Ashley Young put in a man of the match performance as Manchester United took 3 points away from White Hart Lane this afternoon with a 3-1 victory to remain within 2 points of leader’s City.

Tottenham maintained a lot of possession throughout the first half before Wayne Rooney headed United in front on the stroke of half time with what was the visitor’s first real threat of Brad Friedel’s goal at the time.

Emmanuel Adebayor had earlier had a goal disallowed for a handball when Louis Saha’s shot hit the Togolese who was standing on the goal line. Saha’s shot was heading in. The ex-Manchester United player has now had both Adebayor and Scott Parker (versus Stevenage) prevent him from scoring for his new club in his last three games, whilst he was fortunate Thomas Vermaelen didn’t get the credit for last week’s opener at Arsenal.

Wayne Rooney’s opening goal came a couple yards out when he connected with Ashley Young’s corner that the Spurs defence defended poorly. Kyle Walker the player failing to get in front of Rooney in what was a very basic move.

David de Gea made a wonderful reaction save to prevent Jake Livermore’s deflected attempt going in 6 minutes into the second half. The Spaniard had a good game between the sticks as he continued to show the same form he’s shown over the past couple of weeks; making a total of 5 saves during the game.

Further poor defending from Tottenham lead to United’s second on the hour. A throw-in from Phil Jones squeezed through two defenders to find Nani in the penalty area. The Portuguese winger’s cut back from the byline deflected before finding Ashley Young at the back post who acrobatically volleyed home.

9 minutes later, Ashley Young was given too much time outside the penalty area to collect Patrice Evra’s pass, turn and curl a shot into the top corner from 20 yards, giving Friedel no chance. Young’s only previous Premier League goals prior to today were a brace back in August during the 8-2 demolition of Arsenal.

Jermain Defoe scored a late consolation with a 20 yard effort that caught de Gea unsighted; with Rio Ferdinand seemingly blocking the Spaniard’s sight.

Defensively, Jonny Evans was a rock in the centre, partnering Rio Ferdinand, making 14 total clearances, winning all 3 tackle attempts and both aerial duels. The Northern Irish defender did collect his fifth Premier League yellow card of the season late on.

Wayne Rooney scored his 18th Premier League goal of the season in this game, and another in a big game. He now has 3 versus Arsenal, 3 versus Chelsea, 2 versus Manchester City, 2 versus Tottenham and 2 versus Liverpool in competitive games this season.

Today’s result means Manchester United have now picked up 33 points from a possible 42 away from home this season and the tally of 64 points through 27 games is the most for any side in second position at this stage throughout Premier League history.

Manchester United host Athletic Club on Thursday in the Europa League before hosting West Brom on Sunday in the league. Sir Alex Ferguson’s side do not have a single remaining Saturday Premier League fixture this season.

Stats provided by Opta Sports

In his post-match interview following yesterday’s 1-0 defeat at home to Fulham, Queens Park Rangers Mark Hughes questioned the red card of debutant Samba Diakite.

Speaking to the BBC, Hughes was quoted as saying “things just seem to be conspiring against us” and “I thought he [Diakite] was a little bit unlucky with the second one [yellow card]”.

Full video can be found here: http://www.bbc.co.uk/sport/0/football/17082982

Watching the Match of the Day highlights, Diakite was lucky not to have been sent off earlier, rather than being unlucky to be sent off. The French-born Mali international made a number of lunges, conceding 6 free kicks during the 33 minutes he was on the pitch.

A January loan signing from Ligue 1 side AS Nancy, Diakite successfully won just 1 tackle and viewing the highlights on the BBC, referee Phil Dowd had no choice but to dismiss the QPR player.

Perhaps Mark Hughes could have called him over after the first yellow card and told Diakite to calm down because it was clear to everyone else watching that his new midfielder was a little over-enthusiastic on his debut.

Yesterday’s defeat leaves Queens Park Rangers above the relegation zone only on goal difference; 1 point ahead of Wigan Athletic who foot the table. Mark Hughes’ side host Everton next weekend.

Manchester City were comprehensive 3-0 winners over Blackburn Rovers this evening as they extended their lead at the top of the Premier League to 5 points ahead of Manchester United’s trip to Norwich City on Sunday.

