Goodbye QPR and Reading. These two teams have been officially relegated from English Premier League this weekend. Reading was just promoted to EPL last season, while Queens Park Rangers barely avoided being relegated. Most people had a feeling that QPR would get relegated, even in the first half of the season. The team has many talented players, but for some reason, they just weren’t able to get the results to stay in England’s top league.

Who else will join QPR and Reading? The three clubs fighting to stay in EPL are Wigan Athletic, Sunderland and Newcastle United. Personally, I hope Newcastle stays in EPL for another season. They have a lot of talent on that team and they can play some great football.

What else happened this weekend? Well, Liverpool won against Newcastle 6-0. Yes, you read that right. Liverpool won 6-0. Newcastle had an off day. This was Liverpool’s first match without Luis Suarez, who will be banned for 10 matches after biting Chelsea’s Branislav Ivanovic last weekend. Most people might have expected Liverpool to struggle, but that wasn’t the case.

While both Manchester clubs have qualified for Champions League next season, there are still two spots up for grabs. The three clubs fighting for those two spots are three London based clubs- Chelsea, Tottenham Hotspur and Arsenal. I would love to see Chelsea and Spurs qualify. Juan Mata, David Luiz, Ivanovic and Gareth Bale are some footballers that I think are very talented and would like to see them playing in Champions League. Spurs missed out this season, due to Chelsea winning Champions League.

This weekend, the one match everyone will be watching is Manchester United v. Chelsea. Don’t miss out; that match will be on May 5th at 11 a.m. EST.

The most shocking result of the weekend has to be Manchester City’s 2-0 loss to Everton. Yup. They actually lost to Everton. I know what you’re thinking, How in the world did a team like Manchester City- a team that has players like Joe Hart and David Silva- lose to a team like Everton- a team that has….well, not that many well known players? Besides Tim Howard (USMNT keeper) but he’s currently injured.

The answer? I don’t even know. Sure, the league is already lost for City, but that doesn’t mean they should just give up and lose to teams like Everton.

Another surprising result was Liverpool’s 3-1 loss to Southampton. But then again, maybe that’s not so surprising, considering it is Liverpool. They do have a good team, Steve Gerrard and Luis Suarez are two of the best players, but they tend to win the difficult matches, while losing winnable matches.

Saturday’s results

On Sunday, Andre Villas-Boas’ Tottenham Hotspur suffered a defeat to Fulham.  They played at home (White Hart Lane), but unfortunately, they lost 1-0 thanks to a goal scored by former Spurs player- Dimitar Berbatov.

This was the Spurs’ second straight loss. They lost 4-1 to Inter Milan last week in Europa League, but were able to move on thanks to that away goal. With this loss and the Chelsea win, Spurs are now in 4th place.

Sunday’s results

Luis Suarez makes a shameless gesture in celebration of his “wrist” ball.

Today, the third round of the FA Cup included two very different matches.  Arsenal and Swansea, both English Premier League teams, exhibited a Spanish “beautiful game” style of play.  Liverpool vs. Mansfield Town was a frustrating show-down between an EPL giant and a 5th level league team.

The FA Cup is the only realistic option for Arsenal to win a trophy.  The club are desperate to win something this season considering the former league leader hasn’t won a trophy in almost eight years.  Today’s draw with Swansea means another match-up against the Swans, which is not exactly an ideal path to trophy territory for the Gunners.

Spotty and inconsistent throughout the season, Arsenal morale has been suffering and there is much work to do. The absence of Robin van Persie has been sharply felt, especially considering he has been acting as the savior of Manchester United, keeping them at the top of the league almost single-handedly.

The second match of the day between Liverpool and Mansfield Town was a much more exciting and controversial game.  Everything about the Mansfield host team and town screamed underdog.  The former mining town residents, hit hard by the economy, showed the same undying football passion as their players.  One couldn’t help but support them.

Being part of a fifth level team means the Mansfield players all have full time jobs that aren’t part of football.  They are like a glorified rec team which advanced to the third level of the Cup to face one of the most decorated clubs in English football.  And they could have tied or even won.

Even though the Reds scored first, it was the second goal, a contentious goal, that should have taken the life out of the hosts.  Luis Suarez’s blatant hand-ball, leading to a second goal, was pure injustice. The fact that after the goal, the striker had the nerve to kiss his wrist should get the player fined or even banned in my opinion. It was the third Liverpool handball that hasn’t been called, but somehow the Stags didn’t lose their resolve.

