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

Gervinho was part of Arsenal’s starting 11 against Sunderland today

Arsenal kicked off their season opener earlier today with a home game against Sunderland.  The Wildcats fought hard and won their point well in a scoreless draw.

The recent departure of Arsenal striker Robin van Persie meant this was the first game without the goal-scoring captain as part of the team.  It goes without saying that van Persie, scoring the most goals in the league with 30, was instrumental in Arsenal finishing third in the Premiership.  The question now remains:  will Arsenal have a shot at the title without him?

The answer is a resounding YES.

The loss of van Persie has been anticipated all summer.  As disappointing as it is, not so much that the Holland striker left the club, but that he went to rival Manchester United. This time the club was prepared.  Unlike last season’s end of summer transfer mess, Arsene Wenger spent time and money on three key players that will keep the Gunners in contention for the title.

German International Lukas Podolski came from the Bundesliga and scored an impressive 18 league goals for his Koln team and 44 goals in 101 appearances for his national team.  Lukas started in today’s game and looked confident and eager but a lack of playing together as a team seemed evident.

Olivier Giroud is a fairly unknown French international player who played a pivotal role for his Montpellier team in the top French league.  The 25-year old led the attack by scoring 22 goals and winning the league title.  Giroud will not find the back of the net as easily as he did in Ligue 1, which was evident when he missed an easy shot in front of the net late in the match today.  That goal could have given the Gunners a win, but hopefully the striker will shake it off and return to the kind of football he is capable of playing.

Last but definitely not least, Arsenal most recently purchased Santi Cazorla who represented Spain at Euro 2012 and played successfully in La Liga.  He was given rave reviews from fellow Spaniard and Gunner Mikel Arteta and the two may often play together as attacking midfielders.

Cazorla is known for his pace, intelligent play and creativity.  He is also a very versatile player, able to play left winger but can also play right, considering he uses both feet effectively.  I predict his contribution will be crucial to the team and think he showed the most promise of all the players on the pitch today.

Obviously the team needs more time to get familiar with each other and gel but there’s promise from new and existing players.  Andre Arshavin came in around the 75th minute and had some good touches.  Defender Kieren Gibbs held steady against a more experienced Louis Saha and Gervinho had good possession of the ball, but needed help converting.

Even with quite a few injured players and an unusually hot day, the squad managed a point.  The Gunners will have to step it up quickly though as I anticipate an early and dominant start from both Manchester clubs and we don’t want to fall too far behind.  So happy the season has finally begun! Come On You Gunners!!

With the return of EPL, that means more of our “honorary American”, everyone’s favorite British play-by-play man for ESPN.

It’s a monster Saturday for soccer, with the English Premier League back in action. There are a few noticeable changes both on the pitch and the sidelines from last year. Andre Villa-Boas now leads the Hotspurs as they’ll try to pay back Chelsea for knocking them out of the Champions League. Both Fulham and Arsenal are missing their leading scorers from last season, with Clint Dempsey still refusing to play for Fulham and Robin van Persie completing the transfer from Arsenal to Manchester United. Aside from personell changes, what are the key questions facing each club this season? Ian Darke, of course, has the answers. This and more in today’s Daily Kick Around.

English Premier League

Before we get to Saturday results, let’s look at the key questions for each club this season, courtesy of America’s favorite English soccer announcer, Ian Darke, for the newly branded “ESPN FC”. Darke’s first question was how Arsenal would fare without leading striker Robin van Persie, and after their season-opening match vs Sunderland, the question still remains, as the home team “enjoyed plenty of possession but lacked a killer instinct in the final third.” Fulham, on the other hand, had no trouble scoring without Clint Dempsey, drilling Norwich City 5-0 in their home opener. Manchester United fans can breathe a little easier, after the club rejected a transfer of Chicharito to Chelsea. Andre Villa-Boas was sacked at Chelsea last season before the club made a miraculous comeback to claim the Champions League title, bouncing the fourth-place Tottenham Hotspurs out of Champions League contention for this season. Now Villa-Boas, head coach at Tottenham, aims for payback as he will try to get the club back into the top four. He’ll have to do better than today’s result, however. The Spurs fell to Newcastle United, 2-1. Swansea City shocked QPR 5-0 at Loftus Road. QPR had hoped that many of their new additions would make an impact to help dig them out of last season’s basement, but it was Swansea’s new face, Miguel Perez Cuesta, aka “Michu,” who made the biggest impact with two goals to lead the Swans to the win. Liverpool hoped to make a statement in their opener as they attempt to return to the top of the tables, but it didn’t go as planned, as they fell 3-0 to West Brom, losing defender Daniel Agger to a red card in the 58th minute.

