Premier League Round-Up 22/11/10

When summing up this week’s Premier League programme there is only one place to start.

Not that long ago it looked as though Arsenal had banished the fragility which has plagued them in previous seasons, but their capitulation at home to Spurs suggested nothing has really changed.

Credit to Harry Redknapp for inspiring the second-half comeback which earned Spurs a first win at the home of their fiercest rivals in 17 years, but the game was really about Arsenal snatching defeat from the jaws of victory.

They should have been home and dry by half-time but – in scenes reminiscent of their visit to Wigan’s DW Stadium last season – once the fightback begun there was no sign of the Gunners arresting their slide towards defeat.

One team without such fragility issues is Bolton, and Owen Coyle’s side continued their march up the table with a crushing 5-1 win over Newcastle.

Neither Johan Elmander nor Kevin Davies has been particularly prolific while ploughing a lone furrow at the Reebok, yet by bringing the duo together Coyle has formed one of the most dangerous strike partnerships in the league.

Both struck twice on Saturday, with Chung-Yong Lee – one of the most underrated players in the top-flight – getting the other goal for the Trotters. Andy Carroll’s eighth of the season gave the visitors a glimmer of hope but ultimately proved academic.

Just as impressive was Manchester City’s 4-1 win at Fulham. Roberto Mancini’s side have received their fair share of criticism for negative displays but attack was the order of the day, with even the much-maligned Yaya Toure breaking forward to get on the scoresheet.

Mark Hughes’ side, on the other hand, will be nervously looking over their shoulders after the early-season unbeaten run is now starting to look like, well, just loads of draws.

Fulham are now just one place above the relegation zone, thanks in no small part to Birmingham’s surprise win over Chelsea.

While Lee Bowyer scored the goal, taking advantage of a centre-back in Alex whose pain-killing injection seemingly had side-effects of drowsiness, the star of the show was Ben Foster.

After his unconvincing display for England on Wednesday, Foster proved he is still a viable contender for the national side by keeping out everything Chelsea threw at him and earning his sixth clean sheet of the campaign.

As Birmingham are on the up, their west midlands neighbours are all heading in the opposite direction after defeats this weekend.

Aston Villa, missing several key players, were nonetheless outclassed by a Blackburn side comfortable from the moment Morten Gamst Pedersen put them into a first-half lead on Sunday.

The spirit remained from last week’s draw against Manchester United, but Gerard Houllier’s side lacked a cutting edge in the absence of Marc Albrighton.

That result leaves Villa a point ahead of West Brom, who are in freefall with one point from four games.

Stoke were the beneficiaries of some generous defending this time around, Jon Walters adding to Matty Etherington’s penalty with a second-half brace in the Potters’ biggest away win since their return to the Premier League.

But the situation remains far from desperate for the Baggies, which is more than can be said for local rivals Wolves.

A fourth successive defeat leaves them on a paltry nine points, although any side would have been hard-pressed to respond to the opening goal from Blackpool’s Luke Varney.

Varney’s effort, a volley from way out which arced over a helpless Marcus Hahnemann, conjured up memories of Hugo Rodallega’s goal of the season contender last year.

On the subject of Rodallega, the Colombian striker did not enjoy quite as fruitful an afternoon at Old Trafford on Saturday.

A two-footed lunge saw him sent off, after team-mate Antolin Alcaraz had seen red just minutes earlier, and Manchester United’s margin of victory could have been far greater than 2-0.

Defeat for Wigan saw them slip into the bottom three, where they have Wolves and West Ham for company.

Saturday’s defeat at Anfield was comfortably the Hammers’ worst performance of the season, which is really saying something given their record of seven defeats and just one win in their opening 14 games.

Liverpool barely needed to break a sweat, racing into a three-goal lead before half-time, and one gets the feeling they could have not turned up for the second half and still scored a couple more without reply, had they so wished.

Monday night’s game was one of the most exciting since Richard Keys returned to out screens on a weeknight, Everton and Sunderland sharing the spoils in a pulsating 2-2 draw.

Danny Welbeck made up for the absence of Asamoah Gyan by scoring both goals for the Black Cats, sandwiched between efforts from Tim Cahill and Mikel Arteta.

But both sides missed golden chances to win the game in stoppage time: first Welbeck snatched at his shot when well-placed, then Everton substitute Jermaine Beckford prodded wastefully over after being put clean through on goal.

