Premiership Football Results Round-Up Week 26 Continued
Posted on February 24, 2009
Filed Under Premiership 08/09
Saturday 21st Febuary
Aston Villa 0-1 Chelsea
Guus Hiddink’s first match as Chelsea manager started on a positive note as Chelsea Defeated Aston Villa in their home ground to swap places with the rivals. A 19th minute brilliance from Frank Lampard saw Anelka encashing on his pass and made a final subtle touch to break the Villa defence. The win broke Villa’s unbeaten 13 match run and marked Chelsea’s first win in 10 years at the Martin O’Neal’s hunting ground. Villa seemed tired after playing their 3rd match in 6 days. Scares from each side were cleared by respective goalkeepers. Friedel saved Terry’s thumping header, Lampard’s freekick and Cech managed to keep Agbonlahor at bay. Ashley Young’s 20 yard free kick in the 34th minute shoved the crossbar to Cech’s relief.
Arsenal 0-0 Sunderland
Arsenal’s dismal performance continued as the dream of yet another Champions League appearance slipped further. It was an opportunity to beat the minnows at the Emirates after Villa lost in their home ground. Arshavin could not mark his debut well and his two attempts were saved by Fulop. Sunderland on the other hand was aggressive in midfield and kept Gunners at bay. Fulop managed to save every attempt which were few and rare. Just when Arsenal began to attack full hands in the last 10 minutes, they suffered a blow. Clichy limped out and Sagna was looking in no good shape. Gallas’ close range shot and Toure’s header effort went in vain as Arsenal had to share points yet another time this season.
Bolton 2-1 West Ham
Matt Taylor and Kevin Davies ensured a victory at the Reebok in the opening minutes with two golden strikes for Bolton to make it 2-0 in 11 minutes. Taylor deservingly was the man of the match with his constant threatened passes in the West Ham’s defence. West Ham’s counter attacks from Di Michele, Carlton Cole and Noble were no good as match went to 2-0 at halftime. Parker pulled one back for the visitors in the 66th minute. Cole’s header was spilled by Jaaskelainen in the 82nd minute but was recovered fast. West Ham slumped to their first defeat in 8 matches in the EPL to stay at the 8th position.
Middlesbrough 0-0 Wigan
Boros could not help themselves at the home ground and still remained in the relegation zone. Without a win in 14 matches, Boro found themselves in trouble when a 16th minute harsh challenge from Cattermole forced Digard to limp out on the 23rd minute. Downing’s 34th minute low shot was saved by Kirkland. Desperate to win, Southgate injected two more strikers in the form of Aliadiere and Tuncay in the second half. Alves 73rd minute effort was kept at bay by Kirkland and an 86th minute drive by Gary O’Neil somehow found his legs to help Wigan earn an away point and still stay in the 7th spot.
Stoke City 2-2 Portsmouth
Beattie almost snatched a remarkable win for Stoke but an injury time own-goal frustrated the home crowd and helped Pompey share the away points. Kranjcar’s brilliance helped Pompey draw the first blood in the 75th minute but referee ruled Johnson’s chest tap as handling the ball. The event awarded a penalty to the home side and Beattie stepped in to finish a top-class penalty. Minutes later his header made it 2-1 for home side. In the dying moments Hreidarsson’s on target shot was deflected by Shawcross past Sorensen and gave Pompey an unexpected 1 point.
Manchester Utd 2-1 Blackburn
Rooney’s fitness return helped United draw the first blood at Old Trafford in the 23rd minute. Minutes later, Roque Santa Cruz ended United’s amazing 1334 minutes clean sheet record by deceiving Kuszczak and tapping in the far corner. Ronaldo’s 40th minute free kick was blocked by Blackburn defensive wall. Andrews brought down Ronaldo and his superb 60th minute free-kick revived the touches of last season’s Ronaldo. A classic dipping beauty saw United home though not without late superb attacks from the Rovers United now move 8 points clear as the leaders and towards a Premiership hat-trick.
Sunday 22nd Febuary
Fulham 2-0 West Brom
Fulham proved why they were called the fourth best in defence after Manchester Utd, Liverpool and Chelsea. Yet another clean sheet but this time accompanied with 2 second half goals was an icing to the cake. The first half was dull with both sides making few inroads to the opposite area. Fulham were more aggressive as Johnson, Murphy, Zamora and Hangeland continuously bombarded in volleys and passes. The second half saw West Brom on a defensive note and they had to pay for this tactic. In the 61st minute Johnson guided a header towards Zamora who fired from point-blank range to give Fulham the lead. 11 minutes later the same pair combined but this time Zamora provided the pass and Johnson did the rest. Zamora broke his dull 30 hour goalless streak at EPL and Schwarzer saved an injury time penalty to inflict more humiliation.
Liverpool 1-1 Manchester City
City grabbed an unexpected away point at the Anfield as Liverpool salvaged a draw from a Kuyt goal in the later stages of the game. This has shattered their hopes to keep the pressure on Man Utd for the top spot. Former Liverpool striker Craig Bellamy hit a power-bomb that took a serious deflection off Arbeloa and landed in the Liverpool’s net. The first half did not feature much excitement as a wild run by Liverpool midfield was halted by a harsh challenge from Dunne who was deservingly given the Yellow card. In the 51st minute City got the lead through Arbeloa’s own goal but could not sustain the lead. El Zhar was introduced and immediately the Liverpool attacks became swift. Torres provided a wicked pass to Kuyt who levelled the scores in the 78th minute to end a frustrating evening at the home ground.
Newcastle Utd 0-0 Everton
Newcastle somehow battled its way to a draw against the powerful Everton. After a 43rd minute harsh and ugly challenge on Anichebe, Nolan was sent off immediately and the home team came on a complete defensive stance. 10 men Northern Rock saved numerous attacks from the Toffees’ midfield and strikers to earn a tough point at home. Lovenkrands and Guttierrez made efficient efforts in each half to score for Magpies. Mikel Arteta went down with a serious looking knee injury in the 6th minute of the game and had to be replaced with Castillo. Lescott was the pick from Everton who covered Martins and made serious attempts in the Magpies’ domain.
Hull City 1-2 Tottenham Hotspurs
Tigers suffered yet another defeat as they slump down more in the bottom 10. The grace and enthusiasm with which they started the season is gone now. Spurs dominated the proceedings after 10 minutes into the first half. Through a corner that resulted into 4 passes set by Modric, Spurs got the lead through Lennon. Tigers immediately set up the counter-attack after 10 minutes and equalized through Turner after a corner created a lot of confusion in the Spurs’ territory. The first half saw both teams grabbing equal number of attacking chances.The second half was very scrappy with rough challenges and bad passes from both sides. In the 85th minute, Woodgate made the best from Assou-Ekotto’s pass and blasted a power-bomb past Matt Duke to finish a very important away win for Tottenham.
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