OSG Prem: ManCity Closer, Sunderland Even Closer Than That

((HT: BPL on NBCSN/BBC Sport))

It took an hour, but Manchester City finally got the best of Aston Villa and poured it on in the last 30 for a 4-0 win at home setting up the idea that they'll only need a point Sunday in the game against West Ham.

Dzeko scored the first two and then, Jovetic and Yaya Toure scored in the last five minutes for a clinical and professional win.

Here's your highlights...


And just so you know, Yaya Toure's goal now makes him just the second central midfielder to score 20 or more goals in a single EPL season.

At the other side of the table, Sunderland decided to put it all to rest as they scored a 2-0 win over West Brom. The Black Cats were at the bottom of the table at Christmas and have claimed safety with a game to spare. A lot of assistance came from Liverpool loanee Fabio Borini


In reality, Norwich is relegated even with a win on Sunday since the goal differential with the Baggies is substantial. West Brom plays Stoke in a game that should be low-scoring. Norwich hosts Arsenal.

OSG Prem: Chelsea Down To 9 Men, Loses At Villa- The Race Tightens

((HT: BPL on NBC/Sky Sports))

How do you say everything by saying nothing...???

You're Chelsea manager Jose Mourinho in your post-match q-and-a after losing a shocker at Villa Park...

Fabien Delph scored the only goal in the 1-0 win that compresses the Premier League table all over again with Arsenal and Liverpool playing Sunday and Man City with three games in hand down only 6 points...


The Blues were handed to red cards- Willian (which was somewhat questionable) and Ramires (which was reckless in his challenge of El Ahmedi). So, once Ramires got his sending off Mourinho wanted to ask questions... he never got the opportunity since he claims referee Chris Foy wouldn't even talk to him.

Afterwards, the Chosen One chose his words...


So, everything compresses...

10-man Man City beat Hull City 2-0
Seamus Coleman broke out a flop shot to help Everton beat Cardiff 2-1
Fulham got a huge win for their hopes to stay up beating Newcastle 1-0
Southampton put up 4 in a win over Norwich
Stoke put up 3 in a win over West Ham- despite Andy Carroll's return
Sunderland and Crystal Palace had a scoreless draw and solved nothing for 17th and 18th in the table
And West Brom got a huge 3 points in stealing a win at Liberty Stadium to defeat Swansea

So, the two big match-ups tomorrow will sort out just how close the top of the table will be and, maybe, Mourinho was right. He's not the favorite after all...

OSG Prem: Manchester Is Not A Happy Town...

((HT: NBCSN/BPL))

It was one of those days in the Premier League...

If you thought you knew what was going to happen, you were proven very, very wrong...

Kinda like this event happening...


Manchester United lost to West Brom for the first time in the history of the League (in its current form) at Old Trafford and caused manager David Moyes a great deal of consternation- not to mention the fan base...

"Disappointing performance, disappointing result. We never really got up to speed," Moyes said postgame. "We had a few chances, but West Brom held their shape and defended well. They always looked a threat on the break, in the first half especially and even more so in the second half. We missed that spark and West Brom deserved it no question. I can't argue with that."

Here's your proof...


And on the other side of town... Man City, at times looking either uninspired, unmotivated, or both... had a 1-0 lead at Villa Park, and then the world seemed to implode around them in their LOSS to Aston Villa...

Manager Manuel Pellegrini was, naturally, disappointed and the loss was hard to take:

"Yes, very hard because I think today we played very well - not the way we played against Cardiff, or against Stoke. I think today we play well. We deserved another goal, but the score says something different. In general, I was very happy with how my team played today.

"Twice we had the advantage in the score, but in five minutes we did two things that threw away all we did in the rest of the game. But football is like that and you must concentrate for 90 minutes."

That... here's your evidence...

Soccer Player Gets Death Threats For Injuring Wanna Be Soccer Player

((HT: Fox Soccer/BT Sport))

Charity matches are what charity matches are...

The opportunity for wanna be's and never were's to match their egos with the abilities of actual soccer players...

Celtic and Stilyan Petrov each put sides together for a charity match at Celtic Park...

Gabby Agbonlahor challenged One Direction's Louis Tomlinson for the ball and...

Here's the play...


Now, Agbonlahor is getting death threats on the Twitter for the tackle... and, admittedly, the HQ has BARELY heard of One Direction...

This, we can file into the "Get A Life" file...
Like, yesterday...

OSG Prem: Mourinho Chases Lambert In Postgame

((HT: BPL/NBCSN))

The Villa-Chelsea match will be more known for a couple of events on the pitch than anything else...

Should Ivanovic have been given a red card for his elbowing of Benteke for the challenge in the air...???
Should Villa have been given a stoppage time PK for a John Terry hand ball in the box...???

Answers are, probably, yes and yes...

Either way... Villa comes away from their first two matches with three points instead of four and Jose Mourinho decided to do some verbal jousting on his counterpart, Paul Lambert, in the postgame interview...

Evidence below...


It will be an interesting season if business picks up the way it has already...

OSG Prem: Chelsea To UCL, Lampard Sets Record

((HT: Sky Sports/BPL))

It took a while but Chelsea midfielder Frank Lampard became the leading goal scorer in club history with two markers against Aston Villa in the 2-1 win at Villa Park.