Team of the week (4-4-2): Foster (Birmingham); Eardley (Blackpool), Gallas (Tottenham), Johnson (Birmingham), Evra (Man Utd); Holden (Bolton), Meireles (Liverpool), Pedersen (Blackburn), Silva (Man City); Tevez (Man City), Elmander (Bolton)

Premier League Round-Up 16/11/2010

The Premier League threw up yet more surprise results this week, none more shocking than Sunderland’s 3-0 win at Stamford Bridge. The Black Cats had lost their last 11 games against Chelsea, but looked far more up for the game than their depleted opponents.

A fine individual effort from Nedum Onuoha was followed by second-half goals for Asamoah Gyan and the splendid Danny Welbeck, boosting Steve Bruce’s confidence in his side after the midweek draw with Tottenham but raising concerns for Chelsea boss Carlo Ancelotti.

Title rivals Manchester United remain unbeaten in the league thanks to a late comeback against Aston Villa, but their seventh draw in 13 games means Sir Alex Ferguson’s men are three points adrift of Chelsea in third.

The points looked to be going the way of Gerard Houllier’s Villa after Ashley Young and Marc Albrighton found the net, but the hosts were made to pay for a hatful of missed chances as Federico Macheda halved the deficit and Nemanja Vidic headed home a late leveller.

Houllier can still be proud of his charges, though, with Stewart Downing marshalling a relatively-inexperienced midfield and almost earning his side a win.

Arsenal provide the meat in the United-Chelsea sandwich at the top after a 2-1 win away at Everton on Sunday.

Tim Cahill missed a glorious chance to give the Toffees the lead, and when he did finally find the net his team were trailing to strikes from Bacary Sagna and Cesc Fabregas.

Back-to-back wins provide a welcome relief to Arsene Wenger, after defeats against Shakhtar and Newcastle threatened to derail their season following a promising start.

An interesting dynamic was created at Eastlands as Manchester City and Birmingham played out a drab goalless draw.

The hosts will be disappointed with the draw despite it leaving them in the top four, while the visitors might see it as a point gained despite dropping into the bottom three as a result.

One of the main talking points will be Roberto Mancini’s decision to withdraw Carlos Tevez and introduce Gareth Barry, but in truth his side created some of their best chances after the Argentinian left the field.

Bolton are the latest team to step into the revolving door of fifth place, and proved how deserving they are of the position with a stunning attacking peformance for three quarters of their game at Molineux.

Johan Elmander’s fine solo effort was book-ended by a Richard Stearman own goal and Stuart Holden’s first goal in English football, although Owen Coyle may be disappointed with the lax defending which let in Kevin Foley and Steven Fletcher to narrow the deficit late on.

Defeat for Wolves in that game leaves them 19th in the table, five points from safety and only above West Ham on goal difference.

The Hammers missed a glorious chance to make up ground on their relegation rivals when they failed to convert any of their 17 shots on goal in a goalless draw at home to Blackpool.

It could have been even worse as former Upton Park favourite Marlon Harewood had a goal wrongly disallowed for offside, but the home faithful will point to the denial of an early penalty appeal when Pablo Barrera was chopped down by Stephen Crainey.

Wigan climbed out of the bottom three with a win against West Brom, who themselves are sliding in the wrong direction after one point from four games.

Victor Moses scored the only goal of the game after unselfish work from Charles N’Zogbia, and Albion failed to find an equaliser despite ending the game with three strikers on the field.

Perhaps the most exciting game of the weekend came at White Hart Lane, where Gareth Bale produced another virtuoso display to help Tottenham to a 4-2 win over Blackburn.

Bale scored two and made another, before late strikes from Ryan Nelsen and Gael Givet made their own defensive shortcomings seem less embarrassing with a couple of late consolation goals.

In a battle between two sides rooted in mid-table, Stoke got the better of a dismal Liverpool outfit to leapfrog their opponents and move into the top half.

Ricardo Fuller and Kenwyne Jones netted as Liverpool looked a shadow of the side which beat Chelsea last week, and to add insult to injury they saw Lucas dismissed for two yellow cards.

The final game of the weekend will most likely be forgotten quickly by anyone who wasn’t at St James’ Park, and maybe even by some of those who were there.

Neither Newcastle nor Fulham lacked hunger, but both were lacking in the necessary spark to break the deadlock. Moussa Dembele came close when he hit the bar, but Fulham are missing the presence of Bobby Zamora up front as much as Newcastle missed Joey Barton’s midfield organisation.

