EPL Round 22
31 January 2010
ARSENAL 1 (Vermaelen 80)
MANCHESTER UNITED 3 (Almunia 33 og, Rooney 37, Park 52)
Man United kept the pressure on Chelsea at the top with a crushing win at third placed Arsenal. After an even opening half an hour, United struck thanks to a wonderful piece of `Ronaldo like` skill from Nani who kept the ball in play, beat three players including an outrageous flick and then crossed to the far post where keeper Manuel Almunia lost his bearings and tipped the ball into his own net. Within four minutes Wayne Rooney grabbed his 100th league goal as he and Nani combined to sweep the length of the pitch where Rooney finished clinically. If Arsenal harboured hopes of a second half revival, it was ended with a third goal as Michael Carrick sent Ji-Sung Park clear and as the defenders backed off, he slotted inside the near post. The hosts pulled one back when United switched off at a free kick and after Samir Nasri's cross was nodded clear, Thomas Vermaelen's shot from the edge of the area was deflected in via Johnny Evans. Suddenly it was a different Arsenal as Theo Walcott's goalbound header was blocked as was Vermaelen's three minutes later! William Gallas had an even better chance but nodded wide as the keeper came off his line to collect although Rooney almost had the last word as he dragged a shot just wide on another breakaway.
Attendance : 60,091
Assists : n/a, Nani, Carrick, n/a
MANCHESTER CITY 2 (Adebayor 40, Kompany 46)
PORTSMOUTH 0
Man City moved to within a point of fourth place with a comfortable win at home to bottom club Portsmouth who remain in a shambles on and off the pitch. Two goals in five minutes before the break decided matters as Stephen Ireland sent Emmanuel Adebayor clear and he walloped his shot past David James and into the net. Replays showed that he was just offside as the ball was played. The lead was doubled in first half stoppage time when Vincent Kompany thumped home a header from Martin Petrov's corner. There is just two points between fourth placed Spurs and seventh placed Aston Villa with Liverpool and City sandwiched between the pair.
Attendance : 44,015
Assists : Ireland, Petrov (ck)
30 January 2010
BIRMINGHAM 1 (Ridgewell 91)
TOTTENHAM 1 (Defoe 69)
Spurs were denied a vital away win after Birmingham netted a late equaliser at St Andrews. Spurs looked to be consolidating fourth place when Jermain Defoe put them ahead with a crisp first time shot after Peter Crouch flicked on Gareth Bale's cross. Birmingham earned a late point when Cameron Jerome's header across goal was finished from close range by Liam Ridgewell.
Attendance : 27,238
Assists : Crouch, Jerome
BURNLEY 1 (Fletcher 50)
CHELSEA 2 (Anelka 27, Terry 82)
John Terry scored a late winner at Burnley as Chelsea go four points clear at the top. After a largely uneventful opening, Chelsea went ahead before the half hour with a quick-fire, 11 second breakaway as keeper Petr Cech found Joe Cole whose cross to Florent Malouda was cut across goal for an unmarked Nik Anelka to tap in. Having barely being in the game during the first half, Burnley then stunned Chelsea with an equaliser at the start of the second as a chipped ball forward by Robbie Blake was well taken by Steven Fletcher however as Alex tried to clear, he only hooked it against the Burnley man who took full advantage by drilling the ball in. Chelsea regained the lead with eight minutes left when a corner from Frank Lampard found Terry near the penalty spot and his thumping downward header found the corner despite keeper Brian Jensen getting hands to the ball. The goal could mean Terry's private life will remain on the front pages with his professional life on the back!
Attendance : 21,131
Assists : Malouda, n/a, Lampard (ck)
FULHAM 0
ASTON VILLA 2 (Agbonlahor 40, Agbonlahor 44)
Two goals in four minutes from Gabriel Agbonlahor gave Aston Villa a fine win at Fulham who have now lost five in a row. His first came with a near post header from Stilian Petrov's cross and then he collected a pass from Carlos Cuellar, turned in a area and curled in a beauty inside the far post.
