Premiership Football Results Round-Up Wk25
Posted on February 12, 2009
Filed Under Premiership 08/09
Man City 1-0 Middlesbrough
City Manager Mark Hughes felt proud to see his debutant goalkeeper for the club, Shay Given work like an arduous wall when Middlesbrough came roaring. Given was transferred to City last Sunday and was immediately into action against the Boros. Manchester City was immediately into action with Robinho and Kompany making good inroads into the Boro’s defense. The first chance came in seconds when Shaun-Wright could not capitalize on Bellamy’s pass. However the first major scare came from the visitor’s side when Given had to stretch to his maximum to stop an Afonso Alves’ shot. Alves regularly threatened the City defense with his superb strikes and forced Given to remain on his toes throughout the course of this match. Given saved 4 on-target shots to gain in more confidence from his Manager as the first choice goalkeeper over Hart. Ireland’s passes were raining hell inside City’s defense line. After serious attempts and staying goalless in the first half, City drew first blood through Bellamy in the 51st minute when he charged from the right flank to score a superb left-corner goal. The match remained dull through the next couple of minutes eventually ensuring City as the winners.
Blackburn 0-2 Aston Villa
Martin O’Neil’s men visited Eastwood Park to keep their dreams of Champions League alive. Villa dominated the proceedings from the beginning but Blackburn stormed a fight back after regular verbal charges from manager, Big Sam. Heskey missed an early chance that could have ensured the lead. The quick penetrative runs from both flanks by Agbonlahor and A.Young troubled the Rover’s defense and things started getting messy for the home team. The defenders were caught sleeping many a times and Rovers had to pay for this. James Milner’s 26th minute bullet pierced the defensive barriers in the very first half. Roberts and Pederson led the fightback only to find Villa defenders come in their way. Attacking stances in disarray did not help the cause and to add more misery, Gabriel Agbonlahor disturbed the scoreboard again in the dying moments to give Villa a 2-0 victory and Champions League hops alive. Agbolahor’s previous goal was disallowed due to an infringement. Blackburn now faces a tough relegation fight whereas Villa sit pretty in the top four.
Chelsea 0-0 Hull City
The biggest shock of the day came from Stamford Bridge with the news of axing of Coach Luis Felipe Scolari after the match. Chelsea failed yet again to score at home against a weak opponent only to find themselves left behind in the race for Premiership title. Chelsea has now dropped 16 points at home and it was a proud effort by Tigers to gain a point at Stamford Bridge. Chelsea’s latest signing Quaresma shoed some golden touches. Chelsea dominated the proceedings but Hull came to life after a 10th minute superb curling volley from Geovanni went just wide. Kalou, Quaresma and Ballack tried really hard but couldn’t get past Hulls’ defense. Geovanni could not convert his free-kick from 20 yards and in the next minute Ballack missed a possible chance too. Hull failed to capitalize on a Geovanni pass in the 67th minute when Marney just missed it. Drogba tried for the last time with his off-target free-kick in the dying moments to eventually gift away a point to Hull.
Everton 3-0 Bolton
Everton continued their wonderful run in the form of a couple of goals to give them an easy win against Bolton. The win which was wonderfully-crafted by Arteta and the new Brazilian Jo ensured a double this season over Bolton. Everton missed an early chance when Cahill missed from barely 2 yards. Jo and Cahill encashed on regular deliveries from Arteta and Lescott and troubled the Bolton defense. Everton smelt first vapours of success when Jo was tripped inside the penalty area by Steinsson and Arteta as usual calmly fired the ball past the keeper. Three minutes into the second half, Jo paired up with Cahill to send the home crowd into cheers and doubled the lead. At the 60 minute mark Bolton introduced fresh pair of legs in the form of Smolarek and Basham. The move didn’t help much only to see Bolton attacks being intercepted in between. In the dying stages, Mark Davies handled a ball and Jo helped Everton win 3-0 when he converted a penalty to end the day with 2 goals and an assist.
Sunderland 2-0 Stoke City
Jones and Healy paired up to drown a helpless 10-men Stoke back to the relegation zone. Both teams matched each other in all fields until the sending off of Ethrington marked the changing course of the game. Sunderland enjoyed better chances in the first half with Jones, Collins and Richardson attacking the flanks on regular basis. Stoke enjoyed their chances with Cresswell and Camara forcing good saves out of Fulop. The 64th minute send-off did not weaken the determination and the 10-men band wagon nearly drew first blood Camara’s return shot kissed the crossbar. Jones then proved his credibility of scoring in important matches with 13 minutes left on the clock. He headed down a Reid pass very close to the pole and past Sorensen to send the home crowd frenzy. Stoke then went all attack to equalize but Jones managed to run down the flank on a pass from the midfield and made a dash for the goal. He passed the ball before falling in the legs of Healy who made a subtle touch to complete the evening with a score line of 2-0.
