PL Round-Up 12/2/12

Manchester United 2-1 Liverpool: Anyone who expected the Luis Suarez – Patrice Evra saga to be concluded today were horribly wrong. It began even before kick-off when Suarez dismissed Evra’s attempts at a handshake, this provoked a reaction from Evra and Rio Ferdinand subsequently snubbed the Uruguayan. As the half-time whistle sounded, Suarez launched the ball into the crowd which again sparked a furore. The teams went into the tunnel goalless and had to be separated by stewards and police as they came together. United came out firing in the second half and Wayne Rooney smashed a volley home from a corner just two minutes after the restart. Rooney then made it two just three minutes later when he was put through on goal by Antonio Valencia. Suarez wasn’t to be outdone however, taking full advantage of a free-kick to make it 2-1 ten minutes from time. David De Gea then smartly saved a Glen Johnson in shot in injury time to earn the three points. Evra let his happiness shown as he celebrated all around the ground, culminating in parading around Suarez’s direction as he made his way to the Stretford End. This again provoked a Liverpool reaction and it was referee Phil Dowd who made sure Evra was the last to go down the tunnel. Sir Alex Ferguson branded Suarez a disgrace for what he did and said: ‘He’s let Liverpool down and should never play for them again.’

Blackburn 3-2 QPR: Blackburn go level on points with QPR with just goal difference keeping Steve Kean’s men in the bottom three. Yakubu put Blackburn ahead with a smart swivelled shot after just 15-minutes for his 13^th goal of the season. Steven Nzonzi doubled their lead on 23-minutes before a Junior Hoillet strike took a horrible deflection off Nedum Onuoha to make it 3-0 on half-time. Substitute Jamie Mackie pulled a goal back on 71-minutes before firing a second goal past Paul Robinson in injury time.

Bolton 1-2 Wigan: Wigan go a point behind Bolton and just points from safety with their third away win of the season. Captain Gary Caldwell headed Wigan ahead two minutes before half-time. Mark Davies hit a beauty past Ali Al-Habsi to equalise on 67-minutes before James McArthur won the match 11-minutes later.

Everton 2-0 Chelsea: Chelsea fall to fifth as they fail to win in four games. Steven Pienaar scored on his return to Goodison Park after just five minutes. Denis Stracqualursi scored his first Premiership goal on 71-minutes to give Everton the three points.

Fulham 2-1 Stoke: Pavel Pogrebnyak started repaying his transfer fee with Fulham’s opener on 16-minutes. Clint Dempsey has hit full form and it was his shot that rebounded off the crossbar before hitting Thomasz Sorensen a falling back into the net to make it 2-0 on 28-minutes. Stoke came back into it in the last half hour and Ryan Shawcross headed them back into it with 12-minutes left to play. Fulham could have put the game beyond all doubt but Dempsey hit the post after rounding Sorensen in injury time. It didn’t matter however as Fulham held onto the win.

Sunderland 1-2 Arsenal: Thierry Henry bid a second farewell with the goal that sees Arsenal move to fourth. James McLean scored again to give Sunderland the lead on 70-minutes. Substitute Aaron Ramsey equalised five minutes later with Henry scoring the winner in injury time.

Swansea 2-3 Norwich: Norwich move to eighth after winning this five goal thriller. Danny Graham put Swansea ahead on 23-minutes to give them the lead at half-time. Grant Holt equalised for Norwich just two minutes after restart. Anthony Pilkington then made it 2-1 Norwich four minutes later before Holt scored again on 63-minutes. Holt was then guilty of pulling Ashley Williams' shirt in the box and subsequently gave away a penalty. Graham stepped up and converted it with three minutes left to play. 

Tottenham 5-0 Newcastle: Spurs gave Harry Redknapp five reasons why he should stay at the helm as they keep in touch with the Manchester sides. Benoit Assou-Ekotto fired an Emmanuel Adebayor cross home after just four minutes. Louis Saha scored his first goal for his new club just two minutes later to double the score. The Frenchman then made it 3-0 on 20-minutes before Niko Kranjcar made it 4-0 11-minutes before half-time. The fifth and final reason on 64-minutes when Adebayor bagged a goal for himself to complete the demolition of Newcastle.