Premier League, Week 12: Aston Villa pull off late comeback

Two glorious goals from Shane Long appeared to have given West Bromwich Albion the edge against Aston Villa in a West Midlands derby at the Hawthorns, but the visitors struck back in the second half to pick up a point and deny their rivals.

Long had scored a beautiful opener and then a quite magnificent second, but Karim El-Ahmadi put Villa back in the game before a fantastic strike from Ashley Westwood gave a deserved equaliser for the visitors.

It looked for all the world as though Manchester United would claim the points against Cardiff City. Goals from Wayne Rooney and Patrice Evra had given them a 2-1 lead in the first half, a lead that the defending champions held through most of the second. But the Bluebirds simply wouldn’t give up, and pounced at the death through Bo-Kyung Kim to secure a well-earned 2-2 draw.

The opening spell turned out to revolve around Rooney. Cardiff City started brightly, and could have gone ahead through Jordon Mutch when the big midfielder got on the end of a free kick only to direct his header straight at David de Gea. Minutes later, Neil Swarbrick decided that Rooney’s decision to assault Mutch on the United left was worthy of no more than a booking.

They’ll look to cut the deficit to the league leaders yet further with a win away in Cardiff on Sunday, taking advantage of the Bluebirds’ patchy form. Malky Mackay’s side are down in 14th place, a couple of points above the relegation zone heading into round 12. Having only won thrice all season, it’s hard to see them taking points from an in-form United.

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That makes their meeting at the Etihad on Sunday even more interesting. A win for could kick-start either side’s campaign, though back-to-back defeats would dent confidence yet further. Unfortunately for Spurs, all of City’s troubles have come on the road this season, with Manuel Pellegrini overseeing victories in all five of his side’s home league games. Spurs may have only lost once away from White Hart Lane, though André Villas-Boas’ side head into this one as underdogs.

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Demel attempted to cushion a short pass back to Jussi Jaaskelainen with his thigh, a bizarre decision but even worse execution as he woefully underhit it. Jaaskelainen then compounded the error by needlessly coming out of his goal, arms flying to deny the pouncing Oscar, who although in a dangerous position was too wide to have a truly clear effort on goal. But Jaaskelainen’s clumsiness felled the Brazilian in the area, and up stepped Frank Lampard to smash the penalty into the top corner.

Chelsea were now on top, and it wasn’t too long before they registered their second, Jaaskelainen once again looking weak in being slow to get to a low shot from Oscar, which sneaked into the near post underneath the Finn’s dive.

Norwich turned in yet another poor first half performance on Saturday, and unlike in their match against West Ham before the international break, they didn’t have the ammo to turn it around. Newcastle were much less of a threat in the second half, but their two early goals were enough to see them hang on for a 2-1 win.

Norwich struggled to fight their way back into the game in the second half and never looked too threatening in front of goal until the 80th minute, when Leroy Fer headed in a corner to give his team a shot to make a comeback. It wasn’t to be, though, as the Magpies held on for a fairly comfortable home victory.

Arsenal bounced back from defeat at Old Trafford with a commanding home performance against this year’s surprise package. Southampton went into the match ahead in third place and with spirits high, but they were outclassed on all fronts by the Gunners at the Emirates, losing 2-0 and never really threatening to get a result.

It didn’t take long for Arsenal to begin knocking on the door, and the visitors were more than a little bit lucky to emerge from the first half only 1-0 down. Jack Wilshere was denied a beautiful goal by Artur Boruc’s right hand post, the midfielder squeezing an exquisite chip past the goalkeeper from an impossible angle before hitting the woodwork, the rebound cannoning back into Boruc’s arms.

Stoke City continued Sunderland’s misery on Saturday with a 2-0 victory behind goals from Charlie Adam and Steven N’Zonzi. Unfortunately, the storyline coming out of the match will be Kevin Friend’s controversial straight red card against Black Cats defender Wes Brown just before halftime.

Replays showing there was no contact on Adam by Brown. Add to that the fact that Adam jumped over the challenge with ease and referee Kevin Friend will likely be hearing from his bosses at the FA.

Palace had been second best in a poor game until the red card, but a sucker punch caught Hull out and was enough to give all three points to the South Londoners.

Yannick Bolasie showed some early promise for the visitors, but his decision-making could not live up to his speed and trickery. On two occasions he got down the left flank with ease, only to waste the opportunity by shooting from a ridiculous angle with teammates well-placed in the area.

The Swans found their breakthrough in the 56th minute, and it was a gift. Off a cross that came in from the right flank, Hughes made a complete mess of an attempted clearance and deflected the ball into his own goal. It looked like the ball simply hit him, without any serious action on his part, but he was looking at the ball the entire time as it inexplicably bounced off him.

Even if the goal was more skill than luck, Fulham hadn’t done much outside of that opportunity and Swansea’s eventual winner was well-deserved. Shelvey was his team’s hero on the night, scoring with a well placed shot over the hand of Stekelenburg from the top of the box after splitting a pair of defenders.

Here are the lineups:

West Ham have found the Premier League season a little more difficult than anticipated so far, currently down in 16th heading into round 12. Only goal difference keeps them out of the bottom three. Unfortunately life for the Hammers doesn’t get any easier this weekend, as they welcome fourth-place Chelsea to Upton Park.

However, there are some straws for West Ham to clutch. Chelsea haven’t been perfect this season, and have only won once away in the Premier League since José Mourinho’s return. If the Hammers can use the crowd to their advantage, they may well take something from the match.