English Premier League Weekend Review: Chelsea Break Through Late Against Manchester City To Take Third In The Table

A defensive, conservative Manchester City held strong for 78 minutes, but a David Luiz header from a Didier Drogba free kick was enough to see Chelsea through with Ramires adding an insurance goal in injury time. Carlo Ancelotti's side were a brick wall for much of the day, but the strength of the defense was largely unmatched by that of the attack. City managed just five shots on the day with only two of them finding Petr Cech. As time wore on it became apparent that City were more than content with a draw, but their lack of interest in pushing forward was punished by the late goal from the 23 year-old Brazilian defender.

It was until that point a frustrating afternoon for Chelsea, as despite being the better side for the majority of the contest they were unable to break through City's back line or work one past keeper Joe Hart. Despite Fernando Torres, Florent Malouda, Didier Drogba, Nicolas Anelka and Saloman Kalou all seeing time on the pitch for Chelsea on the day it was the defender who capped a brilliant all-around performance with the goal. With City forced to push numbers forward it was Chelsea's other 23 year-old budding Brazillian start Ramires who put the exclamation point on the victory with a fantastic goal that saw him weave past three City defenders into the box and emphatically hammer home.

It was a crucial game in terms of providing separation from Tottenham Hotspur for the final Champions League spot and remaining at the very least relevant in terms of the Premier League title. While much of the buzz surrounding Chelsea in January surrounded Fernando Torres, it has been Luiz that has made by far the greater impact. It's rare to count such a young player amongst the ranks as an elite defender in the Premier League but Luiz has earned such praise and in concert with his added boost to Chelsea's attacking play, it would be fair to call him one of the more valuable assets in world football today. The Torres acquisition might have garnered the majority of the headlines, but it would appear to be Luiz that was the real coup.

The victory send the Blues to third in the league, just four behind Arsenal whose struggles continued at the Hawthorns on Saturday. West Brom put themselves just three minutes in when Steven Reid headed home from Chris Brunt's corner. Arsenal had the better of the play for the remainder of the half and Robin van Persie came close to leveling 25 minutes in after his header hit the post. Aaron Ramsey, making his first Premier League start since suffering a broken leg after a horrific tackle by Stoke defender Ryan Shawcross just over a year ago, was there to follow up on the rebound but Scott Carson was able to save. There were other opportunities for the Gunners but they were unable to capitalize, and at the half West Brom were still in possession of their 1-0 advantage.

It certainly seemed as though Arsenal were bound to break through at some point, but West Brom's defense was equal to the challenge and disaster struck 58 minutes in when Manuel Almunia inexplicably came out to meet a ball that two Arsenal defenders looked far more likely to deal with than West Brom's Peter Odemwingie. Instead of a simple clearance Almunia became tangled with an understandably confused Sebastien Squallaci and Odemwingie opportunistically slotted into the empty net. It was an absolutely befuddling error from Almunia that only served to hammer home the point that in spite of the quality he sometimes displays in goal his mental lapses make him far too risky of a proposition to trust in the heat of a title race. Arsenal battled back admirably, their first goal the result of a brilliant bit of combination play between Andrey Arshavin and Marouane Chamakh which ended with a lovely one-touch finish by Arshavin into the top right of Carson's goal. Van Persie added the equalizer just eight minutes later and Arsenal looked determined to add a winner before full-time, but the Baggies held and in the end it was yet another disappointing result for the Gunners, elementary errors costing them points that their overall performance might have otherwise deserved.

Manchester United came close to wasting the opportunity to build their lead but an 88th minute goal from Dimitar Berbatov awarded the full three points against Bolton in a game marred by Jonny Evans shockingly bad tackle that led to 26 stitches for Wanderers midfielder Stuart Holden. In a back-and-forth game that could have easily ended 0-0 or 1-0 the other way, Berbatov's poaching of a Nani effort that Jussi Jaaskelainen was unable to control put United five points clear of Arsenal with just eight games left to play. Though the victory is certainly the important story of the day, Evans sending off and (at the very least) three game ban is noteworthy due to United's current injury trouble at the back. Luckily for the Red Devils, the international break gives them an extra week to get back to full strength while their next fixture against West Ham is of the sort that a less than full-strength back line should be able to contend with.

Unfortunately for United, West Ham does not appear to be a guaranteed three points for clubs at the top of the table these days as their 0-0 draw with Tottenham Hotspur should attest. To be fair to Spurs, hitting the frame three times over the course of a single match is not especially indicative of great fortune but if they hope to follow up their somewhat surprising run in the Champions League next season they'd do better than to take a point from a team in a relegation fight on their own pitch. Spurs were clearly the better side, managing 26 shots on the afternoon, but that will be little consolation for the club as the gap between themselves and fourth place refuses to shrink and Liverpool continues to make up ground just behind.

