Watch: Arsenal 2 - 1 Everton

Watch Arsenal 2 - 1 Everton

Arsenal came from behind against Everton to keep their chase with Manchester United for the Premier League top spot going for another week. The Gunners had to rise above a blatant offside decision that went against them which put them behind in the first place, and in the last 20 minutes, they did just that - rise above the controversy with goals from Andrei Arshavin and Laurent Koscielny.

I won't go into too much detail on the goals scored, because you can see them above, but here is a quick summary:

Louis Saha scored the opener while standing in a clear offside position when the ball was played to him by Seamus Coleman in the 24th minute. Despite uproar from the Arsenal players who all raised their arms simultaneously as the ball floated over, the goal stood, and the Toffees held onto their fragile away lead until the 70th minute.
A beautifully chipped ball from Fabregas opened up the Everton defence with apparent ease, for the previously out of sorts Arshavin to poke past Tim Howard for the equaliser.
Five minutes later, and a corner was floated into the box for Koscielny to head home for the winner and run off in hysteria to celebrate with his delighted fans.

David Moyes, the Everton manager, was not happy. At all. In fact, the Scot was disgusted. But not at his teams performance, rather, he was disgusted at the Arsenal captain, Cesc Fabregas' behaviour towards the referee in the tunnel. Moyes explained:

"Fabregas should have been sent off in the tunnel for his comments about the officials. It was disgusting.

"I won't be repeating them, but maybe someone will."

When he was asked to explain what he meant by this, Moyes said:

"No I won't. I'll just say that he should have been sent off for his comments to the officials coming up the tunnel."

Nevertheless, Arsenal were victorious, and continue to put pressure Manchester United at the top of the League, despite the Red Devils comfortable 3 - 1 win over Aston Villa. The gap remains at 5 points, but will the fact that neither Arsenal or United added to their squad in the January transfer window, while their title rivals did play any part in the title race? Not too much I suspect. Both have bee strong from the off.

Tevez Withdraws his Transfer Request

The latest twist in the Tevez transfer tale is that the former Manchester United striker has withdrawn his request to leave City. A Manchester City statement read:

"Carlos expressed his absolute commitment to the Club and formally withdrew his transfer request. Carlos’ contract remains unchanged and both Carlos and the Football Club are keen to focus on the opportunities that lie ahead."   

So what has changed the Argentinians mind? Probably nothing at all. Earlier in the month he was absolutely certain he wanted to leave the club because he had fallen out with certain members of the club, and that there was no way he would re think his decision - thus handing in a transfer request. Clubs like Real Madrid and Chelsea were reportedly ready to swoop for the uncommitted player who was also apparently thinking of retirement.

Now, just before tonight's game against Everton - at Manchester City's ground, he withdraws his transfer request and praised by his manager:

 "Carlos is a world class player whose contribution since he joined the club has been invaluable"

He may have changed his mind because he knows that if City want to keep him at the club, they will. They are under no pressure to sell as they don't need the money, and they certainly won't want to sell to a title rival in England. Or is it simply an attempt to avoid a frosty reception from the home crowd tonight aimed at the disloyal former captain? Rooney didn't totally avoid a controversial reception after his contract ordeal at Manchester United and there will be certain members of tonight's crowd that take a disliking to the Tevez situation.

Arsenal 2 - 1 Fulham - Video Goals

Watch the Goals Here

Arsenal jumped above Manchester United to the top of the table after a 2 - 1 win at the Emirates, thanks in no small part to the brilliance of Samir Nasri.

The Frenchman grabbed both of the goals, making his tally for the season go into double figures to 11, and they were very important goals too, as Chelsea faltered at home against Everton. With Manchester United not playing due to snowy conditions at Blackpool, it was the chasers chance to leap frog the Red Devils at the top as well as gain some momentum going into next weeks games. Arsenal have benefited, while a poor Chelsea, despite the return of John Terry, drew against Everton, thanks to a late Jermaine Beckford goal which results in the Blues sitting third.

Both of the Gunners goals were sublime. Their small, tricky passing doesn't always pay off or turn into goals, but when Samir Nasri is in this kind of form, you just need to pass to him in the box and there will be only one result. Arshavin, fresh from winning the controversial 2018 World Cup bid, fed in  Nasri on the right of the penalty box for the first goal. Nasri then faked a shot as one Fulham defender came sliding in for the block. He then faked another, as another defender came sliding helplessly passed, and then with the coolest finish, he smashed the ball into the top right hand corner of the net - with no challengers ahead of him. "Beautiful!", "magnificent!", "fantastic!" screamed the commentator, and you just have to agree.

Fulham then equalised in the 30th minute through striker Kamara. Confusion at the back left Diamante Kamara free in the middle, and as the American Clint Dempsey clipped the ball over everyone to the waiting striker, it was only going to be a simple placement into the net passed Fabianski. It has happened quite often this season, and it is a problem Wenger needs to address. His defence is caught out to often, and something must be done, because a winning team can't keep leaking goals, especially when it comes to the better sides.

15 minutes left of the match, and Arsenal know that a win takes them top. Step up Mr Nasri. Again, the Frenchman's trickery inside the box is excellent after he is fed in by Robin van Persie. Nasri bursted into the box with the ball at his feet, slipped round the goalkeeper with ease, swivelled around to the left of the goal, adjusted his feet, and lifted the ball into the back of the net for the winner. Just brilliant.

Goals like that deserve to win games, and it just so happens that these goals also took Arsenal to the top of the table too.

