The Weekend Round-up

by Danny Wright

Everton produced the performance of the weekend as they thrashed sorry Sunderland 7-1 at Goodison. After sustained early pressure it was little surprise the Black Cats buckled when Yakubu’s defected effort crept in off Danny Higginbottom’s despairing tackle. Tim Cahill scored a superb second with a lovely swivel and shot, and good build up lead to Steven Pienaar rattling home a third. Dwight Yorke gave the visitors hope with a good finish but it proved to be a false dawn as Everton killed the game off four minutes into the second half, Cahill capitalising on Paul McShane’s poor defending to slot past Gordon. Rampant Everton went on to add further goals, Yakubu bagging a second with a close rang effort, with fit again Andrew Johnson and Leon Osman scoring goals at a canter to put the Toffees into seventh heaven. It was all too easy for David Moyes’ men, Sunderland manager Roy Keane no doubt petrified at the ease of which his defence was spilt open.

Another team going through defence frailties is Newcastle, who were condemned to a 3-0 home defeat to a rampant Liverpool. Steven Gerrard – one of the many England flops booed this weekend – opened the scoring with a belting free-kick with Dirk Kuyt adding a scruffy second. Ryan Babel tucked home a classy finish to seal a convincing win, the Reds putting off the field friction behind them to churn out an impressive result.

Sir Alex Ferguson was sent to the stands as his Manchester United side lost out to Gary Megson’s Bolton, 1-0 the final score at the Reebok. Kevin Davies and Patrice Evra enjoyed a personal duel where bad tackles were exchanged before Nikolas Anelka struck after 11 minutes to claim a rare win for the strugglers.

Derby were condemned to another defeat as goals from Solomon Kalou and Shaun Wright Phillips did the damage in a 2-0 loss to Chelsea. To their credit Derby were unlucky to have a Kenny Miller strike ruled out, but that aside they offered little else going forward to threaten the Chelsea goal.

New Wigan manager Steve Bruce saw his side go down 2-0 at Arsenal despite a brave showing, with his former club Birmingham also defeated by Portsmouth. Goalkeeper Richard Kingson had a debut to forget as Sulley Muntari’s weak shot crept under his body to give Pompey the lead and Niko Kranjcar capped off an enjoyable weak by scoring the winner with a stunning free-kick.

Aston Villa piled the pressure on Middlesborough manager Gareth Southgate as they thumped the sorry Teesiders 3-0 at the Riverside. Scott Carson looked edgy but managed a useful clean sheet, the under-fire England stopper lucky to keep out a Stuart Downing drive early on. That proved to be a rare foray forward for Boro who were outclassed from then on, goals from John Carew, Olof Melberg and Gabby Agbonlahor doing the damage.

Robert Green saved a last minute penalty to rescue his side a point against Tottenham, however the out of favour England keeper was at fault for Spurs equalizer, the former Norwich man in no-man’s land as Michael Dawson headed in. Carlton Cole had put the Hammers ahead as Spurs had a penalty appeal turned down in the first half, only for a spot-kick awarded to be awarded in dying minutes which Green saved expertly from Jermaine Defoe. Ditched England keeper Paul Robinson also enjoyed a good game, pulling off two smart saves to deny the home side in a welcome return to form for the Tottenham man.

The Sven Revolution keeps on going at Manchester City where they beat Reading 2-1 at Eastlands. Martin Petrov got the ball rolling but James Harper leveled in the Royals first attack, and the visitor’s thought they had snatched a point only for a fully-clothed Stephen Ireland to thump a stunning injury-time volley to snatch all three points.

In the weekends other game Fulham and Blackburn drew 2-2. After a tepid first half the clash came to lift in the second when Danny Murphy tucked home a penalty for Fulham with Brett Emerton leveling for Rovers. Antti Niemi kept the hosts in the tie with a string of fine saves as Diomansy Kamara put his side back in the lead, thus leaving Fulham in the precarious position of holding on for the win. Inevitably Rovers equalized through Stephen Warnock with ten minutes to go, continuing the Cottagers trend of throwing the points at their mercy.

England will be sick of the sight of Croatia this week as they were placed with Slaven Billic’s men in World Cup 2010 qualifying Group Six. The draw – made in Durban, South Africa – pits manager less England against their adversaries Croatia, Ukraine, Belarus, Kazakhstan and Andorra. Scotland are paired with Holland, meanwhile Wales will face Russia and Germany. Northern Ireland face Czech Republic, Poland, Slovakia, Slovenia and San Marino in a tricky group and the Republic of Ireland face world champions Italy.

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