On Sunday, Chelsea’s bid to retain the Premier League title suffered another blow as struggling Aston Villa snatched a dramatic 3-3 draw at Stamford Bridge to leave the champions in fifth place on 35 points, one behind Tottenham Hotspur and four behind Arsenal.
United, the only unbeaten side in English football’s top flight this term and who’ve two games in hand, remained top on goal difference with 41 points from 19 games with City also on 41 from 21 matches. Arsenal are third with 39 points from 20.
At the other end of the table, Joe Cole struck in stoppage time to earn Liverpool a much-needed 2-1 victory over Bolton Wanderers.
At Eastlands, Johnson scored the only goal of the game — his third in the league this season — in the 34th minute.
Carlos Tevez then missed a penalty and a host of other chances to set up a nervous finish as Blackpool pressed for an equaliser.
Tevez will rarely have had so many chances without scoring as he was on the end of most of City’s attacking moves. The Argentine was through on goal twice more in the second-half without finding the net and, having fallen out with the fans last month after briefly saying he wanted to leave, found time to apologise to a section on Saturday after one of his misses.
But Roberto Mancini’s side held on for a third successive victory that saw them maintain a strong position ahead of their trip to English title rivals Arsenal on Wednesday.
Arsenal will be delighted to have succeeded where United, Chelsea and Tottenham Hotspur failed this season by winning at St Andrews.
They took the lead after 13 minutes when Robin van Persie’s free-kick took a deflection and doubled it after 58 when Samir Nasri expertly finished off a quickfire move with his 13th goal of the season.
Birmingham, perhaps tired from the fightback which earned a 1-1 draw against United in midweek, struggled to keep up and when Nasri and Cesc Fabregas caused mayhem in the home defence after 66 minutes a Roger Johnson own goal completed the victory.
“I am delighted because we have shown physical qualities, we were up for the challenge and mentally as well we kept our calm,” Arsene Wenger, the Arsenal manager, told ESPN.
“We kept faith in our game, that we could put the ball down and play our game. I feel we have had a great performance.”
Chelsea scored twice in the last two minutes in a stunning comeback against Aston Villa on Sunday only to concede an injury-time equaliser in a 3-3 draw after late goals from Didier Drogba and John Terry, but Ciaran Clark equalised in stoppage time.
Frank Lampard put Chelsea in front with a 23rd-minute penalty, but Ashley Young levelled from the spot four minutes before half-time.
Villa took the lead when Emile Heskey headed in Stewart Downing’s cross in the 47th minute.
Drogba equalised in the 84th minute and it looked as though Chelsea would steal the points when Terry netted in the 89th minute.
But in stoppage time the Chelsea defence went to sleep and Clark beat the offside trap to head in the leveller.
Tottenham moved to fourth on 36 points after Gareth Bale’s early header secured a 1-0 victory over Fulham. The winger headed Rafael van der Vaart’s 42nd-minute free kick, which the Netherlands international had apparently intended as a shot, from a crowd of players past stranded goalkeeper Mark Schwarzer.
At Anfield, Liverpool manager Roy Hodgson saw his side fall behind when Bolton’s Kevin Davies headed in Matt Taylor’s free-kick shortly before half-time.
Fernando Torres showed a rare glimpse of form to lift the gloom with an excellent volley early in the second-half before substitute Cole, who has struggled since his close-season move from Chelsea, enjoyed his finest moment to date in a red shirt, turning in a Maxi Rodriguez centre.
“I thought we played so well, even at 1-1 I wouldn’t have been desperately disappointed,” said Hodgson. “It showed the character of the players and their determination to turn things round and give us a better 2011 than 2010.”
Sunderland, who suffered their first home defeat of the season against Blackpool in midweek, recovered with a 3-0 home win over Blackburn Rovers to rise to the heady heights of sixth after first half goals from Danny Welbeck and England striker Darren Bent were topped off by Asamoah Gyan’s 89th minute effort.
West Ham United beat Wolverhampton Wanderers 2-0 to climb off the bottom and out of the relegation zone after two wins and two draws from their last four games.
West Ham took a fortunate lead when Frederic Piquionne’s cross went in off the knee off Wolves defender Ronald Zubar in the 51st minute at Upton Park before Freddie Sears sealed victory 11 minutes from time.
Stoke left Everton looking over their shoulders following a 2-0 win secured by Kenwyne Jones’s first half header and Phil Jagielka’s 69th minute own-goal.
Source - Thenews.com.pk
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