Team of the week (4-4-2): Foster (Birmingham); Carr (Birmingham), Cathcart (Blackpool), Alcaraz (Wigan), Warnock (Aston Villa); Holden (Bolton), Fahey (Birmingham), Downing (Aston Villa), Bale (Tottenham); Welbeck (Sunderland), Fuller (Stoke)

Premier League Round-Up 25/10/10

West Ham and Wolves are starting to see a gap develop between themselves and the rest of the Premier League after defeats this weekend.

The Irons failed to build on a solid first-half performance against Newcastle, woeful defending letting in Andy Carroll to head in the winner unchallenged from six yards.

With Matthew Upson unable to complete the 90 minutes and Manuel da Costa perhaps distracted by off-field events, Avram Grant will need to act fast to shore up a back-line which has leaked 17 goals in the first eight games of the season.

Kalou and Malouda

Wolves can be more pleased with their performance, giving Chelsea a run for their money before slipping to a 2-0 defeat thanks to goals from Florent Malouda and Salomon Kalou.

They tested Petr Cech on a number of occasions, and things are looking up after Stephen Hunt played 45 minutes on his return from injury.

The other team in the bottom three, Liverpool, started what they hope will be a speedy ascent of the table with a 2-1 victory over Blackburn.

Sotirios Kyrgiakos has now doubled his goalscoring tally from last season, and while his opener was quickly cancelled out by a Jamie Carragher own goal, Fernando Torres restored the Anfield club’s lead and earned them their second win of the season.

Liverpool’s only other victory was against West Brom, who kept up their strong recent form by coming from behind to beat Fulham.

Mark Hughes’ side opened the scoring through a Scott Carson own goal, but Youssuf Mulumbu drew the scores level with his first goal of the season and Marc-Antoine Fortune ignored Fulham’s offside appeals to slot home the winner and take Albion fourth on Saturday night.

On Sunday, however, wins for Manchester United and Arsenal saw them leapfrog Roberto di Matteo’s men and move back into the Champions League places.

Dedryck Boyata

Arsenal’s victory was the more impressive, although the 3-0 scoreline against Man City was helped somewhat by opposing defender Dedryck Boyata receiving a red card after just five minutes.

The Gunners made the most of their man advantage, with Cesc Fabregas pulling the strings, and the Spaniard could even afford to miss a penalty.

United, meanwhile, left it late to make sure of all three points at Stoke’s Britannia Stadium. Chicharito opened the scoring with a brilliantly-improvised header, only for Tuncay to draw Stoke level with a finish right out of the top drawer.

But Mexican striker Chicharito had the last word, diverting Patrice Evra’s wayward shot beyond Thomas Sorensen with four minutes to play.

Tottenham slipped out of the top four after being held to a 1-1 draw by an Everton side now unbeaten in four games.

Leighton Baines’ early free-kick was cancelled out by a close-range Rafael van der Vaart strike, but neither team could find the crucial second goal.

1-1 was also the final score at the DW Stadium, with Johan Elmander rescuing a point for Bolton against Wigan.

Hugo Rodallega opened the scoring for the Latics after being played through by Franco di Santo, but Elmander reacted quickest in a goalmouth scramble to poke home the leveller.

Liam Ridgewell

The remaining Lancashire club, Blackpool, slipped to a demoralising 2-0 defeat against an often shot-shy Birmingham outfit at St Andrews.

Ian Holloway admitted to being out-thought by opposing number Alex McLeish as goals from Liam Ridgewell and Nikola Zigic condemned ‘Pool to their fifth reverse of the campaign.

The final game of the weekend saw Sunderland preserve their unbeaten home record with a narrow win over Aston Villa.

An own goal from Richard Dunne was all that separated the sides, a Premier League record eighth for the Irish centre-back.

Team of the week (4-5-1)

Fabianski (Arsenal); Bosingwa (Chelsea), Tamas (West Brom), Kyrgiakos (Liverpool), Baines (Everton); Morrison (West Brom), Tiote (Newcastle), Fabregas (Arsenal), Mulumbu (West Brom), Hleb (Birmingham); Hernandez (Man Utd)

Premier League Round-Up 04/10/10

If fans were surprised by the top of the Premier League table in recent weeks, that is nothing compared to the sight of Liverpool in the bottom three after seven games of the season.

