FULHAM CONTINUED THE surprise results of the Christmas period by dramatically overturning Arsenal at Craven Cottage.
Otherwise, it was an equally rare day in the fact that the four other games all ended in away wins.
In truth, that should have been the case at Craven Cottage too, only for Arsenal to implode and Fulham to explode.Arsene Wenger’s side had just shaded the first half and went ahead through Laurent Koscielny’s powerful header but, even then, Fulham were still in the game. And, having completely dominated the second half, they eventually got their opening. First, Johan Djourou was sent off for a second bookable offence. Then, Wojiech Szczesny came for a corner, missed and allowed Philippe Senderos to head back for Steve Sidwell to finish. Finally, just when it looked like Arsenal might hang on, Bobby Zamora plundered the winner.
In between all of that, Arsenal might have had a penalty as Gervinho exaggerated a foul. But, otherwise, it was hard to disagree that Fulham deserved the win.
At Molineux, it’s arguable that Andre Villas-Boas was five minutes from getting sacked as Stephen Ward equalised Ramires’s first-half opener with the game almost finished. Frank Lampard, however, provided an instant response to give Chelsea their first win in six games. But not without a fantastic late save by Petr Cech from Kevin Doyle’s header in the game’s final act.
At Villa Park, Chelsea’s conquerors on Saturday completely capitulated against a superb Swansea. Nathan Dyer struck in the first before Wayne Routledge scored his first ever Premier League goal to complete a fully deserved win for Brendan Rodgers’s side. That result gets them well clear of the relegation zone but, by contrast, QPR are getting sucked right in. Sadly, it was a typical Joey Barton performance as he scored against Norwich to send Neil Warnock’s side on their way but then got sent off for a perceived headbutt in order to completely reverse the momentum. Anthony Pilkington soon equalised before Steve Morison hit a winner.
Similarly, Blackburn couldn’t build on their New Year’s scalp. They followed a victory at Old Trafford with defeat to Stoke. Peter Crouch scored twice to put Tony Pulis’s side into a 2-0 lead but, admirably, Blackburn pulled themselves back into the game through David Goodwillie. And they might well have drawn it only for the usually reliable Aiyegbeni Yakubu to squander a late chance.