Down two goals, Mansfield finally got one back late in the second half.  I believe they had enough fight and determination to carry them through to the fourth round, had it been a fair match.  But such is the life of football.  It is difficult to watch games like these, yet the final score was 1-2 and Liverpool advanced.

Frank Lampard handed Chelsea the 2-0 win over Everton with a double.

Frank Lampard took responsibility for Chelsea’s fourth win in a row by scoring twice to win 2-1 at Everton today.  The 34-year -old England midfielder has been with the club since 2001 and has yet to be offered an extension to his contract ending in June.

Today’s win helps to keep the Blues in contention for the Premier League title race and also might give some hope the club will hold onto the seasoned Lampard.

On Saturday, Manchester United took their seventh win in eight matches thanks to star striker Robin van Persie.  His 90-minute shot, his League-leading 14th goal of the season, made the score 2-0 over West Brom.  United now have a seven-point lead in the standings going into 2013.

Arsenal dominated Newcastle 7-3 with help from a Theo Walcott hat trick.  The England national has refused to re-sign with the Gunners and there is speculation he will be sold in January.  In an attempt to change his mind, for the last few games, Arsene Wenger has allowed the winger to start as center striker, his requested position for many years.  He has been very effective, but is it too little too late will remain to be seen.

Manchester City squeaked out a 4-3 win over Norwich Saturday no thanks to Samir Nasri’s first half send off.  The thrilling match was a fight to the finish, but Edin Dzeko replaced the ill Carlos Tevez up front to score two plus the usual quality from Sergio Aguero helped City hold on to the lead.

Even after Sunderland beat Manchester City 1-0 last Wednesday, Tottenham managed a come-from-behind win over Sunderland in the 52nd minute thanks to a fine strike by England winger Aaron Lennon.

Other matches played over the weekend:

Stoke City 3 – 3 Southampton

Fulham 1 – 2 Swansea

Reading 1 – 0 West Ham United

Aston Villa 0 – 3 Wigan

QPR 0 – 3 Liverpool

He might not like being called a super sub, but Edin Dzeko helped Manchester City complete yet another comeback. This time against Tottenham Spurs. The visitors scored first in the 21st minute and the fact that City had more possession than Spurs didn’t really matter. Spurs had the lead until the 65th min when Kun Aguero equalized for City! Bot teams had chances to score, but it wasn’t until the 88th minute, when who else but Edin Dzeko, scored for Manchester City, completing their comeback. With this 2-1 win over Spurs, City is still undefeated in EPL. 

Some other matches this weekend included Chelsea v. Liverpool and Manchester United v. Aston Villa. Just like City, United also had to come back in order to win all 3 points. However, they came back from a two-goal deficit. Villa shocked the visitors (and everyone that was watching) by scoring seconds before half time. They doubled their lead just minutes into the second half. It looked like United was headed for a defeat, but they brought on Mexican forward Javier “Chicharito” Hernandez at the beginning of the second half and he helped United’s comeback. At first it looked like he had earned a hat trick, but the second goal was later ruled an own goal. Either way, United was able to come back yet again from an early goal deficit.

Chelsea players and fans will be disappointed that they weren’t able to get all 3 points  Sunday, especially when they had more chances and played better overall than Liverpool. Chelsea captain John Terry scored first for the home team in the 20th minute. His goal came off a corner kick, when he was left unmarked. He later collided with Luis Suarez of Liverpool and had to be stretchered off. Suarez equalized in the second half and with this draw, Chelsea and United’s gap at the top of the table widened a little bit more.

Here are the rest of the scores from EPL (Saturday and Sunday)

Michael Thomas (top) and Tony Adams combine efforts and make history for English football in 1989

If you’ve followed the English Premier League long enough to remember when it was called the First Division, then you would definitely remember this great moment in soccer history.

It was already an anticipated match considering it was the final week of the 1988-89 season.  And by uncanny coincidence, the two teams vying for the league title were playing each other.   You’re probably not surprised to learn that one of the teams was Arsenal (since I am their number one fan!) and the other was Liverpool.

Only six weeks earlier, the Hillsborough tragedy occurred at Hillsborough Stadium in Sheffield, England, during the semi-finals of the FA Cup.  Somehow Liverpool persevered, won that semi-final, and went on to win the FA Cup.

Coming off the high of an FA Cup victory only one week earlier, for this match, the Reds were playing at home and had an advantage in goal differential.  This title race was so close, said to be one of the tightest for almost 100 years, that in order for Arsenal to be named Champions, they had to win by at least two goals.

