Such things invariably happen in the most unlikely of circumstances and so it was in this case, with top of the table United going down to the league’s bottom club. Not that Wolves have been a pushover on home turf in this campaign—just ask Chelsea and Manchester City who both also lost at Molyneux.
However, Wolves’ down to earth boss Mick McCarthy was not about to let the win go to his players’ heads. “It is all right lounging around and basking in the sunny day of beating Manchester United, we have to do it against other teams and do damage to them to make sure we preserve our Premier League status,” he said on www.premierleague.com.
The match was the first following United stalwart Gary Neville’s retirement announcement earlier this week after an illustrious career in which he turned out for United on 602 occasions, as well as winning 85 caps for England. Ironically, it was in these awkward away games, often played on an indifferent surface at a hundred miles an hour with reckless tackles flying in all over the place, that Gary Neville used to excel. He will be missed.
The visitors actually took the lead after only three minutes with Nani repeating his well-rehearsed routine of cutting inside his marker from the right and slotting a shot inside the near post. Indeed it should have been two, but Wayne Rooney failed to make a decent connection on his effort and Wayne Hennessey was able to execute the save. If that one had gone in, who knows what might have happened–another five or six perhaps?
As it turned out only another seven minutes went by before Wolves pulled level. George Elokobi was first to a Matt Jarvis cross and his header found the bottom corner of the net.
With Rio Ferdinand dropping out after sustaining an injury in the pre-game warmup, United’s defence had that somewhat fragile look to it as is often the case when he or Nemanja Vidic is absent. On 39 minutes, Wolves were awarded a free kick and Nenad Milijas delivered a testing ball into the danger area. There was some controversy as to whether Elokobi or Kevin Doyle got the final touch, but there was no disputing the fact that that the ball was in the back of the United net.
Wolves’ winner was the 41st goal scored in a record tally for one day’s fixtures in the Premier League. The league leaders tried to turn it around in the second period with Sir Alex Ferguson ringing the changes and using all three allowed substitutes, but it was not to be his or United’s day.
Newcastle’s Miracle Comeback
In one of the most miraculous comebacks witnessed in recent times, Newcastle United drew 4-4 with Arsenal after being four down at only the 26 minute mark.
The Gunners were utterly irresistible in the first 25 minutes and the Newcastle players literally could barely manage a kick. For the record, Andy Carroll’s presence would not have made any difference.
People were barely in their seats by the time Theo Walcott and Johan Djourou had Arsenal two goals up with only three minutes gone. After 10 minutes it was three, as Robin van Persie found the target. A full 16 minutes passed before the Netherlands international grabbed his second and Arsenal’s fourth, at which point it would not have been surprising to see a significant proportion the 51,561 fans heading for the St James’ Park exits.
As the second period got underway the main topic of discussion was about how many scoring records Arsenal might break, but then came an incident that changed the game.
A typically over-enthusiastic Joey Barton tackle provoked a silly retaliation from Abou Diaby who not only pushed Barton to the ground but then, in anger, manhandled Kevin Nolan. The French midfielder was duly given his marching orders.
With a four-goal cushion one would have thought Arsenal should still have been able to see the game out even if they conceded one or two before the end.
But Newcastle weren’t done. Leon Best won a penalty and villain-in-chief Joey Barton calmly converted from the spot. Just six minutes later Best scored one himself to halve the deficit and Arsenal started to look shaky while the Magpies visibly gained heart.
Arsene Wenger’s current side does not yet seem to have worked out how to close down games, and this one was a classic example. Newcastle had their bit of luck on 83 minutes when they were awarded a second penalty that this time looked a bit harsh. But, Joey Barton was not complaining and again made no mistake.
Arsenal was now in panic mode, and Newcastle’s equalizer inevitably materialized courtesy of a super volley from Ivorian Cheick Tiote. The Toon Army was in dreamland, and would have gone totally bananas had Kevin Nolan taken a half chance in injury time that would have won the game.
A harsh lesson indeed for Arsene Wenger’s young stars but they will remember this day and learn by it. They dropped a couple of points but still made a significant contribution to one of the most memorable games in Premier League history.
Newcastle manager Alan Pardew’s verdict: “We went out there [for the 2nd half] and played like lions.”
Other Results
Aston Villa 2-2 Fulham
Everton 5-3 Blackpool
Manchester City 3-0 West Bromwich Albion
Stoke City 3-2 Sunderland
Tottenham Hotspur 2-1 Bolton Wanderers
Wigan Athletic 4-3 Blackburn