Major League Soccer

The Cascadia Clash is back, as Seattle takes on Vancouver this afternoon, but the Whitecaps will be without Barry Robson, suspended for “aggravated dissent” in Wednesday’s loss to FC Dallas.

Columbus Crew’s new DP, Argentina’s Federico Higuain, could be on the pitch for tomorrow’s match against the Houston Dynamo:

Warzycha said Higuain’s role will be fluid, but emphasized that the Argentine would be deployed in familiar positions where he can find space and time on the ball. One of the players likely to be feeding Higuain, midfielder Milovan Mirosevic, said he is anxious to get their partnership off the group and suspects it won’t take long for the pair to click, just as he and [Jairo] Arrieta have done.

Follow us on @AerysSoccer for more EPL and MLS commentary and reactions this weekend!

Happy Mother’s Day footy fans! I hope you all enjoyed Survival Sunday with all the insane soccer matches happening all over the globe. Today we celebrate champions in La Liga, EPL and Serie A! Enjoy today’s DKA!

La Liga

Today wraps up the 2011-2012 season in Spain with Real Madrid taking all the glory, winning their first title in 4 years! You can read my recap as well as the ending stats of the league here!

Also congratulations to Lionel Messi for winning the Pichichi Award with 50 goas scored in the regulare season.

Barcelona keeper Victor Valdes also was awarded the Zamora Trophy! Congrats!

English Premier League

Well, it looks like Manchester is bleeding blue tonight as Manchester City won their first title since 1968 when they beat QPR 3-2. Our own Teresa Munoz has the full recap here!

Last year’s champions Manchester United claimed the second spot in the standings when Wayne Rooney headed a goal giving United a 1-0 victory over Sunderland. You can read Trista’s post-match article here!

Let’s go back to September shall we? Who would have thought that Arsenal FC would finish this 2011-2012 campaign in third place. Yes, THIRD PLACE. I can’t count how many people doubted the Gunners but alas, Arsenal capture 3rd and a spot in Champions League. Toni Stone has the full recap of the match here!

Serie A

Juventus’ Alessandro Del Piero will leave in fashion after helping Juve seal their title after a 4-1 win over Atalanta. It’s the 28th Scudetto for Juve but the club still ah one match left before their season is finally over. Next weekend they host Napoli in the Coppa Italia Final.

Photo via sportinglife.com

Unbelievable. That’s one word you could use to describe, not only how the EPL season ended, but also how Manchester City won their first league title since 1968.  They did it, at home, by coming back to win 3-2 against QPR.

Manchester City got off to a slow start, just like they had against Newcastle United. It was getting close to half time and the City-QPR game was still scoreless. City needed to score soon, as Manchestr United had already scored against Sunderland. At the 39th minute, City fans finally got the goal they were waiting for. Pablo Zabaleta scored the first goal of the game, as well as his first goal of’f the season, to give City a 1-0 lead as they headed into half time.

The second half got off to a good start, when City came close to scoring their second goal within a few minutes. However, a few City mistakes ended up leading to QPR equalizing in the 48th minute, with the goal being scored by Djibril Cisse.

The drama would continue as Joey Barton, who was slightly provoked by Carlos Tevez, elbowed Tevez in the face and was sent off immediately in the 55th minute. Barton decided to lash out on Tevez’s teammate Sergio Aguero, and hit him. As Barton was walking out, Mario Balotelli was one of the players who tried to calm him down. In my opinion, that was a disgraceful thing for the footballer to do – he had already been sent off for his elbow on Tevez, but to take it out on another player like that? Thre’s no excuse for that.

QPR would have to play a man down for the next 30+ minutes. At the 59th minute, Aguero almost gave City the lead, but the ball didn’t cross the line, so it wasn’t counted. It looked like QPR would have a tough time playing 10 v. 11, but in the 66th minute, surprising everyone, Jamie Mackie scored and gave QPR the lead. Even though, QPR was playing a man down, they were now up 2-1 against City.

It was looking more and more likely that Manchester United would win their 20th league title. QPR was doing a great job of defending; after all, they were playing to stay in EPL and not get relegated. At the 90th minute, the score was still 2-1 in QPR’s favor. However, thanks to what had happened with Barton earlier, 5 minutes of additional time were added on. Nobody, including me, believed that City would be able to score 2 goals in the next 5 minutes.

