STOKE 1 - 1 WEST HAM
K. Jones 48’ Parker 32’
With Iron’s boss Avram Grant away to celebrate the Jewish holy day, Yom Kippuh. West Ham travelled to the Brittania still needing to get off the mark. Stoke manager Tony Pulis was attending his first full match since the tragic passing of his mother the week prior.
In the early minutes it was Stoke forcing much of the pressure, but with no actual chances after a couple of Rory Delap throws failed to hit the wanted targets. They did however manage to hit the post after another Robert Green drop from a wide free kick to invite more intense pressure onto his own team’s back line.
25 minutes in saw Valeri Behrami pick up a much deserved booking after three frankly poor challenges, each of which could have seen a card themselves. With the half an hour mark having just passed, West Ham found themselves with a wide free-kick. New-man Victor Obinna stood over it and struck in a cross. After the ball cannoned around in the 6 yard box it fell invitingly to the in-form Scott Parker, who, as he did against Chelsea last week, scored. West Ham had drawn first blood and had a lead to now try to defend instead of attempting to chase a game.
The Hammers almost doubled their lead two minutes later when ex-Pompey player Piquionne rattled the crossbar with a 20 yard strike. Stoke soon came back into the game though, Kenwyne Jones scooping a close header. Following this chance came a few rash, tough tackles which saw both Cole and Whitehead take yellow cards.
The half time whistle was blown after German Robert Huth took a mean boot to the face to end the half with West Ham still in the ascendency. This could not be said for long however as Stoke found their equaliser in the 48th minute after Jermaine Pennant sprinted down the right flank, and – just like he used to – whipped in a fantastic cross at full speed which found the head of Jones magnificently to bring the scores level.
Pennant was at it against almost ten minutes later as he buzzed in another cross that Walters could not quite get his head on the end of. This came just after Behrami had to leave the field through injury.
On the hour, Stoke then had their best chance to go ahead in the game with Jones managing to shrug off defenders to get a shot of that hit the woodwork once more. He also hit the bar from an offside position after yet another brilliant cross from Jermaine Pennant, who grabbed the man of the match honour. The match then started to become very end to end, with Sorensen having to stop both Obinna and then Da Costa to keep West Ham down to one goal.
Stoke managed to hit the woodwork yet again with eight minutes remaining as Fuller headed downwards for the ball to rear up of the ground, hit the bar and bounce out after a good Delap throw. With seconds remaining, Etherington nearly lobbed Green off his line with a strike off the outside of his foot.
The final whistle blew on yet another exciting Premier League affair. West Ham have finally managed to get themselves on the board points-wise. Stoke will be disappointed to not have picked up the full allocation of points at home after having had so many chances with all their efforts that hit the wood work. West Ham though, will not be complaining, they took their best chance and even though it was scrappy, it gained them a much needed point. The Hammers face a tough home game against Spurs next week, whilst Stoke travel to St James’ in front of the Sky Sports cameras for Super Sunday.
DAVIES DRIVES BOLTON TO A POINT AT VILLA PARK AS MCDONALD TAKES HIS LEAVE
Aston Villa 1 - 1 Bolton
A Young 13’ K Davies 35’
• Young works a superb free-kick past the wall and past the keeper to score.
• Davies levels the scores when he swivels and shoots into the roof of the goal after a great Petrov pullback.
DIOUF THE DEVIL YET AGAIN AS SCHWARZAR IS LEFT FUMING!
Blackburn 1 - 1 Fulham
Samba 30’ Dempsey 56’
• From a deep free-kick, Samba rises highest as Schwarzar is purposefully knocked down by Diouf – an incident that went unnoticed twice – from Blackburn opener.
• Salcido delivers a super cross to meet Dempsey’s head and with a superb header he guides in the equalises.
NOT ARFA BAD STRIKE ON DEBUT FROM HATEM BEN!
Everton 0 - 1 Newcastle
Ben Arfa 45’
• New boy Hatem Ben Arfa puts Toon ahead with an absolute wonderful strike with his left foot from 30 yards to spear past Tim Howard into the top right corner. This strike bought Newcastle an important three points at a place where Man Utd could only manage one the week before.
RAFAEL STOPS THE ROT IN BRILLIANT SPURS TURNAROUND!
Tottenham 3 - 1 Wolves
Van Der Vaart 77’ Fletcher 45’
Pavluychenko 87’
Hutton 90’
• Foley squares the ball low for Fletcher to tap in from inside near post to put Wolves ahead at The Lane.
• Van Der Vaart equalises from the spot after Hutton was brought down on the edge of the box by Ward.
• Huddlestone’s shot is blocked and rebounds to Pavluychenko who slids past Hahnemann to put Tottenham in front with 13 minutes remaining.
