by johntheclaret » Sat Jan 31, 2009 9:07 am
Mid week results Jan 27th & 28th
Results
Tuesday 27th January 2009
Portsmouth 0-1 Aston Villa
Sunderland 1-0 Fulham
Tottenham Hotspur 3-1 Stoke City
West Bromwich Albion 0-5 Manchester United
Wednesday 28th January 2009
Blackburn Rovers 2-2 Bolton Wanderers
Chelsea 2-0 Middlesbrough
Everton 1-1 Arsenal
Manchester City 2-1 Newcastle United
West Ham United 2-0 Hull City
Wigan Athletic 1-1 Liverpool
Round Up
Leaders United made it 11 clean sheets in a row with an imperious performance in beating bottom-of-the-table West Brom 5-0 at the Hawthorns.
A slick passing move enabled United to make the breakthrough midway through the first half as Ryan Giggs smuggled a pass through to Dimitar Berbatov, who played a precise one-two with Michael Carrick before driving a low shot past Scott Carson.
West Brom's chances of getting back in the game were handicapped further five minutes before half-time when referee Rob Styles wasted no time in producing a red card after skipper Paul Robinson's full-blooded challenge on Park Ji-sung.
And the game took a further turn for the worse for the hosts a minute before the interval as Carson, claiming a foul, dropped Ryan Giggs' free-kick at the feet of Carlos Tevez and he gleefully smashed the ball into the net from close range.
Ryan Donk hit the post for the Baggies after a clever passing move before Nemanja Vidic headed home Giggs' corner on the hour mark.
United further increased their lead on 65 minutes as Tevez played in Giggs, who showed great awareness to tee up Cristiano Ronaldo for a simple finish.
Ronaldo then scored his second of the night on 73 minutes as he timed his run to perfection to slot Berbatov's pass through Carson's legs.
New signing Heskey enjoyed a dream debut for Villa as the striker's first-half goal clinched a 1-0 win at out-of-sorts Portsmouth to move Martin O'Neill's men level on points with second-placed Liverpool.
Villa took the lead in the 21st minute when Gabriel Agbonlahor flicked the ball on and Heskey unleashed an unstoppable volley from the edge of the area which flew past David James.
Pompey had Nadir Belhadj sent off for a second bookable offence on 71 minutes, although he could easily have been dismissed in the first half for kicking out at Craig Gardner.
An inspired first-half performance moved Tottenham three points above the relegation zone after a 3-1 victory at home to Stoke.
Spurs were in front after just eight minutes as Jermain Defoe fed Aaron Lennon and the winger advanced into the box before drilling a low shot past Thomas Sorensen.
Defoe then turned goalscorer on 21 minutes when smashing a thumping shot past Sorensen after being played in by strike partner Roman Pavlyuchenko.
Just four minutes later it was 3-0 as Spurs worked a short corner and Luka Modric whipped in a cross which was headed home by the unmarked Michael Dawson.
Stoke kept going and pulled a goal back on 57 minutes as James Beattie scored his first goal for the club after finishing off a pass from fellow new boy Matthew Etherington.
Fulham are still to win away in the Premier League this season after going down to a 1-0 defeat at Sunderland.
After a first half of few chances, Sunderland decisively broke the deadlock 10 minutes into the second period with a powerful run from Andy Reid creating the opening.
The ball broke for Djibril Cisse and his firm shot was pushed out by Mark Schwarzer, with Jones reacting the quickest to pounce on the loose ball..
Mido marked his Wigan Athletic debut with a late equaliser in a 1-1 draw at home to Liverpool, who were held for the fifth time in seven league games and now trail leaders Manchester United by two points.
Liverpool came close to taking an early lead as Steven Gerrard curled in a free-kick from the left and Fernando Torres' glancing header came back off the post.
The title contenders did make the breakthrough four minutes before half-time as Javier Mascherano slipped in Yossi Benayoun, who rounded Wigan keeper Mike Pollitt and squeezed home his shot from a narrow angle.
The Reds were made to pay for their failure to score a second goal on 83 minutes when Wigan earned a penalty after Lucas tripped Jason Koumas.
On-loan striker Mido, who scored in parent club Middlesbrough's 2-1 defeat at Liverpool earlier this season, stepped up to send Jose Reina the wrong way from the spot.
It could have been even worse for Liverpool in injury-time as Wigan substitute Hugo Rodallega almost marked his debut with a stunning goal only to see his 25-yard free-kick come back off the bar.
Salomon Kalou grabbed two second-half goals as Chelsea won 2-0 at Stamford Bridge to stretch Middlesbrough's run without a league victory to 11 games.
Though Chelsea controlled the first half, chances were at a premium and it took until the 58th minute for the hosts to get their noses in front.
Boro failed to deal with Frank Lampard's corner and, when David Wheater's header dropped for Kalou, the Ivorian thumped his volley into the net.
