The international break means a barren couple of weeks for Premier League football – so what better time to look back at March’s matches?
It’s been a particularly entertaining month for Tottenham fans, who’ve had some of the best games on offer to watch in March, but which game was our number one?
Here we go then – a reminder: matches are scored out of 100 by reporters at the games, with, in classic Football Manager style, 60 as about average.
33. Leicester 0 Hull 0 (14/3/15)
Score: 27
With both sides struggling at the wrong end of the table, this laborious goalless draw lived down to expectations. The only incident of note was Tom Huddlestone’s red card, but even that wasn’t for anything interesting.
32. West Brom 1 Stoke 0 (14/3/15)
Score: 45
Tony Pulis beat Stoke 1-0 when he was manager of Crystal Palace last season, and he did exactly the same thing again here. Brown Ideye scored the only goal of an uninspiring game.
31. Hull 1 Sunderland 1 (3/3/15)
Score: 51
That’s 50 points for the Dame N’Doye’s classy improvised opener and one for the scrap between Steve Bruce and Gus Poyet. Afterwards, Bruce said the pair were “grown men acting like a couple of children”.
30. QPR 1 Arsenal 2 (4/3/15)
Score: 52
The hosts wasted a hatful of chances as Arsenal expected a cakewalk, and Rangers ultimately paid for that profligacy. Two quick chances were converted after the break as Alexis Sanchez decided to take control, and Arsenal were then able to slink back into mediocrity.
29. West Ham 1 Sunderland 0 (21/3/15)
Score: 55
Dick Advocaat’s first match in charge of Sunderland wasn’t much to write home about. Diafra Sakho scored for West Ham and the Black Cats showed a worrying lack of ambition.
28. QPR 1 Everton 2 (22/3/15)
Score: 58
There were three goals and a relatively late winner, but it was a pretty drab game with not a vast amount of quality on show. Aaron Lennon won it with his first goal for Everton.
27. Southampton 1 Crystal Palace 0 (3/3/15)
Score: 58
Sadio Mane scored Southampton’s first goal in 387 minutes as they clung on to the coattails of the top four with their fingernails.
26. Everton 3 Newcastle 0 (15/3/15)
Score: 58
If it’s possible to have an unconvincing 3-0 win this was it, but it was a very welcome result for Everton. Romelu Lukaku grabbed his 17th goal of the season – one more than he managed in the previous campaign – and Ross Barkley was also on the scoresheet.
25. Liverpool 2 Burnley 0 (4/3/15)
Score: 59
Jordan Henderson showed why he was wearing the captain’s armband, scoring for the second match in a row in a routine win over Burnley. This was Liverpool’s seventh win in eight.
24. Aston Villa 0 Swansea 1 (21/3/15)
Score: 60
Not a cracker but the late drama – as Bafetimbi Gomis struck to keep Villa in relegation trouble – bumped up the score. The Tim Sherwood bounce stops here.
23. Manchester City 3 West Brom 0 (21/3/15)
Score: 61
Referee Neil Swarbrick had an Andre Marriner moment as he sent off Gareth McAuley instead of Craig Dawson in a classic case of mistaken identity. Meanwhile City returned to winning ways with Wilfried Bony scoring his first for the club.
22. Manchester City 2 Leicester 0 (4/3/15)
Score: 62
It was scrappy stuff but goals from David Silva and James Milner earned City the points. Mark Schwarzer played well for Leicester but the Foxes could justifiably claim they could have had up to three penalties.
21. Chelsea 1 Southampton 1 (15/3/15)
Score: 62
Diego Costa scored his first goal in two months and Southampton equalised with a contentious penalty. A sort of fast food game – quite enjoyable at the time but didn’t live long in the memory.
20. Newcastle 0 Manchester United 1 (4/3/15)
Score: 65
Tim Krul brilliantly denied Marouane Fellaini and Ashley Young with a double save, but undid all his good work when his last-minute clearance went straight to Young, who duly put the ball away. If United were less than inspiring, there was a moment of pure inspiration for Newcastle as Jonas Gutierrez featured for the first time since October 2013 following his successful battle against testicular cancer.
19. Southampton 2 Burnley 0 (21/3/15)
Score: 65
Saints lost goalkeeper Fraser Forster to what looked like a serious injury but, with stand-in Kelvin Davis impressing, recovered to claim victory with Shane Long on the scoresheet on manager Ronald Koeman’s 52nd birthday.
18. West Ham 0 Chelsea 1 (4/3/15)
Score: 65
Chelsea avoided a post Capital Cap-winning dip thanks to Eden Hazard’s first-half header. The perfect preparation for their impending Champions League second leg against Paris St Germain, surely…?
17. Sunderland 0 Aston Villa 4 (14/3/15)
Score: 65
Losing 4-0 to Aston Villa is the sort of result that’s tough to survive, and Poyet was duly given his P45 soon after. Villa, who had scored only four Barclays Premier League goals on the road all season, doubled their tally inside 44 remarkable minutes, with Gabriel Agbonlahor and Christian Benteke bagging a brace apiece.