Statistics were overwhelmingly one-sided in favour of the home side, who were 1/5 favourites with the bookmakers before kick-off. Blackburn Rovers didn’t muster an attempt on goal until the 80th minute.

Manchester City had 78% of the possession and amassed 21 shots on goal to Blackburn’s 1. Yaya Toure in particular controlled the game in the middle of the park, completed 100% of his pass attempts in the first half; misplacing just 2 in the second 45 minutes.

Mario Balotelli back from suspension opened the scoring on the half hour mark with a nice finish at the near post following Aleksandar Kolarov’s low left wing cross.

Kolarov was a good provider from the left wing in this game; created 6 opportunities for his team mates, and it was delightful first-time cross from the left wing onto the head of Edin Dzeko for City’s third.

In between, David Silva’s corner was strangely palmed away by Paul Robinson under no pressure, into the path of Sergio Aguero who duly doubled the home side’s lead shortly after the break. Aguero’s 3 other hopeful attempts all failed to test Robinson throughout the game.

Joe Hart kept his 12th Premier League clean sheet of the season with no threat at all from Blackburn who had Yakubu up front on his own with almost no supply throughout the game. The Nigerian who’s scored one league goal in 2012 since scoring a dozen in the first half of the season made just 23 touches in this game, producing 1 tame shot.  All of Manchester City’s outfield players had more touches of the ball than Martin Olsson (45) who had the most for Blackburn.

This result leaves Manchester City 5 points ahead having played 26 games. Manchester United’s game in hand is at Norwich City tomorrow. Next weekend, Manchester City host Bolton Wanderers, who lost 3-0 at Chelsea today.

Statistics provided by Opta Sports

After Robbie Keane’s farewell performance for Aston Villa at Wigan Athletic this afternoon, he waved goodbye to the West Midlands club and followed fellow Major League Soccer stars Thierry Henry and Landon Donovan to return back to the United States following a loan spell back in the English Premier League.

Landon Donovan was the first player to cross the pond this January when he headed from Los Angeles, California to Merseyside, England to switch Galaxy for Everton.

The United States’ all-time national team top goalscorer and third-highest scoring in the history of Major League Soccer had previously spent a spell with Everton in January 2010, scoring twice in ten league appearances.

Previous spells in Europe for Donovan saw him fail to hold a regular first team place or score a single goal at both Bayer Leverkusen (1999-2005) and Bayern Munich (2009/10) in the German Bundesliga.

An agreement made in December 2011 allowed Landon Donovan to join Everton on loan at the start of January during the English Premier League winter transfer window. He was thrown straight into the first team for the Toffees’ league match with Bolton Wanderers. His second debut for the resulted in a 2-1 home loss in which he forced one save from goalkeeper Adam Bogdan.

Everton’s quality of football started to improve with the more games Landon Donovan got under his belt. During his stay in England, Donovan started and completed 9 games, but missed the final opportunity, an FA Cup win over Blackpool due to illness.

By this stage, Donovan and Everton were on a 6-game unbeaten streak, which included a 1-0 win over league leaders Manchester City, and in the American’s final game, a 2-0 victory over Champions League side Chelsea, in what turned out to be his final game before heading back to Los Angeles.

Donovan failed to score a single goal in 7 Premier League games and 2 FA Cup ties, forcing just two saves from goalkeepers in the league. However, the former San Jose Earthquakes goalscorer provided a delightful through ball assist for Victor Anichebe’s equaliser in a 1-1 draw with Aston Villa in mid-January, as well as setting up goals in victories against Manchester City and Chelsea.

The productive performances from Landon Donovan, as he did so 2 years ago in a similar loan spell under David Moyes continued his popularity amongst the supporters.

(Key: MP: Minutes Played GS: Goals Scored SonT: Shots on Target SoffT: Shots off Target AP: Accurate Passes PC: Pass Completion CC: Chances Created A: Assists)

Arsenal legend Thierry Henry made a second return to the Emirates Stadium this season in early January.

The fan favourite previously returned with the New York Red Bulls when they won Emirates Cup at the end of July 2011.

