In the end, it wasn’t quite a perfect day for Alex Ferguson. Having been honoured for 25 years of service and then watched his side claim another creditable 1-0 win, the Manchester United manager was eventually reminded of uncomfortable new realities. At Loftus Road, local rivals Manchester City overcame the absence of Vincent Kompany as well as a cup-tie atmosphere and assault from QPR to win 3-2. The worst thing is that, for so long, it looked like QPR would chip away at City’s five-point lead. In the end, though, Roberto Mancini’s team illustrated the kind of resolve that has characterised Ferguson’s time.
Otherwise, many of the other Premier League games fittingly resorted to type on such a day. After recent rocky periods, both of Arsenal and Chelsea got wins too while Liverpool returned to the erratic form that has frustrated each of their campaigns since 2008-09.
At Old Trafford, in front of the newly-named Sir Alex Ferguson Stand – which the manager claimed he “hadn’t a clue about” – United didn’t quite produce the swashbuckling football that Ferguson has continuously aimed for in his 25 years. But they did maintain the mentality that has defined them.
Danny Welbeck’s header was deflected into the net by United old boy Wes Brown just before half-time to give Ferguson the points. Otherwise, despite a dominant and often dynamic performance from Wayne Rooney in midfield, United largely toiled to victory.
The same could be said for Chelsea who ultimately needed the cross bar to save a 1-0 win against Blackburn Rovers after Frank Lampard had headed the only goal just after half-time. In the closing minutes, Branko Ivanovic headed onto the frame of his own goal. Once again, Andre Villas-Boas’s side were largely disjointed and were hardly commanding. However, given the fact that this their first cleansheet in 10 and first win in three, the result was much more important than the performance.
That wasn’t the case for Arsenal, who combined victory with vigour. Both the team as a whole and the irrepressible Robin van Persie kept up their recent momentum by sweeping aside West Brom. The Dutchman opened the scoring before setting up Mikel Arteta late on, with Thomas Vermaelen scoring in between.Most impressively after such an abysmal start, Arsenal are now level on points with Liverpool who have allowed a few worrying traits to slip into their team. Once again, Kenny Dalglish’s team started like a train only to run out of ideas.
And although they were superb from the 89th to 95th minute, before then they didn’t force a save from Michel Vorm for over an hour. Home draws and dropping points to newly promoted teams are also becoming a worrying trend. Liverpool have now won only three of their last 11 against such sides while this was their fourth draw at Anfield already this season. At times, the team badly lacked drive.
Bucking the trend, of course, were City and Newcastle. At Loftus Road, Jay Bothroyd had the audacity to give QPR a deserved lead through a set-piece – which probably would not have happened had Kompany being playing. But, against the run of play before half-time, Edin Dzeko hit QPR with a sucker-punch. David Silva appeared to complete the turnaround with a typical piece of trickery to make it 2-1 just after half-time, only for Heidur Helguson to divert another Bothroyd header in. But, within minutes, City illustrated their class. Alexandr Kolarov crossed for Yaya Toure to plunder a header.
At St James’s Park, although Newcastle often looked leggy and on the verge of ceding the game to Everton, they held on for a 2-1 win.
Elsewhere, Aston Villa leapfrogged Norwich into eighth with a 3-2 win.
