Fireworks at the Bridge but the DW Fails to Ignite

The first Super Sunday of 2011 saw two very different games and maybe they should have been played the other way round. Super Sunday kicked off at Stamford Bridge where Chelsea had just won their first game in seven, hosting a Villa side that have still only won once under Gerard Houllier. The game, however, had everything a Premiership game should have; with six goals, two penalties, late goals, nine yellow cards and a whole heap of controversy. Referee Lee Mason seemed very card happy and despite Chelsea accumulating more fouls than Villa, only two Chelsea players were booked compared to Villa's seven and on reflection of the game some of the Chelsea players were lucky to escape. The main reason they did was lack of consistency from Mr. Mason. The first major talking point after 22 minutes when Florent Malouda went down in the penalty area under an aerial challenge. There were arguments for and against the award of a penalty but it mainly looked like the Frenchman was actually backing into James Collins, however Mason didn't see it that way and gave a penalty which Frank Lampard converted. The second penalty was awarded at the other end, five minutes from half-time; Michael Essien came from behind to bring down Ashley Young and the penalty was rightly awarded. Young stepped up to equalise before half-time.

Villa started the second half stronger and made it count just two minutes after the kick-off, Emile Heskey rising higher than Jeffrey Bruma to head past Cech to make it 2-1. From there Chelsea bombarded the Villa half but some fantastic saves from Friedel kept Villa ahead. That was until a shot from substitute Kalou was blocked by Friedel but the ball ran to Drogba who blasted past three defenders before finding the net, 2-2 with six minutes left. Chelsea then thought they had won the game when another excellent parry unfortunately fell to John Terry, the captain placed his shot like a striker and Chelsea were 3-2 ahead with only five minutes of stoppage time remaining. However the game had time for one more sting in the tail when an Albrighton free-kick was met by an unmarked Ciaran Clark to make it 3-3 and give Villa a well deserved point.

The other Super Sunday game was the DW Stadium where Wigan entertained Newcastle. After the mouth-watering action just witnessed at the Bridge, everyone was expecting, or hoping, this game to have even just half of the excitement as the previous game. It didn't materialise as Newcastle mostly dominated the game in midfield with Wigan not taking any of their numerous decent chances. The game was decided by a nineteenth minute goal; Barton's cross was met by Al Habsi but pressure from Lovenkrands saw the keeper spill it and the striker touched it onto the post where Shola Ameobi was on hand to tap it into the net. The win sees Newcastle enter the top half with Wigan loitering just a point from the relegation zone.