blog.great-save.com

By Danny Wright

With many focusing on the two-horse title race, teams at the bottom of the Premier League provided the bulk of the noteworthy entertainment. Firstly, Fulham were more or less condemned by a more or less full strength Liverpool side. Jermaine Pennant and Peter Crouch recorded a 2-0 win for the Reds, who had one eye on their Champions League semi-final with Chelsea on Tuesday night.

This result was good news for Bolton at least, who hauled themselves out of the drop zone with a surprise 1-0 over Middlesborough at the Riverside. In truth, the home side dominated but Ali Al Habsi kept his side in it with a string of excellent saves. Ross Turnbull, deputising for Mark Schwarzer, made some saves of his own, but he couldn’t kept out Gavin McCann’s close range effort, who tapped home after Gary Cahill’s header had been saved. The win was made even more crucial by Reading’s 3-0 away loss at Arsenal, and Aston Villa’s 5-1 thumping of threatened Birmingham City on Sunday, which dragged Alex McLeish’s men into the dreaded 18th place.

At the other end of the table, Blackburn did their bit to keep the title race open, holding Manchester United to a 1-1 draw at Ewood Park, although many Rovers’ fans felt they deserved all three points. Roque Santa Cruz was the villain who dared to score against United, finishing after 21 minutes, but this only made Carlos Tevez’ late equaliser seem all the more inevitable. The Reds lead Chelsea by three points, with the two sides squaring up next Saturday.

Portsmouth lost ground on Everton in their quest for 5th place and UEFA Cup football, stumbling to a 3-1 away defeat at Manchester City. Darius Vassell cashed in on a mix up between David James and Sylvan Distin, and Martin Petrov’s deflected effort doubled the advantage. John Utaka reduced the arrears with an offside looking goal, only for Herman Hreidarsson to get himself sent off for hauling Vassell down through on goal. Benjani sealed the win late in the game, his muted celebration a tribute to his former club.

Newcastle saw off Sunderland 2-0 in the Tyne Wear derby thanks to Michael Owen’s fine brace, meanwhile Wigan edged closer to safety with a 1-1 draw at home to Tottenham, Emile Heskey’s second goal in a week proving enough to cancel out Dimitar Berbatov’s opener. Relegated Derby went down 2-1 at West Ham in the other dead rubber match.