Is the Premier League a Two Horse Race?

The premier league is slowly taking shape to a predictable two horse race between the two Manchester Clubs (United and City). I don’t know if I have spoken too early (it’s been only 18 games) into the season but the other three teams coincidentally from London (Arsenal, Chelsea and Tottenham) don’t look keen on fighting for the premier league title. Tottenham can be exempt from this group since they won their game against Norwich to garner 38 points from 17 games. This means they have a game in hand and can move to within four points of league leaders Manchester City.

Wolves keeper Wayne Hennessey makes yet another save

Manchester United was the only team at the top end of the table to have a real boxing day. They moved level on points with Man City after thrashing a miserable Wigan 5 – 0 with Dimitar Berbatov scoring a hat-trick.  Manchester City had a goalless draw with West Brom. Arsenal drew with Wolves at the Emirates in a game that they were in total control. Wolves keeper Wayne Hennessey rose up to the occasion time and time again to deny Arsenal the three points they desperately needed to reap flog Chelsea to fourth place after the Blues had drawn with Fulham on boxing day. Liverpool had a one all draw with lowly placed Blackburn Rovers.

 

Premier League results

26 Dec 2011 23:59 UK

• Bolton              0-2       Newcastle
• Chelsea            1-1       Fulham
• Liverpool          1-1       Blackburn
• Man Utd          5-0       Wigan
• Stoke               0-0       Aston Villa
• Sunderland       1-1       Everton
• West Brom       0-0       Man City

27 Dec 2011 23:59 UK

• Arsenal             1-1       Wolves
• Norwich           0-2       Tottenham
• Swansea           1-1       QPR

All we can do is hope that the London teams will redeem themselves in the upcoming matches starting today 30^th December 2011 otherwise; the title will surely remain in Manchester.

Up coming Fixtures

Friday, 30 December 2011

Liverpool v Newcastle,             19:45

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Saturday, 31 December 2011

Man Utd v Blackburn,              12:45

Arsenal v QPR,                        15:00

Bolton v Wolverhampton,         15:00

Chelsea v Aston Villa,              15:00

Norwich v Fulham,                   15:00

Stoke v Wigan,                        15:00

Swansea v Tottenham,              15:00

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Sunday, 1 January 2012

West Brom v Everton,              12:30

Sunderland v Man City,            15:00

Monday, 2 January 2012

Aston Villa v Swansea,             15:00

Blackburn v Stoke,                   15:00

QPR v Norwich,                      15:00

Wolverhampton v Chelsea,       15:00

Fulham v Arsenal,                    17:30

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Tuesday, 3 January 2012

Tottenham v West Brom,          19:45

Wigan v Sunderland,                19:45

Man City v Liverpool,              20:00

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Wednesday, 4 January 2012

Everton v Bolton,                      20:00

Newcastle v Man Utd,              20:00

I wish all my followers and readers a Happy and Prosperous Year 2012.

Manchester United Thrash Fulham 5 - 0 to keep up the pressure on League Leaders Man City on a busy Wednesday night in the EPL.

Hello people, it’s turning out to be a very busy week in the English Premier League that’s its tough to keep up with the pace. On Wednesday night there were seven premier league games. Arsenal were playing Arston Villa away, Everton were at home to Swansea, Fulham were at home against Manchester United, Manchester City were at home to Stoke, Newcastle played Norwich City at home, Queens Park Rangers were also at home to Sunderland and Wigan was at home against Liverpool.

The results were as varied as they were surprising, at least some were. Fulham who play very well against the top teams each and every season without conceding many goals was a different side on Wednesday night. They were thrashed ruthlessly by Manchester United, five goals to none. A lack luster Arsenal needed a Benayoun strike in the eighty seventh minute to claim all the three points from Villa Park while Man City dispatched Stoke City by three goals to nil. Newcastle continued with their downward spiral when they were beaten by three goals to two by West Brom. QPR were also beaten by Sunderland by three goals to two while Wigan earned a point from their goalless draw with seventh placed Liverpool.

Here is a snapshot of the results for Wednesday, 21^st December, 2011

·  Aston Villa    1-2      Arsenal

·  Everton         1-0       Swansea

·  Fulham          0-5       Man Utd

·  Man City      3-0       Stoke

·  Newcastle    2-3       West Brom

·  QPR            2-3       Sunderland

·  Wigan          0-0       Liverpool

Arston Villa’s Marc Albrighton scored the 20,000th goal in Premier League history after capitalizing on an Arsenal defensive error.

On Thursday Chelsea traveled to White Hart Lane to face third placed Tottenham Hotspurs in a London derby. It was an exciting and a balanced match with both teams sharing a point thanks to a resurgent Chelsea and in particular Captain John Terry. Despite having a lot to worry about a day after learning he will face a racially aggravated public order charge following an incident with QPR's Anton Ferdinand in the west London derby in October, he concentrated with football and helped Chelsea share the spoils with Tottenham by making a block after Petr Cech was beaten by Adebayor in the dying minutes of the game.

