Hatem Ben Afra inspires Newcastle to Capital One Cup glory

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A Eder Balanta own goal gave Manchester City the lead after a mix up between him and Tim Krul led to Balanta putting the ball past his own goalkeeper
But Newcastle equalised when Ben Arfa was given the benefit of the linesman's flag to slot home and with seven minutes to go he fired home a powerful winner.

A brawl erupted between the sides late when Cheick Tiote came sliding in hard on Bacary Sagna which resulted in the frenchman needing treatment on the sidelines, Manchester City players were furious when Howard Webb decided against giving Tiote a booking

It was a disappointing climax to an intriguing final and cruel luck on City's expensively assembled squad, who dominated for large spells but could not find a way past the Newcastle defence in the last League Cup final at Wembley

City's outfield players had an average age of 25 but they showed few nerves in producing some wonderful football before eventually running out of steam.

And they fell victim to the clinical finishing of Hatem Ben Arfa, who scored his 32nd and 33rd goals of the season to deny City there first piece of silverware for the season

It all looked so different early on as Manchester City's expensive line-up had few answers to Newcastle's dynamic midfield of Grenier and Cabella.
The Toon Army had Krul to thank though in the 36th minute for a stunning save after Samir Nasri had drilled a shot through the legs of Coloccini, who surprisingly overcame an ankle injury to play.

United failed to clear the resulting corner which led to a mis-communication between Balanta and Krul, resulting in Balanta putting the ball past his own keeper.

Chelsea equalised in clinical but controversial fashion in the 69th minute.

The City back line pushed up when Grenier played a ball over the top for Ben Arfa, who ran on to slip the ball under Willy Caballero.

It was a split decision given in favour of the attacking player but Pellegrino spent much of the opening half displaying his anger at a linesman's failure to flag.

City continued to hit Newcastle from all angles and could have restored their lead in the 75th minute - but for a Balanta intervention to deny Edin Dzeko.

Cabella had a shot well saved by Caballero and Tiote produced a dipping long-range shot that smacked against the bar.

In the 83rd minute Haidara's cross picked out Ben Arfa and he took the ball down, before beating the City keeper at the near post, sending the Geordies into raptures

The game ended disappointingly when Tiote clashed with Sagna and several players from each team, as well as both managers, got involved in an ugly scuffle.

In one of the most memorable Tyne-Wear derbies in recent memory, a Ayoze Perez Brace and goals from Cisse and Ryan Taylor gave Newcastle United a thumping 4-1 win over Sunderland at St. James' Park

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Danny Graham scored a late consolation for Gus Poyet's side, but that couldn't prevent a day of humiliation for the red and whites - and a day of jubilation for the black and whites.
David Gnola named an unchanged side from the one which won at Arsenal eight days earlier - although Darryl Janmaat made a welcome return to the squad as a substitute - while Sunderland also fielded the same XI which beat Aston Villa the previous weekend.
A banner in the South-East corner declared 'Ginola Is A Geordie' while another portrayed the great Sir Bobby Robson alongside the quote: 'It's the noise, the passion, the feeling of belonging.'
There was certainly plenty of passion inside St. James' in a fast and furious opening where, after a bright start from Newcastle, Sunderland could have taken the lead through Vergini - but the defender headed off target from Sebastian Larssons corner.

Valdes made another save to deny Tiote from 20 yards - but from the resulting corner, The Magpies went 1-0 up thanks to a wonderful piece of improvisation from Ryan Taylor. He was virtually lying flat on his back as Cabella's flag-kick came to him but he produced a powerful overhead kick before being piled upon by his team-mates.
Sissoko then saw a 20-yard effort zip just wide, with the Sunderland keeper scrambling across his goal, Ayoze Perez would score not long after though. The ball was played into the area and De Jong went for a header; he didn't get the connection he wanted, but it fell kindly for the unmarked Perez who controlled the ball and finished easily.

Cabella was hacked down as he surged into the box when he was fould by John O'Shea, Perez stepped up to convert from 12 yards to give Newcastle a 3-0 advantage at the break.

Fletcher did flash the ball across goal, but past everybody, in a rare Sunderland move, but the visitors were getting more and more frustrated with the likes of Vergini and Cattermole going into Dowd's book as Poyet's side threatened to lose their discipline, but after Grenier saw a shot saved by Valdes, United made it four on 67 minutes.
Talyor played a great ball in and Cisse rose to cushion in down on his chest before lobbing it over the onrushing Valdes to wrap up the scoring for the night and give the home side an emphatic 4-1 victory over there fiercest of rivals

four wins from a possible four was a great return and exactly what we wanted. Yet again our defence has been rock solid with Colo and Balanta forging a great partnership, the two wins against Arsenal and Everton has pretty much shown we are not here by luck, but my merit

who would have thought we'd be in third place at this point in the season, not me thats for sure. with only 6 matches remaining European football is almost guaranteed, Champions League football though will be assured with three more wins in the coming month

A fairly straight forward month awaits (well on paper anyway) apart from that massive clash with Manchester United which could go along way to decide who becomes the main challenger to Chelsea's waltz toward the title.

