Around the English Premier League – Round 35

The gap between the Manchester leaders keeps shrinking, raising hopes on the Sky Blues side; whereas the Wolves are hopelessly relegated.
By Camilla Mancini

The opening game on Sunday 22nd took place at the Old Trafford, where Everton tied the Red Devils during a very exciting second half -four goals for each rival mean plenty of action. In the first half both clubs scored once, first the Toffee Nikica Jelavic at 33′ and seven minutes later Wayne Rooney, both with a headed goal. By the beginning of second half the match was even in 1-1, but reaching the hour Danny Welbeck and Luis Nani, assisting one another, scored one goal each, giving United a double lead (3-1).

Nonetheless, it was far from being the final result, since six minutes later Everton was again attacking, this time through Maroune Fellaini, who got in the score sheet with a fantastic volley. But after 2 minutes Rooney placed his second mark on the scoreboard. By then we all thought it was the end for the Toffees, but they prove us wrong. Within the last seven minutes of the match Jelavic from inside the box searched for the right spot and with a precise shot placed the third mark on the bottom left corner. Straight away (85′) Steven Pienaar found a pass from Fellaini that gave the South African midfielder the chance to score for the first time on De Gea’s goal.

Later that day, Manchester City earned three valuable points at its fixture with Wolverhampton, placing a goal on each half of the meeting. In the beginning both sides had good chances to score, however, soon enough the Citizens took control and with its best scorer upfront they took the lead at the 27th minute. For it Gael Clichy nutmegged Michael Kightly to make then a beautiful cross to Sergio Aguero, who with a drilled low shot placed the ball in the bottom of the right corner.

Wolves gave a good response but their visitors did a better job blocking them and looking for a better scoreboard. At 74 minutes Tevez took a free-kick that reached Samir Nasri and this one taking in advantage that Sebastien Bassong pulled a hamstring simultaneously, leaving a hole for the French to shoot a low ball into the hosts’ goal. In the last 15 minutes neither of the clubs allowed more scores and as the match was finishing, a pouring rain arrived to Molineux Stadium; environment that suited quite well the depressed Wolves that due to this loss are officially relegated now to the 2012-13 Npower Football League Championship.

The Sky Blues and Red Devils will meet on the next round and after the recent events, if City crashes its nemesis, then it will recover the Premier’s head position. Even though the Manchester teams would be tie in points, Manchester City has a good advantage in the Goal Difference and that will put them on the top. So now that the Citizens are a triumph away from recovering the first position, Roberto Mancini must be thinking that he should’ve hold his tongue, before stating that he didn’t believe his men could be able to conquer the title; although it might have been just a strategy to make the Red Devils turn off their attacking mode and lose a little. What’s for sure is that we’ll have an intense match on Monday 30th, which could be defining for the campaign.

The other results from Round 35: Arsenal 0-0 Chelsea; Newcastle 3-0 Stoke Ciy; Fulham 2-1 Wigan; Bolton 1-1 Swansea; Blackburn 2-0 Norwich; Aston Villa 0-0 Sunderland; QPR 1-0 Tottenham; Liverpool 0-1 West Bromwich.