In Premiership action this week, Chelsea beat both Reading and Newcastle at home by a score of 4-2 and 2-0, Manchester City and Liverpool drew 2-2, and Manchester United faced a scared at home against Fulham.
Chelsea faced off against Reading on Wednesday. The game was a thriller, with the Blues having to make a second half comeback. Eden Hazard again drew a penalty, which Frank Lampard again powered past the keeper. Despite the early lead, the first half was all reading. A short, hard cross from Garath McCleary was headed into the goal by Pavel Pogrebynak from about 14 yards out. It was a real stunner, and Chelsea wasn't able to recover from it for a while. After John Terry cynically brought down Jobi McAnoff near the corner of the box, Danny Guthrie hit a free kick into Petr Cech's body, but the Blues keeper wasn't able to hold it and the ball went into the back of the net. After the break, despite dominating possession, the Blues just couldn't get the ball past Adam Federici. Finally, after Daniel Sturridge replaced John Obi Mikel, Gary Cahill of all people hit the ball from about 40 yards out to draw the Londoners to parity. Then came the most controversial moment of the season yet. Juan Mata set up Ashley Cole in the box, after which he hit a tight ball to a clearly offside Fernando Torres. Even Torres knew that he was offside, just barely tapping the ball into the back of the net, despite being two yards away. Although the Reading players didn't have their arms up to alert the linesman, that is no excuse; it's a straightforward call. Branislav Ivanovic scored off an open goal breakaway. Eden Hazard again connected with the Serbian for his second goal. Final score: Chelsea 4-2 Reading.
Manchester United was down early at home to Fulham after a Damien Duff goal. But RVP soon equalised and Shinji Kagawa and Rafael da Silva goals made it 3-1 before half. A Nemanja Vidic own goal in the 64th minute began a long period of Fulham threatning. The West Londoners never eventually did equalise, but Wayne Rooney suffered a gash on his right leg that will sideline him for a month.
Chelsea stayed at Stamford Bridge on Saturday to beat Newcastle 2-0. Fernando Torres drew a penalty in the 22nd minute, and Eden Hazard put it away for his first goal of the season. Then, late in the second half, Hazard supplied Fernando Torres with a pass that the Spainard put away into the top corner. The game ended that way, 2-0.
Many people are now calling Eden Hazard the most influential player this year has seen yet. It is not undeserved; he has had a hand in 7 of Chelsea's 8 goals, drawing 2 penalties, 4 assists and a goal. Perhaps the 32 million pounds were worth it, eh?
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