In fact, United players and their fans had already started celebrating what would’ve been their 20th league title. In the 1st  minute of added time, Edin Dzeko scored the equalizing goal. No one really celebrated though, because only a win would be good enough. Two minutes later, Sergio Aguero scored one of the biggest goals of his Manchester City career. City was now up 3-2 and the stadium went crazy. They had finally won the league title.

City would go on to win the title, while United was in 2nd place. A few weeks ago, if you had asked me if I thought City would win, I would have said no way. United had an 8-point lead, but City fought back and won in one of the craziest ways imaginable. Not only were City fans excited about this win, but so were fans of other clubs, like Arsenal, Liverpool, Chelsea etc. It was about time that someone else had won the title.

City won the league double, beating United 6-1 at Old Trafford and 1-0 at home. Now with the league title, Manchester, at least for this season, was blue.

Good morning football fans!  Don’t worry if you missed any of the exciting Champions League or FA Cup tournament matches from yesterday.  Get over the mid-week hump by checking out recaps of last night’s pivotal matches and previews of what should be a captivating second day in a row of first leg Champions League quarterfinal matches.  It’s sure to get your Wednesday off and running like a double shot of an espresso.

Champions League

A second half goal from Chelsea’s Salomon Kalou wrapped up the first leg of the Champions League quarterfinal over Benfica 1-0.  Both teams will meet again April 4 to determine who advances.

Cypriot underdog APOEL Nicosia fell to Real Madrid 3-0 in the first leg of Champions League quarterfinals thanks to a goal by Kaka and a Karim Benzema brace.  APOEL, who is being dubbed the Cinderella team of the tournament, held onto a scoreless draw until the 75th minute.  The two teams meet again in early April.

Today’s Fixtures

Today’s AC Milan v Barcelona match should be an exciting one to catch.  Milan striker Zlatan Ibrahimovic left Barca last year for Milan due to problems getting along with Pep Guardiola and fellow Barcelona players.  He is looking forward to proving a point in today’s match up.  For a preview of what to expect when AC Milan host Barcelona, look here.

Coming off seven club defeats in a row and plagued with injuries, Marseille has a challenge on their hands as they meet in form Bayern Munich today in today’s first leg of Champions League quarterfinal.

FA Cup

Tottenham looked the better side as they breezed past Bolton 3-1 yesterday.  Spurs now move on to face their London rival’s Chelsea in the FA semifinals.  Hats off to Bolton goalkeeper Adam Bogdan, who had a tremendous game until he was beat three times in the final 20 minutes of the match.  Prior to the start, White Hart Lane paused for a moment of silence remembering Bolton midfielder, Fabrice Muamba.  Muamba suffered a heart attack last week, causing the first attempt at this pairing to be suspended until last night.  While recovering in the hospital, it was reported that Muamba was well enough to sit up and watch the match from his bed.  I’m sorry there weren’t better results for Fabrice, especially as I am not a fan of Tottenham.

The other half of the FA Cup equation involved Sunderland, who hosted Everton last night.  Although the Toffees were the superior team on the pitch and should have scored a number of times, the two goals they did get past the keeper helped them advance to the semi finals.  Next, Everton will face their Merseyside rivals Liverpool at Wembley.  That will surely be a great match to catch as well.

Forget about March Madness, we’ve got Messi Madness.  The man who seems to be able to score hat tricks at will has now surpassed Barcelona’s all-time goal scoring record with a whopping 234 career goals.  Also in today’s news we give you an update on Muamba’s condition, today’s schedule for some exciting table-shaking EPL matches, and much more.  Happy Hump Day soccer fans.  Here’s your daily dose of football news:

La Liga

The big news today is the accomplishment of Lionel Messi.  The 24-year old Argentinian scored a hat trick in yesterday’s match giving him a total of 234 goals in his career with Barcelona and 54 in all competitions this season.  The Spanish champions’ won 5-3 over Granada but the real accomplishment goes to Messi.  And with weeks left in the season to score more goals, will anyone ever be able to surpass his record?

English Premier League

Fabrice Muamba continues to rest comfortably and remains in the hospital after suffering a heart attack on Saturday during the FA Cup tie at Tottenham.  We will keep you updated on his progress here on Aerys Soccer.

While the Aston Villa v Bolton match was postponed due to their respect for their Bolton teammate Fabrice Muamba, the Blackburn v Sunderland went on as scheduled.  Blackburn stay adrift of relegation by pulling out a 2-0 win thanks to goals by Junior Hoilett and Yakubu.