I’m sure you’ll be shocked to learn that despite being considered the underdogs, Arsenal pulled out a 2 – 0 win over Liverpool and in dramatic fashion.  A last minute, injury time goal was scored by midfielder Michael Thomas, which gave the Gunners their Ninth First Division championship, while denying Liverpool their second Double.  After wiping off the looks on their dumbfounded faces, the match concluded with a standing ovation from Anfield.

Jason Cowley, a writer for The Guardian, recalled that special game in an article he wrote in 2009.  In it he said “This match is considered to be one of the most dramatic conclusions to a league season in the history of the English game.  It is also regarded as a renaissance in English football and the moment where people started to see the untapped commercial potential of live football on television. “

Unless we watched this match live, I don’t think we can appreciate the energy of the crowd sitting on their edge of their seats with every touch of the ball.  But at least we have this video to get a feel for that emotional game that made history.

Championship Decider 1989

Two of the weekend’s biggest matches were Arsenal-Chelsea and Manchester United-Spurs. Neither of which involved my team, but I’ve got your recaps for you anyway.

First up, Arsenal v. Chelsea. I know there were a lot of people (Gunners mostly) who woke up early to watch this match. Since I’m not a Gunner or a Chelsea supporter, there was no way I was waking up at 4:45 a.m. to watch the match. Besides, the last time I woke up early to watch, Arsenal won and I didn’t really want to see that again. Then again, that was back when they had Robin Van Persie.

Anyway, this match was at home for Arsenal, most people probably thought Arsenal would win because Chelsea hadn’t been scoring as much as they should be. Well, that didn’t seem to be the case today. Fernando Torres scored first for Chelsea, but Arsenal was allowed to equalized just minutes before half time.

Yesterday, I had been talking to someone about the game and they asked me who I was rooting for. I told them Chelsea and I also said that it was because of Juan Mata. Who was it that scored the game winner for Chelsea? That’s right, none other than Mata! Of course I was happy; after all, both Chelsea goal scorers were Spanish and many of you know how I feel about Spanish footballers ( I love them). So the match ended 2-1 Chelsea and Arsenal’s unbeaten streak was finally broken.

Speaking of streaks being broken, Spurs also broke a streak of their own. They had a losing streak against Manchester United at Old Trafford. In fact, the last time they won was way back in 1989. Today, the Spurs got off to a great start. In less than 5 minutes, they managed to scored against United. My fave Spurs player – Gareth Bale – then doubled Spurs lead before half time. However, this is United we’re talking about; they weren’t going to go away without a fight.

Nani was able to cut the lead in half, but Clint Dempsey came along and scored Spurs’ third goal of the match and his first for his new club. But, a minute later United scored again. Even with “Fergie” time, though, it wasn’t enough. Dempsey’s first goal for Spurs would be the game winner. It was a great match (and victory) not only for Spurs, but also for AVB. I’ve always said that possession isn’t the most important thing in a match. Manchester United had 74-percent possession and they still couldn’t pull off a win.

In another match today, Fulham surprised Manchester City and their fans when they took the lead early on. They were awarded what many people thought shouldn’t have been a penalty, but the ref thought otherwise. Fulham scored and for most of the first half, led the match 1-0. Lucky for us City fans, Sergio Aguero was able to equalize before half time. Both teams kept trying to get another goal, but it looked like it was going to end in a 1-1 draw. However, Mancini out in Edin Dzeko and in less than a minute, he scored City’s second and winning goal.

Liverpool also took to the pitch today and won 5-2 against Norwich. No, that’s not a typo or a joke, that really happened! Sure, some might say it’s “only” Norwich, but it’s Liverpool’s first win of the season. Luis Suarez had a hat trick in this match, former Real Madrid player Nuri Sahin scored, and so did Liverpool’s captain, Steven Gerrard.   Not only that, but they have been playing much better this past week. If they continue playing like this, who knows, they might just end up in the top 6 this season.

Other EPL scores

Everton 3- Southhampton 1

Reading 2 – Newcastle United 2

Sunderland 1 – Wigan

Stoke City 2- Swansea City 0

On Sunday, West Brom will visit Aston Villa, while on Monday, Esteban Granero’s QPR will take on West Ham. That match will be on ESPN 2 at 3 p.m. EST.

The two biggest EPL games were both on Sunday- Liverpool v Manchester United and Manchester City v Arsenal.

I guess I can write about City-Arsenal game first. As a City fan, it was a disappointing game. It ended 1-1 and I’m sure Arsenal fans will be very happy with that 1 point. After the 3-2 loss in Champions League against Real Madrid, I was hoping City would turn things around and win their next match. This should’ve been an easy match for them; it was at home and they finally had Sergio “Kun” Aguero back in the starting line up.

