Festive frolics - Premier League Round up 28/12/2008
December 29, 2008
After the long journey to Japan and a bruising trip to Stoke, United’s players were probably grateful for the extra day they had to prepare for their clash with Middlesbrough. Many of them will have no doubt checked in on how their Premier League title rivals fared in another action packed day of festive football action.
League leaders Liverpool got things off to a flying start. In truth they could have been three or four up in the opening 20 minutes had it not been for some goalkeeping heroics by Shay Given – a player Newcastle must keep hold of if they want to ensure survival this season. Gerrard and Hyypia gave the Merseysiders a 2-1 lead at the break and in the second period they broke loose. Goals from Babel, Gerrard and Alonso giving Rafa Benitez’s side a convincing win. Newcastle 1 - 5 Liverpool.
Former Arsenal captain Tony Adams had an unhappy return to his old club as his Portsmouth side went down 1-0 at the Emirates. William Gallas got the decisive goal nine minutes from time to move his side back into the top four and inflict a 4th straight defeat on Adams and Pompey. Arsenal 1 - 0 Portsmouth.
Chelsea’s bid to keep pace with Liverpool stalled as Fulham’s impressive home form continued. A Frank Lampard double cancelled out Clint Dempsey’s first half opener and it looked like that would be enough for Big Phil’s side until Dempsey popped up again in the 89th minute to rescue a point for the Cottagers. Fulham 2 - 2 Chelsea.
Man City came from two goals down to rescue a point against Blackburn. Benni McCarthy had given Sam Allardyce’s side the lead in first half stoppage time. Jason Roberts then appeared to have secured all three points for Rovers when he nodded home with just six minutes remaining. City hit back however through Daniel Sturridge and then, in the 94th minute, Robinho to steal a point. Blackburn 2 - 2 Man City.
Everton’s upturn in form continued with a comfortable win over Sunderland to ruin Ricky Sbragia’s first game as permanent Black Cats manager. Mikel Arteta opening the scoring with a superb swerving free kick after 10 minutes. The Spaniard doubled Everton’s lead 17 minutes later, his initial free kick was blocked by the Sunderland wall but he fired the rebound in low and a deflection helped see it past keeper Martin Fulop. The win was confirmed seven minutes from time when youngster Dan Gosling scored his first goal in only his second appearance for the Toffees. Everton 3 - 0 Sunderland.
Wigan made it two wins out of two over the festive period with a hard earned victory over Gary Megson’s Bolton. Egyptian Amir Zaki – who is linked with a move away from the JJB in January – coolly converted from the penalty spot after Andy O’Brien had fouled Henri Camara. Wigan’s fifth win in six moved them into seventh place in the Premier League table. In this form anyone thinking of a football bet could be tempted to back the Latics to steal a European place come the end of the season. Bolton 0 - 1 Wigan.
West Brom briefly lifted themselves off the bottom of the table with a win over 10-man Tottenham. Benoit Assou-Ekotto saw red for a stamp on Gianni Zuiverloon after 34 minutes but for long periods it looked as though West Brom would not take advantage of their numerical superiority. They eventually broke the deadlock on 83 minutes when Roman Bednar struck for the second home game in succession. The win was confirmed in injury time through substitute Craig Beattie. West Brom 2 -0 Spurs.
West Ham’s mini revival continued but they had to come from behind to beat 10-man Stoke. Abdoulaye Faye gave the Potters the lead and it remained that way for nearly 50 minutes until the game turned on its head within a few seconds. Firstly Carlton Cole brought the Hammers level. Then, as Stoke were about to kick off, Ricardo Fuller appeared to hit out at his own captain Andy Griffin. The referee had no option but to show the red card to Fuller and leave the visitors up against it for the rest of the game. They looked to have held out until Diego Tristan deflected Carton Cole’s shot into the net with just two minutes to go. West Ham 2 - 1 Stoke City.
