BPL RESULTS (SUNDAY)
CHELSEA 2-1 ARSENAL
The prospect of Ashley Cole in contract talks at a time when the country’s road network is hazardous with ice and snow may have sparked a red alert at RAC headquarters, but it had the desired effect on Chelsea.It was seven years ago that Cole nearly swerved off the road, trembling with rage at Arsenal’s £55,000-a-week offer. This week, he is set to sign a one-year deal at Stamford Bridge at nearly £200,000 a week.How better to celebrate than with a win against his old club to reinforce Chelsea’s superiority in the capital? They have given up on the title, misfired at home and been snubbed by Pep Guardiola, but at least they are secure in the top four.Who knows, Cole may even win another trophy. As he never tires of reminding Arsenal fans, he has seven major honours since the move; the Gunners have won nothing.Juan Mata struck after six minutes and Frank Lampard soon added the second from a disputed penalty before Chelsea survived a fightback and Theo Walcott’s 15th goal of the season.Roman Abramovich may not be happy with developments since he conquered Europe, but compared to Arsenal, his team are in decent health as they head to Swansea in a bid to overturn a 2-0 deficit in the Capital One Cup semi-final.There were no overt anti-Benitez protests for once and, for the first time since he replaced Roberto di Matteo, no 16th-minute homage to his predecessor, thanks to Lampard’s 16th-minute goal.Arsene Wenger, meanwhile, had to admit his team were in grave danger of surrendering their Champions League status for the first time in 15 years.Form is poor and confidence is brittle. There are flashes of encouragement from the likes of Walcott and Jack Wilshere, but overall, it feels like gravity is taking hold.Arsenal are 11 points behind Chelsea, albeit with a game in hand. It is three matches without a win in the Barclays Premier League and the second time in eight days they have wilted when confronted by a genuine force.Against Manchester City, they started poorly and were two down at half-time, never to respond. At Stamford Bridge, they were two down within 16 minutes. Decisions conspired against Wenger’s team but, as with the City game, they could not summon the resolve to overcome that and were over-reliant on individuals, notably Walcott and Wilshere.Perhaps it would have been different had Olivier Giroud found the net in the fifth minute when the game was goalless. Slid clear by Walcott, Giroud’s shot was only a foot wide, but it was an excellent chance to seize the initiative.Within a minute, they were behind, Mata making no mistake from a similar situation. Arsenal complained about a foul on Francis Coquelin that went unnoticed at the turnover of possession.Ramires sank his studs into the top of Coquelin’s foot in midfield and the pass, intended for Santi Cazorla, rolled instead to Cesar Azpilicueta, who clipped a long diagonal pass forward from right back. Mata escaped Bacary Sagna without trying too hard, took a touch and slammed in his 14th of the season.For the penalty, Ramires took the ball from Abou Diaby, continued his run and took a return from Mata. As Wojciech Szczesny lurched from his goalline, the Brazilian shifted the ball to his right, paused for the keeper to touch him and went down.Referee Martin Atkinson gave a penalty, Chelsea’s eighth of the Premier League season. It looked questionable on the slow-motion replays. Ramires clearly went to ground early, fishing for contact from Szczesny by dangling his feet.No one seemed very happy. Benitez stamped his feet and waved an imaginary card, demanding that Szczesny be sent off, but the keeper was merely booked. Wenger thought it should have been a yellow card to Ramires for a dive.Lampard was happy enough. He stepped up to score his 195th goal for the club, his sixth in nine games and another step closer to Bobby Tambling’s club record of 202.Ramires wasted a good chance for the third, and Arsenal found some inspiration at half-time.Wenger pushed Diaby slightly further forward alongside Wilshere to match Chelsea’s midfield trio man-for-man but, on a more basic level, his team showed more desire.Petr Cech saved from Walcott and Per Mertesacker and Giroud spurned a very good chance before Walcott scored, sprinting clear of Cole to apply a clinical finish.At least, it gave Arsenal fans something to cheer. They had bought tickets at £60, something which had gone unnoticed after the storm of Manchester City fans who refused to pay £62 at the Emirates.For Chelsea, this provided a test. Four days earlier, against Southampton, they had sped into a two-goal lead, conceded soon after the break and ended up with one point.A ripple of anxiety lapped Stamford Bridge. Fernando Torres had a top chance to settle it but his touch was heavy. Fans cheered when he was replaced by Demba Ba.Abramovich shifted uneasily in his posh seat. Not everything is cosy at Chelsea, but this was a welcome win, Cole has agreed to stay and the roads are a little bit safer.
