The furore that surrounded Kun Aguero's amazing half hour debut made the wait for the commencement of the 2nd week of EPL football little bit longer. That and the mere thought of seeing an Aguero -Tevez partnership, how Arsenal would cope without Fabregas, the first Tyne & Wear derby of the season and many other expected outcomes are the very reasons why fans and club supporters all the world couldn't wait for another exciting and mind blowing weekend of premier league football.
The events filled EPL week started with the TYNE & WEAR DERBY.
SUNDERLAND -NEWCASTLE (STADIUM OF LIGHT)
Steve Bruce was full of confidence in the build up to this derby game. He had players at his disposal who could hurt any team in the League. More so, it was a chance to give the home supporters something to cheer after a very crushing defeat at St jamess' Park last season. It was time for reprisal. His opposite number, Alan Pardew was in no mood to entertain anything but a victory against the black cats. He was hell bent on inflicting more harm on Bruce's lads.
There was still no straight replacement for Jose Enrique in the Newcastle back line. The magpies were still in negotiations with Dutch giants PSV, over/for the transfer of Holland international and Gio van Bronckhorst's replacement, Erik Pieters. Ryan Taylor had to continue his duty as the make shift left back. Transfer listed and controversial midfielder, Joey Barton was once again given a starting role. The only change from the match against Arsenal last week, was the inclusion of Gabby Obertan in place of Demba Ba who dropped to the bench.
The home side lined up the same way they did against Liverpool a week ago, despite fears that Gyan picked up an injury in the match. Connor Wickham had to be content with a place on the bench for the second game running.
THe match began in breathtaking pace and Sunderland were the pacesetters, getting into good positions, but no end result. It was Newcastle who got the first big shout of the match.---- a corner was swung in by Yohan Cabaye and Shola Ameobi who has an impressive goal scoring record in derby games, rose highest to meet it.....it then fell to Joey Barton who directed a header towards the far corner of the goal. He was already in celebratory mood, thinking he had put his side ahead, when Swede, Seb Larsson, criminally stuck out a hand to prevent the goal.(a red card offence). 2010 FIFA WORLD CUP FINAL AND UEFA CHAMPIONS LEAGUE FINAL match(es) referee, Howard Webb, discussed with his assistant on the line and decided it was a corner. Barton was bemused, as well as his teammates and manager, but it brought no result as the game remained scoreless. Stephane Sessegnon was the worst culprit for Sunderland as he missed chances upon chances in the times they were able to break through the Wes Brown marshaled rear guard. Yohan Cabaye also came close for the magpies, but Belgian International, Simon Mignolet, was equal to the effort 13 minutes to half time. Ryan Taylor and Cabaye picked up bookings for Newcastle, while Wes Brown was cautioned for the black cats. The first half ended 0-0.
The second half began with both teams getting at each other, not allowing any of them to build up momentum. Challenges were flying and it was no surprise when Phil Bardsley picked up a booking after a bad challenge. Joey Barton had a shot charged down by Anton Ferdinand and Mignonlet was kept busy by the marauding Gutierrez. The deadlock was finally broken when Ryan Taylor stood over a free kick just after the hour mark. Steve Bruce should have known what was coming after (he managed him at Wigan)..........his worst fears were confirmed when Taylor sent a dipping cross over and above Mignolet . Bruce was livid and the prospect of another derby day disappointment loomed large in his heart. He brought on Teenager, Wickham and Ji Dong Won to try and salvage at least a point. Asamoah Gyan, who was very inactive in the game, had a chance 13 minutes from time, but he blooped his shot. Sunderland continued to find the elusive equalizing goal....but all to no avail, as Newcastle were already home and dry. Philip Bardsley was sent off late on for the black cats to further compound Bruce's misery. Bruce had yet again lost another derby match. The fans were distraught and very sad at the lackluster display of the home team. The only surprise in this match was the fact that Chiek Tiote didn't pick up a booking.
The game ended 1-0 to Newcastle.
WOLVES - FULHAM (MOLINEUX)
The game was dominated by the pre-match apology tendered by Fulham skipper, Danny Murphy, who,lase season, accused McCarthy's wolves of being a dirty team who employed unusual tactics to claim points. Micky grudgingly accepted the apology.
The Wolves manager was very glad at the fine start his wards have had to the 20th premier league season. Despite the fact that it was early days, he still had everything to smile about, because were at an unfamiliar position in the League standings ( no disrespect). Prior to their home match on Saturday vs Fulham, they lied 4th in the League table only behind Man City, Bolton and Man Utd. The Irish man would be expecting another 3 points against tricky customers, Fulham.
