English Premier League round-up

A synopsis of all the matches on the New Year eve

KARACHI: “In three days, we had two incredible decisions that punished us in a very hard way. We had one point but we could have had six had it not been for those two decisions,” Chelsea manager Jose Mourinho was quoted as saying by The Guardian after a shocking 5-3 loss to Tottenham Hotspur at White Hart Lane on Monday night.

But as Mourinho looks to deflect the blame away from himself and his players, his tirades over the perceived injustices against Chelsea are falling increasingly on deaf ears. He lashed out at Sunday’s booking of Cesc Fabregas for diving – even though the midfielder could easily have been given a penalty – in a 1-1 draw against Southampton and then in the game against Spurs, he lambasted ‘slow’ referee Phil Dowd for being 40 yards away from a key incident where they should have been given a handball penalty against Jan Vertonghen while leading 1-0 through Diego Costa’s goal. But the Portuguese has always relied on promoting a siege mentality within his team; he did the same at Inter Milan and Real Madrid.

Less than 10 days ago, the Premier League leaders had been in control of the title race with an eight-point lead, but now they sit level on points with Manchester City. Their confidence must surely be shaken thanks to the attacking spirit of their opposition embodied by 21-year-old Englishman Harry Kane.

With two goals and an assist, the young striker was on fire, making a mockery of the league’s best defense up until that point. Tottenham, who are now just two points behind fourth-placed Southampton, have a solid chance of finishing in the top four if Kane continues to bang in the goals as he is currently, with 17 already to his name for the season.

Back to Mourinho though. The manager, while the heart-crunching match was in its midst, must have most likely been wishing he hadn’t sold Frank Lampard, who came to City’s rescue once again by scoring the winner against Sunderland.

Lampard has been crucial to City’s cause, earning them five points this season and may just end up being the difference between a winner’s medal and the runners-up spot. He has scored the winners against Sunderland and Leicester City, while his late equaliser against Chelsea not only gave City a point but also ensured that Chelsea dropped two; so without him, the Blues would have been seven points clear of City.

While City had reason to celebrate, it was not a happy New Year for Arsene Wenger and his men as they lost 2-0; a stark contrast to when they were on top of the table this time around last year; now lingering in sixth with their chance of finishing in the top four getting slimmer by the day.

Keeper Wojciech Szczesny and the back line can be blamed for basic lapses which allowed Southampton to score twice, but the main concern was and is Arsenal’s midfield misery. Calum Chambers, who was converted to a central defender during the first half of his season at Arsenal, played alongside Francis Coquelin, who was recalled from his loan at Charlton just last month and winger Alex Oxlade-Chamberlain completed the midfield trio.

With the likes of Aaron Ramsey, Mesut Ozil and Jack Wilshere out injured, Wenger needs to rectify his mistake of passing up on the chance to sign Cesc Fabgregas and fix the glaring deficiencies within his squad in the January transfer window.

Meanwhile, Liverpool also faced a frustrating start to 2015 after drawing 2-2 against a struggling Leicester City considering they had been leading 2-0 at half-time.

 

Like Sports on Facebook, follow @ETribuneSports on Twitter to stay informed and join in the conversation.