• Hutton finishes off the contest when he runs through, Stearman’s clearance deflects into the back of the net off his foot.
GUNNER’S BENT OUT OF SHAPE AFTER FAB FLUKE!
SUNDERLAND 1 - 1 ARSENAL
Bent 90+5’ Fabregas 13’
Arsenal travelled to the Stadium of Light this week looking to top the Premier League for 24 hours with Chelsea playing the next afternoon. Sunderland were simply hoping to maintain their solid enough start to the season that saw them at the bottom end of the top half of the table before the whistle blew.
The match begun with neither team taking too much of a foothold within it, the ball being interchanged between both teams frequently for the first ten minutes. On 13 minutes came what is likely to be the most comical goal of the season. It began when Anton Ferdinand decided to delay his clearing of the ball 35 yards from his own goal. He back-pedalled, inviting Cesc Fabregas to close him down. Finally choosing to clear, Ferdinand did so, with quite some power. The ball cannoned in the right ankle of Fabregas and with Mignolet standing near the edge of his box, the ball looped over him and into the back of the net. Fabregas could not believe his luck, however he did – in scoring the goal – injury his hamstring and had to be removed 10 minutes later to be replaced by Tomas Rosicky.
Three minutes after the goal, Sunderland spurned their first proper chance from a corner with Onuoha getting right underneath a header that should really have hit the target to make Almunia work. This was one of the few set pieces that Sunderland worked something from because Henderson’s execution was on such poor form.
With 20 minutes gone, Arsenal had a half shout for a penalty with Anton Ferdinand ‘handballing’ off a Samir Nasri cross. The referee however waved play on. Arshavin then tested Sunderland keeper Mignolet with a low, hard drive that the keeper clung on to manfully.
Sunderland should have had an equaliser when Cristian Riveros overran a cross and instead of a diving header the ball came off his back. Song then proceeded to join Wilshere in the book after a block. It was Arsenal though, that finished off the half the brighter side, with Sunderland perhaps tiring a little from all the early running and closing down that they had subjected themselves to and score remained 1-0.
Arsenal also made the opportunity of the second half; Chamakh wasting a ‘one on one’ chance with Mignolet standing tall. Their ability to follow up this chance with others was dented when Song saw his 2nd yellow for Arsenal to see their first sending off of the new campaign. As Steve Bruce later said though, “I thought they caused us more problems when they had 10 men.”
After Bent sliced wide from a corner, Samir Nasri just put the ball onto the roof of the net with a good free-kick. Exciting Ghanian Gyan was then brought on off the bench with just under 30 minutes remaining. Rosicky then hit wide just after Arsenal had built up a strong move.
With 20 minutes or so still left in the game, and both teams still battling for the points, Nasri was tripped in the box by El Mohamedy. To the surprise of many, Rosicky stepped up to take the spot kick ahead of Nasri himself – with Arshavin and Fabregas both on the bench – and skied the ball over the bar horribly to leave Sunderland with a route back into the game.
In time added on, Sunderland capitalised on this route, with the four minutes of stoppage time up and an attack not looking forthcoming, Dowd allowed play to continue and it ended up with a scrappy period in the Arsenal box with the ball falling to Darren Bent who – as he did in last year’s fixture – scored to level proceedings and irk Arsene Wenger terribly.
Arsenal will be terribly disappointed by this result after a very sound defensive display all in all, considering it was the two new boys Squillaci and Koscielny at the back. Sunderland will be glad to have taken a point they definitely deserved. That said, how many times have Arsenal deserved a point or more and lost, so it is an interesting debate as to whether the Sunderland goal should have been allowed to happen or not. All part of the controversy and excitement that is the Premier League!
BROM DRUM BRUM IN MAGNIFICENT WIN!
WEST BROM 3 - 1 BIRMINGHAM
Dann (OG) 51’ Jerome 15’
Odemwingie 59’
Olsson 69’
Two teams met here for a Midland’s derby. Alexander Hleb made his debut at the ground where, 2.5 years, he witnessed his team-mate Eduardo have his leg broken horrifically. West Brom new boy, Odemwingie got himself in the starting line-up.
Cameron Jerome put Birmingham ahead after Scott Dann set him up perfectly with squared across header for Jerome to simply tap the ball home. Rather than let this affect them negatively, West Brom in fact allowed going behind to give them impetus.
Scharner was saved well by Foster after a good Brunt cross. Following this came an Odemwingie effort that went just wide with Foster scampering unknowingly.
After the break, West Brom’s pressure started to pay off. Just over five minutes in, Thomas sprinted in from the wing, beat a couple of men to square across a dangerous, dangerous ball across the Birmingham goal mouth, Odemwingie appeared to miss the ball only for Dann to deflect the ball home for an equaliser to bring cheer around the Hawthorn’s. They did not have to wake long to go ahead either. With half an hour left to go, the Nigerian striker used superb anticipation to latch onto a bad Bowyer touch going back towards his own goal. Odemwingie then rounded Foster to finish excellently from a narrow angle to put his team ahead.