The west Londoners were not faring badly too. They drew their first game at home to Aston Villa and have been unbeaten this season after a great start to the Europa League campaign. But the Premier League was a different proposition and Martin Jol was very much aware of that. His previous spell at Spurs was highly successful as he took spurs to consecutive 5th place finishes in the League, on one occasion, they could have been fourth, but for the food poisoning incident that took place during their pivotal match against West Ham at the end of the 05-06 season.
Mick named an unchanged side, sticking with the same one which took three points at Ewood Park in the opening weekend. While Martin Jol had to make changes to the side who trounced Juande Ramoss' Dnpro, recalling John Arne Riise, A.J, Etuhu, and Senderos. Bobby Zamora was not in the mach day squad, so Dempsey and A.J led the attack.
Fulham began the stronger of the two sides..........talented youngster, Pajtim Kasami blasted a shot in the opening seconds of the game which went wide off the mark. wolves began to assert their superiority on proceedings ......Jamie O;hara was dictating things in the middle of the pack with etuhu and captain, Danny Murphy looking astounded There were chances for both teams with etuhu taking advantage of a Richard Steadman error to fire at goal, but the shot was well saved by Hennessey. kevin Doyle had a chance at the other end afterwards, but he blasted i over the bar. He made up for his earlier miss and his p.k miss a week ago as he weaved his way through the Fulham defence and let fly a good shot which went past the Austrian goalkeeper, Schwarzer and into he net to give Wolves a 1-0 lead going into the interval.
At the start of the second half, Jol replaced kasami and etuhu with dembele and sidwell, but that did little to help the cottagers as wolves doubled their lead through the ever impressive, fleet footed winger, Matt Jarvis who has already been called up by Capello before. ... A.J shot in anger, as well as Riise, but it did little to alter the result as wolves came out on top.... 2-0 winners.
ARSENAL -LIVERPOOL (EMIRATES STADIUM)
Arguably the match of the weekend, Liverpool came to a ground they haven't had the happiest of times. They hadn't won at the Emirates since Arsenal switched homes. King Kenny, a premier league winner with B'burn 16 years ago, knew everything about success and was determined to achieve it.........more importantly, as Man Utd had already jumped past them as the most successful English club in terms of domestic titles won.
Arsene Wenger had a lot of things to worry about, asides from the departure of Fabregas and the soon to exit Nasri. Injuries to gibbs, wilshere, rosicky, diaby and suspsensions of song and gervinho, forced the frenchman to name some untried youngsters in his match day squad. talented youngsters like miyaichi and iggy miquel, were given the chance to prove themselves if and when they are called upon.
Both mangers started with familiar line-ups, except for the exclusion of Suarez by Daglish in favour of Dutch workaholic, Dirk Kuyt. He still put Carroll in the firing line. Wenger of course had to make changes as a result of the set backs faced in the last few days before the match. Frimpong came in for song, nasri for roiscky, walcott for gervais, and jenkinson for gibbs , with sagna going to an unfamiliar left back spot. It was also an important day in the life of Robin Van Persie who was playing his first match as Club Captain of Arsenal. The match started with Arsenal having the upper hand in terms of possession and carved out chances. Dutch technician, Van Persie, who saw his record of scoring in 9 consecutive away games, end at Newcastle last week, was in the thick of things as he worried the Liverpool defence. Frimpong showed his inexperience in the early stages, when he unnecessarily squared up to Henderson under the nose of the referee's assistant.
Laurent Koscielny made an already bad situation worse for Wenger as he pulled up just after a quarter of an hour of play with injury to his back.. Miquel had to come in earlier than planned and he put in a wonderful shift alongside Thomas Vermaelen to curtail the threat of the Liverpool attack, The only real meaningful chance was Carroll's bullet header who was smartly saved by Szczesny. Samir Nasri never showed signs of loss of form or anything of the sort despite increasing speculations concerning his future....His mazy, lightning run which tore the Liverpool midfield and defence apart, ended up with him side stepping Daniel Agger and sending a low shot which just evaded Reina's right hand post. The first half ended with both teams still looking for the opener.
