Referee Mike Riley may well have put paid to Chelsea’s title hopes by handing Frank Lampard a straight 60th minute red card for an innocuous looking tackle during the weekend’s top match at Anfield. Liverpool’s Fernando Torres subsequently went on to score two late goals to reduce the gap on leaders Manchester United, for whom a Cristiano Ronaldo penalty earned victory at Everton, to two points.
Elsewhere Aston Villa and Arsenal failed to upset the top three hierarchy in playing out goalless draws with Wigan and West Ham respectively, Tottenham and Portsmouth both added to their woes with losses and over 100 million worth of Manchester City talent stood by as 10-man Stoke grabbed an unlikely 1-0 victory in the Potteries.
