Another cracking weekend of sport has just come to its conclusion with the EPL and Formula 1 bringing everything to a head this morning. Here is a wrap up of this weekends action in the EPL, A-League and a variety of other sports.

Week 13 of the 2011/12 Barclays Premier League turned out to be a corker, plenty of interesting results to sink our teeth into starting with the action from Saturday night.

The weekend kicked off at the Britannia Stadium with Stoke City recording a comfortable 3-1 victory over Blackburn Rovers who dropped to the bottom of the table for the first time this season. Rory Delap headed the Potters into the lead just prior to the half-hour mark before Glenn Whelan and Peter Crouch put the home side ahead by three by the72nd minute, Ruben Rochina got one back for the Rovers but it was only a consolation as the damage had already been done by that point.

Everton overcame ten-man Bolton Wanderers 2-0 at the Reebok Stadium with Marouane Fellaini and Apostolos Vellios the goal scorers, David Wheater had an afternoon to forget with a 19th minute red card for a reckless challenge on Diniyar Bilyaletdinov.

Chelsea finally returned to some form after a rough few weeks with a controlling 3-0 win over Wolves at Stamford Bridge. First-half goals from John Terry, Daniel Sturridge and Juan Mata were enough to seal all three points.

Manchester United and Newcastle United played out a dramatic 1-1 draw at Old Trafford. The reigning champions scored a lucky goal through Javier Hernandez early in the second half before the Magpies responded via a Demba Ba penalty which came about from a questionable call against Rio Ferdinand for his challenge on Hatem Ben Arfa. Manchester United have had plenty of questionable calls go there way in recent years, as reported on this very website, so one could assume this is some form of Karma. Newcastle lost Jonas Gutierrez to a second yellow card late but the visitors held on for a vital away point.

Norwich City edged QPR 2-1 at Carrow Road in the battle of the top-two teams from last season’s Championship with Russell Martin and Grant Holt scoring either side of Luke Young’s 59th minute strike. Norwich leap frogged QPR with this result and are pushing for a spot in the top half of the table.

Wigan Athletic came from behind to defeat Sunderland 2-1 at the Stadium of Light. Sebastian Larsson opened the scoring early for the Black Cats before Jordi Gomez converted from the penalty spot and then Franco di Santo slotted a late winner for the Latics in dramatic fashion, making up for the late minute penalty that saw them drop 2 points last week.

Tottenham left their run late but managed to record a 3-1 away win at West Bromwich Albion with Emmanuel Adebayor netting twice and Jermain Defoe providing a brilliant individual effort following Youssuf Mulumbu’s opener for the Baggies.

Arsenal managed to claw their way out of jail with a 1-1 draw against Fulham. Thomas Vermaelen scored an own-goal which gave the Cottagers the lead just after the hour-mark before the Belgian defender headed home to equalise for the Gunners eight minutes from time. A late surge from Arsenal beared no fruit and 2 points could be considered dropped here at home when really the 3 points should have been secured.

On Sunday, Swansea City and Aston Villa went out to battle at the Liberty Stadium despite the tragic death of Wales national team manager Gary Speed earlier on Sunday morning. News of Speed’s death filtered through before kick off and even had Ireland’s Shay Given in tears during the minute’s silence. The match ended in a 0-0 draw but the news of Speed far overrode the performance of both sides who seemingly ran through the motions.

And at Anfield the news also hit home with Craig Bellamy requesting to be left out of the squad prior to kick off, obviously shaken at the news of Gary Speed’s death.

The match ended all square at 1-1 with all the goals coming in the first half and substitute Mario Balotelli sent off with eight minutes remaining. “Why always me?” Balotelli could probably be heard saying as he walked down the tunnel, great player but with a very questionable attitude, can Mancini control him?

City took the lead just after the half-hour from skipper Vincent Kompany who headed home David Silva’s corner.

Roberto Mancini probably hoped the league leaders would kick-on from that goal but instead found themselves pegged back within a couple of minutes. Charlie Adam had a hopeful punt at goal from distance and Joleon Lescott stuck out a foot to divert the ball past Hart.

