Manchester City 4 – 0 Aston Villa

Citeh make a strong bid for the BPL League Trophy. This was a match that had fans in Red cheering for the Villains. With Chelsea already eliminated from the league race and with Liverpool’s stumble Monday, Citeh would climb to the top of the league by winning their match in hand over the Villains. The visitors really didn’t have much to play for as they were assured of safety at 15th place. All they wanted to do was to save themselves any embarrassment playing at the Etihad Stadium. So it was of little surprise that the first half ended in a stalemate. There were folks with their fingers crossed all across the Mersey River as the second half got underway. If the Villains were able to pull of the unthinkable and get a draw, the Reds would still be top of the league by a single point. Things looked hopeful when Villains’ keeper Brad Guzan came up big with two saves. The first was in the 51st minute when he saved a Vincent Kompany shot from a David Silva headed pass. The second came in the 56th minute when Guzan denied Aleksandar Kolarov’s left footed curler toward the top right corner of the goal. The hope for a draw grew in the 61st minute when Edin Dzeko missed a sitter from a Pablo Zabaleta cross off to the right side of the goal. All the Reds’ hopes were ended in the 64th minute when Dzeko got it right that time and scored the Zabaleta cross. It was easy going for Citeh from that point forward and Dzeko made it 2-0 in the 71st minute when he poked home a loose ball from a Guzan save of a Samir Nasri shot. The third goal came in the 88th minute when Stevan Jovetic slotted home a pass from Yaya Toure. Toure capped off the win in the second minute of stoppage time when he finished off an Aleksandar Kolarav through pass. So Citeh go into Championship Sunday with a two point lead over Liverpool. The only way they could lose the trophy is if they lose to West Ham at the Etihad Stadium. Someone should check on Luis Suarez and see if he is still crying.

Sunderland 2 – 0 West Bromwich Albion

The Black Cats avoid the drop and send Norwich heading toward the Championship. What a ride this season has been. At first it looked like the Black Cats were doomed when Paolo Di Canio couldn’t get the side a win to start the season and they occupied the bottom of the table. When he was fired and Gus Poyet took over, there didn’t seem to be any hope of survival and most of the Black Cats’ fans figured they were headed for the drop. But Poyet never quit and never let his boys quit. Wednesday was their fourth consecutive league win for the first time in 14 years and now gives them a chance to finish as high as 12th place. They jumped on the Baggies early and striker Fabio Borini nearly scored for the home side in the seventh minute when his shot was saved by Baggies keeper Ben Foster. But Foster couldn’t do anything against Jack Colback and the midfielder got the first goal in the 12th minute when he knocked a Marcos Alonso cross past Foster. Fabio Borini scored the second goal in the 30th minute when Sebastian Larsson cut through the Baggies defense and found the striker who powered home the through pass. The Baggies rarely threatened anything on goal themselves and when they did Black Cats’ keeper Vito Mannone was more than equal to any attempt to breach his goal. Not even the substitution of Youssuf Mulumbu for Claudio Yacob would help the visitors to get anything started. So with the win, Poyet has pulled off one of the miracles of the season. The Baggies are not quite safe themselves yet. If Norwich manage to beat Arsenal on Sunday by 17 goals, they could overtake West Brom. OK, that’s not likely to happen.