16. Stoke 2 Everton 0 (4/3/15)
Score: 68
Everton’s miserable run continued with Victor Moses and Mame Biram Diouf condemning them to a fifth league game without a win.
15. Arsenal 2 Everton 0 (1/3/15)
Score: 68
Arsenal were a bit edgy after their loss to Monaco in the Champions League, but they broke Everton down, then sat back and made things edgy all over again before Tomas Rosicky’s deflected goal led to relief all round.
14. Liverpool 1 Manchester United 2 (22/3/15)
Score: 68
A self-destructive Steven Gerrard came on at half-time, ran around a lot, then got sent off inside less than a minute for a stamp on Ander Herrera. As for the actual football, it was all about Juan Mata, who scored a goal in either half, the second a brilliant bicycle kick.
13. Crystal Palace 3 QPR 1 (14/3/15)
Score: 69
Wilfried Zaha, James McArthur and Joel Ward all struck for Palace in the first half, with Matt Phillips’ late goal-of-the-season contender barely a consolation for a QPR side seemingly heading towards relegation.
12. Arsenal 3 West Ham 0 (14/3/15)
Score: 70
Arsenal eventually got past Adrian with an Olivier Giroud rocket after Theo Walcott’s misses. West Ham rallied, but had no players to make a difference and strikes from Aaron Ramsey and Mathieu Flamini killed the game off.
11. Newcastle 1 Arsenal 2 (21/3/15)
Score: 70
The oft-maligned Giroud struck twice in four first-half minutes, then Arsenal survived a fightback from the Magpies. Moussa Sissoko’s 48th-minute goal dragged them back into the game but they couldn’t find the equaliser their belated show of courage warranted.
10. Liverpool 2 Manchester City 1 (1/3/15)
Score: 71
With Chelsea playing in the Capital One Cup final Manchester City had the chance to narrow the gap at the top to two points. Instead, goals from Henderson and the increasingly impressive Philippe Coutinho all but ended their title hopes. It was their 12 consecutive league match at Anfield without a win.
9. Swansea 0 Liverpool 1 (16/3/15)
Score: 76
It was one of the less impressive goals Henderson will ever score – Jordi Amat’s attempted clearance clattered into him and looped into the net – but one of the more telling, helping Liverpool cut the gap between themselves and the top four.
8. Stoke 1 Crystal Palace 2 (21/3/15)
Score: 76
Glenn Murray and Zaha netted as Palace came from behind to keep the Alan Pardew bandwagon rolling. This result even took Pardew’s side above his old club Newcastle.
7. QPR 1 Tottenham 2 (7/3/15)
Score: 78
Harry Kane netted twice to press his claims for an England place. It was entertaining, if tense, stuff at Loftus Road, with the attention of those at both ends of the Premier League focused there.
6. Burnley 1 Manchester City 0 (14/3/15)
Score: 80
Let’s make no bones about this: the first half was poor. But it picked up hugely after the break, Burnley got a great goal from George Boyd and claimed a win that nobody expected. This is what Premier League football is all about.
5. Aston Villa 2 West Brom 1 (3/3/15)
Score: 80
Benteke grabbed a late penalty to ensure Tim Sherwood got his first win as Villa boss. It was his side’s first victory since December and it was well deserved at that, with Fabian Delph hitting the post and Gabby Agbonlahor, who netted the opener, having two efforts cleared off the line. All aboard the Tim train.
4. Hull 2 Chelsea 3 (22/3/15)
Score: 81
A rollicking game in the end defined by goalkeeping howlers. An error from Thibault Courtois helped Hull come from 2-0 down to level, but it was Chelsea who claimed the points when substitute Loic Remy’s shot somehow got through Allan McGregor’s legs and squirmed over the line.
3. Tottenham 3 Swansea 2 (4/3/15)
Score: 83
There were some worrying moments as Gomis fainted and needed medical attention, but it turned out to be nothing too serious. Football-wise, it was entertaining stuff again at White Hart Lane as a wonderful goal from Nacer Chadli and strikes from Ryan Mason – his first in the league for Spurs – and Andros Townsend settled it for Tottenham.
2. Manchester United 3 Tottenham 0 (15/3/15)
Score: 84
The match when Manchester United confirmed they were back. Under Louis van Gaal they’ve won plenty of games, but rarely played that well – this time they did both, spurred on by Wayne Rooney on the day a video of him being knocked out in a kitchen sparring session with Phil Bardsley appeared online. By the far the best United performance of Van Gaal’s reign.
1. Tottenham 4 Leicester 3 (21/3/15)
Score: 85
Kane’s dream week got even better on Saturday as the Tottenham striker followed his first England call-up with a maiden Premier League hat-trick. For all Kane’s efforts though, it needed a Jeff Schlupp own goal to prevent rock-bottom Leicester taking something from the game.
Source: SNAPPA