Attendance : 25,048
Assists : Petrov, Cuellar
HULL 2 (Vennegoor 11, Hunt 52 Pen)
WOLVES 2 (Gardner 49 og, Jarvis 67)
Hull and Wolves remain in the dog fight at the bottom as the visitors twice came from behind to earn a draw. Hull went ahead when Jozy Altidore found Jan Vennegoor of Hesselink to slide the ball in from the edge of the area but early in the second half Wolves levelled with a freak goal as Anthony Gardner sliced a cross from Ronald Zubar with looped agonisingly over his keeper and into the net. Hull regained the lead almost instantly when Zubar bundled over Altidore and Stephen Hunt walloped home the spot kick but midway through the half, Wolves levelled again when Matt Jarvis bobbled a shot across the keeper and inside the far post after Kevin Foley had crossed.
Attendance : 24,957
Assists : Altidore, n/a, Altidore (won pen), n/a
LIVERPOOL 2 (Kuyt 37, Davies 70 og)
BOLTON 0
Liverpool moved to within a point of fourth placed Spurs with a simple win against Bolton. They almost went behind though as Chung-Yung Lee broke through and having rounded the keeper, his shot was blocked by Sotirios Kyrgiakos. The hosts took the lead when Emiliano Insua crossed and after Alberto Aquilani nodded the ball across goal, Dirk Kuyt bundled it in. David N'Gog missed a sitter for Liverpool as he hit the bar from six yards with the goal gaping but they clinched the win with a moment of luck as Insua's shot took a massive deflection off of Kevin Davies and flew inside the near post.
Attendance : 43,413
Assists : Aquilani, n/a
WEST HAM 0
BLACKBURN 0
Honours even at Upton Park as West Ham and Blackburn failed to find a goal between them. Morton Gamst Pedersen came as close as anyone with a free kick which smacked against the bar.
Attendance : 33,093
Assists : n/a
WIGAN 0
EVERTON 1 (Cahill 84)
A late goal gave Everton a good win at Wigan who remain two points above the drop zone. The only goal came from a cracking header by Tim Cahill from Leighton Baines's corner.
Attendance : 16,869
Assist : Baines (ck)
LEADERS
54 points - Chelsea *
53 points - Manchester United
49 points - Arsenal
42 points - Tottenham
* 23 games played
Gary Dowden - Joint Admin YahooGroups Premier-L list
http://sports.groups.yahoo.com/group/premier-l/
Leeds United and Scotland and proud of it
(read more)EPL Round 21
27 January 2010
ASTON VILLA 0
ARSENAL 0
Chelsea returned to top spot as they ended Birmingham's long unbeaten run in style. Joe Cole crossed for Florent Malouda to head in the first and by half time, Frank Lampard doubled the lead with a shot from the edge of the area after being found by Michael Ballack. They clinched it late on when Lampard found the net again with Malouda the provider.
Attendance : 39,601
Assists : n/a
CHELSEA 3 (Malouda 5, Lampard 32, Lampard 90)
BIRMINGHAM 0
Chelsea returned to top spot as they ended Birmingham's long unbeaten run in style. Joe Cole crossed for Florent Malouda to head in the first and by half time, Frank Lampard doubled the lead with a shot from the edge of the area after being found by Michael Ballack. They clinched it late on when Lampard found the net again with Malouda the provider.
Attendance : 41,293
Assists : J Cole, Ballack, Malouda
BLACKBURN 2 (Pedersen 20, Kalinic 76)
WIGAN 1 (Caldwell 58)
Blackburn moved into mid table with a narrow home against Wigan who remain in the relegation dog fight. They opened the scoring when visiting keeper Vladimir Stojkovic came out to punch clear a cross from Brett Emerton but only found Morten Gamst Pedersen whose superb shot with the outside of his foot from 25 yards ripped into the top corner of the net. Wigan levelled when Gary Caldwell headed in a corner from James McCarthy but in a carbon copy, Rovers won it when Pedersen's corner was nodded in by Nikola Kalinic. Attendance : 22,190
Assists : n/a, McCarthy (ck), Pedersen (ck)
EVERON 2 (Cahill 7, Donovan 19)
SUNDERLAND 0
Everton returned to winning ways with a comfortable home win against Sunderland who are freefalling dangerously close to the drop zone. The game was over early on as Everton tore into a two goal lead. Tim Cahill grabbed the first with a glancing header from Marouane Fellaini's cross before Landon Donovan netted with a low shot from Cahill's header.
