Chelsea held by West Ham as Man City go top

What’s the Mata with Chelsea? They just can’t seem to get that Juan (1) goal that they need. Those are the sentiments being expressed on social media by persons taking jabs at Chelsea’s decision to sell fans favourite Juan Mata Garcia to rivals Manchester United then failing to get the win they needed to leapfrog Arsenal in the English Premier League tables today.

What’s the Mata with Chelsea? They just can’t seem to get that Juan (1) goal that they need. Those are the sentiments being expressed on social media by persons taking jabs at Chelsea’s decision to sell fans favourite Juan Mata Garcia to rivals Manchester United then failing to get the win they needed to leapfrog Arsenal in the English Premier League tables today.

After yesterday’s games which saw Arsenal drawing away to Southampton, everyone was of the opinion that Arsenal would find themself in 3rd place when Chelsea and Manchester City played today. This was not to be however as Chelsea were held to a 0-0 draw at home to West Ham. With Chelsea dominating play but failing to capitalise on their chances, with an early save to deny Oscar by West Ham keeper Adrian and a shot that hit the bar from Demba Ba late on being two of Chelsea’s best efforts. 

Would Manchester City be able to beat a rejuvenated Tottenham side and go top of the league, or would Tottenham with the help of ex Man City man, Adebayor triumph on the day? That was the question being asked by many before today’s game. Manchester City responded with a 5-1 thrashing started with a neat finish by striker Sergio Aguero within 15 minutes.

Manchester City then put in a blistering second half which started with a penalty they got after Danny Rose was adjudged to have fouled Edin Dzeko and received a red card for his troubles. Yaya Toure converted from the penalty spot for. This was followed by a goal from Edin Dzeko himself and a consolation goal for Tottenham by Etienne Capoue. Stevan Jovetic then scored his first goal for City in the 78th minute and a goal by Captain Vincent Kompany sealed City’s 8th successive win and spot at the top of the table and also resigned Tottenham to their first loss under new manager Tim Sherwood. Incidentally, Andre Villas-Boas lost his job after City had humiliated Spurs 5-0 at White Hart Lane just over a month ago.

Aton Villa and West Brom played out a high scoring match at Villa Park which saw Aston Villa winning 4 goals to 3. A Chris Brunt stunner and a Fabian Delph own goal within nine minutes saw West Brom off to a flyer but Villa responded with three quick goals from Andreas Weimann and Leandro Bacuna and Fabian Delph who made up for his mistake with a goal at the correct end. Youssouf Mulumbu equalized for his side at half time but Christian Benteke secured Villa’s third Barclays Premier League home win with a penalty after being fouled.

Sunderland who was being written off as relegation favourites just a few weeks ago, today climbed out of the relegation spots with a 1-0 home win over Stoke City who now lie just one point above them on the table with 22 points. The lone goal of the game was scored by Adam Johnson from close range on 17 minutes after Keeper Asmir Begovic spilled Fabio Borini’s effort.

Just like it had happened in the first leg of their Copa del Rey Quarter Final match Levante ran out 1-0 leaders after just 9 minutes with an own goal by Sergio Roberto. Levante were always going to be the inferior side however and Adriano scored the equalizer for his side 21 minutes later with a 25 yard curler. Subsequent goals from Carles Puyol and a brace from Alexis Sanchez, with both goals coming on the 50th and 52nd minute and a goal from Cesc Fabregas to finish it off saw Barca run out 9-2 winners on aggregate. Barcelona will now face either Real Sociedad or Racing Santander in the semi-finals.

The other game being played in Spain today saw Atletico Madrid take on Athletic Bilbao with Atletico taking a 1-0 aggregate lead into the game. Atletico started brightly and had a chance saved from reported Chelsea target Diego Costa with just a minute on the clock, it was Bilbao who took the lead and drew level on aggregate with a goal from Aritz Aduriz on 41 minutes taking that lead into half time.

Diego Someone’s side came out roaring back in the second half and got the equalizer through Raul Garcia 10 minutes after the restart. Atletico then set up for the counterattack knowing full well that they had the 2-1 aggregate lead and the away goal. They caught Bilbao on the counter taking advantage of a failed offside trap for Costa to score and put the game out of Bilbao’s reach in the 86th minute. Atletico will now face bitter cross town rivals Real Madrid in the semi-final in a repeat of last season’s final with the first leg to be played next week.

In Italy Rafael Benitez’s Napoli took on last season’s Copa Italia winners Lazio in the quarter-final of the cup. The match turned out to be a tepid affair despite a semi-final meeting with Roma being up for grabs. The match looked to be trudging along to extra time and quite possibly penalties with Lazio barely testing Pepe Reina in the Napoli goal. Both sides struggled to create any chance of real note with Gokhan Inler scuffing his six yard effort on 25 minutes and Jorginho clipping the post from 30 yards out in the first half.

The second half continued much the same with much of Napoli’s better plays coming through new signing Jorginho. Napoli grabbed what was a deserved win 10 minutes from time through former Real Madrid man Gonzalo Higuain who flicked in Jose Callejon another former Real player’s scuffed effort. Lazio were unable to work their way back into the game afterwards and were consigned to their first defeat since Edoardo Reja returned to the capital whilst Napoli headed into their last four encounter with AS Roma.

In the German Bundesliga Bayern Munich played out what Coach Pep Guardiola later described as a lucky 2-1 win over VFB Stuttgart. Vedad Ibisevic put the Bavarians’ unbeaten league run under threat after 29 minutes of play when Werner’s deflected shot dropped to him 10 yards from goal. This came after Timo Werner had blazed a shot over the crossbar when a loose ball fell to him in the penalty area and a penalty shout against Rafinha was dismissed. Thiago and Xherdan Shaqiri both went close to levelling for Bayern in the closing minutes of the first half but Stuttgart ended the half with a deserved lead.

With 54 minutes played Stuttgart had a chance to make it 2-0 but Jerome Boateng made a goal line clearance, keeping the score within reach for his team. Former Barcelona man Thiago and Thomas Muller were denied by Ulreich but substitute Pizarro had no problems beating the goalkeeper with a well-placed header in the 76th minute.

Fellow substitute Mandzukic had a chance to win the game in the closing minutes but Thiago spared Bayern’s blushes with an acrobatic volley in the last seconds of the match.

Writer: Lynford Harris

Photo: Sergio Aguero scores against Tottenham Hotspurs (Getty Images)