The second half started with the visitors slightly gaining the upper hand. Andy Carroll who has been rather anonymous, except for a few glimpses, set up a good chance for full back, martin kelly, whose belter beat szczesny, but hit the outside of the post. Arsenal upped their game, but had to feed on crumbs except on rare occasions where arshavin and RVP had one or two bright moments. ......As if the gunners were not disadvantaged enough, frimpong was sent off for a rash challenge on Lucas in the 70th minute.....Arsenal down to 10 men and Daglish immediately found a hole in the midfield and brought on Raul Meireles. That was surely the game changing moment as seven minutes later, Suarez's foray into the Arsenal defence led to an unfortunate own goal by Aaron Ramsey who did not know anything about the Miquel clearance which hit him and went in past the young pole in the gooners' goal. Wenger could not hide his displeasure and a minutes from the end, the merseysiders put the icing on the cake with a suarez goal which meireles unselfishly laid on a plate 2 - 0 Liverpool. Their first victory on ARSENAL SOIL (HIGHBURY AND EMIRATES) in 11 years.
EVERTON -QPR (GOODISON'S PARK)
It was not happy days for the fans of the blue half of Merseyside. They were not in any way finding it humorous that Bill Kenwright,( CEO of Everton) refused to invest in the squad during the transfer window which still has about 8 days to run. QPR supporters on the other hand, were still celebrating the takeover of the club by Tony Fernandes
This was the toffees first game of the season (the first match at White Hart Lane was postponed) and they intended to kick start it with a win. Talisman, Tim Cahill, although he is getting older, hasn't lost any of his aerial prowess....they also had leighton baines, mikel arteta, phil neville and co, who are basically the core of the team.
Perhaps the major surprise was the inclusion of youngster, Ross Barkley ahead of experienced players like arteta and fellaini. It was a move which was justified by the all action play of the young lad who put in a shift worhty of praise by all who watched the game. QPR made changes to the team which fell badly to Bolton on the first day of the season. Agyemang came in for Bothroyd and there was no place in the squad for DJ Campbell who was apparently injured. Adel Taraabt was as usual, given a free role.
Everton had chances to take the lead but they were wasted, mostly by Australian predator, Tim Cahill and former Leeds player, Jermaine Beckford. On the half hour mark, Tommy Smith scored what will eventually be the winning goal for Neil Warnock's londoners...........even the introduction of Arteta and Marouane Fellaini, made no difference to the scoreline. QPR took their first points of the season and handed the toffees their first home loss in 8 months. 1-0 QPR.
ASTON VILLA-BLACKBURN (VILLA PARK)
Alex McLeish was determined to win the fans over after a rocky relationship during the summer, because of his defection from city rivals, Birmingham. He got the villans off to a satisfactory start.......taking a point in the first game v fulham. The visitors to Villa Park was Blackburn Rovers who had a disappointing start to the season, losing at home to Wolves. The EPL is a 38 game season, so there was a lot of time to get back in the groove. Steve Kean named new signing, David Goodwillle in the starting line-up to pair Jason Roberts. Villa named an unchanged side to the one that shared the spoils v fulham. The attacking trident of heskey, agbonlahor and bent (scorer of 17 premier league goals last season), promised a whole lot this season. the attack had pace, power and precision. It wasn't long before Blackburn bore the brunt as Gabby Agbonlahor turned salgado inside out and sen t a cleverly placed shot into the top left hand side of Robinson's post to give McLeish a dream start. They didn't stop there as Emile Heskey broke his 7 month goal drought with a sweeping shot from the edge of the area to make it 2-0 Villa. First half ended with Villa on top.
At the start of the 2nd half, VIlla made an enforced change.......Mark Albirghton for the injured Agbonlahor. There was a rapid change of events as the blue and whites started to get into the game more and more. Their intense pressure paid off when Junior Hoilett dribbled his way to the left flank and sent a pciture perfect cross for the on rushing Pedersen to head home. B'burn 1-2 Villa.
Blackburn continued to mount on the pressure and it started telling on the Villa players as Luke Young had to be substituted for youngster, Ciaran Clark and some minutes later, Emile Heskey was also hurled off for yet another young lad, Barry Bannan. Villa extended their lead soon after....Darren Bent (you always thought he will join the party) got on to a loose ball and sent a shot past the helpless Robinson to restore Villa's 2 goal advantage. Blackburn tried their utmost best to come back, but Richard Dunne and James Collins were rock solid at the back as well as Stephen Warnock who was forced to play in an unfamiliar right back role when Ciaran clark came on. Final score VILLA 3-1 B'BURN
CHELSEA -WEST BROM (STANFORD BRIDGE)
West Brom were probably unlucky not to come out with at least a point against Manchester United a week prior. The baggies were in inspired mood when they travelled to the Bridge to face AVB's Chelsea. The Portuguese manager made 2 changes to the side which picked up a point at the Britannia. Hilario kept the goal in place of the injured Cech and 08/09 EPL golden boot winner, Nicholas Anelka, took the place of his countryman, Florent Malouda. Hodgson's men remained unchanged from last week....Peter Odemwingie, fresh from signing a new 3 year deal, was on the bench again after recovering from a knee injury
The brom struck early in the first half .......Shane Long making the 'slow to react' Alex and Chelsea pay as he stabbed in past Hilario to give Roy's boys a dream start. Chelsea fans were in disbelief. The blues did their best to get back into the game, but they couldn't fashion out clear opportunities on goal. The baggies should have been 2-0 up, but for the goalscorer, Shane Long who mistimed an easy pass to Tchoyi----------who could have tapped it in to double their lead. West Brom was covering all the spaces and Somen Tchoyi and Chris Brunt were brilliant in the first stanza. Torres should flashes of his old self, but that was all to it....Kalou was all over the place making little or no impact. Boas had seen enough and yanked him off immediately for Malouda...... Chelsea's best chance of getting back on level terms came from leftback, Ashley Cole, who unleashed a canon of a shot which was well dealt with by Ben Foster. The 1st half ended with the blues starring at defeat in AVB's first home game in charge.
