The Mid-week Review

by Danny Wright

Everton go through to the knock-out stages of the UEFA Cup after they beat Zenit St Petersburg 1-0 at a boisterous Goodison Park. The game was given extra spice following visiting manager’s Dick Advocat’s comments about the Toffees style of play, branding them a “long ball team” and “physical,” and David Moyes’ men refuted the claims perfectly as piled on the pressure from the early stages. The troublesome Mikel Arteta almost broke the deadlock after two minutes, his effort cleared on the line meanwhile Nicolas Lombaerts was harshly sent off for a suspicious looking handball. Arteta blazed the resulting spot kick over the bar but Everton weren’t deterred as the Spaniard brought the best out of Vyacheslav Malafeev from a free kick and Lee Casrley struck the upright.

Pavel Pogrebniak and Konstantin Zyrianov wasted good chances for Zenit as Everton struggled to break down the ten men of the Russian side in the second half, but the breakthrough finally came when Tim Cahill pounced on a lose ball from a corner. The result, combined with Nuremburg’s 2-1 win over AZ Alkmaar, means the Toffees go through as winners of Group A and avoid the Champions League fall-out in the new year.

On Tuesday night Celtic also progressed through to the next stage of their respective competition, a defeat in Milan enough to send into the knock out phase of the Champions League. Filippo Inzaghi’s record breaking strike was enough to condemn Celtic to a 1-0 defeat as AC looked to top the group with aplomb, dominating the encounter as the Bhoys held on. News of Benfica’s 2-1 over Shakhtar Donetsk filtered through the San Siro, and despite the defeat Celtic progressed in second place. The news provides a big boost to Scottish football, with rivals Rangers in a healthy position to qualify next week.

In the Premiership Newcastle turned the form book on its head to a snatch a useful point of high-flying Arsenal. On the back of back-to-back defeats to Blackburn and Liverpool respectively, Newcastle needed a result to lift the gloom around St James Park, however things couldn’t have got off to a wore start as Emmanuel Adebayor put the Gunners ahead after four minutes with a stunning volley. The home side rallied, and buoyed by a lively crowd, gradually came back into proceedings as Geremi and Charles N'Zogbia went close. The Newcastle hero proved to be an unlikely one as local lad Steven Taylor rescued a point with a fine low strike in the second half. The result provides under-fire manager Sam Allardyce with a much need reprieve, with the Magpies now facing winnable ties against Birmingham, Fulham and Derby in the next three weeks.

A win would have taken Arsenal six points clear at the top of the Premiership, and they will rue the missed opportunity as Manchester United beat Fulham at a canter on Monday night, Cristiano Ronaldo’s double proving enough to earn the win. Disappointingly for the Portuguese trickster, he was booked for diving following a clash with Cottagers keeper Anti Niemi.

Elsewhere across the land Championship action took centre stage, as Barnsley, Bristol City, Charlton, Watford, Norwich, Preston, Crystal Palace, Stoke and Coventry all picked up wins, with Blackpool tying with Scunthorpe on Monday night.

Tonight, Bolton take on Red Star Belgrade needing a win meanwhile Tottenham travel to Anderlecht in UEFA Cup action.

images - bbc.co.uk/sport