West Brom 2-3 Newcastle United
West Brom tried their level best to ease their tensions in the relegation zone with a home match against the Northern rock. But everything seems to go against them. The heroic displays of Damien Duff injected fresh enthusiasm in Newcastle who pulled off a good win to keep them away from the relegation zone. Duff was menacing in enemy’s territory while Ryan Taylor and Nicky Butt supported him well. Duff got the first goal within 2 minutes when he capitalized on a mistake from Barnett. West Brom drew level within 4 minutes of play through Fortune. But Magpies again regained the lead by a superb effort from Lovenkrands which was made possible by a Butt-pass. Baggies were constantly troubled by the roaring attacks and United made sure they got a comfortable lead by another goal in 41 minutes. Ryan provided a perfect corner only to see the other Taylor glancing the ball past the defense with a sublime header. Koren and Fortune paired up to minimize the United lead to 1 and could have drew the match eventually, had Valero’s header didn’t miss the target.
Wigan 0-0 Fulham
Fulham came close to enjoy their first away win but managed to gain another point from an away game. Fulham’s defensive line-up has revived this year in the presence of Schwarzer and Hangeland. They have managed to keep even Chelsea silent at Stamford Bridge. Wigan on the other hand was frustrated and marred by heavy injuries that forced them to use all 3 substitutions in the first half itself. Zamora and Mido made good chances in the first halves forcing saves out of Kirkland and Schwarzer respectively. Just when Fulham looked menacing, Wigan suffered the biggest blow in the form of Valencia who again pulled his hamstring. Fulham enjoyed better chances in the first half with Johnson and Zamora showing good co-ordination up front. In the second half Wigan could not connect their passes well and most of the attacks ended up in the midfield. A good chance in the game arrived when Zamora was tripped by Figueroa and Davies curled a wonderful free-kick. Kirkland managed to punch it away. After that attack none of the sides could threaten much and both sides deservingly got a point each.
Portsmouth 2-3 Liverpool
Fernando Torres came to the rescue of Liverpool in the closing moments and ensured that Liverpool enjoy a top spot for at least 24 hours. The match started on an even note with Aurelio and Benayoun threatening the Pompey defense, whereas Nugent and Crouch doing the same at the other end. Ngog’s appearance ended before the 60-minute mark and Kuyt was brought in. This moved stirred an instant change and Babel had the first chance of the game. Somehow he missed an easy opportunity and Nugent punished Liverpool through his opener in the 62nd minute. Crouch made an able assist to Nugent but made an equally silly mistake the other end in the form of an awful backpass to James that eventually ended up in the equalizer from Aurelio. Torres was introduced at the 75-minute mark but Pompey regained lead in the 79th minute when Hreidarsson used a Belhadj swinger to head past Reina. Kuyt brought back Liverpool in the 85th minute and Torres did the deserving icing on the cake with a powerful header in injury time through a Benayoun pass. Liverpool now sits at the top of the League-table, thus putting more pressure on Manchester Utd before they play their away fixture with West-Ham.
Tottenham 0-0 Arsenal
Ten-man Arsenal somehow managed to earn a point against Tottenham at the White Hart Lane. Arsenal suffered a huge blow when Eboue was shown the red card in the first half. This forced Arsenal to switch to defensive stance. There was no end to miseries as Adebayor pulled a hamstring and was in serious pain. Keane back into the side as captain brought the home team to a near lead from his header. Spurs forced a couple of corners and kept Almunia busy. On the 30 minutes mark, Almunia had to make a clever save when Modric shot a low fireball in the lower left corner. Bendtner took charge of the proceedings from Adebayor in the 38th minute. In the second half, Pavlyuchenko took advantage of a mistake from Toure but miscued his shot in the end. The last 20 minutes of the game became quite exciting when Persie’s corner landed in the legs of Song within 6-yards but he fired the shot wide. Both sides tried for the last time in the last four minutes. Where Cudicini denied a Bendtner header, Almunia denied a Modric power-bomb.
West Ham 0-1 Manchester United
Manchester Utd arrived at Boleyn Ground with a lot of pressure to deliver and regain the top spot after Liverpool had defeated Pompey a day before. Ferguson’s starting line suggested he had faith in his old war-horses to deliver this time. With both Scholes and Giggs pairing up together, Manchester midfield looked like a great threat. West Ham had impressed everyone with 8-match impressive unbeaten run whereas Manchester had kept 12 clean sheets before arriving here. The match gained pace slowly with both teams playing fairly and making slow inroads into enemy territory. Giggs, Berbatov, Tevez and Ronaldo threatened to break the deadlock with impressive quad and trio formations. Cole managed to give a nasty scare when he charged towards United’s goal with no-one to back up and forced Van Der Sar to make a very good save. At the stroke of 33rd minute, Van Der Sar created History by eclipsing the record of old Aberdeen stalwart Bobby Clark, who went 1,155 minutes of league action without conceding a goal during the 1970-71 campaign to claim that British record. Giggs provided the corner in the 62nd minute which was cleared as far as Scholes. Scholes immediately restored the possession to his old compatriot, Giggs. Cole charged in to make a tackle at the touchline but failed as Giggs cleverly tackled the ball. Giggs then tricked 2 more defenders and used his rare right foot to shoot a low bullet in the left lower corner. Green could not help the timing and accuracy of the shot and Hammers’ defense was breached. The goal was enough to seal the fate, since not much action took place after that. Ronaldo kept on threatening from the flanks and in the end, Manchester regained the zenith.
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