Olsson then sealed a West Brom with 10 minutes later, when, climbing all over the back of Liam Ridgewell from a corner, he leapt highest to head in from a well-worked corner.
This was a good, solid win for West Brom, because come the end of the season, they will be looking to avoid the drop once more. They appear to have the team to do so and home wins like these will prove invaluable. Birmingham will not be so disappointed to lose on the road so long as they can string together home wins to ensure themselves another mid-table finish and another year in the Premier League.
GLOURIOUS GERRARD COMEBACK CANCELLED OUT BY DAZZLING, DELIGHTFUL DIMITAR!
LIVERPOOL 2 - 3 MAN UTD
Gerrard (Pen) 63’, 70’ Berbatov 42’, 59’, 84’
“The biggest of games, the biggest of names,” speaks Martin Tyler on the Sky Sports advert for this fixture, and boy was it! Liverpool have struggled so far this season and haven’t managed to get going. Man Utd have been better, but have drawn on the road twice, conceding late on both times to Everton and Fulham. Liverpool looked to new recruits Meireles and Poulsen to be the engine room in the midfield with Gerrard joining them. They would be coming head to head against the red hot Scholes and his more understated, but no less quality partner in Darren Fletcher.
The biggest names though, were not necessarily the ones to shine. Torres and Rooney were both missing during this meeting. Despite this, Rooney’s team had the better of early interchanges and with quarter of an hour done, he and Berbatov had a great exchange and the ball went onto Nani, who sliced his shot widely poorly. Liverpool had their first effort 10 minutes later when right-back Glen Johnson cut in onto his left foot and curled a shot wide from 20 yards.
Berbatov managed to round off a fairly dull first half with a brilliant header, having got in front of his marker Torres and beating him in the air, he then headed wide of Pepe Reina to put United 1-0 ahead three minutes shy of the half time whistle.
The 2nd half saw an increase in tempo of play. Fletcher created the first chance of it seven minutes in with an effort from outside the box that deflected up and over the backline to drop to Berbatov who was expertly denied his 5th League goal by Reina at close-quarters. Berbatov did not however have long to wait. After Nani thumped the post with a raging shot from a narrow angle, the Bulgarian followed it up two minutes later with an absolute beauty of a goal. He took down a cross with a touch that kept the ball just above his head level. He then went on to execute a wonderful bicycle kick with his back to goal from 10 or so yards that dipped to hit the underside of the crossbar and in.
Berbatov was finally starting to show the form that had him bought from Tottenham for £30million. Whilst it is form that is long overdue, United fans will be delighted that he has started firing, in particular in important games such as this one. He has also covered brilliantly for a most out of sorts Rooney to make sure United have kept scoring goals.
With the way United conceded a two goal advantage last week at Goodison Park, one would have thought they would be slightly more circumspect and conservative now they once again had a similar advantage. Four minutes after Berbatov’s goal though, Jonny Evans foolishly brought Torres down for a penalty. This followed a United chance that saw Carragher forced to clear off his line after a Nani cross. Liverpool skipper Steven Gerrard confidently stepped up to take and in-turn convert the penalty with that same confidence to bring his team right back into the game.
Unbelievably only another seven minutes later, John O’Shea brought Torres down again on the edge of the penalty area when he didn’t have the ball. O’Shea was lucky to escape with only a booking whilst Gerrard again should over a dead-ball. Fletcher moved to cause a gap in the wall. It was that precise gap that Gerrard exploited as he curled the ball through it at a low height to equalise with a magnificent exhibition in free-kick technique. Once again United had let a lead slip, something that if allowed to continue, will surely hinder them from winning a title that would take their trophy count ahead of their Scouse rivals.
With Liverpool seeming more content to keep a rescued point rather than risk losing one searching for winner, United were once again able to take the initiative and look for a winner of their own. Meireles failed to connect with a tough header when Poulsen played a long ball in over his shoulder with 18minutes to go. United then went on the attack with Macheda on for Giggs.
When there was only 6 minutes remaining came the magic moment. O’Shea delivered in a fantastic cross that Berbatov, competing with Carragher, managed to out-leap his opponent and deflect the cross in with a smart header. Berbatov had delivered when it counted most! He had finished off a brilliant hat-trick that saw his team take hold of a mightily important set of points against their fiercest of rivals in the game that Sir Alex Ferguson dubs; “The fixture”. It also saw him go to of the Premier League scoring charts for a few hours until Chelsea’s Malouda equalled him with 6 goals so far.