There are some very exciting and well-anticipated matches scheduled this afternoon which could likely juggle things around on the very tight upper half of the EPL table:

Manchester City host Chelsea

Tottenham host Stoke City

Everton host Arsenal

QPR host Liverpool

Chelsea manager Roberto Mancini has announced that Carlos Tevez may not make an appearance in today’s big match against Chelsea.  Mancini would like to see the Argentinian cry baby make three to four substitute appearances before he is ready for a full 90 minutes.

Veteran EPL players Rio Ferdinand of Manchester United and Frank Lampard of Chelsea are on the short list as possible signings for Chinese team Guizhou Renhe.  The Chinese Super League is expected to spend big money this summer to improve their clubs.  Renhe is following in the footsteps of Shanghai Shenhua, who signed Nicolas Anelka this past January.

Rumors claim Roberto Di Matteo conspired against former Chelsea manager Andre Villas-Boas in order to get him sacked and take over his job.  Di Matteo, the interim coach for Chelsea, denies the claims.  The Italian has led the Blues to four wins in four matches.

FA Cup

Understandably, the FA have decided to change the date of the FA Cup final match.  The match was originally scheduled to be played on the 23rd anniversary of the Hillsborough disaster where 96 Liverpool fans were crushed to death.  Liverpool will meet either Everton or Sunderland in the final, now scheduled for April 14.

Champions League

UEFA have announced that the 2014 Champions League final will be played at Estadio da Luz in Lisbon. 

Serie A

Juventus advances to the Italian Cup Final after drawing 2-2 with AC Milan yesterday.  An extra time goal by Mirko Vucinic pushed Juventus on as the two-game series ended in a score of 4-3.

As you can tell from this late afternoon post, we have a bit of the Monday blues today at Aerys Soccer. But never fear! We still got some headlines for you! San Jose could be the newest MLS team with a brand spankin’ new stadium, predictions are coming in for the USMNT roster against Italy and some kid … well, he showed his appreciation for Messi in a very unique way. Here’s your DKA!

World Soccer

Okay, I’ve seen fans do some crazy things for their teams. There was the Manchester City wedding dress remember? Well, this might take the cake. This kid loves Messi so much, he decided to have his face cut into his hair. Yeah, you totally read that correctly. Check out this video. You won’t be disappointed. I’m a little creeped out.

USMNT

Next  Wednesday, the U.S. Men’s National Team are set to face off with European giants Italy in Genoa. An official roster hasn’t been released yet, but the predictions are already coming out. Personally? I am really hoping for a Dempsey-Donovan hook up. We haven’t seen them together much since Jurgen Klinsmann took the helm and Italy seems like a perfect opportunity.

Major League Soccer

As MLS continues to expand through out the country, one thing we’re starting to see more of is teams building their own stadiums. Last season, it was Kansas City who were lucky, Houston is getting one this season, and it looks like San Jose Earthquakes could be the next to receive a stadium slotted with a cost of a whopping $60 million. The vote before the city’s planning commission is scheduled for Wednesday, so cross your fingers!

FA Cup

We’re still waiting on the replays of Chelsea and Birmingham, and Stevenage and Tottenham, but the draw for the sixth round of the FA Cup has already happened. Here’s how things will look:

Liverpool v. Stoke
Chelsea/Birmingham v. Leicester
Stevenage/Tottenham v. Bolton
Everton v. Sunderland

La Liga

There’s drama a-brewin’. Well, when has there not been drama in La Liga? So, the final of Copa del Rey could be played in Real Madrid’s home, the Santiago Bernabeu. But Barca boss Pep Guardiola said he doesn’t want to face off with Athletico Madrid in the Bernabeu if the Catalans won’t be welcomed there. He’s kind of got a point too.

English Premier League

Speaking of drama, as Chelsea’s season continues to become something fans would probably like to forget, many are calling for the sacking of team manager Andre Villas-Boas. However, in a press conference, AVB is calling on the owners of Chelsea to publicly back him as he already starts plans for next season. Well, good luck with that.

Sunderland play-maker Stephane Sessegnon can not be stopped by Arsenal back Bacary Sagna.

Arsenal will most likely end a seventh successive season without a major trophy after crashing out of the FA Cup in the fifth round at Sunderland today.

The match came only three days after the Gunners’ crushing 4-0 Champions League defeat against AC Milan and a week after their last-gasp Premier League win at the Stadium of Light.  Combine the humiliating  CL loss with the departure of Theirry Henry, who scored the winning goal last weekend, and you have the makings of a mentally weak Arsenal team.  Sunderland obviously hoped to capitalize on that vulnerability and they succeeded.

