Gary Lineker: Good evening and welcome to Match of the Day for our thoughts on the thirteenth round of the Premier League season! I will be your host after each round of games and Alan Shearer and Alan Hansen will assist me as we provide fresh post-match analysis. We will be focusing on a game or two we pick from the seven clubs we have highlighted this season - usually that will be the contender derbies.
Alan Hansen: We will also show you some interview specials with the managers right after the games, as well as occasional player profiles.
Alan Shearer: And finally, but not at last place, you will be updated with the latest news on injuries, dressing room events or even rumours surrounding your favourite clubs.
Gary Lineker: So are you ready? What really happened in the latest round of world's best league? Here we go...
Gary Lineker: The first match we picked up today saw title contenders Chelsea and Manchester City clash in a bid to remain as close as possible to league leaders Manchester United and Newcastle. The Blues put home advantage to use and John Terry gave them the lead although Aguero equalized for City just before the break. The Citizens were dangerous on the counter and Negredo scored a vital second goal on the hour mark. Just as the visitors were seeing themselves victorious substitute Fernando Torres grabbed a late, late equalizer to share the spoils.
Alan Hansen: I think both sides have something to regret here but the draw was a fair outcome. City didn't do much up front but had the lead and defended pretty well until very late in the game. On the other hand Chelsea didn't stop coming at them and wouldn't have deserved to lose it.
Alan Shearer: I think Willian was Chelsea's best player even though Ashley Cole and Torres influenced the game, too. Joe Hart was tremendous in goal and picked up the PoM award for City but he was backed by a strong performance from captain Kompany. Negredo also looked lively.
Gary Lineker: Let's see what the managers had to say after the game!
Reporter: You got a dramatic late equalizer although it was probably the least you deserved. Are you happy or disappointed you didn't take the three points?
Jose Mourinho: I think we were exceptional in attack but Joe Hart was equally good in City goal. You need to do more than just show quality in creating to win these games though and there is much to be desired from our defending. None of the sides I saw out there today deserved to lose. We were at home though so maybe we should have done a little better.
Reporter: With Manchester United and Newcastle both winning their games the gap to the top is even bigger for you now. Are you worried about your chances to catch up?
Jose Mourinho: It is a long season and we've barely began. I'm not interested in the table before the winter games have been played. We'll analyze our position after that.
Reporter: You came so close to winning but had to settle for a draw in the end. Considering the referee left play go on for a little longer than announced do you feel robbed?
Manuel Pellegrini: The match is over when the referee blows the whistle and we seem to have forgotten that. I cannot fault the players as they were tremendous today, we defended like a team and attacked in a controlled fashion. But we need to learn how to kill games even against big clubs if we want to achieve the results that match our ambition.
Reporter: Are you worried by the fact you are now lagging behind the league leaders?
Manuel Pellegrini: We played a top side with a top manager today and we nearly won. You won't hear me saying taking a point from this ground is a bad result at this stage of the season - it is a good result and we will put it to good use. We are a little disappointed we couldn't take more after we were so close, of course we were, but life goes on.
Gary Lineker: It sounds like both managers are relieved this game is off the fixture list without suffering a losing blow to their title ambitions. Jose and Manuel know they could have easily lost here and top priority was to avoid that.
Alan Hansen: You can see Pellegrini is a little disappointed but he doesn't want to publicly slate his players. I'm sure he'll make his feelings known in the dressing room though as City missed a big chance here and they know it.
Alan Shearer: There is another game we will cover for you in this edition of Match of the Day.
Gary Lineker: The second match we picked up today saw struggling title contenders Liverpool and Tottenham clash in a bid to kick-start their season. The home side arguably needed a good score more and Sturridge set them on a great start by scoring in the first minute! Liverpool were unable to use this early momentum though and Dawson quickly equalized. Eriksen then put the visitors ahead but Sturridge got his second of the game just before half time to cap a thrilling first half. Liverpool were boosted by this goal and came out flying after the break as goals by Suarez and Skrtel appeared to have wrapped this game for them. Spurs didn't give up though and Soldado immediately pulled one back. And we had another dramatic late, late equalizer in this game, too, as forgotten hero Defoe broke the hearts of 37000 fans at Anfield with virtually the last shot in this match!
Alan Hansen: Obviously Liverpool will be very upset at not winning this game but they only have themselves to blame. You simply can't afford the kind of defensive lapses they had and throw away the hard work up front. It is visible the Reds are suffering from total lack of confidence and Spurs took advantage of this to get something from a game which should have been beyond their reach with just ten minutes to go.
Alan Shearer: Sturridge had his best game so far this season and picked up the PoM award. Jordan Henderson and Suarez were the other Liverpool players to impress here. Eriksen was also very influential for Spurs while Sandro backed him up with a big performance in front of defense.
Gary Lineker: Let's see what the managers had to say after the game!
Reporter: Everyone will be wondering how you managed to throw away a two goal lead in the last ten minutes! You really needed the win here... Do you feel the pressure is getting to your team now?
Brendan Rodgers: We were very positive in this game. We tried to attack and we did great - four goals against a team of Spurs' quality is something to celebrate. Sadly we just couldn't shut it out and we were punished in the end. This is what lack of confidence does to you. Overall there were a lot of positives we will take from this performance and carry over for the next game. I ignore all speculation and so do the players - if I was troubled by everything written in the press I'd go insane.
Reporter: This was a good chance to start rescuing the season though and you did miss it. None of the players with defensive duties in your team performed well today. Will you look to make changes now?
Brendan Rodgers: We win as a team and lose as a team - and we didn't lose today. I won't be picking up names for you to slate in your reports, sorry.
Reporter: What a comeback! Your players must be buzzing in the dressing room?
Andre Villas-Boas: We didn't give up even when it seemed we are beyond any chance and we were rewarded for our character. The third goal Soldado scored was crucial, it gave us our belief back and at that moment I knew we would take something from this game. Of course Defoe deserves all the credit for his equalizer but we wouldn't be sitting here talking about it if Roberto hadn't given us the platform to chase it in the end. Which comes to say I have amazing strikers competing for places at this football club!
Reporter: We can't ignore your defense leaked four goals though. That's certainly not the kind of performance you want to see at the back.
Andre Villas-Boas: We faced a team of great quality up front, a team that was desperate to score. I always knew we couldn't count on sitting back and trying to get a clean sheet here. The fact we conceded was caused by my tactical plan for the game so I am to be held responsible for it, not the players.
Gary Lineker: I like how AVB is trying to shoulder the players from the pressure and while Spurs were the more happy side come the final whistle I'm not convinced his plan was "go out and concede four". He needs to address that whatever his instructions were.
Alan Hansen: His worries are nothing compared to what Rodgers has to handle though. If you are where Liverpool are in the table the last thing you want is collapse in the end of a game that was supposedly comfortably won at that point.
Gary Lineker: What do you have for us in the news and rumours section today, Alan?
Alan Shearer: The usual reports of pressure on Wenger and Rodgers are still persisting. Eto'o twisted a knee and will be out for two weeks for Chelsea, while David Silva will be okay despite picking up a knock in the same game for Manchester City. There were no new injuries for the other title contenders.
That is all from this edition of Match of the Day! Watch out for the newspaper columns of our regular pundits to find out their take of the games!
