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Sports - Football - Premier League - Picks of the Week
WOW!
Tottenham came out all guns blazing at White Hart Lane, man of the match Gareth Bale turning from provider to scorer to own-goal scorer/conceder. The Welshman's runs against Liverpool were extraordinary, no one could keep up with him when he found Aaron Lennon in the box for an easy tap-in opener. And the midfielder's free-kick completely deceived Pepe Reina to make it 2-0. The Reds were awoken, finding and keeping the pressure up after a difficult start in an entertaining encounter, but Spurs' back line kept solid and earned them the win and deservedly so.
OMG!
The Swans certainly shocked West Brom scoring three goals inside 39 minutes! Man of the match Pablo Hernandez was a force on the left wing and set up the first two goals. In the ninth minute, Miguel Michu slotted home Pablo's low cross from the left and not even two minutes later Pablo's nice cross found Wayne Routledge and was turned in off Jonas Olsson to make it 2-0. And Routledge made it three for the Welsh club six minutes before the break after Nathan Dyer and Hernandez helped setting up Ben Davies for his left-wing cross across the face of the goal that Routledge fired home with ease. West Brom started the second half brighter but were unable to recover from the early onslaught.
TOP!
It was all calamity for Ali Al Habsi again conceding two goals in three minutes at the DW Stadium. Mario Balotelli opened his Premier League account for the season for City seizing on Al Habsi's fumble following Gareth Barry's shot. But James Milner created an unstoppable smasher from outside the area, a top quality curler into the top corner of the net! It made all the difference and Wigan's fight was flawed! City ended up with the three points and still unbeaten, keeping United on their toes at the top of the table.
FLOP!
Mark Clattenburg returned to work at Southampton in their 1-1 draw against Norwich. A dreadful goalkeeping error by Paulo Gazzaniga lead to the equaliser! The first goal by Rickie Lambert was scruffy too and it looked as though there was a handball in the buildup to it. This draw stretched the Canaraies' unbeaten run in the Premier League to seven matches, leaving them in 13th position on 16 points, level with Liverpool in 12th and four points ahead of the Saints and the relegation zone in 18th.
HERO!
It took Robin van Persie 31 seconds to break Kevin Nolan's Premier League record of 56 seconds, opening the score with a deflection off James Collins and winning the game for United against the Hammers.
Theo Walcott took 52 seconds to whack it in for Arsenal against Everton and what a goal it was! Or maybe it was a lucky deflection as well, after it looked to have clipped Tony Hibbert on the way in leaving Tim Howard stranded. But a fine finish from Marouane Fellaini denied the Gunners a win yet again and the Toffees shared the spoils at Goodison Park.
ZERO!
Rafael Benitez and Fernando Torres were under fire again at Stamford Bridge, the fans making themselves and their discontent heard to Roman Abramovich after Chelsea's goalless home draw against Fulham. Dimitar Berbatov totally outshone his Spanish rival, producing great attacks and counter-attacks with his control and ability, something Rafa and Fernando (and Roman) are still searching for... I wonder how long the Russian's shopping list will be in January, in sales as well as purchases...
My Predictions => Actual Results
Sunderland 2-1 QPR => 0-0
Aston Villa 2-1 Reading => 1-0
Chelsea 2-1 Fulham => 0-0
Everton 2-1 Arsenal => 1-1
Southampton 2-1 Norwich => 1-1
Stoke 2-1 Newcastle => 2-1
Swansea 2-1 West Brom => 3-1
Tottenham 2-1 Liverpool => 2-1
Man United 2-1 West Ham => 1-0
Wigan 2-1 Man City => 0-2
Guess what?! Once again, the auto-predictor has set all my predictions to 2-1, because I'm too useless to remember to log in and enter my own predictions!!!
Sports - Football - Premier League - Picks of the Weekend
WOW!