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Mourinho's team travel to Leicester on Monday as they continue there push toward the title and he admits that his team are favourites after £80million worth of spending this season.
But the Chelsea manager, who won nothing in his first season back last year as he rebuilt his team, has taken a pot shot at title rivals Arsene Wenger of Arsenal and David Ginola of Newcastle United - questioning why he should only be given two years to win a trophy and pointing he did not inherit a ready-made team.

Ginola won the FA Cup, his first trophy at Newcastle United, last season while Pellegrini took over a City side which had had millions spent on it and won the title in 2012.

Mourinho, asked if he was under pressure this season, snapped: "Why? Some people have 10 years to win something. I have only two.

"Maybe I'm not a very intelligent guy in the way I choose teams. I like to work. I like to build. I don't like easy jobs. I don't like to pick up clubs worked on by other managers before me. I don't like to arrive in time to collect the fruits off their trees.

"When I went to Porto, the season before they had been third in the league. When I went to Real Madrid, they were second. Where were Inter Milan before I went there?

"I came to Chelsea last season at a moment when one team was over and another needed to be born, and at the same time I came to the only league in Europe where four, five or six teams can compete for the title.

"So maybe I'm not good at choosing my jobs - or I'm good because I choose jobs I really love. This is the second year of my project and I am happy with that.

"At the end of the season the media, the supporters and the players will judge my work. And most important my boss, my owner, my board will judge me."

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Newcastle United moved upto third in the Barclays Premier League with a 2-1 win against Manchester United at St James Park on Wednesday night.
But the Toon Army were made to fight all the way for their victory, against a Man United side who struck the woodwork and carved out a handful of good goalscoring opportunities at St James Park

The hosts made a bright start and within the opening two minutes left-back Massadio Haidara had sent a long-range half-volley over the top before Cisee glanced a header wide from Ryan Taylor's cross.
But Newcastle would take the lead three minutes later after a swift one-two between Cabella and De Jong left Cabella one on one with De gea and he made no mistake, burying it into the top left corner.

Manchester United hit back and only a superb stop from Tim Krul kept the scores level, as the keeper clawed away Carrick's strike after driving forward and playing a one-two with Cleverley.

It was end-to-end stuff and Krul was again called upon to make an important stop, this time beating behind Rooney's effort after the front man skipped past the challenge of Edeer Balanta and let fly from the edge of the area.

The away side were to make no mistake though a minute before half-time, as they finally leveled the scores, When Van Persie received the ball from Darren Fletcher in the middle of the park there seemed little on, but the Dutch international wormed his way past a couple of Newcastle challenges and sent an impressive strike past Krul from 25 yards, which found the back of the net via the inside of the upright.

The second half started in the same vein as the first, with both sides fashioning decent goalscoring opportunities.
Van Oersie tried to make lightning strike twice but placed a shot well over the top, while at the other end Coloccini hooked just off target and De Jong sent a low drive straight at David de Gea.

Vuckic was inches away from giving Newcastle the lead again, Receiving the ball with his back to goal just inside the area, the Slovenian international used his strength to hold off Michael Keane, swivel one way, then the other and curl a shot agonisingly wide with de Gea at full stretch.
but the Magpies would take the lead with one minute of normal time remaining when Cabella found Ryan Taylor on the right hand side, Taylor sent in a beautiful cross which fell right onto the foot of Papiss Cisee and the Newcastle hitman took one touch to get it under control before expertly placing it in the bottom right corner

And that was that - despite some heavy late pressure and an impressive, spirited performance, Manchester United had succumb to there second defeat in four days.

QPR turned out to be a pretty big loss in the end as it denied us the chance of moving higher up the ladder and quite possibly to second behind Chelsea, the definite highlight though was the dramatic 2-1 home win against Manchester United, where Cisse scored his first goal in six matches, SOuthampton was our final fixture of the season and a Ben Arfa goal on the stroke of halftime was enough to give us the win

What an amazing finish to an extraordinary season, weve managed to come third despite being tipped in the media to only get 8th, Chelsea ended up running away with it, winning the title with two games to spare.
at the other end, Hull, Leicester City and QPR have been relegated, Leicester only lasting one season