EPL 09/10: Chelsea held at Uptown Park and round-up
A tale of two penalties ensued in the capital as Frank Lampard’s controversial second half effort rescued Chelsea a point against a West Ham side who had earlier taken the lead through a spot-kick of their own.
Lampard had a half chance after breaking from deep but his drive from the edge of the box drifted wide, much to the amusement of the Hammers faithful.
Ancelotti had seen enough and after summoning John Obi Mikel and Daniel Sturridge from the substitutes’ bench, it was the latter that changed the course of the game when he went down under Matthew Upson’s challenge inside West Ham’s box within ten minutes of the restart.
The sight of an assistant referee with his flag across his chest had West Ham’s players livid as Upson looked to have played the ball cleanly but Dean concurred and pointed to the penalty spot.
Lampard dispatched but was ordered to retake for infringement from both sides. His second attempt, which Green got close to but could not keep out, was again adjudged to have been illegal.
Unperturbed by the most unusual of interruptions Lampard showed remarkable composure in netting his third spot-kick of the afternoon. This one was allowed to stand, although such controversy could have been avoided had the correct call been made in the first place.
Goals either side of the interval from Nenad Milijas and Kevin Doyle handed Wolves a 2-0 win over Burnley on Sunday, as Mick McCarthy reverted back to a winning formula.
The victory is enough to lift Wolves out of the Premier League relegation zone, while the Clarets’ troubles on the road continue.
Those in attendance at Molineux saw little during an uninspiring first half to raise the temperature, but the hosts did at least have something to shout about after 15 minutes.
Wolves then wrapped things up five minutes into the second half when Doyle outmuscled Steven Caldwell, cut inside Michael Duff and bundled the ball home.
The Clarets did come close to finding a route back into the game just past the hour-mark, but Kevin Foley was on hand to hack off the line when Steven Caldwell met a Chris Eagles corner with a powerful header.
Everton were denied a win at Goodison Park as Birmingham held on for an unlikely 1-1 draw.
The Toffees were dominant throughout but for all their possession they created few clear-cut chances, as City’s good run in the Premier League continues.
Diniyar Bilyaletdinov opened the scoring with a powerful finish in just the fifth minute – Louis Saha chested the ball down from Tony Hibbert’s throw into the path of the Russian, who left Joe Hart with no chance from close range.
But Birmingham scored with their first attack – Seb Larsson finishing precisely into the corner of Tim Howard’s net from the edge of the box – and the away side hung on for a point.
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