Premiership review - 22nd/ 23rd February 2014

The Premiership returned this weekend and Arsenal who had that dismal result against Bayern Munich in the Champions League, beat Sunderland by four goals to one. 

This was a great result for Arsenal and it was notable that Olivier Giroud who had been dropped to the bench for the previous games scored two of Arsenal four goals. 

Man City also beat Stoke City by a goal to nil and this keeps them third with a game in hand. 

Liverpool beat Swansea by four goals to three and this keeps them within touching distance of the top three. 

Norwich City pulled off a sensational result and beat Tottenham by a goal to nil. However this loss did not affect Tottenham standing in the league and they are still top five. 

Man United beat Crystal Palace by two goals to nil and this was by no means an easy match for Man United, who are still struggling to find some consistency this season. 

The league leaders Chelsea beat Everton by one goal to nil and this helped them to retain their position and Arsenal are second and just one point behind. 

Dubai Open - Day six

Day six and the final of the Dubai Open and Venus Williams beat Alize Cornet in straight sets. 

For Alize this was a horrible result as she had come into this match with very high expectations. 

It suddenly dawned on her in the middle of the first set that her dream was not going to be realised. 

However upon reflection I am sure Alize will realise that she did very well and there is no shame in losing to an inspired Venus Williams. 

For Venus this win would have given some much needed confidence and ranking points. 

It was a real joy to watch Venus strike ball like she used to and I sincerely hope this will be the first of many trophies in 2014. 

Dubai Open - day five

Day five of the Dubai Open and Alize Cornet beat Serena Williams in straight sets. 

 

Alize played well and came up with shots that Serena could not get. However Serena still does not look fully fit but all credit for Alize for get this amazing win. 

Venus Williams beat Caroline Wozniacki in straight sets. This was a surprise scoreline as I had expected Caroline to take this match to a third set. 

But Venus played like a champion and kept her unforced errors down to win the match and a place in the final. 

Dubai Open - day four

Day four of the Dubai Open and Serena Williams beat Jelena Jankovic in straight sets.

 It was a pretty straight forward match for Serena but for Jelena it really hurt to be comprehensively beaten. 

 

So towards the end of the match Jelena and Serena exchanged a few words.

 It was probably more to do with the frustration Jelena felt than Serena keeping her waiting. 

Elsewhere Venus Williams continued her remarkable comeback and beat Flavia Pennetta in straight sets. 

Alize Cornet beat Carla Suarez Navarro in  straight sets to make it to the semi finals where she will play Serena Williams. 

Champions League review

In Tuesday's Champions League games Barcelona beat ten man, Man City by two goals to nil. 

This was a bad result for Man City and if they have any hope of going through they need to be able to beat Barcelona at the Nou Camp and this is something few teams have been able to do. 

In yesterday's champions leagues games Bayern Munich beat ten men, Arsenal by two goals to nil. 

It was a rough night for Arsenal who missed penalty, then Kieran Gibbs got injured and that was shortly followed by the dismissal of the goalkeeper. 

Arsenal tried to hold on but it was no use and Bayern Munich played like the home team. 

If Arsenal are to go through they need to win by two clear goals in Germany and it does sound impossible but anything can happen in football. 

Dubai Open - Day three

Day three at the Dubai Open and Venus Williams beat Ana Ivanovic in straight sets. Venus really rolled back the years and played very well. 

So well that when she got her serve in she was very dominant. It was a surprise result because I thought that Ana would have at least taken it to three sets. 

 But Ana did not even get a real break point chance.

Elsewhere Flavia Penetta beat Agnieszka Radwanska in straight sets. That was definitely the surprise result of the day. 

But at the same time I think that Agnisezka is really going to struggle this year as she does not have the weapons to put players away and she is now being found out. 

I think it will be hard for Agnieszka  to stay in the top five if she doesn't win a grand slam this year. 

 

Dubai Open - Day two

Day two of the Dubai Open and Serena Williams beat Ekaterina Makarova straight sets. 

Serena looked a little weary in the first set and but by the second set she was able to build a commanding lead and won the set and the match. 

 

Ekaterina played very well and Serena had to play well to beat her. Serena speed round court the was probably the key difference between them . 

Elsewhere Caroline Wozniacki beat Sabine Liscki in three sets. This was a very competitive match and I thought Sabine was going to win bit Caroline just seem to have a little more in the tank.