Manchester United 4 - 0 West Brom
October 18, 2008
| Manchester United 4 | - | 0 West Brom |
|
Wayne Rooney (56) |
| Manchester United | Team Statistics | West Brom |
| 4 | Goals | 0 |
| 9 | Shots On Target | 2 |
| 7 | Shots Off Target | 4 |
| 7 | Shots Blocked | 0 |
| 16 | Corners | 1 |
| 4 | Offsides | 2 |
| 11 | Fouls | 14 |
| 0 | Yellow Cards | 1 |
| 0 | Red Cards | 0 |
| 56.6 | Possession | 43.4 |
| 85 | Passing | 79.7 |
| 12 | Tackles | 26 |
| 83.3 | Tackling | 69.2 |
Team Sheets
Manchester United
Edwin van der Sar
Nemanja Vidic
Patrice Evra
Rafael da Silva
Rio Ferdinand
Cristiano Ronaldo
Darren Fletcher
Ji-sung Park
Ryan Giggs
Dimitar Berbatov
Wayne Rooney
—————-
Darron Gibson
Gary Neville*
John O’Shea*
Jonny Evans
Luis Nani*
Tomasz Kuszczak
Wes Brown
West Brom
Scott Carson
Ryan Donk
Gianni Zuiverloon
Jonas Olsson
Paul Robinson
James Morrison
Jonathan Greening
Robert Koren
Chris Brunt
Borja Valero
Roman Bednar
—————-
Dean Kiely
Carl Hoefkens
Marek Cech
Leon Barnett
Ishmael Miller
Luke Moore
Sherjill MacDonald
Events
John O’Shea (36)
Patrice Evra (36)
Gianni Zuiverloon (40) Roman Bednar (53) Ishmael Miller (53)
Wayne Rooney (56) Gary Neville (65) Rafael da Silva (65) Cristiano Ronaldo (69) Ji-sung Park (70) Luis Nani (70) Dimitar Berbatov (71) Robert Koren (72) Luke Moore (72) Luis Nani (90)Premiership round-up 23rd & 24th August
August 24, 2008
Saturday 23rd August
Michael Owen came off the bench against Bolton in his first appearance of the season having missed the entire pre-season. The England striker still looked sharp as he scored the only goal to give Newcastle the win at St James’s Park. Newcastle 1 – 0 Bolton.
Hull City remain unbeaten in their debut season in the Premiership after a hard fought draw against Blackburn at Ewood Park. Hull went behind in the 38th minute when Jason Roberts coolly slotted home but within 2 minutes, Hull had equalised when Richard Garcia headed home when what looked like a far post cross dipped into the back of the net. There were very few chances after that and the game ended Blackburn 1 – 1 Hull.
Liverpool took on Middlesbrough at Anfield and when Mido opened the scoring in the 70th minute, it looked like it wasn’t going to be Liverpool’s day. But in the 86th minute, a thunderbolt from Jamie Carragher took a wicked deflection off Pogatetz and ended up in the back of the net. Liverpool would have been fortunate to escape with a draw but in the fourth minute of injury time, skipper Steven Gerrard does what he has done so many times and scored a screamer from just outside the box. Liverpool 2 – 1 Middlesbrough.
Stoke City lead three times at the Britannia Stadium against Aston Villa and after levelling the match twice, Aston Villa fell to an injury time winner from Sidibe giving the newly promoted side their first 3 points of the campaign. Stoke City 3 – 2 Aston Villa.
There was no space in the squad let alone the starting eleven for United target Dimitar Berbatov as Spurs succumbed to their second league defeat in as many games. Kieran Richardson scored a belter from outside the area in the 55th minute before Jenas tapped in the equaliser 18 minutes later. Spurs pushed for the winner but Sunderland new boy Cisse found himself unmarked to head home on 82 minutes giving the Black Cats all three points. Tottenham 1 – 2 Sunderland.