Attendance : 32,163
Assists : Fellaini, Cahill
26 January 2010
PORTSMOUTH 1 (Webber 76)
WEST HAM 1 (Upson 52)
Portsmouth came from behind to earn a point against fellow strugglers West Ham. The visitors took the lead when Allesandro Diamanti's cross found the net via a clearing header from Younes Kaboul which struck Matt Upson and found the net. Pompey levelled through Danny Webber who ran onto John Utaka's through ball and slotted calmly in.
Attendance : 18,322
Assists : n/a, Utaka
WOLVES 0
LIVERPOOL 0
Liverpool drift three points behind Spurs in the battle for fourth place after a dismal goalless draw at Wolves. In a game devoid of decent chances, Dirk Kuyt shot wide for Liverpool whilst Kevin Doyle prodded a near post effort wide early on for the hosts.
Attendance : 28,763
Assists : n/a
BOLTON 1 (Lee 35)
BURNLEY 0
New Bolton boss Owen Coyle saw his new team record their first win under his management, ironically against Burnley, the club he left a few weeks ago. The only goal came after Burnley were forced into two early substitutions as Kevin Davies found Chung-Yong Lee whose shot rattled against the underside of the bar and landed clearly over the line before bouncing back into play.
Attendance : 23,986
Assist : Davies
TOTTENHAM 2 (Crouch 27, Bentley 60)
FULHAM 0
Spurs consolidate third place as a goal in each half saw off Fulham. Spurs took a deserved lead just before the half hour mark as a deep cross wasn't dealt with by keeper Mark Schwarzer under pressure from Peter Crouch and as the ball looked to be drifting out, Luka Modric rescued it and clipped the ball near post for Crouch to prod in ahead of the keeper. On the hour they doubled it as David Bentley's free kick was heading inside the near post before taking a massive deflection off of Bjorn Helge Riise in the wall and drifted inside the far post having totally wrong footed Schwarzer.
Attendance : 35,467
Assists : Modric, n/a
23 January 2010
MANCHESTER UNITED 4 (Rooney 8, Rooney 82, Rooney 86, Rooney 93)
HULL 0
Attendance : 73,933
Assists : n/a, Gibson, Nani, Berbatov
20 January 2010
ARSENAL 4 (Rosicky 43, Fabregas 52, Vermaelen 65, Arshavin 85)
BOLTON 2 (Cahill 7, Taylor 28 Pen)
Attendance : 59,084
Assists : Davies, Lee Chung-Yong (won pen), Fabregas, n/a, Diaby, n/a
LIVERPOOL 2 (Kuyt 6, Kuyt 93 Pen)
TOTTENHAM 0
Attendance : 59,084
Assists : Aquilani, N'Gog (won pen)
Gary Dowden - Joint Admin YahooGroups Premier-L list
http://sports.groups.yahoo.com/group/premier-l/
Leeds United and Scotland and proud of it
(read more)Serie A Round 22
31 January 2010
CAGLIARI 2 (Lazzari 36, Astori 46)
FIORENTINA 2 (Marchionni 8, Jovetic 63)
Jovetic was back in the Fiorentina starting line-up and Marchionni turned in his deflected cross to give the visitors an early lead. Cagliari lost Marchetti to a muscle injury which gave 19 year old Vigorito an unexpected debut. Lazzari blasting an underhit backpass into the roof of the net. On-loan Astori, a ready made solution to Milan's defensive problems, scored his first Serie A goal with a header from Cossu's corner. Assist machine Cossu kicked out at Montolivo after he lost possession to earn an early bath. Marchionni pulled back a centre for Jovetic to equalise.
Jovetic held up a shirt in support of Mutu after scoring. Mutu now claims the diet pills he was taking didn't list the banned substance sibutramine on the label. If Chelsea followed the lead of clubs like Arsenal and gave Mutu professional help when his problems surfaced back in 2004 maybe he wouldn't be in this mess. Hopefully he's in the clear.
Attendance : 15,000
Red Card : Cossu 51 (Cagliari)
Assists : n/a, n/a, Cossu (ck), Marchionni
CATANIA 1 (Biagianti 80)
UDINESE 1 (Floro Flores 32)
Isla swung in a cross from the left and Floro Flores leapt above a static defence to head past Andujar. Morimoto, once again on as a substitute, played in Biagianti for the equaliser, the midfielder beat Handanovic with a low shot.