SPURS 1-1 MAN UTD
It was so close to being over. Not just the game, but the whole shebang. Win here, and the title would have been as good as parcelled up for delivery to Old Trafford.They have played Manchester City and Chelsea away. They have visited Anfield. And Manchester United won every time. Three points at White Hart Lane and there would have been little left to conquer in the Premier League this season.United visit Arsenal on April 27 but the days when teams produced by Arsene Wenger were regarded as the greatest challenge have passed. There are 22 points between United and Arsenal this morning; there were 24 going into stoppage time yesterday.So this was the test. Tottenham look a better team than Arsenal this season and have already won at Old Trafford. Andre Villas-Boas is enjoying a happier time than he did at Chelsea, and has learned from a bad experience. No self-conscious crouching by the touchline, no strategies that fly in the face of logic. Villas-Boas plays to Tottenham’s strengths and there are plenty of them. As the game ticked towards its conclusion, United knew they had been in a battle and were about to record one of the landmark results of the season to go seven points clear.And then the match, and perhaps history itself, made a handbrake turn in the treacherous snow. Benoit Assou-Ekotto, an intelligent substitution by Villas-Boas who instantly elevated Tottenham’s attacking power on the left, whipped in a cross which David de Gea dealt with poorly. His punch was weak and flopped at the feet of Aaron Lennon, who knocked the ball back across goal for Clint Dempsey to finish.Tottenham delighted, United devastated. Sir Alex Ferguson blamed the officials for missing a foul on Wayne Rooney by Steven Caulker that should have been a penalty. He had a point; but Tottenham’s performance deserved one, too.They were the better team, certainly in the second half, forced to chase Robin van Persie’s 25th-minute header, and increasingly look capable of repeating last season’s fourth-place finish, at least. Ferguson tried to take heart from his belief that Chelsea and Manchester City have still to come to this corner of north London, forgetting that Chelsea won here, convincingly, in October. City visit in April in a match that could prove crucial to the destination of the title, providing United do not accelerate further.For this was a big result for Manchester City, as much as Tottenham. It means a seven-point gap has been closed to five with a Manchester derby still to take place. Win that and who knows what might happen?Ferguson knew it, too. His face at the end was that of a man who isn’t used to being tormented by late goals in this way. Well, not since the final day of last season.It started with United in their comfort zone. Tottenham buzzed but United were organised, unhurried and ahead from their first serious chance of the game. Danny Welbeck made a crossfield run, finding Tom Cleverley who struck a deep cross which Van Persie met at the far post.The goalscorer was rarely involved after that but it should have been enough to secure victory.If United lose the title this year it will be because their defence, collectively, gives up a good chance every game, and sometimes more than one. Yesterday it was De Gea’s turn, but he has been far from alone in erring.Perhaps that was what was really eating Ferguson. Until that moment, his rearguard had been excellent. Rio Ferdinand had played probably his best match for United this season, Nemanja Vidic not far behind. Phil Jones looked a fine defensive midfield presence and Michael Carrick was superb by his side. Even De Gea, who has developed a worrying habit of parrying shots by pushing the ball out, not wide and nearly came a cropper that way here, but was saved by a linesman’s offside flag was at the top of his game and made at least one save of world-class standard.It came in the 50th minute when Mousa Dembele, a fine, hard-running presence for Tottenham throughout, skipped past several challenges and fed Dempsey, who was left one on one with De Gea. Staying on his feet under defensive pressure, Dempsey was thwarted by the goalkeeper, making the save of the match. There were a few contenders.the 40th minute, a Lennon cross was cleared to Gareth Bale, who unleashed a fizzer with his left foot which was