City maintain their five point lead over rivals United at the top of the Premiership and remain unbeaten in the league, there is still a large contingent of clubs from 3-7 chasing that all important top 4 spot.

On Friday night Adelaide United and Newcastle Jets kicked off proceedings playing out a tense 0-0 draw in what can only be described as a dour affair.

However, after a lacklustre opening, the Reds started to get on top early in the second half, before Boogaard’s decision to backchat the referee – after having already receiving a yellow card earlier – saw him exit to the showers and create several hairy moments for United.

On Saturday afternoon, Central Coast scored a 3-1 win over the Melbourne Heart at Bluetongue Stadium in Gosford.

Matt Simon put the Mariners in front in first-half injury time before the Heart rallied brilliantly in the second half to equalise through replacement Eli Babalj. The last 10 minutes were frantic as both sides tried to get the all important second goal, the Mariners the side to do so going ahead in the 81st minute when referee Gerard Parsons awarded the home team a penalty for handball in the box.

Veteran Daniel McBreen stepped up and made no mistake from the spot kick.

With time almost up Patrick Zwaanswijk then finished off the match when he headed home a corner in the 87th minute.

However, the weekend belonged to the Roar, making Australian sporting history extending their magical unbeaten run to a record 36 games with a quality 4-0 demolition of Perth at Suncorp Stadium on Saturday night.

The defending Hyundai A-League champions were never in doubt against the Glory, executing the same untouchable pass-and-move football that has left the rest of the competition in their wake for over a year.

The Roar led 4-0 at half time through 2 goals each to Besart Berisha and Issey Nakajima-Farran, they never looked back and now look forward to a meeting with Sydney FC at Kogarah next weekend to try and extend that to 37.

On Sunday, Wellington Phoenix got a much need win with a victory over Sydney FC. Paul Ifill opened the scoring in the 7th minute to give the Phoenix the perfect start but it was Tim Brown’s 45-metre dipping volley in the 59th minute that sealed the much-needed win, which ended a five-match run without a victory for Phoenix.

Bruno Cazarine’s scrambled a goal in the 70th minute to keep everyone on their toes, Sydney FC have a reputation this season of coming from behind, but it was as close as the visitors got.

In the final match, AAMI Park dished up yet another intriguing match that has me thinking that the ground may be jinxed. 3 penalties, a red card and plenty of goals again continues the tradition of excitement at Victory’s home ground.

After a disappointing start to the season on the field Victory looked to have put that behind them when they shot to a 2-0 lead after 22 minutes thanks to penalties from Harry Kewell and Carlos Hernandez.

But the match took an interesting twist when Melbourne defender Rody Vargas was sent off for a reckless challenge after 33 minutes. That allowed Gold Coast to get back into the contest through a penalty by Dylan Macallister on the stroke of half time, and a goal from Peter Jungschlager two minutes into the second half.

Just when the Victory looked destined to have given up two points from a 2-0 lead, Hernandez rose to head home 11 minutes from time and give Victory their second win of the season and their first at home.

A cracking match to end what was a great weekend of A-League football.

Overnight, Mark Webber secured 3rd place in the Formula 1 Drivers Championship with a brilliant win in the Brazillian Grand Prix. He took out the race after team mate Sebastian Vettel suffered mechanical problems, finishing 16 seconds ahead of the Champion in this race. Below are the final positions for the Drivers Championship. Congratulations must go out to Mark Webber, despite a frustrating season he still managed to finish third which is a credit to his new-found consistency.

Drivers’ Championship Standings

1. Vettel, 392 (clinched championship)

2. Button, 270

3. Webber, 258

4. Alonso, 257

5. Hamilton, 227

6. Massa, 118

7. Rosberg, 89

8. Schumacher, 76

9. Sutil, 42

10. Petrov, 37

A forum post has been put up to discuss any of the weekend action, see you in there!

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