Attendance : 13,321
Assists : Isla, Morimoto
CHIEVO 1 (Pellissier 49)
BOLOGNA 1 (Di Vaio 11)
Modesto's beautifully weighted volleyed pass to Di Vaio drew Colombo off his line but Di Vaio, who is deceptively quick over six years beat him to the punch and poked into the net. Mantovani held off two defenders and crossed to the back post and Pellissier arrived to volley past Sorrentino.
Attendance : 8,913
Assists : Modesto, Mantovani
MILAN 1 (Ambrosini 44)
LIVORNO 1 (Lucarelli 53)
Benussi, under pressure from Seedorf who blocked his run, flapped at a Beckham cross and Ambrosini steered in the loose ball. Livorno equalised following a mistake by the wretched Favalli, he sliced a clearance straight to Bellucci and Lucarelli re-directed his shot past Abbiati.
Attendance : 34,998
Assists : n/a, Bellucci
ROMA 2 (Riise 29, Okaka 88)
SIENA 1 (Vergassola 41)
Roma created half a dozen goalscoring chances before taking the lead through man of the moment Riise. Perrotta flicked on a cross and Riise cut through the ball to send a low shot curling into the bottom right corner. Siena equalised with their second shot on target, after Julio Sergio parried their first. Fulham bound Okaka signed off with a magnificent goal. Another of Roma's fringe players, Romanian Adrian Pit, centred from the left, Okaka turned side on to the ball and back-heeled as he spun round to see the ball hit the back of the net.
Attendance : 30,000
Assists : Perrotta, n/a, Pit
SAMPDORIA 2 (Palombo 36, Pazzini 46)
ATALANTA 0
Palombo ran onto a loose ball and caught it on the bounce, hitting a brilliant low shot into the bottom left corner. Bellini challenged Semioli for a 50-50 ball, Semioli slid in and got a touch, quickly got to his feet and drilled a cross into the box which Pazzini met with a super first time volley at the near post, something of a specialty.
Cassano-less Sampdoria recorded a second consecutive win after he was left out ahead of a move to Fiorentina, which broke down at the last minute.
Attendance : 22,000
Assists : n/a, Semioli
JUVENTUS 1 (Del Piero 70 Pen)
LAZIO 1 (Mauri 78)
Juve took the lead following a ridiculous penalty decision. Diakhate touched Del Piero as he chased down Amauri's flick on, Del Piero ignored the contact and attempted a scissor kick but was way off target then the ref pointed to the spot. A rash of substitutions followed then Lazio equalised. Zarate re-crossed a ball after Amauri cleared a free kick and Mauri lost his marker to volley past Manninger. Mauri was injured in the celebrations that followed. Barone ran up and jumped on his back, forcing a clash of heads between Mauri and Rocchi. I'm surprised it doesn't happen more often. After a delay Mauri continued with strapping on his head. Terrible game.
Attendance : 20,000
Assists : Del Piero (won pen), Zarate
30 January 2010
BARI 4 (Bonucci 5, Alvarez 7, Barreto 62 Pen, Koman 85)
PALERMO 2 (Cavani 28, Pastore 54)
Bonucci volleyed Bari into the lead from a deflected cross. Allegretti caught Liverani napping in midfield and sent Alvarez away on the counter and for once his first touch didn't fail him as he cut inside and shot over Amelia. Cavani turned in a centre and Pastore scored a brilliant equaliser early in the second half. He turned two defenders before thumping a right foot shot inside the bottom left corner. With Palermo in the ascendancy Liverani blew his teams chances of claiming a victory when he stamped down on Castillo's knee to earn a second yellow, it should have been a straight red. More indiscipline allowed Bari to restore their lead. Melinte jumped into a tackle and floored Masiello in the box. Barreto converted to score his 11th goal of the second. Alvarez knocked a ball past Melinte and brushed him aside as he charged up the right wing, Barreto backheeled his centre and Koman's first time shot found the bottom right corner.
It was typical of Palermo to follow up a superb victory (3-0 vs Fiorentina) with a loss. It looks like Pastore is slowly getting to grips with Serie A.
Attendance : 19,000
Red Card : Liverani 56 (Palermo)
Assists : n/a, Allegretti, Balzaretti, Migliaccio, Masiello (won pen), Barreto
NAPOLI 0
GENOA 0
Attendance : 60,000
Assists : n/a
LEADERS
49 points - Inter *
41 points - Milan *
41 points - Roma
38 points - Napoli
* 21 games played
(read more)