Roy Hodgson’s side lost their unbeaten home record to newly-promoted Blackpool thanks to goals from Charlie Adam and Luke Varney, and will also be without frontman Fernando Torres for some time after the Spaniard was forced off through injury.

Charlie Adam

The visitors were deserving of the victory, and are more than holding their own in the top flight after being tipped for relegation at the start of the campaign. A consolation from Sotirios Kyrgiakos was not enough to dampen their spirits and now it is Hodgson – rather than opposite number Ian Holloway – who is left with plenty of thinking to do.

To add insult to injury, local rivals Everton climbed out of the drop-zone with their first win of the season at the hands of Birmingham City.

Tim Cahill sealed the victory after a Roger Johnson own goal had given the Toffees the lead, and the result brings an end to Birmingham’s 18-game unbeaten home run in the league.

The other two spaces in the bottom three are filled by Wolves – who lost 2-0 at Wigan – and West Ham, who were held at home by Fulham.

Wolves were given an upward task as soon as captain Karl Henry saw red for an indefensible foul on Jordi Gomez which was so bad it even left Mick McCarthy unable to defend his player.

Karl Henry

Gomez recovered to open the scoring with a 65^th-minute free-kick, before Hugo Rodallega deflected a Christophe Berra clearance beyond Marcus Hahnemann with five minutes to go.

West Ham had to come from behind to extend their unbeaten run, after Clint Dempsey was left unmarked 10 yards out to open the scoring before half-time.

Frederic Piquionne scored his third goal in as many games to level the scores, but the game lost all sense of rhythm thanks to a questionable performance from whistle-happy referee Andre Marriner.

At the top of the table, Chelsea extended their lead to four points after seeing off a wasteful Arsenal side at Stamford Bridge.

Didier Drogba and Alex got the goals with fine finishes, but the visitors will live to regret their profligacy in front of goal, with Laurent Koscielny the main culprit.

Second place is now occupied by Manchester City after Adam Johnson’s winner earned them a third successive league win.

Adam Johnson

But the game will be remembered for the broken leg suffered by Newcastle’s Hatem ben Arfa, just the latest in a worryingly-long line of Premier League players to suffer serious injuries in the season’s early weeks.

Carlos Tevez’s penalty and Jonas Gutierrez’s equaliser are mere footnotes in a match which reignited debates about dangerous tackling in the top flight.

City’s rise to 2^nd is at the expense of Manchester rivals United, who have now drawn all four of their away games in the league.

Their game at Sunderland was one of few chances, and those which did come fell to the hosts. Steed Malbranque fired the best opening straight at Edwin van der Sar, while Bolo Zenden struck the outside of his fellow countryman’s post.

Another Dutchman hitting the headlines was Rafael van der Vaart, who scored both goals as Tottenham came from behind to beat Aston Villa.

Marc Albrighton had opened the scoring for Gerard Houllier’s men before van der Vaart capitalised on two Peter Crouch knockdowns to beat Brad Friedel either side of the break.

Hot on Tottenham’s heels are surprise package West Brom, who followed up last week’s win at Arsenal with a rather more subdued draw at home to Bolton.

They also had to come from behind after Johan Elmander lashed home a first-half strike, but after James Morrison’s equaliser the Baggies could have easily snatched all three points.

The final match of the weekend saw Stoke City climb into the top half of the table for the first time this season thanks to a hard-fought triumph over Sam Allardyce’s Blackburn.

Jon Walters scored the only goal of the game against the club where he started his career, tucking home from a Matty Etherington through-ball to add to his Carling Cup strike against Shrewsbury in August.

Team of the week (4-3-2-1):

Gilks (Blackpool); Baird (Fulham), Bramble (Sunderland), Jagielka (Everton), Crainey (Blackpool); Mulumbu (West Brom), Reo-Coker (Aston Villa), Essien (Chelsea); van der Vaart (Tottenham), Etherington (Stoke); Elmander (Bolton)

Welcome back Premier League, we missed you

Last week I brought you a round-up of the opening weekend’s of the football league, but many fans will have seen that action as nothing more than a warm-up for the big one: the Premier League kick-off.

Almost every club has been busy in the transfer market, and supporters have been eager to see how their side’s new recruits coped with the demands of top-flight football. But it was an uncharacteristically familiar Chelsea side who took the plaudits after an exciting start to the season up and down the country.

