Chelsea lose cup

Reigning FA Cup champions Chelsea lost a replay on penalties to Everton at Stamford Bridge while Manchester United struggled to get past little Crawley Town, winning 1-0 at Old Trafford, and super sub Johnatan Tehoue scored a late goal to cancel out Rosicky’s effort for Arsenal and earn Orient a trip to the Emirates. Stoke and Birmingham were 3-0 winners at home to Brighton and Sheffield Wednesday respectively while a single goal gave Bolton victory at Fulham and Patrick Viera headed in a double as Manchester City went on to ease 5-0 past Notts County in a home replay. On Monday evening Burnley were hammered 5-1 at West Ham and in the only Premier League match of the weekend the Black Country derby was drawn 1-1 between West Bromwich Albion and Wolverhampton Wanderers with Carlos Vela scoring a last-minute goal in Roy Hodgson’s first match as Baggies manager. Tottenham lost 3-1 at Blackpool in midweek while Stoke fell to a single Arsenal goal at the Emirates.
In the Champions League Anelka struck twice for Chelsea in Copenhagen, Real Madrid drew 1-1 at Lyon and Bayern Munich scored in the last minute to win 1-0 at Inter while Manchester United drew 0-0 at Marseille.
In the Europa League Kuyt broke the deadlock against Sparta Prague with 4 minutes to go at Anfield to see Liverpool through and Edin Dzeko scored twice as Manchester City disposed of Aris 3-0 while Rangers, who had suffered a 3-0 defeat in the Old Firm derby at the weekend in which Gary Hooper netted twice, scored in stoppage time at Sporting Lisbon to draw 2-2 and go through on away goals. Benfica progressed to the next round with a 2-0 win in Stuttgart winning 4-1 on aggregate.

North London leads Europe

Wayne Rooney scored with a spectacular overhead kick to delight the home crowd as United beat City 2-1 in the Manchester derby while a double from Dutchman van Persie saw off Wolves at Arsenal, and Tottenham came from behind to win 2-1 at Sunderland. Liverpool could only manage a 1-1 draw at home to Wigan, and a last gasp Zigic goal was the difference between Birmingham and stoke while Aston Villa drew 1-1 at Blackpool. There were no goals between Blackburn and Newcastle but 6 goals at West Brom as West Ham came from 3 down to earn a point with 2 goals from Demba Ba. Everton lost 2-0 at Bolton and on Monday evening Chelsea drew 0-0 at Fulham who had a Clint Dempsey penalty saved in stoppage time.
Both Arsenal and Tottenham faced formidable opposition in the first leg of Champions league knockout stage and came out with flying colours. Tottenham returned from the San Siro with a 1-0 victory over AC Milan and on Wednesday Arsenal came from behind to overcome the mighty Barcelona 2-1 at the Emirates. In the Europa League Manchester City and Liverpool played out goalless matches at Aris Thessaloniki and Sparta Prague respectively

Rooney scores winner in Manchester derby

Comeback upsets top guns

Manchester United scored a 3rd minute goal but ended up losing their unbeaten record 2-1 at Wolves, while having taken a 3 goal lead in the first 9 minutes and gone into the break 4 up at Newcastle, Arsenal had Abou Diaby sent off and were pegged back to 4 all by the Magpies. In other high scoring matches Louis Saha scored 4 times as Blackpool were beaten 5-3 at Everton, and Blackburn lost 4-3 at Wigan while Aston Villa and Fulham score 2 apiece at Villa Park. Carlos Tevez scored a hat-trick on his birthday in Manchester City’s 3-0 home win over WBA and Tottenham beat Bolton 2-1 with a last minute goal at White Hart Lane while Robert Huth netted his second of the match in the last minute as Stoke came from behind to get the better of Sunderland in a 5 goal thriller at the Britannia Stadium. On Sunday Birmingham and Liverpool were both 1-0 winners in London as the Blues defeated West Ham and the Reds beat Chelsea and new singing Torres at the Bridge.

Window of opportunity

In the 4th round of the FA Cup at the weekend a stunning 1-0 win at Torquay earned little Crawley Town a trip to Manchester United who had returned from Southampton with a 2-1 win while a 2-1 victory for Leyton at Swansea gave them a home tie against Arsenal who struggled to defeat Huddersfield at the Emirates. Tottenham were dumped out of the cup 4-0 by Fulham at Craven Cottage while a single goal at Watford saw Brighton move into the next round and Birmingham came from 2 down at home to gain a 3-2 success against Coventry. Victor Obinna gave West Ham a home victory with a hat-trick in their 3-2 win over Nottingham Forest while Wolves lost by to a single goal at home to Stoke and Everton will have to travel to London after their 1-1 draw with Chelsea. Blackburn were beaten 3-1 at Aston Villa and Notts County earned a replay at Manchester City after their 1-1 draw on Sunday.
The January transfer window was closed and the league resumed in midweek with Suarez coming off the bench to score on his home début in Liverpool’s 2-0 win over Stoke while Rooney netted twice for United as Aston Villa were stung 3-1 in Manchester and Arsenal kept the pressure on the leaders with a 2-1 win at home to Everton. Chelsea gained momentum with a 4-2 win at Sunderland and an early header by Crouch was the difference in Tottenham’s favour at Blackpool while Manchester City drew 2-2 at Birmingham. Victor Obinna added 2 more goals to his tally and Robbie Keane scored on his début for the Hammers as West Ham rocked Blackpool 3-1 at the seaside and Wigan shared 4 goals with their host West Brom while Fulham and Bolton enjoyed 1-0 home wins over Newcastle and Wolves respectively.