Arsenal 7-1 Blackburn: 7 Things We Learned from the Gunners' Win

Arsenal have moved back into Champions League contention after a stunning seven-goal haul against a very poor Blackburn Rovers squad at the Emirates.

Robin van Persie claimed a hat-trick, young starlet Alex Oxlade-Chamberlain bagged a brace with Mikel Arteta and Thierry Henry scoring one each as a rampant Gunners took full advantage over a 10-man Blackburn Rovers team.

The game, played at 13:00 to help Arsenal fans with traffic congestion as the Victoria Tube Line was closed, started off frantically with Robin van Persie scoring after just 90 seconds. Blackburn equalized through a barnstorming free kick from Morten Gamst Pederson, his 10th free kick since August 2005, but after Gael Givet was sent away, there was only ever going to be one winner.

Here we look at seven things we learned from the mauling...

10 Things We Learned From Wayne Rooney vs. Kun Aguero and EPL Week 4

Manchester United and Manchester City dominated proceedings once again as the two sides continued their own private "anything you can do..." battle as both Wayne Rooney and Kun Aguero scored hat-tricks for their respective teams.

Liverpool traveled to Stoke for what many regarded as Kenny Dalglish's first real test of the season, which says a lot about how Arsenal are now perceived.

Speaking of the Gunners, they entertained Swansea at the Emirates as their struggling North London neighbours, Tottenham Hotspur, took on Wolves at Molineaux with Harry Redknapp entrusting his future to Emmanuel Adebayor and Scott Parker...

As with every Premier League weekend there was a multitude of talking points, so lets begin by going to the Emirates...

10 Things We Learned From Manchester v North London and EPL Week 3

We're just three weeks into the new English Premier League season and we have already seen two of the greatest team performances of recent times, two of the worst team performances of recent times, and two clubs in crisis.
All in all it was a good day for Manchester as they beat North London 13-3 and the scary thing is, Wayne Rooney and Sergio Aguero are only going to get better as the season goes on.

Beautiful Barcelona and Mesmerising Messi Give Man Utd a Lesson in Football

Barcelona, inspired by the magnificent Lionel Messi, has beaten Manchester United 3-1 in the 2011 Champions League Final in Wembley tonight. But in truth, La Blaugrana destroyed the Premier League champions in one of the most one sided finals of all time.

The game saw four fantastic goals scored as Pedro and Wayne Rooney exchanged efforts before Lionel Messi and an inspirational goal by David Villa gave Barca the trophy their dominance and play deserved.

EPL Survival Sunday Review and Champions League Preview Podcast: Hold the Back Page!

Hold the BackPage - Everyone to Juve by bpfootball

The Hold the Back Page podcast is one of the best football podcasts on the Internet. Run in conjunction betweenSetanta Sports and Back Page Football, the podcast has rapidly built up something of a cult following amongst football fans across Ireland, England, Australia and the US.

This week, regulars Tom Fox, Ger McCarthy and Neil Sherwin were joined by EPL Featured Columnist and Premier League Report's Willie Gannon to discuss all things Premier League, Champions League, and Survival Sunday with a couple of weird stats thrown in for good measure!

Manchester City is United as Red and Blue Celebrate EPL and FA Cup Wins.

Not since 1968 have both sides of Manchester had something to sing about, but history repeated itself today as, first, Manchester United were crowned Premier League Champions for the 12th time before Manchester City beat Stoke City on the FA Cup Final to claim a memorable double for the former industrial centre of the world.

United wrapped up their 19th English League title with a well taken penalty from Wayne Rooney as they claimed the one point they needed against relegation threatened Blackburn Rovers. While in London, Yaya Toure, a certainty for City's player of the year, scored the only goal of a one sided game against Tony Pulis' Stoke side.

Manchester City 1-0 Tottenham Hotspur: Citizens Qualify For the Champions League

Manchester City has qualified for the Champions League after beating Tottenham Hotspur 1-0 at the Eastlands. The victory came about thanks to a Peter Crouch own goal after just 15 minutes. The Citizens were second best for long periods of the match but despite Spurs dominating possession they barely created any clear cut chances on goal as a mean City defence led by Vincent Kompany stood firm.

Manchester United Sit On The Verge Of 19th Title After Destroying Chelsea

Manchester United sit on the verge of a record 19th title, thanks to a devastating win over their closest rivals, Chelsea, at Old Trafford. In truth the game was over from as early as 35 seconds after Javier Hernandez raced onto Ji-Sung Park's through ball to calmly slot the opener past Petr Cech.

Nemanja Vidic doubled the Red Devils' lead midway through the first half and from there there was no looking back. Frank Lampard restored some pride for the shell-shocked Pensioners with a late goal, but the damage had already been done by United who literally blew their opponents away with a first half performance of guile, pace, attacking ambition, and sheer hard work.

To claim their title, Alex Ferguson's team now only need one point from their final two games against local rivals Blackburn and Blackpool.

Manchester United Beats Schalke 04 to Set Up Champions League Final With Barcelona

Manchester United beat Schalke 04 at Old Trafford to set up a mouth watering UEFA Champions League final against Barcelona in Wembley on May 28.

Sir Alex Ferguson's team dominated the 2nd leg with goals from Antonio Valencia, Darron Gibson, and a brace from Anderson Luis de Abreu Oliveira.

In making the final, the United boss becomes only the third manager in history to bring a team to the Champions League Final four times, joining a small but elite group of managers that include Miguel Munoz (Real Madrid - '60, '62, '64, '66) and Marcelo Lippi (Juventus - '96, '97, '98, '03) .