Watch the Goals Here

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Berbatov Grabs 5 in 36 Goal-Packed Premier League Saturday

A record breaking Premier League Saturday - wonder goals were scored, penalties were saved, red cards were brandished and 36 goals rippled the net. It was quite unbelievable.

The early kick off saw Arsenal defeat Aston Villa and the golden oldie and returning Arsenal legend Robert Pires by four goals to two. Arshavin and Nasri lifted Arsenal to a two goal lead in the first half, while Ciaran Clark scored to revive some hope before Marouane Chamakh scored 4 minutes later. Clark then scored again to raise Villa hopes again, but Jack Wilshere finished the game in the 90th minute to temporarily put Arsenal top.
They were probably hoping Blackburn would give United a good fight. If they were, they would havebeen bitterly disappointed. http://bit.ly/hxBxSi (Goals)

Manchester United grabbed 7 goals in a 7 - 1 win against Blackburn in which Dimitar Berbatov - the guy who hadn't scored since his hat-trick against Liverpool, and was said to be preparing to be sold by United in the summer - scored 5 goals. Luis Nani and Ji Sung Park scored the others, but Berbatov grabbed the match ball in delight (or his composed version of it) at the end of the game in a match that shoots his goal tally up to 11 for the season and fires Manchester United up to the top of the Premier League with a dramatically increased goal difference. (Goals) http://bit.ly/hxBxSi

Carlos Tevez announced once again that he was unhappy playing football, but Manchester City hoped to put this aside and roll over Stoke City at the Brittania. They almost won too, as Micah Richards scored from 12 yards out inthe 81st minute. But Matthew Etherington slotted home after a nice move in the ninetirth minute to crush City's hopes and squeeze a point from the game.

The other results today included a win from West Ham against relegation rivals Wigan for a precious three points, a Bolton comeback from two goals down against Blackpool, a Wolves - Sunderland thriller where Ebanks-Blake scored in the 89th minute to take the three points, and a Fulham - Birmingham draw. 2 red cards and 5 goals in the match between Everton and West Brom saw the Toffees lose their cool, and lose Arteta in a 58 minute stamp on Jara.

The full list of results are as follows:

Aston Villa 2 - 4 Arsenal

Bolton 2 - 2 Blackpool

Manchester United 7 - 1 Blackburn

Everton 1 - 4 West Brom

Fulham 1 - 1 Birmingham

Stoke 1 - 1 Manchester City

West Ham 3 - 1 Wigan

Wolves 3 - 2 Sunderland

Evertons Heitinga wants to join Bayern Munich

Looking Elsewhere: Heitinga

One way of putting a massive metaphorical question mark over the top of your head, as well as giving your passionate fans a reason to take a bit of a disliking to you, is to claim, whilst still playing for Everton, that you rather wouldn't be.

But that is what John Heitinga has done, as he said

 "I have to admit that I feel flattered that I’m being linked with a big club such as Bayern - I’d definitely be interested in joining them.They play Champions League football and I’m still eligible to play in the competition, since we don’t play European football with Everton. 'Every footballer wants to reach the top and I’m already 27. So this could be the right moment."

He went on to say that familiar phrase which became Cristiano Ronaldo's catchphrase in the couple of years build up to him joining Real Madrid; "You never know what will happen, especially in the world of football".

It is very risky business, considering he admits himself that Bayern Munich have not contacted him or Everton at all about a possible future transfer. It seems that "being linked" to Bayern Munich is purely based on rumour, so John Heitinga may not be a fan favourite come the weekend Mersyside derby, in which both Liverpool and Everton are in dire need of points.

Ferguson has no regrets, But Moyes does.

Sir Alex Ferguson has said today that he has no regrets about leaving Wayne Rooney out of the Manchester United side that played Everton on Saturday, in which United threw away a 3-1 advantage to draw 3-3 in the final minutes.

 I have no regrets - I did the right thing. And I have no concerns about playing him tomorrow [against Rangers] at all.

Why should he have regrets? He left Rooney out, and with good reason. It would have been a big risk playing Rooney with him either rising to the occasion, or doing completely the opposite and buckling under the pressure in front of his heckling former fans and do something stupid. It wasn't a risk worth taking and Ferguson knew it. He made sure nothing controversial would happen by not naming him in the squad against bitter fans who hate Rooney whatever he does.
Ferguson also proved that Rooney can be left out of the squad, and Manchester United still score goals. Three goals against Everton is a very good total, as they have (most of the time) confident, solid defenders as well as an experienced midfield. Relatively new England defensive rock Jagielka along with Distin, in front of the former Manchester United keeper Tim Howard, who made some fantastic stops to save his team from losing are usually tough to crack, but United banged in three passed them through Fletcher, Vidic (both from crosses) and Berbatov - thanks to another marvellous pass from Paul Scholes.

Three goals without your top striker isn't half bad is it?

Now to Moyes. Fuelled with enormous amounts of adrenaline as his eyes popped out of his head (yes, even more) watching his side blast two goals in the final few minutes of the game against United, he raced onto the pitch as the referee, Martin Atkinson blew the whistle just as Everton burst into the United penalty area on the attack, looking for the winning goal. Along with his assistant Steve Round,

shouting all sorts of abuse at the referee,  they went a bit over the top, and Martin Atkinson remembered the gist of what they were saying (or bawling) at him, and recorded it in his report of the match.

FA Chiefs have since decided to punish Moyes and his sidekick with improper conduct and fine them both £8000.

The Scottish Moyes may or may not (probably not) be cheered up by the fact that Manchester United play the Scottish side Rangers on Tuesday where Rooney will play - fit and raring to go after a weeks rest and give a mind blowing performance to win his fans back after a terrible few weeks in his personal -
but quite public private life