The results didn’t do much to any of the teams as Tottenham remains third with 35 points, 9 points adrift of Manchester City but with a game in hand while Chelsea remained fourth with 33 points which is 1 point more than fifth placed Arsenal.

Chelsea manager, Andre-Villas Boas was very happy with the results and said that they are still in the title race. Tottenham manager Harry Redknapp was satisfied with the 'fair result' but had his concerns about the absence of Rafael van der Vaart who has a harmstring problem all the time. He said “He is a great player but we need to keep him fit."

Arsenal go down 1 - 0 to Man City in the Super Sunday clash as Barcelona wins Club World Cup

What an exciting weekend of fine football! I know some people are wondering what was so exciting? I for one didn’t like it one bit because my team, Arsenal lost to Manchester city 1 – 0. Arsenal didn’t just loose but they lost a chance to close in on the league leaders to within six points. Now they are twelve points adrift and Arsene Wenger already admitted to giving up on the English Premier League Title. Wenger isn’t a Manager who is used to giving up but he admitted that the gap is too big for his team to catch up and it would take quite an effort to do that.

Arsenal did give a good account of themselves and we’re it not for the defense reshuffle after Johan Djourou got injured, they would have gotten a positive result. I think most players gave a good account of themselves but I may fault Wenger for believing in such players as Arshavin and Chamakh to make any difference. If Arsenal relies on such subs for a positive result against a team like Man City, then they are doomed. What Arshavin does is just walk on the pitch while Chamakh can’t or won’t score! There were claims of a handball and a wrong offside decision but with referee Phil Dowd ‘Doughnut behind the whistle (we all know what you did last season), there wasn’t much to expect from the game. I just have one big question, why put Arshavin ahead of such a great player as Tomas Rosicky???

Manchester united beat the dipping in form Queens Park Rangers (QPR) 2- 0 to climb to the top of the table briefly while Liverpool got a similar result away to Aston Villa. Tottenham beat Sunderland 1 – 0 at white hart lane to keep up with the pace and leapfrogged Chelsea to third place. Chelsea were held to an embarrassing 1 – 1 draw at DW Stadium by Wigan on Saturday, a team that has become the whipping boys of the premier league.

Here are the results from all the games played during the weekend.

Saturday, 17^th December 2011

• Blackburn        1-2       West Brom
• Everton           1-1       Norwich
• Fulham            2-0       Bolton
• Newcastle       0-0       Swansea
• Wigan              1-1       Chelsea
• Wolves            1-2       Stoke

Sunday, 18^th December 2011

·   Aston Villa       0-2       Liverpool

·   Man City          1-0       Arsenal

·   QPR                 0-2       Man Utd

·   Tottenham        1-0       Sunderland

Premier league table as it stood on 18^th December, 2011

Position           Team              P          GD      PTS

1                      Man City         16         35        41

2                      Man Utd         16         23        39

3                      Tottenham       15         13        34

4                      Chelsea            16        15        32

5                      Arsenal            16         7          29

6                      Liverpool         16         7          29

7                      Newcastle       16          2          27

8                      Stoke               16        -7         24

9                      Norwich          16        -4         20

10                    Aston Villa       16        -3         19

11                    Fulham             16        0          18

12                    Swansea          16        -4         18

13                    West Brom       16        -8         18

14                    Everton            15        -3         17

15                    QPR                16        -13       16

16                    Sunderland       16        -1         14

17                    Wolves             16        -13       14

18                    Wigan               16        -15       13

19                    Blackburn         16        -13       10

20                    Bolton               16        -18       9

IN OTHER NEWS

Barcelona wins Club World Cup
Barcelona won Club World Cup in Yokohama, Japan by beating a hapless Brazil Santos 4 – 0 on Sunday. Lionel Messi scored twice as Xavi and Cesc Fabregas also got on the score sheet to earn Barcelona their second Club World Cup in three years. The match was billed as a showdown between Messi and Santos' 19-year-old Neymar but it was Mess who dominated.

The team has now won 13th trophies under coach Pep Guardiola, solidifying its stature as the best club team in the world.

'SUPER SUNDAY' Arsenal face Manchester City in the mother of all battles in the English Premier League.

It’s yet another busy weekend in the Barclays Premier league otherwise known as the EPL (English Premier League). The race for the 20,000^th Premier League goal is on and it will be scored sometime next week. Who do you think will be the scorer of this 20k premier league goal? My bet is Arsenal’s inform striker Robin Van Persie. I know some of you will say of course, you’re an Arsenal fan, who else would you bet on! To be honest I don’t know but it is most likely that one of the inform strikers in the EPL at the moment will score that goal but there is also a possibility that it might be scored by a defender or any other player from the set pieces, who knows? Let’s wait n see.

Back to the issue at hand, the mother of all battles will be at Etihad Stadium where Arsenal face Manchester City. It will be match of the day tomorrow christened “Super Sunday”. Arsenal are confident of getting a positive result from City while Man City would like to bounce back from their defeat at Chelsea on monday. The teams are nine points apart and the Gunners will be hoping to narrow that gap. Manchester City top the table with 38 points while Arsenal are fifth with 29 points from 15 matches.