This win could now spur United on to greater heights following an indifferent start to the season. That said, the defending they have shown so far will need heavy work if they plan to beat Chelsea and Arsenal not only in their individual fixtures, but also to the title.
CITY IMPRESS AT THE DW!
Wigan 0 - 2 Man City
Tevez 43'
Y. Toure 70’
- Tevez opened the scoring with a majestic chip over Al-Habsi.
GONE IN 73 SECONDS!
CHELSEA 4 - 0 BLACKPOOL
Kalou 2’
Drogba 30’
Malouda 12’, 41’
To say that Chelsea dominated this match would be being generous to Blackpool. Chelsea steamrollered their opponents to such an extent that they didn’t even score in the 2nd half and it was still a rout. Even in that 2nd half it was still painfully clear to see who the Premier League Champions were and who the Championship Playoff winners were. It may indeed be frightening the way that Chelsea have devoured five teams in their start to a new campaign, scoring 21 goals and conceding only one along the way. But when you look at the teams they have faced, it reads as a who’s who of candidates all likely to finish 15th-20th come May with a struggling West Ham, limited Stoke, promoted Blackpool and West Brom and a lacklustre Wigan.
After this game Chelsea go to Eastlands next week to face the only team in the Premier League that can boast higher expenditure rates than themselves. Then they host Arsenal at Stamford Bridge the following Sunday in the biggest London Derby clash the following Sunday. These will surely give them closer examinations. It is also convenient that key players Lampard and Terry have been injured whilst they have faced the mediocre opposition with both supposedly fit to return for the trip to Manchester.
But back to the game at hand, which was one Chelsea still needed to win. As the headline reads, Chelsea did not take at all long to open their account, with Kalou netting from close range with good anticipation after an Ivanovic flick-on from a corner to bring him his 4th league goal of the season.
It was then only 10 minutes later that Chelsea doubled their lead as Drogba squared a lovely ball across to Malouda who promptly tucked the ball away neatly from the edge of the 6 yard box. Chelsea’s tempo brought the big gulf in class between the two teams, with Blackpool’s possession coming very infrequently. On the half hour mark Chelsea completely closed out the game with their 3rd goal. Albeit it a lucky one, Drogba turned and struck for the ball to take a big deflection from the edge of the area to defeat Gilks.
By half time it could easily have been 6-0 already. With Ashely Cole – who tiraded down the left flank brilliantly all game, causing all sorts of troubles and issues – skimming across a ball along the 6 yard box that no one could quite latch on to. I imagine that Chelsea could settle for 4-0 instead though as Malouda knocked in his 6th League goal of the season to take him ahead of Drogba. It was a great first time cross-goal finish from inside the area with his left foot after Kalou played him in superbly.
Drogba then narrowly failed to add a fifth just before half time after successfully bringing down another Cole cross, he negotiated to defenders, but couldn’t get the ball out from under his feet to get enough power on his shot to properly work Gilks.
Going into the second half, DJ Campbell almost doubled Chelsea’s concession tally when he shot from close range, Cech’s partial stop however took enough pace of the ball for Ivanovic to clear of the line. This was just part of a good spell of pressure from Blackpool, clearly spurred on by a good half-time team talk from the ever enigmatic Ian Holloway. They started to maintain possession more successfully and were knocking the ball around in Chelsea’s half with much more frequency. Taylor-Fletcher also came close to breaking Blackpool’s deadlock as he attempted an audacious curling effort over Cech. Cech though, managed to back-pedal well enough to deny the effort.
Malouda had –in the meantime – a penalty appeal turned down as he felt he was pulled down in the area, Clattenberg however, saw it differently. With 25 minutes remaining, Kalou was put through perfectly by Drogba, his touch was, unfortunately, too heavy and Gilks managed to smother the shot to deny him.
Again Malouda was at the forefront with two more efforts, one a bouncing volley for Gilks to tip to safety and another effort dragged wide. It seemed he was not going to emulate Berbatov in scoring a hat-trick.
Blackpool fans were celebrating when they thought they saw Marlon Harewood’s effort go into Cech’s net, only to see the ball trickle behind the goal as it hit the side-netting. Ashley Cole was also required to clear an effort off the line to add to his repertoire of great efforts during this match. Finally in the dying minutes Drogba had a stonewall penalty appeal turned down, despite the fact that Clattenberg looked like he thought it was a penalty, but simply didn’t bother to give it as there were only seconds left on his watch.
Chelsea will be ecstatic with their 100% start to this season and to have only conceded to goals with the amount they are scoring is something quite special. They will now look to build on it as they start to face tougher opposition and I for one look forward to watching and analysing how they fair in these more challenging games. Blackpool will likewise be elated by their season’s opening points haul as they look to avoid the ignominy of an immediate relegation back to the Championship.
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