Sunday, December 22, 2024

Premier League review: 01st December 2012

Michu scored a brace for Swansea at Arsenal to give his side a 2-0 win.

Reading and Manchester United produced possibly the craziest half of Premier League football ever in yesterday’s late kick-off.

Manchester United were 4-3 up at half-time at the Madejski Stadium and that’s the way it stayed.

Reading started the scoring in just the 8th minute, Hal Robson-Kanu scoring with a superb half volley.

The visitors were back on level terms in the 13th minute, Brazilian midfielder Anderson lashing an effort past Adam Federici at the near post to level the scores.

United were in front on 16 minutes. Jay Tabb pushed Jonny Evans over in the penalty area and Wayne Rooney scored from the resulting spot-kick. Reading turned it around quickly though, the Royals’ goals both coming from Nicky Shorey set-pieces.

Striker Adam Le Fondre headed home the equaliser and Sean Morrison headed the home side into the lead. Rooney fired home the equaliser in the 30th minute and four minutes later Robin Van Persie broke the Reading offside trap and fired United into the lead.

The second half couldn’t live up to the first and United held on to extend their lead at the top of the Premier League. The home side remain in the relegation zone and are currently four points away from safety.

Champions Manchester City lost ground on United at the top of the table, as they drew 1-1 with Everton at the Etihad Stadium. Belgian midfielder Marouane Fellaini bundled Everton into the lead on 33 minutes, after meeting Leighton Baines cross.

City were back on level terms in the 43rd minute. Fellaini was adjudged to have fouled City striker Edin Dzeko in the penalty area and Carlos Tevez made no mistake from the resulting spot kick. Both sides could have won the game in the second half, but neither took their chances.

City are now three points behind arch-rivals United at the top of the Premier League table. Meanwhile Everton are sixth in the top flight after their seventh draw in nine games.

West Ham defeated Chelsea 3-1 at the Boleyn Ground in the early kick-off. The visitors took the lead on 13 minutes, Juan Mata stroking the ball past Jussi Jaaskelainen in the West Ham goal from a Fernando Torres pass.

West ham came out like a different team in the second half. Carlton Cole headed home on 63 minutes to level the scores after appearing to climb on Branislav Ivanovic. Substitute Mohamed Diame struck a long-range effort in the 86th minutes to give the Hammers the lead.

Another substitute Modibo Maiga kept his cool to clinch all three points in injury-time. The defeat won’t help Rafa Benitez’s popularity among the Chelsea faithful.

Relegation rivals QPR and Aston Villa drew 1-1 at Loftus Road. Villa took the lead in the eighth minute, Australian international Brett Holman scoring from 20 yards out. The Hoops were level on 18 minutes, as Jamie Mackie headed home from Samba Diakite’s cross.

QPR midfielder Stephane M’Bia picked up a serious injury and his side are now seven points away from safety. Villa are just two points clear of the drop zone.

Swansea secured a very impressive 2-0 victory at Arsenal. The game was goalless for the first 88 minutes and then bargain buy Miguel Michu gave the Swans a surprise lead and in injury-time the Spaniard kept his cool to slot home his second of the game.

The victory took Swansea above the Gunners into seventh place. The final whistle was greeted with boos from the home fans, as Arsenal dropped to tenth in the Premier League table.

Tottenham moved into fourth place with a 3-0 victory at Fulham. Tottenham took the lead on 55 minutes. Brazilian Sandro produced an effort from 30 yards that Mark Schwarzer should have done better with.

Spurs were two goals up on 72 minutes, in-form striker Jermain Defoe scoring from a Gylfi Sigurdsson pass. The England international doubled his tally shortly afterwards stroking home from Clint Dempsey’s through-ball.

West Brom suffered their second consecutive defeat, as Stoke won 1-0 at the Hawthorns. The visitors took the lead in the 75th minute, as Michael Knightly crossed for Dean Whitehead to score with a half-volley.

The defeat means that the Baggies are now fifth in the Premier League table. The visitors are now ninth in the league table.

Elsewhere, Liverpool picked up a 1-0 win against Southampton at Anfield. Danish defender Daniel Agger scored the only goal of the game with a looping header from Glen Johnson’s cross. The downside to the victory was Luis Suarez picking up his fifth booking of the season and the Uruguayan striker will miss next weekend’s visit to West Ham.

The victory moved Liverpool up to 11th place in the Premier League table, while the visitors remain in the drop zone.

Could Miguel Michu prove to be the Premier League signing of the season?

ABOUT THE AUTHOR

David Nugent


David is a freelance football writer with nearly a decade of experience writing about the beautiful game. The experienced writer has written for over a dozen websites and also an international soccer magazine offline.
Arguably his best work has come as an editorial writer for Soccernews, sharing his good, bad and ugly opinions on the world’s favourite sport. During David’s writing career he has written editorials, betting previews, match previews, banter, news and opinion pieces.

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