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Heroes and Villains: Hat-trick hero Walters and appalling Aston Villa

| 02.02.2015
SPORTSBOOK ODDS

It was certainly an interesting weekend in the Premier League with Arsenal cruising to a win over Aston Villa, Chelsea holding Manchester City at home and unsung hero Jonathan Walters hitting a hat-trick for Stoke City. Check out who made our list of heroes and villains!

Arsenal’s attack
The Gunners were in merciless form this weekend, with five different attacking stars striking against an awful Aston Villa side.

Olivier Giroud, Mesut Ozil, Theo Walcott, Santi Cazorla and Hector Bellerin were all on target in Arsenal’s romp, earning an emphatic 5-0 triumph in London.

Arsene Wenger’s ferocious forwards helped shoot his side level on points with Southampton, behind only on goal difference in fifth.

Daniel Sturridge
Liverpool’s crucial win over high-flying West Ham United was capped off in style by returning striker Sturridge.

Not only did he make it on to the pitch after a five month absence through injury, the England international also sealed victory with the game’s second goal, brilliantly controlling Philippe Coutinho’s astute pass before blasting it home inside Adrian’s front post.

Jonathan Walters
On his 200th appearance for Stoke City, wonderful Walters became only the third ever Irishman to hit a Premier League hat-trick, helping his side to a 3-1 win over QPR.

The in-form Ireland striker completed a perfect treble, curling in an early right-footed effort before doubling the advantage with a neatly taken left-footed finish and heading home his third after 90 minutes.

Stoke’s prolific poacher became the first player to score a perfect hat-trick since Kevin Nolan and Romelu Lukaku in May 2013.

Aston Villa
Paul Lambert’s Villans were comprehensively thrashed by Arsenal at the Emirates, crashing to a heavy 5-0 thumping, and have now gone over 10 hours of football without a league goal.

Villa’s awful attacking form has seen them drop to within three points of the relegation zone after a run of eight matches without a win.

It doesn’t get any easier for the misfiring West Midlands club, as they travel to Stamford Bridge next week hoping to finally find the net.

Jose Mourinho
The Portuguese boss, never one to cause controversy, ended the weekend sourly after refusing to honour his press duties by boycotting the media, following Chelsea’s 1-1 draw with title rivals Manchester City.

Chelsea’s manager was unhappy about the treatment his striker Diego Costa has received after picking up a three match ban for stamping on Liverpool’s Martin Skrtel, despite Mourinho standing only inches away from the blatant incident.

Martin Atkinson and officials
After securing a stunning 5-3 victory in the reverse fixture, Leicester City started well and were holding strong against Louis van Gaal’s men at Old Trafford until 27 minutes.

Daley Blind played a beautifully weighted ball over the top to fellow Dutchman Robin van Persie, who finished superbly with a well-timed volley, despite the striker being in an obvious offside position.

Referee Martin Atkinson and his linesman were unable to spot this, as Van Persie’s opening goal rallied United to a comfortable 3-1 triumph over the Foxes, leaving Leicester three points from safety.

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Author

Lee Gormley

Lee joined the Coral team in 2014 after studying at Leeds Trinity University, having moved across the water from Ireland, and has plenty of industry experience from his time with various news outlets in both England and Northern Ireland. After graduating with a BA Honours degree in Sports Journalism, he has since become an important member of the talented sports desk, passionately covering boxing, football and snooker, among many other sports. Lee is also a massive Manchester United and Republic of Ireland fan, but curbs any bias during his work, and outside of his job can be found regularly taking part in sport himself, such as boxing, GAA and football.