The second half was all Chelsea and it was no surprise when they pegged the baggies back 8 minutes into the second half.... the Brom defence couldn't clear their lines properly and like every hungry poacher, Anelka pounced on the loose ball and took a hopeful shot which was deflected in, leaving Ben Foster on his backside. 1-1..
Ivanovic came on for Alex, who was largely at fault for the Brom goal. The baggies had good chances to restore their lead, but took none of them. Chelsea then took the lead and deservedly so. Jose Bosingwa rolled back the years(not that he is old).......skillfully got in between morrison and shorey and sent a lovely low cross into the box...it was met by Malouda who sent an unstoppable shot into the net to give Chelsea the advantage and effectively seal the win. The veteran Hodgson responded by taking off Tchoyi for Odemwingie and dorrans for Mulumbu. Odemwingie had a volley saved by Hilario late on and there was an altercation between terry and peter odemwingie...ashley cole also tried to ruffle the Nigerian striker who netted an impressive 15 league goals last season. The match ended 2-1 in favour of Chelsea.
BOLTON----MANCHESTER CITY (REEBOK STADIUM)
The early pacesetters met at the Reebok. Manchester City had Carlitos Tevez on the bench after a summer dominated by news of his imminent departure. Roberto Mancini made two changes to the side which thumped Swansea six days earlier. Milner coming in for the injured De Jong and Adam Johnson making way for Aguero. Bolton started with the same team that destroyed QPR at Loftus Road, using the width of Petrov and Eagles as a ploy.
City dominating the early exchanges. Aguero inexpicably missed from 5 yards and he kept on missing chance after chance, including a free header. It didn't take long though for City to break the deadlock. Mercurial playmaker, David Silva was on hand to benefit from a goalkeeping error from Jaaskelainen,.....his shot just got away from the fin's hands and into the net to hand city a priceless 1 goal lead. Bolton rarely win games they fall behind in and this was looking like one of the many they have lost, when Gareth Barry doubled the lead with a fine rising shot from just outside the area to double the citizens' lead.
Just as we were about writing the trotters off, they came up with a goal of sublime quality.....petrov got the ball on the left wing and sent in a cross which was well connected by Ivan Klasnic who sent a ferocious low volley into the man city net. Hart was floored. The 1st half ended in City's favour 2-1
The second half began with City continuing from where they left of and scored almost immediately through Edin Dzeko who notched up his 3rd goal in as many games to restore city's 2 goal advantage.........minutes later, kevin davies won a free kick which was sent in by eagles and met by Davies , whose unstoppable looping header went into the city net...2-3 bolton. Want away hero, tevez cam eon for his fellow argentine, adam johnson came on for edin dzeko....el apache (tevez) was very lively running helter skelter and making a nuisance of himself as usual in the danger zone...darren pratley and mark davies came on to add creativity to the trotters play, but all proved abortive as man city ran away with the 3 points to go top of the premier league... City won 3-2
SWANSEA-NORWICH (LIBERTY STADIUM)
Roberto Martinez took his boys to his old stumping ground, the Liberty stadium......home of the swans (Swansea). Swansea's best player thus far has been new goaltender, Michel Vorm, who despite conceding 4 goals, was still very fantastic in the match against city.
Brendan Rodgers dropped Tate surprisingly...Martinez's decision to leave Rodallega on the bench in favour of Di Santo was even more amazing. It was an interesting game , but bereft of clear cut chances. Michel Vorm saved a 73rd minute Ben Watson penalty to keep a clean sheet and prevent yet another defeat for the swans, Jordi Gomez, McCarthy and Alcaraz picked up bookings for the latics and the Paraguayan picked up an injury and had to be replaced by Stam after the hour mark. The match ended 0-0.