Drogba: hat-trick

Carlo Ancelotti has only made two senior signings this summer, and with neither Ramires or Yossi Benayoun ready to start it was left to Didier Drogba and Florent Malouda to fire a warning shot to the rest of the league. Hat-trick hero Drogba looks to be on worryingly good form already, and the champions are in no danger of stumbling out of the starting blocks

But it would take more than that 6-0 demolition of West Brom to take the shine of the performance of Premier League newcomers Blackpool. The Seasiders coasted (pun intended) to victory at Wigan, with the 4-0 scoreline putting them second in the table, their inexperienced side showing no signs of stagefright.

‘Pool manager Ian Holloway has had limited success in the transfer market so far, but in French under-21 international Elliot Grandin he seems to have found a bargain. The former Marseille and CSKA Sofia youngster ripped the Wigan defence to shreds, creating the third goal for Marlon Harewood when his shot was saved, and could provide the creativity Holloway’s team will need if they are to continue surprising their opponents.

Albrighton: unplayable

Another future star of the game announced himself at Villa Park. Marc Albrighton may be called upon more frequently if James Milner moves to Manchester, but on the kind of form he showed against West Ham there are many who would argue he deserves to start ahead of the England utility man. The young winger created two goals and ran the Hammers’ full-backs ragged as he switched wings with Ashley Young over the 90 minutes.

Avram Grant’s side, like fellow bottom-three residents West Brom and Wigan, were worryingly toothless, demonstrating that an unbeaten pre-season counts for nothing. The return of Manuel da Costa and Thomas Hitzlsperger will help, but Grant may need to bring in more new faces.

Elsewhere, several goalkeepers hit the headlines, none more than Manchester City’s Joe Hart. After an accomplished if unremarkable performance at Wembley on Wednesday, Hart was a one-man barrier between Spurs and the City goal after his back four decided to take the day off. At least half a dozen top-class saves meant the score stayed 0-0, and Hart’s form may well see Shay Given decide he needs to find a new club.

That club could be Arsenal, for whom Manuel Almunia faltered once again. Beaten at his near post by David N’Gog, Almunia’s days at Arsenal must surely be numbered. With his every move under close scrutiny, the Spaniard could not afford to make any mistakes.

Reina: howler

At the opposite end of the Anfield pitch, Pepe Reina looked to be enjoying a more fruitful 90 minutes, with a world-class stop from Tomas Rosicky set to round off a stirring performance. That was until, just minutes after flapping at a cross to nearly let Theo Walcott in for a late equaliser, Reina somehow contrived to scoop the ball into his own net in the last minute of normal time.

With Rob Green and Ben Foster doing little to enhance their international prospects this weekend, Fulham’s David Stockdale staked his claim for inclusion in Fabio Capello’s next squad. Called upon as an eleventh-hour replacement for Mark Schwarzer, Stockdale denied Bolton victory with a number of impressive saves. The Trotters already look more of an attacking force under Owen Coyle than they ever did during Gary Megson’s tenure, with even Johan Elmander starting to find some form.

Cattermole: predictable

At the Stadium of Light, Lee Cattermole surprised no one by becoming the first player to be sent off this season. Failing to recognise the line between reasonable aggression and persistent fouling, the Sunderland captain picked up two yellow cards before the half-time interval. Opposite number Stephen Carr attempted to match Cattermole in the embarrassment stakes with a comical own goal, but he was ultimately bailed out by his team-mates, with two scrappy goals seeing the Blues overturn a two-goal deficit.

The remaining two games both – perhaps surprisingly – ended in home victories. Wolves eased past Stoke after scoring twice in the same game for the first time this century* while yet another goalkeeping howler (this time from Tim Howard) saw Blackburn’s Nikola Kalinic score the only goal against Everton.

Mick McCarthy’s Wolves side have made the necessary improvements to their squad this season, and know they will need to turn Molineux into a fortress if they are to prolong their stay in the top flight. And they can do far worse than look at Blackburn for inspiration, the Ewood Park side picking up 36 of their 50 points last season on home soil.

*statistic may or may not be exaggerrated for comic effect

Team of the week (4-5-1):

Hart (Man City); Onuoha (Sunderland), Samba (Blackburn), Dunne (Aston Villa), Agger (Liverpool); Albrighton (Aston Villa), Jones (Wolves), Grandin (Blackpool), Huddlestone (Tottenham), Malouda (Chelsea); Drogba (Chelsea)