Thierry Henry left Arsenal as a club legend in the summer of 2007 to join Spanish giants Barcelona, where he would go on to lift La Liga title twice and the Champions League trophy for the first time in his career in 2009, starting the final in a 2-0 win over Manchester United.

During his first spell at the club, an eight-year stay, Thierry Henry amassed a club record 174 league goals and a club record 226 goals in all competitions, winning the Premier League crown on two occasions and the FA Cup three times. Since departing, Arsenal have not lifted a single trophy.

Henry’s second debut for the Gunners came as a substitute in an FA Cup third round tie with Leeds United. The script was prepared when Henry made his entrance in the 68th minute with the score at 0-0 and the French World Cup winner duly delivered with his tidy finish with 12 minutes remaining as he lead Arsenal to a 1-0 victory.

Less than a week later, Henry came on as a late substitute but couldn’t prevent Arsenal going down 3-2 in Swansea. In the process, the Liberty Stadium is now the Premier League ground for Thierry Henry to play at but not score.

Thierry Henry scored his first Premier League goal during this loan spell as the final goal of Arsenal’s 7-1 thrashing of Blackburn Rovers on 4 February. A week later, Henry signed off his short Premier League stay with a dramatic 90th minute winner at Sunderland.

Four days later, Henry signed off in a 4-0 thrashing in Milan as Arsenal were all but eliminated from the Champions League at the hands of AC Milan in the second round.

In all, Thierry Henry played 168 minutes and scored 3 goals for Arsenal before heading back to New York.

(Key: MP: Minutes Played GS: Goals Scored SonT: Shots on Target SoffT: Shots off Target AP: Accurate Passes PC: Pass Completion CC: Chances Created A: Assists)

The third loanee to the English Premier League from the MLS, Robbie Keane’s loan ended in a frustrating goalless draw at Wigan Athletic.

Aston Villa are the eight Premier League side Robbie Keane has now played for. His 3 goals during this spell has taken his total up to 126 Premier League goals.

Robbie Keane’s standout performance came during his first start, playing 89 minutes and scoring with both his shots on target, including a 20-yard screamer in off the bar to win the game in the 84th minute.

With Darren Bent as the main figure up front, Keane played behind and involved himself in the game with several short passes throughout each of his games.

Robbie Keane won just 1 of the 7 games he participated in for Aston Villa in 2012, but manager Alex McLeish has said he would like to bring the 31-year old Republic of Ireland international back to Villa Park in the future.

(Key: MP: Minutes Played GS: Goals Scored SonT: Shots on Target SoffT: Shots off Target AP: Accurate Passes PC: Pass Completion CC: Chances Created A: Assists)

Stats provided by Opta Sports

Manchester City were 1-0 winners at Villa Park on Sunday to retake top spot over Manchester United to end the Premier League weekend.

The visitors came into this game with just 2 wins in their last 9 games in all competitions and 1 point behind their local rivals who beat Liverpool 2-1 on Saturday.

Joleon Lescott’s goal midway through the second half was the only difference on the scoresheet in a game that Manchester City were in complete control of until the final minutes.

Richard Dunne had been the only Aston Villa player to force saves out of the England number 1 until the 90th minute when a swivelling Darren Bent produced a quick reaction save from Joe Hart. Carlos Cuellar later headed over a golden chance from 6 yards out. All of these efforts from corners.

Joe Hart has been between the sticks every minute for Manchester City in the Premier League this season, conceding just 19 goals in his 25 matches. The one-time Stuart Pearce signing has kept 11 clean sheets in that time and been forced into 71 saves. Of all the goalkeepers to have played in the Premier League this season, only Anders Lindegaard (180) averages more minutes on the pitch between conceding goals.

Manchester City completed twice as many passes as their 15th placed opponents today but never really tested Shay Given in the Aston Villa goal other than Lescott’s effort. Of the 6 attempts Sergio Aguero had on goal, only 2 produced saves from the former City goalkeeper. Both relatively simple.

David Silva was once again the most creative player on the field. The Spaniard created 6 opportunities for team mates, all of which failed to end up in the back of the net.

After this evening’s African Cup of Nations final between Zambia and Ivory Coast, Yaya and Kolo Toure will be on their way back to Manchester.