NORWICH - STOKE (CARROW ROAD)
Fresh from picking up a precious away win at Switzerland in the Europa League a few days earlier, The otters were high on confidence going into the match. Paul Lambert's Norwich had no fear whatsoever for their more accomplished rivals (recent history). In all honesty, Tony Pulis has really done a wonderful job with Stoke.---- F.A CUP finalists last year, after giving Bolton a football lesson in the s/finals(5-0), they have also maintained their premier league status and have racked up wins in Europe to the incredulity of football analysts and cynics alike.
This was the canaries first home match of the season and they were up for it from the very beginning as the likes of Graham Holt and Elliott Bennett were piling a lot of pressure on Woodgate and co in the stoke defence, It paid off 8 minutes to the end of the first half when Ritchie de Laet scored against his former club to give the canaries a 1-0 going into the break.
After the break, Stoke played extremely well and deserved their chance to equalize in the 63rd minute. Walters was brought down inside the area by Leon Barnett and was immediately sent off. Walters dusted himself up to take the penalty, but Ruddy guessed right to preserve his team's slender lead. Norwich was seconds away from victory, when Kenwyne Jones rose highest to meet a Glenn Whelan hopeful ball into the box,....his header was way beyond the reach of the canaries keeper who was superb in the match. 1-1 it ended.
MANCHESTER UNITED - SPURS (OLD TRAFFORD)
Harry Redknapp was busy answering reporters about the current state of affairs concerning Modric....the man who never shies away from public glare was categorical and affirmative that Modric will not leave the club. He also added that the Croatian has a minor injury which he would have been able to play through, but because he wasn't in the right frame of mind, he couldn't feature against the Champions of England and UEFA Champions League Finalists, Manchester United.
Sir Alex Ferguson made changes to his back line...Ferdinand and Vidic were unavailable through injury, so jones and evans stood in for them......evra came back to push fabio out of the starting 11. the front six remained unchanged with fergie sticking to the majority of the side that started against West Brom.
Redknapp picked a good team with 21 year old, Jake Livermore starting in midfield alongside Niko Kranjcar. harry had a lot of players on the injury list----pienaar, crouch, gallas, king, and co..half-fit huddlestone was on the bench.
United dominated the match from start to finish with Ashley young impressing once again. Phil Jones reminded me of Paul McGrath with his dignified display...Smalling was lustrous at right back. Spurs were restricted to half chances...bale, defoe lennon and VDV will not want to remember this match because they performed below expectation.assou-ekotto was solid at the back, alongside dawson and kaboul..the first half was not as comfortable as it seemed for the red army as they were restricted to half chances. the best chance of the half fell to ashley young who could not connect well with a rooney lovely weighted cross. his header went narrowly wide. the first half ended 0-0
None of the managers made changes to their respective teams. Mnachester United stepped up the gear in their attempt o score the opening goal and they were asking a lot of questions of the Spurs defence. The eye catching football of Man Utd finally paid off just after the hour mark...........smalling and cleverley combined brilliantly, with the latter sending an inch perfect cross into the area and welbeck caught it with a fine header which left 40 year old brad friedel (who was appearing in his 275th consecutive PL game) motionless.
The red devils-made up largely of youngsters were in no mood of settling for a 1 goal win. Anderson and Cleverley dominated the midfield in its entirety. Rooney was everywhere,.......playing some breathtaking passes and cutting open tott'ham's defence gradually. It paid off in the 76th minute when a Rooney started attack was finished up by Anderson who benefited from a brilliant back heeled pass from Welbeck to make it 2-0 MUFC and essentially game over. DE GEA was solid throughout.......when called upon, he was always up to the task. Defoe was a shadow of his old self , but still had an effort that came off the bar after a cross into the box was taken out of De Gea's hand by Pav.
There was still time for both teams to make substitutions....Spurs brought on Huddlestone and Umited responded by bringing on Giggs for his record breaking appearance for one club in the top flight (614),going one ahead of Spurs' Steve Perryman who was on 613....PARK AND CHICHARITO also came on, with young, welbeck and cleverley going off to a standing ovation by the spectators. giggs came on for his 21st season in the top flight and 20th in the EPL. The evergreen midfielder still had the legs to assist a Wayne Rooney goal three minutes from the end after he (rooney) has missed a sitter from 3 yards via a nani perfect cross. It was a sublime performance, although Fergie will want a better one come Sunday.
Final score 3-0 Man United.
Ohireime Eboreime
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