On a day when Manchester United celebrated 25 years under Alex Ferguson, the majority of Premier League games fittingly resorted to type. After recent rocky periods, all of United, Arsenal and Chelsea claimed important wins while Liverpool returned to the frustrating form that has characterised each of their campaigns since 2008-09. The only team bucking the trend are Newcastle United who continued their unprecedented run of form with a 2-1 win over Everton.
At Old Trafford, in front of the newly-named Sir Alex Ferguson Stand – the old North Stand – United didn’t quite produce the swashbuckling football that Ferguson has continuously aimed for in his 25 years but they did illustrate the kind of grit and mentality that has defined them.
Danny Welbeck’s header was deflected into the net by United old boy Wes Brown just before half-time to give Ferguson the points. Otherwise, despite a dominant and often dynamic performance from Wayne Rooney in midfield, United largely toiled to victory.
The same could be said for Chelsea who ultimately needed the cross bar to save a 1-0 against Blackburn Rovers after Frank Lampard had headed the only goal just after half-time. Once again, Andre Villas-Boas’s side were largely disjointed and were hardly commanding. However, given the fact that this their first cleansheet in 10 and first win in three, the result was much more important than the performance.
That wasn’t the case for Arsenal, who combined victory with vigour. Both the team as a whole and the irrepressible Robin van Persie kept up their recent momentum by sweeping aside West Brom. The Dutchman opened the scoring before setting up Mikel Arteta late on, with Thomas Vermaelen scoring in between.
Most impressively after such an abysmal start, Arsenal are now level on points with Liverpool who have allowed a few worrying traits to slip into their team. Once again, Kenny Dalglish’s team started like a train only to run out of ideas.
And although they were superb from the 89th to 95th minute, before then they didn’t force a save from Michel Vorm from over an hour. Home draws and dropping points to newly promoted teams is also becoming a worry. Liverpool have now won only three of their last 10 against such sides while this was their fourth draw at Anfield already this season. At times, the team badly lacked drive.
Bucking the trend, of course, were Newcastle. Although they often looked leggy and on the verge of ceding the game to Everton, they held on for a 2-1 win.
Elsewhere, Aston Villa leapfrogged Norwich into eighth with a 3-2 win.
