By Andrew Discenza

Has Daniel Sturridge booked his place at Euro 2012? With Wayne Rooney’s suspension and Darren Bent’s lack of form, the 22-year-old has found himself toward the top of Fabio Capello’s forward options. After his performance to help Chelsea to a 2-1 win over leaders Manchester City, his case grows all the stronger. The industrious youngster was lively and dangerous throughout the match, and provided for Chelsea’s first after lovely skill. First his showed quick footwork to skip past Gael Clichy, then sent a cross right to the foot of Raul Meireles whose volley bulged the net. Then with time winding down, he fashioned a chance and curled a goal bound effort that hit the arm of Joleon Lescott to send Frank Lampard to the spot and grab all three points.

Manchester United bounced back from their lackluster Champions League elimination with a 4-1 win over Wolves courtesy of Nani, Antonio Valencia, & Wayne Rooney. The Portuguese winger scored the opener in typically explosive style, cutting infield past what seemed the entire Wolves defense before rifling a bullet into the bottom corner. Nani then found Rooney with room enough to take a touch and smash the ball into almost the same spot as the first goal. Valencia created the third, running in behind and crossing perfectly for Nani to net his brace from close range. The Ecuadorian earned his second assist when he pulled the ball back for Rooney, and although it was slightly behind the Englishman he adjusted wonderfully, pirouetting as he sent an improvised volley into the bottom corner.

Robin van Persie has been Arsenal’s savior countless times this season, and he did it again on Saturday with a quite magnificent volley to earn the Gunners a 1-0 victory over Everton. There wasn’t much to separate the sides, but the Dutchman’s wonderstrike came right out of the blue to settle the match. Alex Song had played the ball over the top for van Persie to run onto, but rather than let it drop the 28-year-old struck out with a glorious first-time effort, sending the ball flying across an absolutely stationary Tim Howard to rip into the corner off the inside of the post.

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Referee Chris Foy helped gift Stoke a 2-1 win over Tottenham with a series of awful decisions in favor of the home side. First he failed to notice Peter Crouch using his hand to control moments before crossing for the opening goal. Younes Kaboul then saw his shot come back off the arm of Ryan Shawcross, but the referee seemed to see nothing. The most disgraceful decision came soon after when Adebayor spun to score from six yards out only to see the offside flag raised, while replays showed that the Togolese was at least two yards onside when the ball was played. To add insult to injury, Mr. Foy chose to show Kaboul a second yellow for the slightest of touches if any on Jonathan Walters.

David Vaughan & Sebastian Larsson each scored golazos within seven minutes of each other to steal a late 2-1 win over Blackburn for Martin O’Neill. Their new manager might not have been too impressed with the first 83 minutes, but Sunderland showed the explosive talent they have in their ranks. They found the equalizer when a clearance rolled out to Vaughan 30 yards from goal, and the Welshman belted the ball first-time, sending it flashing past a stationary Westwood and nearly bursting the net. Then on 90 minutes, Larsson came up with a trademark glorious freekick. Yet again showcasing his flawless technique, he curled the ball just over the wall and down into the bottom corner via the post, with the keeper helpless.

Clint Dempsey turned from hero to villain as Fulham fell 2-1 at Swansea. The American scored the only goal last week as Fulham beat Liverpool, but contributed to his side going behind after Scott Sinclair’s effort looped up off Dempsey and over Mark Schwarzer. Dempsey had a chance to redeem himself from the penalty spot with three minutes left, but failed to equalize when Michel Vorm guessed right to save his less-than-ideal spot kick.

Demba Ba continues to impress as he scored a well-taken brace despite Newcastle’s 4-2 loss at Norwich. Yohan Cabaye first played a lovely ball over the top for Ba to run onto, control, and slot coolly into the corner. Shola Ameobi then dispossessed Zak Whitbread and played the ball through to his strike partner, who danced between two defenders before finding the space to curl into the corner.

Darrent Bent missed a glaring chance that could have seen Aston Villa earn a point at Bolton. The Englishman had already seen a fantastic opportunity squandered thanks to the legs of Jussi Jaaskelainen, but his worst blunder came after some intricate footwork and an ideal pullback by Stillyan Petrov. Gifted with most of the goal to aim at, Bent instead somehow sent the ball tamely wide of goal.

West Brom v Wigan saw two great goals fly in at either ends of the pitch. First Steven Reid found the net with a picture-perfect set piece. The foul was questionable but the freekick was never in doubt, as Reid casually bent the ball over the wall and into the very top corner. Just four minutes later Victor Moses found the net in eye-catching style. The West Brom defense failed to clear the danger, and the 21-year old opened his body up to arrow a shot into the top corner.

Paul Robinson produced two fine saves against Kieran Richardson to help Blackburn to a 2-1 win. First Stephane Sessegnon had squared for Richardson to shoot at point-blank range, but the goalkeeper somehow got his hand down to kill the shot. The 27-year-old then saw his volley deflect wildly off Morten Gamst Pederson, and Robinson showed good reflexes to tip the ball away.

Referee Mark Clattenburg failed to spot a penalty that could have secured victory for Manchester City at Chelsea. Jose Bosingwa caught David Silva with a trailing leg as the Spaniard dribbled past, but Mr. Clattenburg waived play on. At 1-0, it might have meant game over for the Blues, who instead mounted a character-building comeback at Stamford Bridge.