As always, we’d love to hear your thoughts on this evening’s action. E-mail paul@thescore.ie, tweet @thescore_ie, post a message to our Facebook wall, or leave a comment below.
Results:
Man City 2-1 Chelsea
Tottenham 1-1 Stoke
Everton 0-1 Arsenal
QPR 3-2 Liverpool
Welcome to this evening’s liveblog. We’ll be following Man City v Chelsea tonight, while also keeping an eye on the rest of the evening’s Premier League fixtures.
Here are all of tonight’s teams:
Everton v Arsenal (20:00)
Everton: Howard, Hibbert, Heitinga, Distin, Baines, Pienaar, Fellaini, Osman, Drenthe, Cahill, Jelavic. Subs: Mucha, Jagielka, Stracqualursi, McFadden, Neville, Gueye, Anichebe.
Arsenal: Szczesny, Sagna, Vermaelen, Koscielny, Gibbs, Walcott, Arteta, Song, Ramsey, Rosicky, van Persie. Subs: Fabianski, Andre Santos, Oxlade-Chamberlain, Djourou, Gervinho, Chamakh, Benayoun.
QPR v Liverpool (20:00)
QPR: Kenny, Young, Onuoha, Ferdinand, Traore, Barton, Derry, Diakite, Taarabt, Zamora, Cisse. Subs: Cerny, Gabbidon, Bothroyd, Mackie, Buzsaky, Wright-Phillips, Taiwo.
Liverpool: Reina, Kelly, Carragher, Skrtel, Jose Enrique, Kuyt, Spearing, Adam, Downing, Gerrard, Suarez. Subs: Doni, Aurelio, Carroll, Henderson, Coates, Shelvey, Flanagan.
Manchester City v Chelsea (19:45)
Man City: Hart, Zabaleta, Richards, Toure, Clichy, Silva, Toure Yaya, De Jong, Nasri, Aguero, Balotelli. Subs: Pantilimon, Milner, Dzeko, Kolarov, Savic, Barry, Tevez.
Chelsea: Cech, Ivanovic, Luiz, Cahill, Cole, Mikel, Meireles, Ramires, Lampard, Mata, Torres. Subs: Turnbull, Essien, Drogba, Malouda, Bosingwa, Kalou, Sturridge.
Tottenham v Stoke (19:45)
Tottenham: Friedel, Walker, Kaboul, King, Assou-Ekotto, Kranjcar, Parker, Modric, Bale, Van der Vaart, Saha. Subs: Cudicini, Giovani, Defoe, Rose, Livermore, Sandro, Nelsen.
Stoke: Begovic, Wilkinson, Huth, Shawcross, Wilson, Pennant, Palacios, Diao, Jerome, Walters, Crouch. Subs: Sorensen, Whelan, Jones, Whitehead, Upson, Delap, Shotton.
It’s been a bright start from City. They’ve had two corners in succession already.
Joe Hart’s kicking has been less than assured so far. The ex-Shrewsbury man has wildly sliced the ball twice now.
Nasri latches on to a through ball and lobs it over Cech, but the ball hits the cross bar and is subsequently cleared away to safety. That’s a let off for the visitors.
Toure makes a characteristic surging run forward and plays it to Nasri, whose cross is cleared away for a corner in desperation by Luiz. Chelsea look very vulnerable at the moment.
Another surging run and a bit of skill too from Yaya Toure to get past Frank Lampard. He is subsequently nudged and falls down in the box, but the ref waves play on.
As the cliché decrees, Lampard would’ve been penalised if the challenge wasn’t inside the penalty area.
Branislav Ivanovic, who had been limping, has come off injured. Jose Bosingwa replaces him.
Elsewhere tonight, a Thomas Vermaelen header has given Arsenal the lead against Everton.
Some nice build-up play from City, and Samir Nasri is ultimately given space and time to hit a powerful shot just over the bar from at least 30 yards out.
A really sloppy pass from Lampard plays Balotelli through on goal, but Cech palms it out for a corner. The Italian probably should have scored there.
Torres is playing reasonably well so far, perhaps due to the confident boost that his recent goals will have presumably given him.
Of course, just as I type that, he gives the ball away.
More decent build-up play from City, but the move ends when Aguero’s ambitious attempt a bicycle kick fails to pay dividends, and his effort goes well over.
City seem to have caught Arsenal-itis, i.e. they’re trying to pass it into the net.
Half-time, and there’s been few surprises. City, being the home team, have adopted a more attacking approach than Chelsea, and consequently, they’ve had the better of the first-half chances.
Chelsea, meanwhile, have defended very well for the most part, particularly when you consider that they’re without John Terry.
It’s also 0-0 in the other 7.45pm kick-off between Tottenham and Stoke – good news for Chelsea and Arsenal fans if it stays that way.
Will the little Argentinian (or indeed Gareth Barry) be the answer to City’s prayers?
(David Davies/PA Wire/Press Association Images)
The second half is underway and City have made one change: Gareth Barry has come on for Balotelli. Hardly a case of Mancini making a change to win the game, but you never know, it might just be crazy enough to work.
Again, it’s been a positive start to the half from City. But again, they seem to lack a cutting edge, as Nasri fires well over from the edge of the box.
A Gary Cahill shot following a Chelsea corner takes a wicked deflection and goes in. The visitors lead, against the run of play.
Meanwhile, Tevez has come on for City to a warm ovation – a lot can change in the space of a few months.
Aguero confidently slots the penalty away, after Essien is penalised for handball.
And in another of tonight’s games, Stoke have taken a surprise lead against Tottenham.
At the risk of tempting fate, only one side looks like winning at the moment – City are very much in the ascendancy.
Beautiful through ball from Tevez to play through Nasri, who coolly slots it into the corner of the net.
Bad news for Liverpool fans – Cisse has just equalised for QPR. Are Liverpool the most inconsistent side in the Premier League?
Roberto Mancini says City “deserved to win” the game and claims “it’s more than three points”. Sky chose not to mention Tevez in the interview, curiously.
Some small consolation for Liverpool fans:
Is it just me or is Dalglish just not up to it. Go get mourinho.
You cant polish a turd but you CAN roll it in glitter.
Keep King Kenny.
Liverpool are bloody useless. Ahahahahahaha :-)
3 goals in 12 minutes lol. QPR big team though! King Penny is the best.
When your 4 “big” signings are from mid table teams-you get mid table results-simples
Europa league for tottenham!! #mindthegap
Shaun Derry running the show against the pool….you couldn’t make this up