The Flat Back Four: 2009/2010 Barclays Premier League Week 12 Review: Defoe and Lennon Can Spur England's World Cup Ambitions

Monday, November 23, 2009

2009/2010 Barclays Premier League Week 12 Review: Defoe and Lennon Can Spur England's World Cup Ambitions

There was only one main highlight of week 12 and that was the unthinkable 9-1 Tottenham-Wigan match. Jermain Defoe scored five goals in a match where Wigan was torn apart by a second half Spurs blitz. He now joins Andy Cole and Alan Shearer in the illustrious ranks of goalscorers who scored five goals in a Premier League match. Aaron Lennon again showed that he could be England's most potent attacking force by creating three assists. Harry Hotspur had this to say about this brilliant Spurs performance.

Liverpool once again disappointed in their defending. They have now conceded 13 goals from setpieces which is the highest among the Premiership "Big 4". That's a staggering 65% of all the goals that the Reds have conceded this season. The Liverpool-Kop was scathing in their opinion on Benitez' tactics against Man City.

Darren Fletcher is slowly but surely becoming as influential and irreplaceable as Roy Keane for Manchester United. That's as big a compliment for the Scottish captain as it can get. Oh wait, maybe he could be even better, I have never seen Roy Keane score the goal "Fletch" scored against Everton. The Stretty Rant blog shared their afterthoughts on the match that moved United back to second behind Chelsea.

Once again, West Ham let a two goal lead slip due to inept defending. As I said in my preview post, Jimmy Bullard needed watching but he ran riot instead. Read the unbiased honest assessment of the Hull-West Ham stalemate as posted by Hammersfan in his blog. The silver lining for Zola is that West Ham is out of the bottom three and there is every possibility, with Franco and Cole, that the Hammers can outscore Burnley at Upton Park.

Arsenal's old weakness resurfaced at the Stadium of Light as Sunderland choked the Arsenal midfield and supply line to Eduardo. Lorik Cana was superb, with crunching tackles and thoughtful ball distribution. Steve Bruce enhanced his reputation with this win, so maybe touting him as Fergie's successor isn't so much a shot in the dark anymore. Disappointment was apparent at the Arsenal FC Blog when they wrote this post on the match.

And finally, the big blue machine of Carlo Ancelotti continue to chug along, taking no prisoners with a methodical 4-0 win against Wolves. Who would it take to stop the Blues? The African Nations Cup, perhaps? The Blue Champions blog speaks highly of the Wolves match, the youngsters and Ancelotti. Who would have thought that Ancelotti would blood youngsters??!!

All the results from Week 12 fixtures,

Saturday, November 21, 2009
Status	Home	Score	Away
FT	Liverpool	2 - 2	Manchester City
FT	Birmingham	1 - 0	Fulham
FT	Burnley	1 - 1	Aston Villa
FT	Chelsea	4 - 0	Wolverhampton Wanderers
FT	Hull City	3 - 3	West Ham United
FT	Sunderland	1 - 0	Arsenal
FT	Manchester United	3 - 0	Everton

Sunday, November 22, 2009
Status	Home	Score	Away
FT	Bolton Wanderers	0 - 2	Blackburn Rovers
FT	Tottenham Hotspur	9 - 1	Wigan Athletic
FT	Stoke City	1 - 0	Portsmouth

Next week will be a bumper weekend. Two explosive derbies on Sunday mean Manchester United will be rubbing their hands and expecting to capitalize on the carnage ahead.