League leaders Arsenal were held to a 1-1 draw at the Emirates by Everton in a thrilling encounter.
The Toffees enjoyed more possession as they took the game to their hosts but neither side managed to create any convincing chances until the 43rd minute when Olivier Giroud was sent through but Tim Howard was quick to come off his line and make a crucial block. He was on hand yet again in injury time to deny Aaron Ramsey after the Welshman had done well to breakthrough into the box. Kieran Gibbs sent a volley wide from a corner after the restart as the Gunners went looking for the opener. Santi Cazorla failed to get enough power on a header after Jack Wilshere had done well to pull the ball back into a dangerous area following Mesut Ozil’s cross from the right. Wojciech Szczesny had to be alert to a counter attack which was spearheaded by Phil Jagielka to palm away Steven Pienaar’s powerful effort. Howard then had to scramble across his line to deny Ramsey at the far post when the midfielder attempted to turn in Gibbs’ cross from the left on the half volley. Szczesny again palmed away Ross Barkley’s shot straight at him after two Arsenal players seemed to leave Pienaar’s attempted cut back for each other to deal with allowing Barkley to get a shot away. Substitute Mathieu Flamini had a chance but sent a low shot wide. Kevin Mirallas was sent through but his shot was deflected out for a corner and Sylvain Distin headed over from the resulting set piece. Arsenal took the lead on 80 minutes when Ozil tapped home from close range after Theo Walcott had headed Tomas Rosicky’s aerial ball into the six yard box. When all three points looked to be in the bag for the Gunners, substitute Gerard Deulofeu hammered home the equaliser in fine fashion. Giroud had the chance to win it in stoppage time but his superb volley crashed against the crossbar.
Chelsea were stunned away at the Britannia when they were beaten 3-2 by Stoke City. Andre Schurrle put the Blues in front on 9 minutes when he did well to twist and turn a couple of times before shooting across Asmir Begovic’s goal. Juan Mata struck a free kick straight at Begovic from a dangerous area and then failed to find Fernando Torres after Jonathan Walters had lost possession. Ramires having missed a chance early on in the game was to blame for three more misses where he should have done better. Walters headed wide Marko Arnautovic’s cross from the left but the leveller came few minutes later when Peter Crouch turned home Arnautovic’s corner. The Potters continued the momentum when they took the lead on 50 minutes. Begovic’s clearance was collected by Walters down the right who in turn found Stephen Ireland and he made no mistake with a curling effort into the far corner. Their lead however was short-lived as Schurrle drew level after Mata’s free kick was cleared poorly by Crouch. He came close to completing his hat trick but his curling effort hit the crossbar. Oussama Assaidi won it for the hosts when he collected Ireland’s pass on the left before cutting in to unleash an unstoppable shot into the top far corner.
Manchester City were held to a 1-1 draw by Southampton at St. Mary’s. City took the lead on 10 minutes when Sergio Aguero turned in Aleksandar Kolarov’s low cross from the left. Kolarov came close to scoring himself soon after but his header went wide from Samir Nasri’s corner. Jack Cork drew a save from Costel Pantilimon with a long distance effort as the Saints went looking for a leveller. Aguero missed a great chance to double the lead when he smashed Pablo Zabaleta’s cut back over the bar. Southampton were looking dangerous going forward and they drew level before the break when Pablo Osvaldo beat Vincent Kompany and Zabaleta before finding the back of the net with a curling effort that dipped in time. Paulo Gazzaniga did well to deny Aguero after which Yaya Toure sent a powerful effort wide. Jay Rodriguez was impressive in attack for the hosts as he created several chances for himself and Osvaldo. Pantilimon had to come off his line to deny the England striker after he had dribbled his way into the box. The rebound fell to Osvaldo but the Italian shot over with just one City player on the goal line. Both sides went looking for the winner but the game ended honours even.
