LIVE! EPL on Injury Time

It’s a massive game in regards to both the title race and the race for fourth in the English Premier League. It’s pretty simple for United; beat City and keep title aspirations alive, lose, and all but hand the title to Chelsea. Meanwhile for City, this is a chance to show the world that it is keen to officially end United’s late dominance over them, and break that elusive ‘big four’. It’s a huge game in the context of the league, so join us at approx. 9.40pm for this one!!

Also, if you have any thoughts, feel free to email us at gordon@injurytime.net!!

The LIVE! commentary of the game is located at the bottom of this page.

Of course, as always, you can email any of your thoughts to gordon@injurytime.net , we’d love to hear from you!

Can Everton pull out another rabbit?

Last time they met?

Manchester United 3 – 0 Everton

Everton

Form (least recent to most recent):

All-Competitions; WWLWW

EPL; WWWLW

Everton look to have fully recovered from their terrible start to the season as they push for more success in qualifying for Europe. The come-from-behind victory against table-topping Chelsea last time out will provide enormous confidence as will a midweek victory in Europe. However, they are missing the inspirational Tim Cahill.

Players to Watch:

Louis Saha – The Frenchman has had the Midas touch of late, well except for that penalty. He hasn’t dropped his head after failures and is looking more and more like the target striker he was at his days with the opposition. The re-born striker will be looking for revenge against his old club.

Steven Pienaar – Pienaar returns from the suspension he got after seeing red at Liverpool, and one thinks the South African will be fired up after missing the win over Chelsea. Fresh after pledging his commitment to the club he loves, the diminutive midfielder will be looking for a big game.

Stat of the Day:

Everton have kept only three clean sheet’s in 2010, however two of those three have come at home.

Manchester United

Form (least recent to most recent):

All-Competitions; WWWDW

EPL; WWWWD

Manchester United are in great form coming into this game, and will fancy themselves being top of the crop by the end of it. Wayne Rooney is in unstoppable form, and their midweek win over AC Milan in Italy will give them confidence. However, will fatigue become a factor?

Players to Watch:

Wayne Rooney – Obvious decision. The talisman has netted an amazing 10 goals in as many games this year and you’d have to be a brave man to bet against him in any match. If he exploit an at times weak Everton back line, he could notch another one to the tally.

Antonio Valencia / Nani -  Both of these lads are fighting for CR7′s old right wing spot, and it seems each week, one outplays the other. A few weeks ago Nani was magnificent against Arsenal, but his crossing was poor at Milan midweek, all for Valencia to replace him after sixty-four minutes and deliver a peach of a delivery for Rooney’s first goal of the game. It’ll be interesting to see who get’s the start.

Stat of the Day:

United are undefeated in the League in 2010 and their last defeat came at the hands of Fulham on December 19th.

My Pick?

I think it’ll be a close game, both in reasonable form and Everton are at home, but I think United will have just a little too much class. I think Everton might take the lead, but United to fight back and take it, but I’d love to be proven wrong! Manchester United 2-1 Everton.

Credit to Birmingham, it was another impressive display in solid campaign thus far. They were unlucky not to get a point at Manchester United and had Arsenal nervous at the Emirates. But whilst they might have only got one point from the three matches, they’ve earned some respect.

Benitez finally found his first goal, while Jerome is proving some talent. However, the defence does need some work, especially after that first goal. But to get a draw at Anfield is a result one would think they would always take

However, it was Ngog’s theatrics to set up Gerrard’s equalizer was the big talking point post-game. If Eduardo’s dive in the Champions League was clear-cut, this was blatantly obvious. Ngog rounded Lee Carsley but fell to the ground as the defender slid in.

But Liverpool now sit eleven points behind Chelsea and are in genuine danger of missing the top four, much like Arsenal were at this stage last year.

In other news, the big game of the weekend was the Chelsea v Manchester United match blockbuster. Well it didn’t exactly live up to some of the other big games of the season, but after Chelsea were outplayed by United for most of the match, John Terry popped up for an invaluable goal.

The victory puts Chelsea in a great position as the clubs go into the international break with a five point gap separating them and closest rivals, Arsenal. The Gunners though do have a game in hand and have been in scintillating form since losing to the two Manchester side’s early in the season.

The Red and White’s smashed another four past Wolves on the weekend in a demanding performance. Wolves looked promising early, but once Arsenal got into their rhythm, the game was dead. First half own goals and a classic Arsenal goal through Fabregas seemed to seal things. Arshavin added a fourth until Wolves grabbed a consolation via Craddock.

Arsenal’s maturity is starting to become more evident after their contrasting previous seasons. The only thing opponents seem to be getting from the Gunners lately are consolation goals, and what will please the fans is that they have found the equation of how to kill of games after the 2-2 draw with West Ham a few weeks ago.

Arsenal and Chelsea’s good form sets up a blockbuster at the Emirates Stadium on 29^th November.

Burnley, meanwhile, picked up their first away point of the season with a come from behind 3-3 draw with Manchester City. However, the Clarets would have fancied their first away win after jumping to a 2-0 lead.  But in the space of fifteen minutes, between the 43^rd and 58^th, City went from 2-0 down, to 3-2 leaders. It seemed as if they’d come away with the points, but with four minutes left McDonald equalised to grab a point.

After a 3-0 loss to Arsenal last week, Tottenham bounced back to winnings ways against Sunderland in a 2-0 victory. Former White Heart Land strike Darren Bent returned to Spurs seeking to find his impressive goal scoring attributes he had already showcased this season. After Robbie Keane gave Spurs an early lead, Bent got his chance to take revenge on his old club with a penalty. It appeared to be a soft foul be Gomes, who got a yellow card for his efforts. But perhaps equalling the ledger, Gomes saved the striker’s attempt and sixteen minutes later Huddlestone secured victory with a solid strike.

Hull took some more weight of Phil Brown’s shoulders as Vennegoor of Hesselink produced a 90^th-minute goal to give the Tigers a 2-1 victory over Stoke. Already missing Geovanni, the task became harder when Mathew Etherington gave Stoke the lead. However the Tigers rallied and after equalizing through Olofinjana, the sending off of usually reliable defender Faye turned the momentum. As time was running out, Bullard pulled the trigger from distance, but Sorensen was only able to parry into the path of Hesselink for an easy tap in.

Elsewhere, Villa thrashed Bolton; unlucky West Ham went down to Everton, Blackburn made light work of Portsmouth, whilst Fulham and Wigan shared the points.