EPL
The Premier League relegation race got much tighter, while the leaders from Liverpool separated from their chasers.
Crystal Palace secured their 3rd successive victory over Aston Villa, who look in serious danger now. Fulham also kept their momentum rolling after beating Norwich. Cardiff secured an unlikely 3 points at Southampton to keep their survival hopes alive. West Brom, the masters of the Premier League draw, managed to snatch another from the jaws of victory after going 3-nil up in the first 30 minutes against Tottenham. And a Wes Brown own goal probably put the final nail in Sunderland's coffin at the bottom of the league.
Combine these results with Chelsea's 1-nil victory over Swansea today and the bottom of the table looks like this:
14. Aston Villa - 33 Played - 34 Points
15. Swansea - 34 Played - 33 Points
16. West Brom - 33 Played - 33 Points
17. Norwich - 34 Played - 32 Points
18. Fulham - 34 Played - 30 Points
19. Cardiff - 34 Played - 29 Points
20. Sunderland - 32 Played - 25 Points
Norwich's remaining matches are all against teams in the top 7. They look almost as doomed as Sunderland. But Swansea, West Brom, and Villa should all be looking over their shoulders nervously as well. As I mentioned on last week's relegation rundown, both Fulham and Cardiff have favorable schedules remaining against mid-table clubs with little to play for.
Liverpool's 3-2 home victory over Man City has put them 7 points ahead of the Citizens, meaning City could win their remaining two games in hand and still not catch the Reds.
Luis Suarez was booked in the first five minutes, and then proceeded to out-muscle two City defenders and assist Raheem Sterling's opener. Perhaps that gives Suarez too much credit, however. Sterling showed remarkable composure and trickery to catch both Vincent Kompany and Joe Hart leaning the wrong direction and take the lead. Suarez's pass put Sterling in a great position, but Sterling did remarkably well to finish the chance.
Brendan Rogers tweaked his formation and played a 4-3-1-2, giving Sterling a free role behind the two strikers. When Suarez or Sturridge dropped deeper to get the ball, Sterling made run after run in behind the defense, and the City midfield struggled to track back and mark him. It worked incredibly well in the first half. Liverpool created numerous chances and eventually doubled their lead on a corner.
City lost Yaya Toure to injury in the first half, and they were creating very little. Gael Clichy in particular had a terrible half, as he was shrugged off by Suarez in the buildup to the first goal and failed to mark Martin Skrtel on the 2nd. Edin Dzeko probably should have won a penalty after the Bosnian jumped over a Sakho tackle aimed at Dzeko's knees, but the referee called goal kick. At halftime it looked like there could only be one winner. That feeling faded quickly.
James Milner subbed in for Jesus Navas, who struggled to deal with the physicality of the occasion in the first half. Milner made an instant impact, constantly combining with the consistently excellent David Silva to run circles around young John Flanagan and they put the Liverpool defense under constant pressure. Silva scored the first City goal and created the second in a five minute stretch. All of a sudden, it was game on with 30 minutes remaining.
The match got very testy. Suarez was lucky not to be sent off with a second yellow as he flailed to the ground and the referee refused to call a foul. He quite clearly dived, and was lucky to stay on the pitch. Flanagan also got away with some rough challenges in the Liverpool penalty area. Daniel Sturridge was injured and Joe Allen subbed in, hurting Liverpool's attack. City looked the more likely team to win all of a sudden. They brought on Sergio Aguero to finish the job.
And all of a sudden Liverpool took the lead again.
A Liverpool long throw was hurled into the City box and flicked toward Vincent Kompany. Kompany's clearance was terrible, slicing off his foot. Coutinho calmly finished and the Reds secured 3 points.
The referee did quite rightly send off Jordan Henderson for a studs-up challenge late in stoppage time. But then he missed a clear Skrtel handball on City's last possession. It seemed as if the Anfield crowd got the best of the referee today. Liverpool got a majority of the decisions their way.
But give Liverpool some credit, too. Liverpool's dominance in the 1st half should have led to more than just 2 goals. The Reds' ridiculous form continues; they've now taken 34 points from their last 12 matches. Title-winning form in the business end of the season.
City was by far the better team in the 2nd half, and now will have to hope that Liverpool drops points to keep their title dreams alive. That could be much more likely now that Henderson faces a 3-match ban, and will miss the Chelsea match as a result.
Plenty of drama remains at both the top and bottom of the league in the final month.
FA CUP
Lower-league clubs took the lead at Wembley in both semi-finals, only for their Premier League opponents to overcome those deficits and clinch their places in the final.
Hull won in a wide-open 5-3 match after falling behind twice in the first half. Sheffield United got the opener through Jose Baxter, and took the lead once again just minutes after Hull equalized.
Steve Bruce brought on a second striker in the second half, and the Blades struggled mightily to deal with the tactical change. Hull took a 4-2 lead fairly early in the 2nd half, but Sheffield United scored in the 89th minute to put the pressure back on the Tigers. The referee curiously called for just 3 minutes of stoppage time in what was, at that point, a 4-goal half. And David Meyler clinched the match for Hull as Sheffield pushed forward looking for an equalizer.
Hull will face Arsenal in the final. The Gunners went through on penalties after Per Mertesacker made up for his giving away a penalty by scoring the equalizer off a scuffed shot by the excellent Alex Oxlade-Chamberlain.
Lukasz Fabianski has put in some very impressive performances for Arsenal in limited duty this season. He was fantastic in the earlier cup matches against Tottenham, Liverpool, and Everton. He also did remarkably well filling in for Wojcech Szczesny in the Champions League against Bayern after Szczesny was sent off in the 1st leg and suspended for the 2nd.
Yesterday was no different for the oldest of Arsenal's 2 Pole-keepers. Fabianski saved the first two penalties, putting Arsenal in a fantastic position. Mikel Arteta, Kim Kallstrom, Olivier Giroud, and Santi Cazorla all calmly slotted in their penalties to win it like the experienced professionals they are.
In what has been an excruciating spring, the penalty victory brings much needed relief to Arsenal supporters, players, and the manager. Hopefully we can take momentum from this to kick on and put real pressure on Everton in the race for 4th place.
It won't be easy. Everton is flying at the moment. And the Arsenal team does still look fatigued and lacking a cutting edge in attack. We play West Ham in midweek on very short rest after playing 120 minutes at Wembley, and the Hammers will be very well rested after sitting out this weekend.
But with Ramsey and Gibbs back and Koscielny and Ozil reportedly close to rejoining the team, Arsenal may be getting fit at just the right time to pull off a 17th consecutive qualification for Europe's top competition.
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