The Weekend Round-up
by Danny Wright
‘Grand Slam Sunday’ turned out to be a tepid, cagey occasion in which there were wins for Manchester United and Arsenal, defeating Liverpool and Chelsea by a 1-0 score line respectively, the football on show somewhat undermining the hyperbole pumped out by Sky over the past week. In a gritty encounter on a glum Merseyside Carlos Tevez effort was enough to sink Liverpool, meanwhile William Gallas’ header against his former club punished Peter Cech’s error to give the Gunners the win. In fairness, the Arsenal Chelsea encounter was a far more engrossing fare, with Cech compensating for his earlier error and Manuel Almunia pulling out the stops to help Wenger’s men earn the win. John Terry is set out be for a spell on the sidelines, the England captain on the receiving end of a cynical Emmanuel Eboue challenge.
The weekend’s more entertaining games were reserved for Saturday’s football, with Wigan and Blackburn sharing an incredible eight goals at the JJB Stadium, the home side coming up trumps with a 5-3 win. Denny Landzaat got the ball rolling after just ten minutes meanwhile Marcus Bent headed his first of three. Paul Scharner then nodded the Latics into dream land and put them 3-0 up, however the game was far from over despite a Benni McCarthy penalty miss thanks to the efforts of Roque Santa Cruz, who’s superb hat-trick gave Rovers a lifeline. The drama was just beginning though as Mark Clattenburg controversially sent off Brett Emerton and the ref’s assistants failed to a spot a suspicion of offside in the build up to Bent’s second. The Everton man then sealed the win and gave manager Steve Bruce his first three points as Wigan manager.
A further six goals were shared at Eastlands where Manchester City preserved their 100% home record in the Premier League by beating Bolton 4-2. Rolando Bianchi punished some slack Bolton defending to give City the lead but the nation’s favourite El Hadj Diouf levelled. Kevin Nolan notched an excellent goal to give Bolton the lead however City were determined not to blemish their home copy book as Didi Hamann’s effort deflected in off Lubo Michalik, and the Blues retook the lead when Darius Vassell scored. The visitors’ pushed hard for a leveller and were always vulnerable to the counter-attack and their lax defending cost them dear as Kelvin Etuhu’s late effort sealed the win.
Everton beat West Ham for the second time in a week as Yakubu and Andy Johnson combined to sink the unlucky Hammers, 2-0 the final sore at the Boleyn Ground, meanwhile Tottenham picked up a much needed win at Portsmouth thanks to Dimitar Berbatov’s strike. The goal was Berbatov’s first since October and Spurs’ first away win of the season.
Middlesborough lifted the “pressure” surrounding manager Gareth Southgate by notching their second win on the spin, Derby on the receiving end of a thumping Tuncay effort in a 1-0 win at Pride Park. The defeat leaves the Rams propping up the league, Paul Jewell’s men trailing 19th place Wigan by six points. Fulham’s festive prospects also look bleak as they were sunk by a late Joey Barton penalty that gave Newcastle a priceless win. A dour affair came into life when Elliot Omozusi was adjudged to have fouled Alan Smith in the 90th minute, controversial midfielder Barton scoring his first goal for the club.
Sunderland came close to unearthing a much needed win but were foiled by Shaun Maloney’s sublime free-kick as Aston Villa snatched a point in a 1-1 draw. Craig Gardiner was lucky to be on the pitch after a horror challenge on Dwight Yorke, the Villa midfielder kon-fu-kicking the T&T start right in the midriff - referee Steve Bennett deemed a caution sufficient punishment. Danny Higginbottom headed the Black Cats in front but Maloney rescued a point when his set-piece wrong footed keeper Darren Ward, although manager Roy Keane will be furious the way Paul McShane needlessly conceded the decisive free-kick.
The weekend’s more entertaining games were reserved for Saturday’s football, with Wigan and Blackburn sharing an incredible eight goals at the JJB Stadium, the home side coming up trumps with a 5-3 win. Denny Landzaat got the ball rolling after just ten minutes meanwhile Marcus Bent headed his first of three. Paul Scharner then nodded the Latics into dream land and put them 3-0 up, however the game was far from over despite a Benni McCarthy penalty miss thanks to the efforts of Roque Santa Cruz, who’s superb hat-trick gave Rovers a lifeline. The drama was just beginning though as Mark Clattenburg controversially sent off Brett Emerton and the ref’s assistants failed to a spot a suspicion of offside in the build up to Bent’s second. The Everton man then sealed the win and gave manager Steve Bruce his first three points as Wigan manager.
A further six goals were shared at Eastlands where Manchester City preserved their 100% home record in the Premier League by beating Bolton 4-2. Rolando Bianchi punished some slack Bolton defending to give City the lead but the nation’s favourite El Hadj Diouf levelled. Kevin Nolan notched an excellent goal to give Bolton the lead however City were determined not to blemish their home copy book as Didi Hamann’s effort deflected in off Lubo Michalik, and the Blues retook the lead when Darius Vassell scored. The visitors’ pushed hard for a leveller and were always vulnerable to the counter-attack and their lax defending cost them dear as Kelvin Etuhu’s late effort sealed the win.
Everton beat West Ham for the second time in a week as Yakubu and Andy Johnson combined to sink the unlucky Hammers, 2-0 the final sore at the Boleyn Ground, meanwhile Tottenham picked up a much needed win at Portsmouth thanks to Dimitar Berbatov’s strike. The goal was Berbatov’s first since October and Spurs’ first away win of the season.
Middlesborough lifted the “pressure” surrounding manager Gareth Southgate by notching their second win on the spin, Derby on the receiving end of a thumping Tuncay effort in a 1-0 win at Pride Park. The defeat leaves the Rams propping up the league, Paul Jewell’s men trailing 19th place Wigan by six points. Fulham’s festive prospects also look bleak as they were sunk by a late Joey Barton penalty that gave Newcastle a priceless win. A dour affair came into life when Elliot Omozusi was adjudged to have fouled Alan Smith in the 90th minute, controversial midfielder Barton scoring his first goal for the club.
Sunderland came close to unearthing a much needed win but were foiled by Shaun Maloney’s sublime free-kick as Aston Villa snatched a point in a 1-1 draw. Craig Gardiner was lucky to be on the pitch after a horror challenge on Dwight Yorke, the Villa midfielder kon-fu-kicking the T&T start right in the midriff - referee Steve Bennett deemed a caution sufficient punishment. Danny Higginbottom headed the Black Cats in front but Maloney rescued a point when his set-piece wrong footed keeper Darren Ward, although manager Roy Keane will be furious the way Paul McShane needlessly conceded the decisive free-kick.
Birmingham found Marcus Hahnemann an impenetrable force as Alex McLeish’s men could only draw 1-1 with Reading. Mikel Forssell bundled his way through after four minutes but the Blues couldn’t get past the big American, who saved from Cameron Jerome to keep the scores level. The woodwork also denied Birmingham who were denied by Stephen Hunt’s penalty kick.images - bbc.co.uk/sport
posted by Danny @ 11:13 pm
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