Manchester City travel to Porto on Thursday for their Europa League encounter before hosting the Portuguese side 6 days later. Roberto Mancini’s side do not have another game domestically until they host Blackburn Rovers on Saturday 25 February.

Statistics provided by Opta Sports

Fernando Torres has been handed his chance over the past month Didier Drogba’s participation in the African Cup of Nations. However, the £50 million striker has not scored in 2012 and is without a Premier League goal since 24 September – Chelsea’s sixth game of the season.

Once a frequent goalscorer with Liverpool, Torres has had just 5 shots on target in his last 13 league games (730 minutes). That is not a typo.

The Spaniard showed brief signs of improving his form in 2012 when on January 2nd in a 2-1 victory at Wolves, he came deep to collect the ball and play a number of short passes to team mates. However, that’s not his game and Torres failed to force a single save from Wayne Hennessey in that game – the goalkeeper who has been tested the most in the Premier League so far this season. Frank Lampard scored a late winner for the blues who were coming off a 3-1 home thrashing by Aston Villa on New Year’s Eve.

In their next Premier League game it was Fernando Torres’ acrobatic effort that thudded off the bar and rebounded in off Frank Lampard as Chelsea beat Sunderland 1-0. To think after 12 months, Torres may finally be finding his form. We would be wrong. Fernando tested Norwich’s John Ruddy in the same game he toe-poked a great opportunity wide from close range.

Fernando Torres provided a good cross for Juan Mata’s thumping volley during Chelsea’s 3-3 draw with Manchester United last week, but once again failed to force a single save from David de Gea. He also lost possession 12 times.

Here are Fernando Torres’ Premier League statistics since he scored against Swansea City, provided by Opta Sports:

(Key: MP: Minutes Played SonT: Shots on Target SoffT: Shots off Target FKW: Free Kicks Won FC: Fouls Committed LoP: Loss of Possession)

The frustrated striker has picked up more yellow cards (3) than he has scored goals (2) in the Premier League this season too.

Stuart Pearce, the bookmakers second favourite and many England (and Tottenham) fans’ favourite to replace Fabio Capello as the next permanent England manager.

Unfortunately for the 78-time England international, he doesn’t have the credentials to become England manager in my book. And you can throw names like Jürgen Klinsmann, Diego Maradona and Marco van Basten at me and I’ll still defend my case. Here’s why:

Stuart Pearce’s Club Management Record Speaks for Itself

1. Nottingham Forest
Whilst I was busy enjoying Derby County’s 12th place finish in their first season in the Premier League, Nottingham Forest were struggling at the bottom. Frank Clark, who had guided them into the quarter finals of the UEFA Cup (and a humiliating thrashing at the hands of Bayern Munich) the previous season, resigned in December 1996.

In came left back Stuart Pearce as player/manager. Whilst he guided the team to a victory over Arsenal on his debut, and three consecutive victories in January, he would go on to win 1 of 15 after that (albeit with the club’s backroom a bit of a mess and Dave Bassett being appointed as general manager from February). Nottingham Forest finished 20th, becoming the first team to finish bottom of the Premier League twice (and hold the record of 3 times today).

Stuart Pearce duly stepped down and ended his twelve year playing career with the Reds to find new life as Newcastle United’s left back under Kenny Dalglish.

2. Manchester City
Pearce would wait nearly 8 years for another job in management. And it came in March 2005 at Manchester City after the resignation of Kevin Keegan. Pearce had been Keegan’s assistant, so the board gave him the chance for the remaining games (this was before they were rich by the way). He started his career with 4 wins in their remaining 9 games; finishing 8th. That landed the former England captain the job.

In his first full season, with the likes of Ben Thatcher, Danny Mills and Georgios Samaras on the books (he also had David James, Joey Barton, an ageing Andrew Cole, and Richard Dunne), a famous 3-1 victory over Manchester United was recorded, and that was about it really. Manchester City finished 15th and Pearce was still landing a lot of plaudits. The ones I recall were mainly focussed around his touchline antics rather than the football that was being played.

