City come from behind to beat Chelsea; Arsenal continue their momentum whilst Spurs drop points again

22^nd March 2012

Raphael Salama

Raphael Salama

22 March 2012

Man City clawed themselves back from a 1-0 deficit against Chelsea to pile the pressure back onto their local rivals, Man Utd. The game was an edgy affair which saw Carlos Tevez make his first City appearance in six months after the infamous incident at Bayern Munich earlier in the season. A deflected Gary Cahill effort found its way past a floundering Joe Hart. Then an unlucky Michael Essien handball allowed Sergio Aguero to slot a cool penalty past Petr Cech. City’s winner came late on, with nice interplay involving the returning Tevez leaving Samir Nasri to cooly chip into the corner, the Etihad Stadium erupting.

Arsenal added to their recent momentum with an impressive win away at Everton in which they defended an early Thomas Vermaelen headed goal. The Toffees will feel hard done by however. They pushed Arsenal all the way and Royston Drenthe should have levelled yet his goal was disallowed for offside by the linesman incorrectly. The win sees Arsenal march up to 3^rd in the table, leapfrogging Spurs, whilst Everton continue to linger in mid-table.

In a night that could have been a lot worse for Spurs, Rafael Van der Vaart rescued the small consolation of a point against Stoke. Nevertheless the draw sees their poor run of form continue and sarcastic ‘Harry for England’ chants will continue to ring around stadiums nationwide. Cameron Jerome put Stoke into the lead and Spurs failed to respond with any vigour, leaving it until the 90^th minute for a whipped Gareth Bale cross to be converted by the Dutchman, Van der Vaart.

Elsewhere, QPR produced a miraculous recovery to snatch all three points from Liverpool in a late showdown in West London. Jamie Mackie’s late strike sunk a Liverpool side who were 2-0 up with 13 minutes to go. Dirk Kuyt and Sebastian Coates seemed to have secured the victory for the Merseyside club, only for the home side to strike back through Shaun Derry, Djibril Cisse and then deep into injury time Mackie.

Raffi Salama