City went ahead when they scored just minutes before HT.  Joleon Lescott scored in the 40th minute after a corner kick. Unfortunately, City wasn’t able to hold on to their lead and Arsenal equalized with less than 10 minutes to go. City hasn’t had such a problem scoring, what they need to work on is their defense. They let in 3 goals against Madrid and 1 today against Arsenal.

The other match, Liverpool-United, ended 2-1 in United’s favor. However, most people are saying Liverpool was very unlucky and that united shouldn’t have been awarded the penalty (which turned out to be the game winner).

Sunday’s matches and scores

Saturday’s matches and scores

MCFC wallpaper design via scometix.com.

Very disappointing from the defending champions. They played against Stoke City today and drew 1-1. The lone goal came from City’s newest player, and former Real Madrid player, Javi Garcia. Many people might be wondering, should Stoke’s goal have counted? Of course not! Peter Crouch used his hand to help control the ball and score the goal. Unfortunately the referee missed that.

Maybe other people would be happy with that (I’m sure Stoke City players and fans were happy) but us City fans expect more from our team. Okay, so City didn’t start with David Silva today and they didn’t have Sergio Aguero, ever since he was injured in City’s first game of the season. But that’s no excuse! City should be able to play well even without these two,they should be out there scoring goals and getting as many points as possible, not drawing with teams like Stoke. I mean, what’s going to happen when we play a big team like Chelsea? Playing like this, City will most likely lose. City needs to step it up big time if they want to repeat last season.

I mentioned Chelsea as a big club earlier. Well they also had a disappointing game today, against their London neighbors, Queen Parks Rangers.  It ended in a scoreless draw. This is the first time this season that Chelsea dropped points. Of course, most people weren’t talking about what happened during the game, but what happened before. Most people have heard about Anton Ferdinand accusing John Terry of racial abuse. Everyone was wondering if these two would shake hands, but Ferdinand went out of his way to snub both Terry and Ashley Cole and refused to shake hands with them. » Continue reading “Manchester City and Chelsea Held to Disappointing Draws”

We have lots and lots of news from the Premier League, as well as more info on which players are reportedly unhappy with their current situations.  We also take a look ahead at the US national team’s World Cup qualifiers!  It’s all in Tuesday’s Daily Kick Around!

EPL

The transfer window may have closed, but that doesn’t mean the signings are finished.  Since former England striker Michael Owen was a free agent, he was able to sign a one year deal with Stoke City even after the window closed  Friday.  He only made four appearances for his most recent club Manchester United last season, and hasn’t played competitively since November due to a thigh injury.

One of Tottenham’s biggest and most recent signings, French national team goalkeeper Hugo Lloris, is a bit peeved that he will not automatically be taking over the No 1 spot–at least according to France manager Didier Deschamps.  Current keeper, and former US international, Brad Friedel has made it clear that he will fight to keep his spot in the starting lineup.  Spurs manager Andre Villas-Boas has indicated that he will not drop Friedel in favor of Lloris; stating, in fact:

“When you transfer it’s not written in the contract that you have to play.”

Touché.

Liverpool players have more than just pride to play for.  LeBron James has promised the players a party in Las Vegas, co-hosted by Kanye West, if they win a trophy this season.  According to James, a stakeholder in the club, “nobody does Vegas like LeBron and Kanye.”  I am inclined to believe that.

Ligue 1

Amid all the talk of Cristiano Ronaldo’s “sadness” and rumors of a possible move, one club has made clear they are NOT interested in the superstar.  Paris St. Germain had been rumored to have interest in the Portuguese international, along with the two Manchester clubs, but their sporting director attempted to quell the rumors, pointing to their marquee signing Zlatan Ibrahimovic.

“Ibrahimovic is the best striker in the world.  So why hire Ronaldo?”

USMNT

US head coach Jurgen Klinsmann announced his roster for the upcoming World Cup qualifiers over the weekend.  Although he was forced to leave out some heavy hitters due to injury, some familiar faces made a reappearance.

One of those qualifiers will be against the Jamaican national team in Jamaica.  The national team is currently training in Miami in an attempt to acclimate themselves to the weather conditions they will be likely to face (i.e. HEAT!).  Were the US to pull out a victory, it would be the first time beating Jamaica in Jamaica.  As we saw in the friendly against Mexico, there is a first time for everything!

Image courtesy of Fox Soccer