The following season would define Pearce in my eyes. Despite an early season victory over Arsenal there was never any consistency. Ok, three wins on the bounce over the holiday season (1-0 at Sheffield United and West Ham, and 2-1 at home to Everton on New Year’s Day). The brace from Samaras on New Year’s Day would be the last goals Pearce would see as Manchester City boss. No, he was not booted out just yet. But his side failed to score in any of their final 8 games, picking up just 2 points along the way. Home defeats included Blackburn, Reading and Wigan. Although they managed a 0-0 draw with Charlton.

1 win in his final 8 games saw City finish 14th that season. Stuart Pearce’s side managed just 10 goals at home that season and 29 overall (joint-low with bottom place Watford), and was duly sacked at the end of the season, a month before the takeover by Thaksin Shinawatra.

Stuart Pearce’s England under 21 Reign

Before being fired at club level, ‘Psycho’ had taken on the duties of England under 21 coach from February 2007; initially part-time.

His career began with a 2-2 draw with Spain’s under 21s at Pride Park and he would go 2 years undefeated as coach before losing to Ecuador in a friendly. Pearce got the job full-time after guiding the youngsters to the semi-finals of the 2007 European Championships losing 13-12 to the Netherlands (the game where Netherlands equalised in the 89th minute, Steven Taylor played on despite barely being able to walk, and Anton Ferdinand clipped the top of the crossbar with England’s last penalty). Progress to the semi-final in an 8-nation tournament came via 1 victory and 2 draws in the group stage, against the Czech Republic (0-0), Italy (2-2) and Serbia (2-0).

Some of the talent in 2007 included Leighton Baines, Gary Cahill, Joe Hart, Tom Huddlestone, James Milner, Nedum Onuoha and Ashley Young. Ryan Babel, Otman Bakkal, Daniël de Ridder, Royston Drenthe and Gianni Zuiverloon all started for the Dutch in the final.

Qualification for the next tournament, in 2009 was a breeze for Pearce’s side. Managing the under 21 side seemed easy. 6 points over Bulgaria, Ireland and Montenegro in qualifying group earned a playoff match with Wales, which England edged out Wales 5-4 on aggregate and soon enough Pearce was flying the boys out to Sweden in 2009.

Victories over Finland and Spain in the group stage meant Pearce could play the backups in the final group game against the German’s. Both sides played out a 1-1 draw to ensure qualification to the semis, and Pearce even manage to use all 23 squad players by the end of the group too.

England managed to throw away a 3-0 half time lead against the hosts in the semi-final, but fortunately for Pearce and his job, he managed to win one in an England shirt for the first time in his career. Kieran Gibbs got the winner after Joe Hart had scored earlier.

Scott Loach was in goal for the final and as usually the case with Stuart Pearce in an England shirt, the German’s got the better of him. In fact, Germany humiliated England with a 4-0 thrashing in the final. In hindsight, their squad did include Manuel Neuer, Andreas Beck, Benedikt Howedes, Jerome Boateng, Mats Hummels, Sami Khedira and Mesut Özil.

Last summer was the icing on the cake as far as Stuart Pearce’s under 21 side goes. His third major tournament in charge, with arguably his most talented batch of players. And a tournament where the Germans, French and Italians had all failed to qualify.

Despite being battered in terms of possession in the opening game, Danny Welbeck grabbed a late goal to rescue a point for England against Spain. Pearce admitted himself after the game that England needed to improve. He was right on that count, but the team never did improve from there.

England were held 0-0 by Ukraine in their second group game. A victory over Czech Republic in the final group game was required to progress to a third straight semi-final. Leading 1-0 with a couple of minutes remaining, England blew it late on, as often seemed to be the case for Pearce’s boys. Jan Chramosta (I just asked the same three-letter question) equalised in the 89th minute before Tomas Pekhart won the game for the Czech’s in the 94th minute.

After three uninspiring performances and an early exit at Euro 2009, Stuart Pearce remained in charge of the England under 21s (with his assistant Steve Wigley) and still holds that position today. In fact, he also has the job of being the Great Britain manager at the Olympics later this year and is now caretaker manager of England. I wonder if he will turn a job down?

