Thirty-Third Week Premiership Football Conclusions

Only two more weeks to go and there’s still plenty to play for. Another cracking week in the world of Premiership football saw West Ham save their season, Emmanuel Adebayor go out with a whimper at Arsenal and poor officiating decide the Second City derby.

All eyes turn to Anfield. Even without club captain Rio Ferdinand and star striker Wayne Rooney, Manchester United had more than enough to see off the challenge of high-flying Tottenham. A sublime Nani goal sandwiched between two Ryan Giggs penalties, saw United pile the pressure back on Chelsea at the top of the table. But Chelsea rose to the challenge, banging seven past a hapless Stoke side and turning their encounter against Liverpool at Anfield next weekend into the Premiership decider.

West Ham safe but sorry. Coming from behind to secure a critical 3-2 win over Wigan and boost their chances of Premiership survival, Gianfranco Zola‘s side will remain in the top flight if they don’t throw away their +23 goal difference over 18th placed Hull between now and the end of the season. Although celebrations have already begun in East London, this season’s flirt with the drop must not be ignored. In 2003, a fantastic young West Ham side proved you can never be too good to go down. This season however, the Hammers proved you are never too bad to stay up.

Much Ade About Nothing. Arsenal fans welcomed back a few of its old heroes (and villains) on Saturday as Manchester City, fighting for the last Champions League spot, rolled into town. Earlier this season, the same fixture at the Eastlands exploded when Emmanuel Adebayor first stamped on Robin van Persie‘s face and then capped an inspirational performance by running half the length of the pitch to celebrate his goal in front of the travelling Arsenal fans. This time around, incidents were far less frequent with Adebayor starting on the bench and later replacing Patrick Viera (who received a standing ovation) to a chorus of boos.

Ref decides Second City derby. With time running down between Birmingham City and Aston Villa, referee Martin Atkinson ruled a penalty in favour of Villa gifting Martin O’Neill‘s side three crucial points. City defender Roger Johnson‘s perfectly timed tackle on Gabriel Agbonlahor proved the difference between the two teams as James Milner converted the ensuing penalty prolonging Aston Villa‘s challenge for 4th place for another week.

Poor officiating ruins yet another crucial tie