Luis Suarez scored one and created two goals as Liverpool beat West Ham United 4-1 at Anfield. Modibo Maiga had a chance to put the Hammers in front in the first half but his header from Matt Jarvis’ cross was saved well by Simon Mignolet. Liverpool were held back until the 42nd by West Ham who seemed to have got their tactics right. They were unlucky to concede though when Suarez’s shot was not held by Jussi Jaaskelainen and Guy Demel could only turn the ball into his own net. The Reds were two goals to the good 2 minutes after the restart when Mamadou Sakho somehow managed to guide Steven Gerrard’s deep free kick to find the back of the net. Jaaskelainen then did well to deny Raheem Sterling. After Gerrard had gone off injured, the visitors got into the game on 66 minutes when Martin Skrtel turned in Jarvis’ header into his own net. Suarez settled any nerves with less than 10 minutes remaining when he headed in Glen Johnson’s inch perfect cross and the result was beyond any doubt when the Uruguayan’s shot went in off Joey O’Brien’s back to make it four.
Manchester United succumbed to their second consecutive home defeat after more than a decade when they were beaten 1-0 at Old Trafford by Newcastle United. Tim Krul was not disturbed much in the first half as he only had to produce a save to deny Phil Jones. David Gea had to rescue Patrice Evra when he was caught napping which allowed Mathieu Debuchy to get on the end of Loic Remy’s ball but his first time effort was saved brilliantly by the Spaniard. De Gea then saved the Frenchman’s header from close range. Krul had to produce a couple of saves to deny Javier Hernandez and Adnan Januzaj as United piled on the pressure after the restart. Evra’s header from a Nani corner hit the post and also Vurnon Anita’s hand on its way in but a penalty was denied. Another claim for a spot kick was waved off when Cheick Tiote brought down Evra. Yohan Cabaye put the visitors in front when he turned home Moussa Sissoko’s cross to compound the misery on the hosts in the 61st minute. United went looking for the equaliser but were not good enough.
Tottenham Hotspur beat Sunderland 2-1 at the Stadium of Light thanks to John O’Shea’s own goal after Paulinho had cancelled out Adam Johnson’s opener for the Black Cats. Cameron Jerome and Marouane Chamakh scored as Crystal Palace beat Cardiff City 2-0 at Selhurst Park. Gary Hooper and Leroy Fer scored as Norwich City beat West Bromwich Albion 2-0 at the Hawthorns. Steve Sidwell and Dimitar Berbatov scored for Fulham as the Cottagers beat Aston Villa 2-0 at Craven Cottage. Chico Flores’ leveller salvaged a point for Swansea City against Hull City at the Liberty Stadium after Danny Graham had put the Tigers in front and the game ended 1-1.
German Bundesliga
Bayern Munich decimated Werder Bremen in a 7-0 away win thanks to a brace from Franck Ribery and more goals from Daniel Van Buyten, Mario Mandzukic, Thomas Muller and Mario Gotze plus an own goal. Heung-Min Son scored the winner as Bayer Leverkusen beat Borussia Dortmund 1-0 at the Signal Iduna Park. The loss will be the least of Jurgen Klopp’s worries after Sven Bender and Nuri Sahin picked up injuries joining Neven Subotic and Mats Hummels on the sidelines. Borussia Monchengladbach beat Schalke 2-1 at home while Wolfsburg beat Freiburg 3-0 away.
Italian Serie A
Arturo Vidal and Giorgio Chiellini scored as Juventus beat Bologna 2-0 away while Maicon and Mattia Destro scored for AS Roma in a 2-1 home win over Fiorentina. Inter Milan were held to a 3-3 draw at the San Siro by Parma while Napoli had to settle for a point in a 3-3 draw at home against Udinese and AC Milan drew 2-2 away at Livorno.
French Ligue 1
Zlatan Ibrahimovic scored a late brace after goals from Thiago Silva, Ezequiel Lavezzi and Edinson Cavani as Paris Saint-Germain hammered Sochaux 5-0 at home. AS Monaco beat Ajaccio 1-0 at home while Lyon beat Bastia 3-1 away and Marseille were beaten 1-0 at home by Nantes.
Dutch Eredivisie
Ajax Amsterdam 4-0 NAC Breda
AZ Alkmaar 1-2 Twente Enschede
PSV Eindhoven 2-6 Vitesse Arnhem
Heerenveen 1-2 Feyenoord Rotterdam
FC Groningen 1-2 ADO Den Haag
Portuguese Liga
Benfica 2-2 Arouca
FC Porto 2-0 Braga
Gil Vicente 0-2 Sporting Lisbon
Scottish Premiership
Motherwell 0-5 Celtic
Dundee United 4-1 Heart of Midlothian
St Mirren 0-0 Inverness Caledonian Thistle
