It was a Super Sunday to be remembered with four games on the offering including the big inter-city derby. The Manchester United being the first team to travel to Anfield since the real story of Hillsborough and all eyes were on the behaviour of the fans as well as the pre-match handshakes. Fortunately, Patrice Evra and Luis Suarez were able to put their differences aside and shook hands and there were only a couple of incidents ill-thought chanting, from both sets of fans.
Liverpool seemed to be spurred on by the Hillsborough tribute and were much the better team in the first half. Luis Suarez threatened Anders Lindegaard early on with Rafael heading the ball off the line for Jonny Evans to clear. Despite their real attacking intent, Liverpool failed to break the deadlock and the game arguably changed six minutes before half-time; after initially robbing Ryan Giggs of the ball, Jonjo Shelvey chased after the loose ball and slid in with his foot over the ball after leaving the ground and caught the also sliding Evans. Mark Halsey showed his reluctance in showing the red card but the referee simply had no choice. Shelvey then didn't cover himself in glory and angrily pointed at Sir Alex Ferguson and exchanged heated words as he was escorted down the tunnel, the midfielder suggested the United manager tried to get him sent off.
It didn't really change the outlook on the game and United remained second best and were caught cold early on in the second half. It took just 50-seconds before half-time substitute Suso, making his Premier League debut, saw his cross divert back to Glen Johnson. Johnson then crossed it into Steven Gerrard who took it down on his chest before driving it into the bottom corner, a perfect dedication to his cousin Jon-Paul Gilhooley who, at just ten years old, was the youngest victim in the Hillsborough disaster.
Liverpool were only ahead for five minutes though; Shinji Kagawa laid the ball off to Rafael who curled a beauty into the top corner, levelling in style. It took until the final quarter of an hour before United's numerical advantage really took a hold and their winner came nine minutes before the end. After losing possession on the half-way line, Daniel Agger and Johnson failed to bring Antonio Valencia down, who now had a clear stretch to goal from just inside the Liverpool half. Valencia made it into the box before Johnson managed to scramble back and make a foolish tackle from behind, again leaving Mark Halsey no option but to award United with their fourth penalty in four games. Robin Van Persie stepped up and, despite Pepe Reina getting two hands to the ball, there was no stopping it, giving United their first win at Anfield for five years whilst Brendan Rodgers still seeks his first Premier League win for Liverpool.
After that dramatic match, Manchester City were held to a 1-1 draw against Arsenal. City took the lead five before half-time when Joleon Lescott headed a corner home. City had chances to close the game out and Arsenal also spurned chanced to level the game. But the visitors did manage to snatch a point eight minutes before the end; Lescott's header from a corner was weak and the ball fell to Laurent Koscielny who managed to fire the ball low and into the bottom corner.
Newcastle only needed one goal to see of Norwich, although they could have made it much easier for themselves. The goal came against the run of play when Demba Ba timed his run perfectly to latch onto Hatem Ben Arfa's cross and finish under John Ruddy for his third goal in two games on 19-minutes. Newcastle were awarded a penalty in first half injury time when Steve Morison nudged Mike Williamson in the box. Papiss Cisse stepped up but smashed his effort high over the bar. Newcastle managed to hold on to the three points to move on to eight with Norwich still on three.
Two goals in the space of a minute were enough to see Tottenham come from a goal down to beat QPR at White Hart Lane. QPR started the much better and broke the deadlock on 33-minutes; Alejandro Faurlin found a nice reverse pass into the path of Bobby Zamora who lifted the ball over Brad Friedel. Tottenham levelled on the hour mark when Steven Caulker header a corner back across goal and the ball ricocheted off of Faurlin's shoulder, who had his back to goal, before going past Julio Cesar. Spurs then took the lead a minute later when Jan Vertonghen created a three-on-two situation who played Gareth Bale into space. The Welshman fired a shot that Julio Cesar saved onto the crossbar before Jermain Defoe rebounded the ball home. Tottenham also move onto eight points while QPR are still without a win this season.
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