Manchester City 1 – Manchester United 1 – United go top for a few hours but title slipping away
Eric Cantona rescued Manchester United with his first Manchester derby goal to salvage a point for the Old Trafford side and lift them back to the top of the premier league, just for a few hours though. Cantona struck in the 70th minute to wipe out Nial Quinn’s opener that had come in 57th minute.
United had dropped seven points in their previous three matches and one of Norwich or Aston Villa was set to take over from them as the haunting memories of title slipping away a season earlier came haunting back for the red devils. A 37000 strong crowd were eager to see their bitter cross Irwell rivals drop points and potentially the title and that is what they got. United had multiple chances throughout the match but failed to convert them and had to settle for a point in the end.
Aston Villa 2 – Sheffield Wednesday 0 – Villa go top to the delight of Ex-Manchester United manager Ron Atkinson
Ron Atkinson got replaced with Alex Ferguson at Manchester United because the red devils couldn’t wait to end their two-decade-long title drought. But as the destiny would have it, their Ex-manager just led Aston Villa past his old club into the top position with a two-nil win over Sheffield Wednesday. Villa earned all three points to go two clear at the top thanks to Dwight Yorke brace and it delighted their manager to no ends.
Ron Atkinson said “We played some great stuff. All the players really enjoyed the match and I don’t feel that there is any pressure on us at all. It does still look like a three-horse race between us, Norwich and Manchester United.”
Chelsea 1 – Tottenham 1 – Honours Shared at Stamford Bridge as ex Millwall strikers Dominated the match
Former Millwall strike force of Tony Cascarino and Teddy Sheringham ensured honours were shared in the London derby. FA Cup semi-finalists Spurs were already without starlet Nick Barmby were hit badly when their captain Gary Mabbutt and Vinne Samways failed fitness tests ahead of the match.
Spurs did take the lead thanks to Teddy Sheringham converting a controversial penalty. The home side began pushing forward with more purpose after the break and it was alert thinking by striker John Spencer which led to the equalizer. Spencer took a quick throw-in which found captain Andy Townsend, who cut the ball across for Cascarino to fire home his first goal of the season.
Arsenal 4 – Southampton 3 – Seven Goal thriller at Highbury won by Jimmy Carter
Winger Jimmy Carter finally broke his Arsenal duck by scoring twice in the seven-goal thriller at Highbury. Arsenal, a goal down after four minutes, surged into a 3-1 lead in a crazy five minutes and were hauled back by a Southampton side enjoying their best run in three years.
Before Carter’s decider, the rougher edge of Southampton’s game emerged when Ken Monkou, Richard Hall and Ian Dowie were booked. But after a see-saw game a quickly taken free-kick by David Hiller gave Carter the room for a piece of personal glory.