So a manager with 2 League Cup winners medals to his name, a few runners up medals and not a lot else going for him is the second favourite for the England national job. Doesn’t it say something to the FA that our country is in a bit of a mess at the moment? Here’s how their latest meeting went:

I suppose it could be worse… Tony Adams was in line to be Fabio’s assistant before Pearce got the job…

Having been stripped of his captaincy for a second time last week, ongoing rumours of potential international retirement for the Chelsea defender and debates whether he should be going to the European Championships or not, here is how John Terry matches up to 13 other English centre backs competing for a place in the England squad at Euro 2012:

As the table shows, only Ryan Shawcross has played as many Premier League games as the now former England captain this season, and no player has made as many tackles as the 43 John Terry has made for Chelsea in those 22 games.

However, he has been dribbled past on 13 occasions this season; 3 more than his the next closest rival Phil Jones, who has played in central midfield and right back this season; increasing this likelihood. Tottenham’s Ledley King is yet to be dribbled past in 14 games this season.

John Terry’s 7 yellow cards is a joint-Premier League high, with Wigan’s Gary Caldwell through 24 games.

Everton’s Phil Jagielka has been a ball hawk this season; intercepting 46 passes from opponents this season; 2 more than both Terry and his new Chelsea team mate, Gary Cahill. Stoke’s Ryan Shawcross does not fare too well in this category.

Here’s a table to show how these statistics average out per game:

Only Phil Jones (2.2) averages more tackles per game than the Chelsea centre back. Alarmingly, Gary Cahill (0.7) is one of only three players to average less than 1 successful tackle per game.

Michael Dawson averages 2.8 interceptions per game – but the Spurs defender has only played in 5 games so far this season, with Ledley King being fit enough to play in 14 and Younes Kaboul coming into good form this season. Terry fares well in this category also.

Manchester United’s Chris Smalling is committing the most fouls and making the fewest clearances per game of the 14 English players on the list.

Steven Taylor was impressively blocking 2 shots per game before rupturing his Achilles at the start of December.

Statistics certainly aren’t the be all and end all of football, but they make interesting reading. Whether you take them into account or not, I would like to know which 4/5 centre backs you would like Fabio Capello to take with him to Poland/Ukraine in the summer. Please leave your choices with a comment below…

Data provided by Opta Sports

63 hours after a disappointing 0-0 draw at Bolton on Wednesday night, Arsenal improved their performance this lunch time with an emphatic 7-1 dismantling of Blackburn Rovers.

Although pre match odds were an unbackable 1.29, Arsenal turned out to be the safest bet of the day as they cruised to victory. Robin van Persie opened the scoring inside 2 minutes when he broke away from Scott Dann in the middle of the Blackburn defence to tap in from a couple of yards following Theo Walcott’s cross.  This would be the start of the Dutchman’s hat trick.

From the start, Blackburn’s defence was a mess and looked very vulnerable to the attacking combination of van Persie, Walcott and Alex Oxlade-Chamberlain. With the absence of Chris Samba and the departure of Ryan Nelsen, there was no cohesion between the back four fielded by Steve Kean at the Emirates today.

Morten Gamst Pedersen’s equalising free kick after half hour was only ever going to be a consolation. It was Blackburn’s first shot on goal and there was very little to show for after.

2 goals in the space of 3 minutes between van Persie and Oxlade-Chamberlain put Arsenal in a comfortable position before Gael Givet’s straight red card for a nasty lunge on the Dutch striker before half time killed off the game.

Arsenal were 6-1 up just after the hour before they took their foot off the gas. Thierry Henry scored his 175th Premier League goal in stoppage time with help of a big deflection off Scott Dann to complete the rout.

Incredibly, Paul Robinson made just 1 save in this match (from Yossi Benayoun) as Arsenal scored 7 from 8 shots on target. This only makes the goalkeeping stats look even worse for Paul Robinson this season.

On Wednesday night, at the Reebok Stadium produced 4 saves from Bolton’s Adam Bogdan as the Hungarian collected his first Premier League clean sheet. Both Robin van Persie and Alex Oxlade-Chamberlain only forced 1 save from the keeper, whilst firing 3 off target each.

This opening fixture of the Premier League weekend has moved Arsenal up to 5th position, whilst Blackburn remain 19th.

Data provided by Opta Sports