West Brom had the better of a slow first half as they took on Everton at The Hawthorns but were unable to capitalise on any of their chances. In Contrast, Everton made the most of their chances scoring 2 of their 3 shots on target through Osman (65th minute) and Yakubu (76th minute). The Baggies did mange to score from the spot late on but the game ended West Brom 1 – 2 Everton.
Fulham hosted Arsenal in the late kick off of the day and after an opening day defeat to Hull City, Arsenal were by far the bookies favourite. Hangeland put Fulham ahead after 20 minutes and a disappointing (depending on your perspective) Arsenal were unable to recover and the match ended Fulham 1 – 0 Arsenal.
Sunday 24th August
Chelsea travelled to Wigan and when Deco put the visitors ahead with a sublime free kick from the edge of the area, you would be forgiven for thinking this was going to be another rout. But Wigan regrouped and made it difficult for Chelsea and even probably had the better of the chances after that. Unfortunately, they couldn’t break through and the game ended Wigan 0 – 1 Chelsea.
Manchester City coasted to a 3 – 0 victory over West Ham as the Hammers effectively gifted the match to the home team. Noble was sent off in the 38th minute for a handball followed by a stupid sliding tackle and the ten men of West Ham never looked like they were going to compete. It took until the 65th minute for Sturridge to make the breakthrough and when they did, the flood gates almost opened. Elano scored a brace in 6 minutes to compound the misery for the Hammers as they went down without a single shot on target. Manchester City 3 - 0 West Ham.
The opening day of the Premiership
August 16, 2008
The Premiership kicked off for fourteen teams today as each one hoped to start the new campaign with a win. 12 teams shared 20 goals in what looks to be one of the best Premiership seasons ever..
Arsenal and West Brom was the first kick off of the day and when new signing Samir Nasri slotted home in the 4th minute you would be forgiven for thinking West Brom’s welcome to the Premiership wasn’t going to be pleasant. But West Brom refused to roll over and the match ended Arsenal 1 – 0 West Brom.
Newly promoted Stoke were up against Bolton and were 3 – 0 down by the interval. It took until injury time in the second half for Stoke to score a consolation goal, final score: Bolton 3 – 1 Stoke.
The final promoted team of the season Hull, met Fulham and were quickly one down to a glancing header by Seol Ki-Hyeon. Geovanni levelled the score in the 22nd minute before Folan grabbed the winner in the 81st minute to give Hull a win in their first ever Premier League match: Hull 2 – 1 Fulham.
Paul Ince started his Blackburn reign with a win as his team beat Everton 3 - 2 at Goodison Park. David Dunn put Blackburn in front in the 22nd minute before strikes from Mikel Arteta just before half time and Yakubu in the 64th minute left Rovers 2 – 1 down. Two minutes later, Santa Cruz levelled the game for Blackburn before an injury time winner from Ooijer gave Rovers the win they deserved. Everton 2 – 3 Blackburn.
Dimitar Berbatoz started on the bench for Tottenham when they took on an impressive Middlesbrough at the Riverside. It looked like it was heading for a goalless draw until the 71st minute when Weater put the home team in front. Mido scored a goal against his former club in the 86th to make it two and a late own goal from Robert Huth made the score line a little flattering for Spurs as it ended Middlesbrough 2 – 1 Tottenham.
The final 3pm kick off of the day saw Wigan make the trip to London in a match against West Ham. Dean Ashton struck twice in the opening 10 minutes in front of England boss Fabio Capello. The first half ended 2 – 0 and Wigan came out fighting after the break with an early strike from Amir Zaki giving Wigan a great chance. Ashton was taken off due to a claf problem and has subsequently been removed from the England squad. Despite their efforts, the Lactics couldn’t convert and the match ended West Ham 2 – 1 Wigan.
The final game of the day kicked off at 5:30pm where Liverpool struggled to break Sunderland down for 82 minutes in their match at the Stadium of Light. That was until a superb 20 yard strike from Fernando Torres beat Craig Gordon and it was enough to secure the three points as it ended Sunderland 0 – 1 Liverpool.
