Sunderland Trophies
Division One winners: 1892, 1893, 1895, 1902, 1913, 1936, 1996, 1999, 2005, 2007
Runners-up: 1894, 1898 1901, 1923, 1935
Division Two winners: 1976
Runners-up: 1964, 1980, 1990
Division Three winners: 1988
FA Cup winners: 1937, 1973
Runners-up: 1913, 1992
League Cup runners-up: 1985
Two second half goals from Yaya Touré kept Manchester City are on the verge of winning their first league title since 1968.
The title race will go down to the last game of the season after Manchester United beat Swansea City 2-0, but it would be a monumental collapse if City did not win the title now.
In a tense match at St. James Park, Newcastle frustrated and harried City for 70 minutes before Yaya Toure broke the deadlock with a superb shot from the edge of the box.
Manchester City FC’s perfect home Premier League record has ended as they needed two late goals to draw 3-3 with Sunderland while Wolves looked a certainty for the drop after losing at home to fellow strugglers Bolton.
City fell behind to a Sebastian Larsson strike on 31 minutes, but Mario Balotelli levelled from the spot but Nicklas Bentner headed Sunderland back in front before the break in a pulsating first-half in Manchester. Larsson then made it 3-1 on the counterattack early in the second half, and it looked like City’s title chances were going to take a serious hit, but two goals in the last five minutes from Balotelli and Aleksandar Kolarov meant that City escaped with a point. Man United Fwho play on Monday can go five points clear at the top with a win.
An exciting clash are set to happen in this year’s FA Cup semifinals as two Derby games will be sparkling at Wembley as Tottenham Hotspurs and Everton advanced to meet Chelsea along with Liverpool, who already qualified earlier.
Spurs went on beating Bolton 3-1 in the replay match, after the tragedy that’s happened for Fabrice Muamba, while the Toffees beat Sunderland 2-0 in the other replayed match.
While a lot of attention was focused on battle for fourth place at Stamford Bridge today, there were some really big wins for teams involved at the other end of the season.
The biggest win of the day had to Wigan Athletic beating Liverpool 2-1 at Anfield. In four days Kenny Dalglish’s side have now lost to teams in the bottom three of the table.
Wigan went ahead whenShaun Maloney calmly converted a penalty on the half-hour mark following a high challenge by Martin Skrtel on Victor Moses.
For all the abuse that Steve Kean has had hurled at him by Rovers fans this season, the Blackburn manager has his side 6 points above the drop zone, albeit with a game more played than their rivals.
Tuesday nights 2-0 win at home against Sunderland was the first time Blackburn have clinched back-to-back victories for the first time since November 2010 and it was also Rovers’ first successive clean sheets since August that year.
It was a day to remember in the Premier League for Didier Drogba and Nikica Jelavić as Drogba’s 100th goal in the Premier League helped Chelsea beat Stoke 1-0, while Jelavic’s goal gave Everton the win over Spurs.
Chelsea struggled all day against 10-man Stoke, who played a man short for 65 minutes after icardo Fuller was given a straight red for a stamp on Chelsea defender Branislav Ivanovic.
It took Chelsea until the 68th minute to break down Stoke and it was Drogba who was the scorer, running on to Juan Mata’s pass, where he rounded Stoke City FC goalkeeper Asmir Begović for the only goal of the game.
Russian clubs’ ability in grabbing several quality players in the last couple seasons apparently attracted Nicklas Bendtner, who thinks that the competition starts to really get interesting with the arrival of several top football stars.
Bendtner who is currently being loaned out by Arsenal, revealed that in the summer, should there’s an offer from one of the Russians outfit, he would definitely give much thought especially if there’s no guarantee at the Gunners.
Manchester City maintained their 100% home record in the Premier League this season with a comfortable 3-0 victory against struggling Blackburn Rovers.
Mario Balotelli made a sustained period of pressure tell for Roberto Mancini’s team, who are five points clear of Manchester United ahead of their trip to Norwich on Sunday, when he turned in Aleksandar Kolarov’s cross after 30 minutes. Sergio Agüero put the game beyond Rover’s reach when he scored in the 52nd minute and Edin Džeko headed in the third, two minutes after coming on.
Manchester City moved three points clear at the top of the Premier League thanks to a convincing 3-0 win at home over Fulham.
Heading into the Fulham match a lot of questions were being asked about a City side that had lost four of their eight matches in 2012, exiting the FA and League Cups and seeing Manchester United draw level with them on points at the top of the Premier League.
Newcastle United are up to fifth in the Premier League after they beat Blackburn Rovers 2-0, while Arsenal‘s poor run of form continues as they were held 0-0 at Bolton.
Newcastle are now just three points behind Chelsea and a UEFA Champions League place as the Magpies leapfrog both Liverpool and Arsenal with the win.
Newcastle took a 12th-minute lead when Blackburn‘s Scott Dann deflected a 25-yard shot from Ryan Taylor past stranded Rovers goalkeeper Paul Robinson. Blackburn, who remain in the bottom three, had a gilt-edged chance to equalise before the break, but David Dunn’s penalty was saved by Tim Krul and the Newcastle keeper blocked Gael Givet’s follow-up.
