Sunday 15 May 2011

Great Day For Manchester

There were four Barclay's Premiership matches yesterday, all of which kicked-off at 12:45 due to the FA Cup final which kicked-off at 3PM. The penultimate fixtures of the season still left us none the wiser as to who will be relegated this season.

The Hawthornes saw a match with little to play for as West Brom hosted Everton. The game was settled after just ten minutes when Youssouf Mulumbu scored for West Brom. Everton were reduced to ten when Bilyaletdinov was shown a straight red for leaving the ground while tackling Morrison. Everton stay seventh while West Brom move to tenth.

At the start of play Blackburn and Manchester United both needed a point to secure safety and the Championship respectively. Despite Nani hitting the bar early on, United didn't play very well at all and deserved to be a goal down at half-time. After an earlier hesitation from Kuszczak, a cross was punched away but the Polish keeper started to run for the ball. Once he realised he wasn't going to get it, he ran back as Olsson just about managed to keep ball in. Olsson then found a cross that an unmarked Emerton half-volleyed home at the back post. United did get the point they needed when Hernandez was brought down by Robinson, although the ball was going out of play and Hernandez wouldn't have got to it, referee Phil Dowd consulted with his linesman and the penalty was given. Rooney stepped up and converted with seventeen minutes to go. United are now the guaranteed Premiership Champions for the record nineteenth time.

Wolves secured a vital win away to Sunderland. Jody Craddock gave Wolves the lead after 22 minutes before Sessegnon equalised twelve minutes later. Wolves re-took the lead through Flecther nine minutes into the second half before Elokobi secured the win twelve minutes from time.

All the goals came at Bloomfield Road as Blackpool hosted Bolton. The game reflected the Stanely Matthews FA Cup final as Blackpool won the affair 4-3. Kevin Davies gave Bolton the lead after six minutes but DJ Campbell equalised three minutes later. Puncheon then gave Blackpool the lead after nineteen minutes before Matthew Taylor equalised five minutes later. Blackpool then went 3-2 up at half-time with DJ Campbell getting a second just before the interval. Danny Sturridge made it 3-3 eight minutes after the restart but captain Charlie Adam gave Blackpool the vital win ten minutes later.

This mean that West Ham are on 33 and Wigan on 36, they meet today with the loser surely destined for relegation. Blackpool remain in the drop on 39 points but Birmingham are only ahead on goal difference and meet Liverpool today. Wolves move up to sixteenth on forty points level with Blackburn who still aren't safe.

The FA Cup final was unfortunately very one-sided as Manchester City took on Stoke. It was settled by the solitary goal as City's semi-final hero Yaya Toure struck again after 74 minutes to give Manchester City the FA Cup, meaning that next season's Community Shield will be a Manchester derby.

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