Arsenal, it’s worth noting have a great record against City away but we all know that Man City now have some world class players so it will an electrifying match.

Who do you think will win and by what margin? Your predictions are welcome.

Struggling Blackburn and Bolton will be seeking wins before Chelsea attempt to close the gap at the top of the Premier League with a win against Wigan.

The following are the fixtures of this busy weekend in the English Premier League.

Saturday, 17 December 2011 Blackburn v West Brom,       15:00 Everton v Norwich,               15:00 Fulham v Bolton,                   15:00 Newcastle v Swansea,           15:00 Wolverhampton v Stoke,        15:00 Wigan v Chelsea,                  17:30 Sunday, 18 December 2011 QPR v Man Utd,                 12:00 Aston Villa v Liverpool,       14:05 Tottenham v Sunderland,      15:00 Man City v Arsenal,            16:10

All times GMT.

Nice watching ....... Enjoy your weekend!

UEFA Champions League last 16 Draw pairs Arsenal against AC Milan and Chelsea against Napoli ....Tough!

Tough draw for English teams in the final 16.

The much awaited Champions League last 16 draw is out. It’s a tough draw for English teams (read London) Arsenal & Chelsea. Arsenal will be facing Italian giants AC Milan while Chelsea will face the less fancied but tough opponents Napoli. It will be worth noting that Napoli beat Manchester City to finish as runners up behind Bayern Munich.

Below is how the teams were drawn in the cream of the crop Europe clubs competition:

• Lyon v Apoel
• Napoli v Chelsea
• AC Milan v Arsenal
• Basel v Bayern Munich
• Bayer Leverkusen v Barcelona
• CSKA Moscow v Real Madrid
• Zenit St Petersburg v Benfica
• Marseille v Inter Milan

All the group winners will be away in the first legs between 14-15 and 21-22 February and at home in the return matches between 6-7 and 13-14 March, 2012.

Below are some collective thoughts from some players, managers and club officials just after the draw courtesy of twitter and bbc sports. http://news.bbc.co.uk/sport2/hi/front_page/9663176.stm

 Arsenal manager Arsene Wenger: "You cannot avoid anybody. You would say Basel but they were a very difficult opponent for Manchester United. So you take the draw as it comes, analyse it and plan for the game. The Italian teams have a history but you don't know how it will go."

Arsenal Club Secretary David Miles: "It's probably the pick of the round. They'll be two fantastic games. If I'm being honest, there are some other teams I would have preferred. Last time we played them in season 07-08, we actually went through after winning 2-0 in the San Siro so our recent history against them is good."

Ac Milan Director Umberto Gandini: "Tie of the round. For the quality and the appeal of the two clubs it is a fantastic tie. Last time we lost 2-0 to Arsenal at the San Siro and we were knocked out by Tottenham last year. We are determined to go through. Last year we had lots of injuries but right now we are in a better status than Arsenal. But lots can change in two months. They have a great player in Robin van Persie and Arsene Wenger is a great coach."

Arsenal midfielder Jack Wilshere on Twitter: "Hard draw but you have to beat the best to win it! Looking forward to it! #Gooners"

Cesc Fabregas on Twitter: "Woooow Arsenal vs Milan!!!! What a draw!!!!"

FAST FACT
In a knockout situation, no Italian side has ever beaten Arsenal. The English side have got through seven two-leg ties and one final.

Chelsea Club Secretary David Barnard: "It will be difficult. Napoli were in the same group as Man City and Man City are unfortunately no longer with us so that has some bearing on quality of Napoli. We all know that [Chelsea boss] Andre [Villas-Boas] has experience with Inter [Milan] so he will know the ins and outs of Napoli I'm sure. It will be an occasion. It will be a lot warmer, too as we could have got a Russian team where it would have been colder."

It will be the hope of the English teams managers that they get a good result in Italy in the away legs and also good results in London in the return legs to qualify for the quarter finals.

……………………………………………………….

In other news Manchester United draw Ajax, Manchester City will face Porto and Stoke City are paired with Valencia in the Europa League last 32.

Introducing The Information Epicenter!

Hello, Barny here, welcome to my blog.

This blog will not only be a source of essential information but a resource for making it online be it in affiliate marketing, blogging, content sharing and syndication, data entry, search engine optimization to improve your website ranking and increase traffic. We all want to make some money online and I will be sharing my journey on the same with you.

I am a professional Graphic/Web Designer with a passion for blogging and internet research and will be giving tips on such topics as Graphic design, Web design, blogging etc. I promise to give you the reader fresh & original content each and everytime you visit this blog.

I plan to make this blog a one stop shop for people browsing the internet for information on a wide range of subjects as stated above but not limited to what I have mentioned so that it can live to its billing as an Information Epicenter. I am a great fan of the Barclays Premier League and an ardent Arsenal supporter. On this breadth, I will be posting articles on the premier league and how the teams have performed every weekend, results and upcoming fixtures. I will also be giving updates on the UEFA Champions League. In short, my updates on sports will mainly be on soccer.

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