On weekend of big scores, walkovers and injuries to important players, Man City won 5-1 and Spurs won 3-0 to go third with a game in hand.
Man United beat Aston Villa 1-0 but lost Hernandez to an ankle ligament injury after 12 minutes.
Wigan are now officially the worst team in the Premier League with two wins in 14 games. After beating Sunderland last week to finish off Steve Bruce, they got hammered 4-0 by Arsenal on Saturday.
So Wenger\’s restyled team cruises onwards and upwards, enjoying a fair wind.
They got lucky when Gomez missed a sitter early on. Then keeper Ali Al Habsi completely missed a dipping 25-yard shot by Arteta. Three minutes later, Vermaelen, at the far post, produced a scoring header of beautiful simplicity and Arsenal went on to win 4-0 after adding second half goals by Gervinho and Van Persie.
Right now, it’s all a walk in the park for increasingly reliable Arsenal, who are the only British team to have already qualified for the Round of 16. While Man United, Citeh and Chelsea stuttered, Arsene FC marched on.
Main talking point was the incidents involving centrebacks Gary Cahill and David Luiz.
At White Hart Lane, Cahill tried to get clever, lost the ball to the tenacious Scott Parker and clumsily clattered him near the halfway line. But Cahill’s red card was harsh.
The opposite was true in Newcastle.
David Luiz bodychecked Demba Ba at St James\’s Park, just outside the box, and only got a yellow card. Danny Sturridge missed chances but when Mata linked sweetly with Ashley Cole to cross to the near post, Drogba headed home with immense authority.
Seeing this lunchtime game live on Sky, a week after going to the Bridge and seeing the striker fail to raise a gallop in a 3-0 win over Wolves, I began to realise that the centre forward is in a new phase of career. He ambles around, not doing much, a shadow of the explosive, high-jumping powerhouse who used to knock defenders over like skittles.
The Ivorian gladiator rarely breaks sweat these days. He’s Didier Jogba now. He feels like history now, feels unwanted, and that\’s sad.He\’s clearly upset.
Half-time score was Newcastle 0 Chelsea 1.
How well could they defend that 1-0 lead? Quite well, but they had a lot of luck. In the end the visitors won 3-0, and Mata showed his class, but the scoreline was very misleading.
Newcastle hit the frame of the goal twice, JT kicked one off the line, and Chelsea were under pressure after Pardew went 4-4-2 with Shola Ameobi and Ba, and then brought on the younger Ameobi brother, Sammy.
Chelsea played keep-ball when they could, trying to run down the clock, even though centreback Coloccini had gone off injured at half-time.
Torres replaced Jogba in 79, Shola hit a shot against Chelsea\’s crossbar and Cech saved the rebound shot from his brother. Then Torres hit a shot against a defender\’s legs, the ball broke back to him and his pass allowed sub Kalou a shot that went in off the hand of Dutch keeper Tim Krul in 89.
In 92, Sturridge at last placed a left-foot shot where Krul couldn\’t reach it.
Tim Krul was the man of the match by 26 miles but he will miss the protection of Steven Taylor, who has an achilles op today.
Chelsea were hugely flattered by the 3-0 scoreline. A 1-1 draw would have been fairer and a 3-3 draw would have reflected the action.
But you sometimes get games like that and this morale-booster came along just before Chelsea\’s Matchday 6 encounter with Valencia.
KUN AGUERO scored the first goal for Man City against Norwich.
When Micah Richards cut the ball back into the box in 32, the little sharpshooter was eight yards from goal with had four defenders round him. He took three touches and scored with his fourth, toe-poking the ball through the legs of two Norwich players.
I\’m sure Aguero is the only player in the EPL who could have scored that goal from that position. Maybe Suarez would have tried something similar.
City 5 Norwich 1 was the eventual scoreline.
WAYNE ROONEY was accurate and dynamic in midfield but United could only score one goal at Aston Villa after Chicharito went off with an ankle injury sustained when he tried to turn suddenly.
NANI provided the crucial assist with a left-footed cross for Phil Jones to score his first goal. If a gifted winger can ever put a volley on a plate for a team-mate, Nani did so. The finesse of his cross was sublime.
GARETH BALE makes Spurs his play at his pace and Spurs went third with that 3-0 win against Bolton, who are now above Wigan on goal difference. Modric, the key man for Spurs, made the first goal with a delightful corner that neatly cleared the first defender and bounced outside the near post to give Bale the chance to flick home with his big left boot.
Somehow, Lennon and Adebayor manage to play very exciting, direct football consistently, maintaining the momentum set by Bale.
In truth, Adebayor, always a hit & miss footballer, struggles to function at Bale’s pace but, being fast himself, he gets in enough shots and passes to be efficient.Luka Modric is a fabulous player and I’m glad Spurs refused to sell him to Chelsea.
If Spurs keep playing like this, they’ll be title contenders.
They will hope that Chelsea and Manchester United survive a while the Champions League, since that will help Tottenham to get back into the tournament where they enjoyed meeting Real Madrid, Inter and Meelan last season
Wigan (4-1-3-2): Al Habsi; Stam, Gohouri, Caldwell, Figueroa; McCarthy; Gomez (Crusat, 59), Diamé (McArthur, 89), Jones; Sammon (Di Santo, 59), Moses.
Arsenal (4-2-3-1): Szczesny; Koscielny, Mertesacker,Vermaelen, Santos; Song (Arshavin, 80), Arteta; Walcott (Benayoun, 80), Ramsey, Gervinho (Coquelin, 80); Van Persie.