blocked by De Gea, who must have seen it late. Earlier, when Lennon found Jermain Defoe, De Gea was on alert again, tipping it round. So for his limp punch to be the cause of United’s downfall merely underlines the task ahead.United may be odds-on favourites to win the league still but they cannot afford too many goalkeeper errors like this, even against the weaker teams. In individual matches just about every member of United’s defence has looked vulnerable this season but few as consistently as De Gea. For one member of the back four it must have been particularly galling.Ferdinand was outstanding yesterday, as good as he has ever been in a United shirt and that is no faint boast. It was not just his brilliant block from a Defoe shot in the 78th minute, or the merest deflection to send the ball wide when the same player unleashed another thunderous effort seven minutes later. His positioning, his command of the game, his coolness in treacherous conditions, all were stamped through with pure class. Ferdinand deserved to leave White Hart Lane with three points and a clean sheet. He got neither; and now the hard work starts.It should be United’s title, we know that. From here they have one away game against a team in the current top seven, and a five-point advantage.Yet this must have felt like a match lost, not a feisty point earned at a potential Champions League finisher. Because they thought it was all over. And it most certainly isn’t, for now at least.
LA LIGA RESULT:
Real Madrid took out their pent-up Primera Division frustrations on sorry Valencia with a stunning first-half display en route to a comprehensive 5-0 victory at the Mestalla.Gonzalo Higuain opened the scoring early on and then Cristiano Ronaldo and Angel Di Maria helped themselves to braces during a devastating 11-minute spell just before half-time as madrid, who beat the same opponents in the Copa del Rey in midweek, ran amok.Valencia battled back after the break and had a number of chances to pull a goal back but Madrid's defense, with Iker Casillas selected ahead of Antonio Adan in goal, held firm to complete a great night for Jose Mourinho's men, who moved back to within 15 points of leaders Barcelona.Madrid and Mourinho have found themselves under increasing pressure, with their title defense already looking in tatters by the midway stage of the season.However, the capital club, no doubt buoyed by Barca's surprise defeat to Real Sociedad last night, answered a few of their critics tonight.Higuain missed a glorious chance to open the scoring in the eighth minute when he side-footed Alvaro Arbeloa's cross wide but the Argentinian made no mistake 60 seconds later, slotting in Di Maria's cutback following a rapid counter-attack to make it 1-0.Sami Khedira twice came close to increasing Madrid's lead around the half-hour mark but was denied both times by vital saves from Diego Alves.Alves could do nothing as Madrid did make it 2-0 in the 34th minute though, Ronaldo turning Ricardo Costa inside out before sending over a low cross that the unmarked Di Maria tapped home at the far post.Madrid were rampant and straight from the kick-off they regained possession, allowing Ronaldo to scamper free from the halfway line and drill a low shot past Alves at his near post.It was 4-0 in the 41st minute when Di Maria's cross to the far post was knocked back by Ozil to Ronaldo, who thrashed home his second of the night.Madrid were not finished there either, and on the stroke of half-time Di Maria added his second after being put through by Ozil and coolly slotting past Alves.Valencia's fans voiced their anger as the teams left the pitch at the break, but they will have taken some consolation from their side's performance in the second half, even if it did not result in any goals.Pablo Piatti struck the crossbar, Adil Rami saw a header cleared off the line and Tino Costa twice went close with volleys for the hosts.Madrid were not without their chances either, though, and Ronaldo really should have netted his hat-trick four minutes from the end only to side-foot Luka Modric's cross wide from close range.Mourinho's men return to the Mestalla on Wednesday, when they will look to defend a 2-0 lead in the second leg of their Copa del Rey quarter-final against Los Che.
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