by Andrew Discenza

Referee Phil Dowd is in the spotlight after two crucial decisions went wrongfully in favor of Manchester City. Arsenal may well feel aggrieved after the league leaders scraped a 1-0 draw as it could have been very different. Robin van Persie thought he had scored with a wonderfully chipped finish, but the flag was raised for offside even though replays showed that the prolific Dutchman was probably even with Vincent Kompany on the far side. Mr. Dowd then neglected to point to the spot when Laurent Koscielny’s cross smacked quite clearly into the limp hand of Micah Richards, who made no attempt to avoid the contact.

Petr Cech’s uncharacteristically shaky second half gifted Wigan a devastating late equalizer versus Chelsea. The Blues seemed to be on track for victory when the Czech international gave his side a scare, failing twice to gather a loose ball in the area before being bailed out by Branislav Ivanovic’s header off the line. It was a sign of things to come, as Huga Rodallega’s tame poke simply bounced off the hands of the goalkeeper, into the path of Jordi Gomez to steal an unlikely point just two minutes from time.

Joe Hart produced another brilliant performance to keep out Arsenal and earn Manchester City a narrow 1-0 win. He was alert early on to save Gervinho’s shot and keep the rebound away from two Arsenal players waiting in the middle. He then made a string of saves late on to preserve the clean sheet: denying Aaron Ramsey’s curling snapshot with a low dive, tipping Theo Walcott’s swerver over the bar and finally keeping Thomas Vermaelen’s cracker out of the roof of the net with a flying stop.

The highlight of Manchester United’s 2-0 win over QPR was Michael Carrick’s solo run and goal – his first in the Premier League in nearly two years. The 30-year-old picked the ball up in midfield, broke away from his defender with a quick shuffle, and had acres of room to run into. QPR defenders continued to back away as he strode toward the area, so he simply took aim and stroked the ball into the bottom corner.

Daniel Sturridge was on form again despite Chelsea’s disappointing draw at Wigan. He scored what maybe should have been the winning goal in fine style, controlling Ashley Cole’s inch-perfect ball over the top with one touch, and with a second sent it clinically across Ali Al Habsi and into the corner.

Luka Modric produced one of the worst misses of the season as Tottenham strolled to a 1-0 victory over Sunderland. Aaron Lennon had played the ball through to Emmanuel Adebayor, whose shot was saved by Kieran Westwood but the ball fell right to Modric, who had the simple task of passing into the empty net from a few yards out. But the midfield maestro incredibly contrived to send the ball over the bar with the goal gaping in front of him.

James Morrison & Peter Odemwingie each scored golazos to earn West Brom a 2-1 win at Blackburn. Morrison opened the scoring with a technically superb volley, adjusting his feet as a clearance spun towards him before unleashing a dipping volley that whistled into the bottom corner. Odemwingie then grabbed a winner at the death when he skipped between two defenders, looked up, and arrowed a shot magnificently into the side netting.

Luis Suarez was desperately unlucky to be denied two sensational goals by the woodwork in his side’s 2-0 win at Aston Villa, He first tenaciously dispossessed Richard Dunne in the area, then cut inside James Collins to open up a shot which he crashed against the underside of the bar. Later he sent a deliberate chip over and around Brad Guzan, only to see the ball come harmlessly off the inside of the post.

Bryan Ruiz & Clint Dempsey combined in fine style twice within 66 seconds to give Fulham a 2-0 win over Bolton. First Ruiz delivered a cross which found Dempsey’s strong run and the American guided a fine header into the bottom corner. Then Demsey turned provider, feeding the ball in behind for Ruiz to run through on goal, and when the time came to finish the Costa Rican scooped an outrageous effort over a helpless Jussi Jaaskelainen to nestle in the net.

Grant Holt continued to impress for Norwich with a top class poacher’s goal in their 1-1 draw at Everton. Steve Morison had knocked the ball down to Holt, who had his back to goal at the edge of the 6-yard box. With seemingly little room to maneuver, Holt spun away from two defenders and in an instant had rolled a deft finish across Tim Howard and in off the far post.

QPR vs Manchester United saw two shocking misses that had little impact on the visitor’s 2-0 win. First Chris Smalling had helped on a corner, and although the goalkeeper was nowhere to be seen, Johnny Evans could only head onto the bar from two yards out. Later it was DJ Campbell who couldn’t believe what he had done, volleying horribly over the bar from close range after Adel Taarabt’s ideal cross had left the goal at the striker’s mercy.