Speaking of Liverpool, the Reds' streak of positive (Premier League) results continued with a convincing 2-0 away win over Sunderland. Dirk Kuyt's somewhat  questionable penalty late in the first half put Liverpool ahead and Luis Suarez's apparently somehow possible according to the laws of physics finish 77 minutes in added any necessary legitimacy to an impressive Liverpool victory. After a start that led to near hysteria amongst many Reds supporters, Liverpool have climbed steadily back into the top half and now find themselves quite firmly in sixth and within at least theoretical striking distance of the Champions League places. While the emergence of Manchester City and Tottenham Hotspur as legitimate top-four contenders has added some much-needed variety to the European competition mix, Liverpool are almost certainly headed in the right direction after a very nerve-wracking couple of years.

A club that is far from headed in the right direction at the moment is Aston Villa, and a 1-0 loss at Villa Park to Wolverhampton-their first in 31 years- has added to a once again growing sense of dread amongst the Villa faithful. Already perturbed by the come-from-ahead-twice loss away to Bolton last weekend, Villa supporters in the Holte End unveiled a banner reading "Had Enough; Houllier Out" prior to kickoff. Though the banner was removed quickly its spirit was not, with Houllier on the receiving end of constant abuse from Villa supporters for the duration of the match. A spirited of refrain of "You don't know what you're doing" rained down on Villa Park when winger Marc Albrighton was withdrawn in favor of Gabriel Agbonlahor just after an hour in (though some who witnessed Albrighton's ineffectiveness might ask whether Villa fans knew what they were seeing) and upon the final whistle the tension in the atmosphere was dense enough to displace an inland sea. Whether Houllier's appointment was the correct decision is largely irrelevant at this point; Villa are quite clearly in serious trouble and it is difficult to imagine that further managerial turmoil would do more harm than good in terms of arresting them from their descent.

Two clubs that are likely to hope that Villa's descent remains in free-fall met on Saturday afternoon and the 2-2 draw between Blackburn and Blackpool maintained the status quo of an inability of the bottom half of the table to separate itself. While it appeared as though Blackpool were on their way to victory, David Hoilett's goal nearly three minutes into injury time kept Rovers equal on points and just clear of the relegation zone. Blackpool lead 2-0 at the half thanks to a Charlie Adam brace (one coming on a somewhat contentious penalty) but Blackburn salvaged a point with a dominant effort in the second half. Hoilett's last gasp equalizer surely elicited a sigh of relief from Blackburn supporters, as the draw kept Rovers just above the drop zone while a loss would have seen them level on points with 18th position Wolves.

Elsewhere in the relegation battle, Wigan defender Maynor Figueroa continued the theme of dramatic injury-time goals with a stunner that caught Ben Foster off his line and propelled the Latics to a crucial 2-1 victory over Birmingham City. Wigan now sit at 30 points, one win away from being clear of the drop, but with their next two fixtures being against Spurs and away at Chelsea things are still quite perilous at the DW Stadium. Birmingham will be wondering when their luck will even out, as the club that just one month ago lifted their first major trophy in over 35 years now sit one spot above bottom with nine games remaining for them to reverse their fortunes.

There are five teams clear of the drop that are within one win of both Wigan and Birmingham and a sixth in Fulham that are just three points ahead of 18th placed Wolves. The Cottagers continued with what has been a tradition since 1959 of losing at Goodison Park, falling 2-1 to Everton. The Toffees went ahead nine minutes before the break and double their lead just shy of the 50 minute mark, but Clint Dempsey's rocket past Tim Howard made the last half hour of the game a nervous affair for the home side. Both teams had several opportunities late to change the course of the game but it was Fulham that were more dangerous and Mark Hughes will be left ruing his side's inability to produce the attacking pressure that they displayed earlier on in the day than the hour mark. Fulham remained 12th in the table despite the loss but due to the shockingly close bottom half of the table their standing in the league is far from comfortable. A lot would have to go wrong for Fulham, Blackburn or Aston Villa  to drop to the Championship but the fact that such a scenario is still even remotely possible at this stage serves to illustrate how close things are in the league at such a late stage.

Stoke defeated Newcastle 4-0 at the Britannia in a meeting of two teams that are likely out of plausible range of both the drop and European competition. While the fact that Stoke are capable of scoring four goals in one match is remarkable enough, even more amazing is the fact that this was actually an entertaining and compelling game; Newcastle played with three across the back and the Potters demonstrated that if executed properly a direct counter-attacking style can be successful without relying on overly physical play and set pieces for goals; let's hope Tony Pulis took notice of the fact as well.

Clearly the relegation battle is the bigger story in the league at the moment (and likely will be for quite some time) but though Manchester United look to have created enough breathing room to feel at least a bit comfortable at the top the finishing order of the top four is far from clear cut. Arsenal and Manchester City are struggling (by their standards at least) while Chelsea have gone on a bit of a surge, and though it's a long shot Spurs are still within pouncing range should the form of City or the Gunners slip to an even poorer level. With next week's international break, teams should be somewhat closer to full strength as we enter what should be an interesting (or terrifying, depending on your perspective) stretch run.