Another corner on 81 minutes proved Boro's undoing again as keeper Ross Turnbull came and missed Lampard's cross, giving Kalou a simple header to allow Chelsea to move above Liverpool on goal difference.
Robin van Persie volleyed home an injury-time equaliser as Arsenal fought back for a 1-1 draw at UEFA Champions League rivals Everton.
A tight game burst in to life just past the hour mark when Leighton Baines dug out a cross from the left and Tim Cahill rose powerfully to head beyond Manuel Almunia.
Arsenal were struggling to find a way through the Everton defence until the second minute of stoppage-time when Abou Diaby's searching pass was chested under control by Van Persie and he smacked a stunning volley past Tim Howard.
Manchester City moved into the top half of the table after a battling 2-1 win over Newcastle as Bellamy scored the decisive goal against his former club.
Mark Hughes' men took the lead on 17 minutes when the in-the-news Robinho played a pass in behind Jose Enrique and Shaun Wright-Phillips smashed his shot through the legs of stand-in keeper Steve Harper, who was filling in for injured City target Shay Given.
Harper, who signed a new contract earlier in the week, was then handed the captain's armband moments later after Michael Owen limped off.
Bellamy, whose last goal for West Ham was against Newcastle earlier this month, struck on his City debut on 77 minutes as he collected Pablo Zabaleta's pass on the edge of the box before turning and firing a low shot past Harper.
The Magpies grasped a lifeline four minutes later as David Edgar robbed Wayne Bridge of possession on the right of the box and his low cross was tapped in at the far post by Andy Carroll, but an equaliser was not forthcoming.
Blackburn are yet to lose since Allardyce replaced Paul Ince as manager as Rovers came from two goals down to force a 2-2 draw at home to local rivals Bolton.
The visitors were in front on the quarter-hour mark as Ariza Makukula drove a cross-shot from the right of the box towards the far post where Matthew Taylor was sliding in to finish from close range.
And 10 minutes before half-time, Bolton were in dreamland as former Rovers striker Kevin Davies scored at the second attempt after his initial shot from Gretar Steinsson's cross was parried by Paul Robinson.
Blackburn pulled a goal back midway through the second half as Benni McCarthy played in Stephen Warnock to score beyond Jussi Jaaskelainen.
And moments later, Rovers had a great chance to equalise after substitute Roque Santa Cruz got in behind the defence before being brought down by Jaaskelainen.
The Bolton keeper made amends with a low save from McCarthy's spot-kick and then held on as the South African striker and Santa Cruz got in each other's way when trying to bundle home the rebound.
McCarthy atoned for his spot-kick miss three minutes from time as he turned the ball home from close range after Christopher Samba's knock-down had been helped on by Jason Roberts.
David Di Michele produced an inspired display as West Ham continued their fine form with a convincing 2-0 home win over free-falling Hull City.
The Hammers dominated the first half and came close to a 15th minute lead when the impressive Di Michele's brilliant curling effort came back off the post.
Midway through the first half, the Hammers were awarded a penalty as Carlton Cole tumbled under a token challenge from Sam Ricketts, but Mark Noble's spot-kick was superbly saved by Matt Duke, who was given a chance in goal at the expense of Boaz Myhill.
The Tigers' resistance was broken on 33 minutes as Cole's curling attempt was partially saved by Duke, but the ball continued on to the far post for Di Michele to nudge home.
The upright came to the visitors' rescue again before half-time as a flowing move involving Di Michele and Cole allowed the Italian to roll in a low cross, but Jack Collison's side-foot shot bounced off the post.
West Ham got the second goal their performance merited on 51 minutes when Di Michele's shot, following Matthew Upson's knock-back, came back off the post and was turned home by Cole.
Table
Teams P GD PTS
1 Man Utd 22 29 50
2 Chelsea 23 31 48
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3 Liverpool 23 22 48
4 Aston Villa 23 14 47
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5 Arsenal 23 13 42
6 Everton 23 4 37
7 Wigan 23 2 32
8 West Ham 23 0 32
9 Man City 22 10 28
10 Hull City 23 -15 27
11 Fulham 21 1 26
12 Sunderland 23 -8 26
13 Tottenham 23 -4 24
14 Bolton 23 -8 24
15 Portsmouth 22 -13 24
16 Newcastle 23 -10 23
17 Blackburn 22 -11 22
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18 Middlesbrough 23 -17 21
19 Stoke City 23 -18 21
20 West Brom 23 -22 21
... Long through ball, he held his nerve and the ball beautifully, he'd actually done the hardest part, but his attempted lift over Howard went wide, he was probably only 2-3 metres from goal with only the keeper to beat. To be fair, thats the first fluff I've seen him make and he showed plenty of class today, would expect good things from him (barring injury) for the remainder of the year.