The game, pretty much, featured everything- goals, reds (on both sides with Benteke and Ramires), the reinforcement for goal line technology (on a tap in by Demba Ba that wasn't called- in the end, it didn't matter, but it's the principle of the thing...), injuries to both Eden Hazard (hamstring) and John Terry (ankle) that jeopardize their playing for Chelsea in the Europa League final this week against Benfica, and Lampard setting the new record...

Did we miss anything...???

Here's the 203rd goal of Lampard's Chelsea career...


He goes one clear of Bobby Tambling for the top and now speculation begins as to how many of the old guard in Chelsea's current roster stay at season's end. Terry and Lampard, as well as current caretaker manager Rafa Benitez, are all thought of as gone because of what owner Roman Abramovich thought of as not letting Andres Villas-Boas implement his younger players and style effectively (and soon) enough when he was in charge.

If Mourinho arrives, some think Lampard stays. But he is still linked to a new life with Robbie Keane as an LA Galaxy DP if no one picks him up.

Here's the full highlight run...

OSG Prem: Wigan Fights Another Day, So Does Villa...

((HT: Fox Soccer))

These late season heroics for the Latics of Wigan are nothing new and solidify why manager Roberto Martinez deserves a fate better than going prematurely gray every year befoer surviving at the end...

This week, in another must-win situation on the road at West Brom, Callum McManaman (who has been known more for his tackling than his goal striking this season), puts it in the back of the net in the 80th minute for another late game win and another vitally vital three points.

Evidence below...


Wigan are now only two points from escaping relegation (again) at 35 points. Sunderland is next up at 37. Newcastle and Norwich (who lost at home to Aston Villa) are at 38. Southhampton are at 39. Everyone else is at the 40 point plateau- the number long thought of as being safety in Premier League competition.

ManU Clinches Prem Title Easily... And The HQ Means "Easily..."

((HT: Fox Sports/EPL))

Manchester United decided to put Man City and everyone else out of their misery by blowing out Aston Villa at home to win the Premier League crown after losing out on the last day of the season in 2012.

It took Robin van Persie the sum total of 33 minutes to score a frigging hat trick- the second goal (eventually seen below) was a thing of beauty involving Wayne Rooney and the ball rarely touching the turf...

Here's the highlights that have a lot of van Persie in them...


Arsene Wenger and Arsenal got to see first-hand just how much a healthy RvP can impact a franchise- good enough to give the Reds their 20th title in history. Sir Alex Ferguson and Manchester United have won 13 of the 21 Premier League titles. And this is the earliest a club has clinched the trophy since Manchester United on April 14, 2001.

Naturally...

If ManU wins out, they could break Chelsea's points record of 95 in 2004-05.

And don't think that is not on the team's mind or anything...

OSG Prem: Lowton Gives Villa Hope

((HT: Fox Sports/EPL))

There's no way to couch it...

Aston Villa needs help to stay up in the Premier League this season...

Reading is in dire straits today after a 2-0 loss to Southampton. They're tied with QPR with 23 points. Wigan is the third team in the drop zone at present with 30 and Sunderland (with their new allegedly Fascist manager Paolo diCanio) only one point higher- Villa needed to do something on the road at Stoke...

They did... with some help from Matthew Lowton... and Benteke after that...

Here's the cracker from distance...

It Was A Weird FA Day: Norwich and QPR Go Down

And, that, really is the only way we can describe it...

It was the 4th Round of the All-In tournament known as one of the most prestigious tourneys in all of British football...

And the All-in moniker came back to bite a few Premier League teams Saturday...

Blue Square Bet Premier League side Luton Town knocked off Norwich- who really have some pressing matters now... and it wouldn't surprise the HQ if Canaries manager Chris Hughton is on borrowed time...

It's the first time in 27 years that a non-league side knocked off a bigger squad...
((HT: FACup/lovefootballworld))


Elsewhere, MK Dons knocked off QPR (and we all know how 'arry Redknapp took to that), and the day before when Millwall beat Aston Villa 2-1 the HQ wonders just how much longer Paul Lambert will be around as Villa's boss.

Here was their celebration- after they chucked beer bottles at the Villa players...

OSG Prem: Chelsea Lights Up Villa For 8

((HT: SkySports/youtube))

Here's the full list of the assault on Aston Villa by Chelsea today at Stamford Bridge...

Fernando Torres (3)
David Luiz (29)
Branislav Ivanovic (34)
Frank Lampard (58)
Ramires (75, 90+1)
Oscar (PK 79)
Edin Hazard (83)

But eight goals...??? Eight...???

American goalie Brad Guzan was certainly shell-shocked and Aston Villa looked like they were, completely, outclassed the whole day. The end result gives Villa the worst goal differential of all the clubs near relegation (-17), one worse than Reading and QPR.

Chelsea is now tied in goal differential with both City and United at (+19), two points clear of Arsenal for third place.

Aston Villa manager Paul Lambert was really honest about it: “We were second best. We have to hold our hands hold our hands up, we never turned up; at this level we can't play like that. We always learn, it will certainly be a wake-up call its been going fine for us and it is only Chelsea and the two Manchester clubs that have turned us over, we will bounce back."

The whole notion of offense at Chelsea was somewhat foreign to fans under the new Rafa Benitez administration, and the move of David Luiz to midfield seemed to be something of a catalyst today.

Here's all eight goals, while it lasts...
((HT: FoxSoccer))


Next games are the day after Christmas...