Sunderland has won four of their last six matches and their confidence was apparent from the start. They pressed and challenged Arsenal.  They looked as if they were a new team  of unfamiliar players brought together for the first me.  It was really quite sad.

Arsenal could not hold onto possession and even the most consistent Arsenal players were making poor decisions.  Nearing the end of the first half, one of those decisions resulted in a Black Cat free kick.  Initially it was headed out to the corner of the box, but Kieran Richardson was waiting.  He flashed a shot right across the goal and into the bottom corner after a slight deflection off  Arsenal defender Sebastien Squillaci.  The first half finished with Sunderland up 1-0.

Arsenal’s form did not improve enough in the second half.  Sunderland were working hard to close the North London side down.  Whenever the Gunners tried to play the ball out from the back, the Black Cats were quickly on their opponents, leaving Arsenal with very few opportunities to penetrate.  Desperate for an equalizer, the few strikes they were able to take were either not on goal or sent directly to the Sunderland goalkeeper Simon Mignolet.

In the 70th minute Arsenal gave up another goal.  The young starlet, Alex Oxlade-Chamberlain, lost the ball and Sunderland made a break.  Black Cat Midfielder Stephen Sessegnon  played it through to Swedish national player Seb Larsson.   The winger shot the ball, it hit the post, hit Oxlade-Chamberlain and went in.

There was almost a third goal in the 88th minute but it was stopped by defender Bacary Sagna.  Full time ended with a score of 2-1 Sunderland.

This was the first time Sunderland has beaten Arsenal in an FA Cup match since 1973.  It just adds to the  humiliation and disappointment the squad and most certainly the fans must be feeling right about now.

It’s Saturday Game Day folks! There’s tons going on in the footy world, per usual, and we’ve got lots of headlines for you today! From Leeds United getting a new manager, Balotelli adding a racial complaint to the news and trouble in China as the country’s former deputy soccer chief heads to jail. It’s here in today’s DKA!

World Soccer

China may not be little, but they’re soccer world is in big trouble. Yang Yimin, China’s former deputy soccer chief, was sentenced today to 10 1/2 years in prison after taking $20,000 in bribes to fix matches. He was just one of 39 people convicted – including four refs. Big Trouble in Little China indeed.

Will he or won’t he? It seems that instead of asking who will lead England’s National team in the coming months, the real question is if Harry Redknapp will take the job. After insisting he doesn’t want the command of the Three Lions’, Redknapp now is “opening the door” to talks of managing the squad for the upcoming Euro 2012 tournament. Hmmm….

Major League Soccer

In a huge, late night surprise, Seattle Sounders fans were shocked as the club announced it would trade fan favorites, forward Mike Fucito and midfielder Lamar Neagle, for USMNT international Eddie Johnson, who returned to MLS. Fucito and Neagle are now headed to Montreal. It’ll be interesting to see how things play out after this.

If you’re a regular reader of DKA, you know MLS has been moving and shaking things up all off season. The Bleacher Report has a nice article outlining the 10 most important moves MLS teams have made during their months off.

Europa League

I hate to talk about it – Hell, all of the girls here at Aerys Soccer hate when we have to talk about this – but there is another complaint of racism in the EPL. Apparently Manchester City has officially filed with UEFA stating Italian striker Mario Balotelli suffered racial abuse during the Tuesday Europa League game against Porto. Midfielder Yaya Toure could have also been on the receiving end, but it seems only Balotelli is the only one the club has confirmed. UEFA stated they will make a decision to launch an investigation after they have received and reviewed the delegate’s match reports.

Championship League

Apparently Leeds United have finally settled on a new manager; former Queens Park Rangers boss Neil Warnock. And ol’ Neil is already making an impression as Leeds was able to notch a late win over Doncaster today at home. Side note: US International Robbie Rogers made his debut with the squad, only to be stretchered off 5 minutes later after a horrid collision with Tommy Spurr. Apparently, Rogers suffered a concussion, but Leeds has not issued an official statement. Here’s hoping both Robbie and Tommy Spurr are all right!

Serie A

Inter Milan got a little wake up call this week as they were hammered by a struggling Bologna. Inter went down 3-0, a hard loss after winning 8 consecutive games in the league.

Some of the big news out of Italy however this week seems to be centered around penalties. Juventus and Inter Milan are both issuing out negative remarks about refs decisions on penalty kicks this season. You just can’t make everyone happy, can you?

FA Cup

Chelsea 1 – Birmingham 1

Everton 2 – Blackpool 0

Millwall 0 – Bolton 2

Norwich 1 – Leicester 2

Sunderland 2 – Arsenal 0