stonewall penalty. Referee Howard Webb had little choice but to point to the spot, and Tevez juuuust about converted off Mignolet and the post to make it 2-0 and break his seven game scoreless streak.

As for Wigan, it’s yet another game whether they could have got more points than they did. Although it must be encouraging to be the better side against a team that’s currently fifth in the table, Roberto Martinez’s men have had a chronic inability to turn performances into points. They probably dropped two here.

Worse was to come for Liverpool. With just two minutes to go, Odemwingie got the better of his man again and raced into the area only to be felled by Reina. Again Brunt stepped forward, and again the midfielder netted - but this time it was enough to secure an important victory for Albion - and a crushing blow for Liverpool’s hopes this season.

West Ham United have been solid, but far from spectacular in the first half of their English Premier League match against Manchester United. Despite that, they’re leading by a score of 2-0 over the first placed team in the league, thanks to a pair of penalty kicks. Patrice Evra committed a clear handball in the box on the 11th minute for the first penalty, and Nemaja Vidic hauled down Carlton Cole on the edge of the box for a questionable penalty. Vidic probably committed the foul just outside the box, but with how clear-cut the contact was and how unnecessary Vidic’s challenge was, he has no one to blame but himself. Mark Noble converted both penalties, and in impressive fashion.

Man United look set to make a change or two at halftime in an effort to find a goal early in the second half. Javier Hernandez, the man called Chicharito, was warming up before halftime, while Nani and Dimitar Berbatov are both available off the bench as well. It would be surprising to see Alex Ferguson opt to not make any halftime changes.

It’s been a tough start to the day for Manchester United. Despite being the much better side in their match against West Ham United, they haven’t created any kind of clear-cut scoring chances and they’re somehow down 2-0 after 25 minutes, thanks to two penalty kicks. This penalty wasn’t nearly as clear-cut as the Evra handball on the 11th minute, but it’s unlikely that Alex Ferguson and Man United fans will be looking for excuses, as the foul committed by Nemanja Vidic was incredibly ill-advised, penalty or not.

Once again, striker Carlton Cole would be the man who drew the penalty. Cutting into the box from the left hand side, Cole drew contact from Vidic right on the edge of the area. The contact was undeniable and there will have been no argument about there being a foul, but the contact occurred on the very edge of the penalty area. It appeared upon replay that the foul occurred just outside the area, but at full speed, it’s very hard to fault Lee Mason for giving it. When Cole was fouled, he was mere centimeters outside of the box. Mark Noble was again the man to step up to the spot, and though Tomasz Kuszczak guessed right, Noble’s penalty was hit brilliantly into the upper 90, and the Hammers have a 2-0 lead.

Thanks to a penalty kick following a lapse in judgment by Manchester United left back Patrice Evra, West Ham United have a surprise 1-0 lead after 11 minutes at Upton Park. While the relegation threatened Hammers haven’t had a great season, they’ve actually been very good at home lately, so it’s not too stunning that they’re giving Man United a serious run for their money. However, this goal came from very little skill on their end, and was much more the product of Manchester United mistakes.

The first mistake that started the move was made by Chris Smalling, who failed to step up with his teammates on a long ball and kept Carlton Cole onside. This made it easy for the Hammers striker to run onto the ball and take it into the box, relatively uncontested. The Red Devils’ defense recovered sufficiently, but when Cole attempted to chip the ball up in the air, Evra made a boneheaded decision and stuck his hands straight up in the air. The ball struck his hand, and Lee Mason correctly granted the penalty, which Mark Noble stepped up to convert.