EPL: Chelsea 2-1 Tottenham Hotspur: Blues Win Thanks to Gomes and Controversy

Two controversial goals from Frank Lampard and Saloman Kalou were the difference between winning and losing and seeing their title challenge end for Chelsea against Tottenham Hotspur. Harry Redknapp's side had taken the lead against the run of play when Sandro scored a screamer from fully 30-yards before the latest in a long line of howlers from Heurelho Gomes allowed the Pensioners back into the game.

Liverpool's Chances of the Champions League Evaporate as West Brom's Chances of Survival Improve

Roy Hodgson returned to haunt Liverpool yesterday as his West Brom side virtually killed off any slight outside chance the Reds had of Champions League football next year.

Two penalties from Chris Brunt after Martin Skrtel had opened the scoring for Liverpool were enough for the Baggies to deservedly claim all three points and thus extend their unbeaten run under the ex-Liverpool boss to five games.

Jose Mourinho's Unbeaten Home Record Ends as Sporting Gijon Beat Real Madrid

Jose Mourinho's nine year, 150 games unbeaten home record stretching all the way back to March 16 2002 came to an end on April 2 2011 after Sporting Gijon beat his Real Madrid team 1-0 at the Santiago Bernabeu.


The record, which started all the way back in 2002 when Mourinho was manager of FC Porto in Portugal was one of the longest running records in football. The last team to beat a Mourinho coached side was Beira-Mar way back in February 2002.

Tottenham Hotspur Beats AC MIlan to Qualify For Champions League Quarter Finals

Tottenham Hotspur are through to the Last Eight of the Champions League after drawing with AC Milan at White Hart Lane tonight. The Lilywhites, 1-0 up after beating the Rosseneri at the San Siro, held their austere counterparts to a 0-0 and are now just four games from a scarcely believable Wembley final.

Birmingham 2-1 Arsenal: Blues for Nervous Gunners as Pressure Takes Toll

Birmingham City beat Arsenal FC 2-1 in the Carling Cup Final to claim their first major trophy since 1963. Obafemi Martins scored the winning goal in the very last minute after a mix up of biblical proportions between Wojciech Szczesny and Lauren Koscielny left the on-loan Rubin Kazan striker with an open goal from just three yards out.

Wayne Rooney Wonder Goal Earns Win For Manchester United Over City In Derby

Wayne Rooney ended Manchester City's slim title hopes at Old Trafford today as Manchester United won 2-1 to move within touching distance of the Premiership trophy. The England striker scored an amazing overhead kick that must be considered one of the greatest goals of the season, or any other season for that matter, as United gained the result their ambitious play deserved...

Arsenal 2-3 Tottenham Hotspur: Lucky Number 69 As Spurs Come Back from the Dead

Spurs won away to Arsenal for the first time in 17 years as Harry Redknapp's flamboyant side fought back from 2-0 down at halftime to win 3-2. It was also the first time in 69 games that Tottenham won away from home against one of the top four teams.

Once again Rafael van der Vaart was the main instigator and scored from the penalty spot after Cesc Fabregas committed one of the worst errors of his career by handling the Dutchman's goal-bound free kick. Van der Vaart had earlier set up the on-form Gareth Bale to reduce the score line to 2-1, and with just five minutes to go his beautifully flighted free-kick was headed home by Younes Kaboul for the winning goal.

Rafael Benitez Goes Eric Cantona Crazy As Inter Beat Gareth Bale and Spurs 4-3

On the eve of Liverpool’s, sorry Inter Milan’s, 4-3 victory over Tottenham Hotspur in the Champions League, Rafael Benitez delivered one of the most bizarre press conferences of all time. It will be a moment that will go down in football folklore and leaves Rafa looking like a very bitter man indeed.

Think back to the mid-90s and Eric Cantona’s famous press conference  "When the seagulls follow the trawler, it's because they think sardines will be thrown into the sea. Thank you very much." Or maybe even Sam Allardyce saying that he was more suited to managing the likes of Inter Milan or Real Madrid—you get the picture.

Well, Rafa outdid them all.

Liverpool 1-2 Blackpool: Black and Orange Leaves Anfield Red All Over

Ian Holloway's Blackpool produced the result of this or any other season today by beating Premiership giants Liverpool 2-1 at Anfield. It was all the newly promoted team deserved as their adventurous approach caused many problems for Roy Hodgson's struggling side.

If anyone thought that Liverpool was in a false position before today, they will have to reassess their thinking. Blackpool's victory was earned well. The Seasiders played without fear and took the game to their much vaunted hosts.

Blackpool raced into a two-goal lead thanks to strikes from Charlie Adam and Luke Varney before the much maligned Sotirios Krygiakos headed the Reds back into the game.

Rafael Van Der Vaart-Man Smokes Twente Before Dispatching Villains

Tottenham Hotspur fans could be forgiven for thinking that Harry Redknapp has signed a super-hero for them as Rafael van der Vaart put in another man-of-the-match performance to inspire his team to come from behind against Aston Villa today.

In little over just one month, van der Vaart has almost become the most important player in the Tottenham Hotspur dressing room. An obvious bargain at just £8 million, the Dutch playmaker has been in incredible form for Spurs since joining from Real Madrid.

Sobering Weekend for EPL Teams With Champions League Aspirations

Week Six of the EPL season provided huge insight into the main contenders and pretenders for the Premier League title.

Manchester City beat Chelsea in the first heavyweight bout of the season, while Arsenal amazingly slipped up against West Brom at the Emirates.

Liverpool's poor start to the season continued as Spurs lurched to defeat at West Ham in what is already looking like an incredibly inconsistent year ahead for Harry Redknapp's team.