Liverpool keeper Pepe Reina and Swansea forward Nathan Dyer were hardcore! After the Spanish keeper rushed off his line and clattered into the striker, it looked like it was serious, but both players overcame the injury scare and continued with their bumps and bruises. It was different to see Jose Enrique going forward. The Spanish defender impressed and should have been on the scoreboard after latching onto Luis Suarez's cross but was disallowed for offside. It was end to end stuff but ended up with Brendan Rodgers unable to get the better of his former side. It was the game with the most passes, surprise surprise, 1,055, ahead of United against QPR with 1,040. It all came to nothing though.
OMG!
The referee was clearly confused.com at Stamford Bridge. After a fine save by City's Joe Hart, Chris Foy gave a goal kick against Chelsea?! Ashley Cole was understandably gobsmacked!!! Mario Balotelli was harshly booked for a dive, I think there the referee went more by impression than by incident. And the fans were nothappyandbooing.com with Rafael Benitez, chanting "you're not wanted here", and holding up signs reading 'Benitez out' - coupled with songs and banners hailing the sacked Roberto Di Matteo. Benitez looked very red!!! Y Fernando Torres?! Donde estas?! It was definitely a game to forget! For the referee, Rafa and Torres!
TOP!
West Brom's goals were very much in contrast to one another. The first one was a brilliant strike by Zoltan Gera, the second a nightmare blunder by Sunderland goalkeeper Simon Mignolet, which gifted Shane Long a goal and the third was just as much a gift when drama queen Liam Ridgewell went down very easily and the spot-kick was converted by Romelu Lukaku. The first Sunderland goal was a brill deflected free kick by Craig Gardner and Stephane Sessegnon tapped in the rebound of a saved header off a corner, but it ended 4-2, after a fine curl-goal by Marc-Antoine Fortune finished the game off for the home side late on in injury time. It was a game with a little bit of everything and West Brom continuing their brilliant run!
FLOP!
Clumsy goals summarised United's home win against QPR, defensive nightmares with three goals falling in just seven minutes.
Stoke saw a nice turn-tip goal by Charlie Adam off Peter Crouch which won them all three points against Fulham. Dimitar Berbatov was constant threat, denied again and again, with some brilliant saves by Asmir Begovic.
The Gunners have now taken only one point from their past three away games and would have fancied their chances of winning at a ground where they have been unbeaten since 1998. But they were unable to unlock Villa and the sporadic game ended 0-0 with Arsene Wenger est le miserable.
HERO and ZERO!
Wigan's 3-2 win at the DW Stadium against Reading is easily summarised: Nicky Shorey's free kick was headed in by Sean Morrison to make it 0-1, the equaliser came off a rebound tapped in by Jordi Gomez followed by brill save by Ali Al Habsi. Wigan's Franco Di Santo was given offside, then Gomez headed another chance in to make it 2-1 before Al Habsi slipped one in to level the game 2-2!!! Gomez won the game two minutes into injury time with a hat-trick!!! Al Habsi was understandably more than happy!!! And that was the quickest and shortest I could summarise it! It was a smashing game! *breath*
UEFA are considering to scrap the Europa League and expand the Champions League to 64 teams by 2014... Good idea tu reduce the number of competitions and with it the fixture list, however, it defeats the point of CHAMPIONS League, no???
My Predictions => Actual Results
Sunderland 2-1 West Brom => 2-4
Everton 2-1 Norwich => 1-1
Man United 2-1 QPR => 3-1
Stoke 2-1 Fulham => 1-0
Wigan 2-1 Reading => 3-2
Aston Villa 2-1 Arsenal => 0-0
Swansea 2-1 Liverpool => 0-0
Southampton 2-1 Newcastle => 2-0
Chelsea 2-1 Man City => 0-0
Tottenham 2-1 West Ham => 3-1
I once again forgot to log my predictions, so, it went onto auto-predictor again (= all 2-1)... Useless!!! :-P
Sports - Football - Europa League - Liverpool 2:2 Young Boys
Liverpool have to wait until the final round of games to qualify for the last 32 in the Europa League after drawing 2-2 against the Young Boys at Anfield. A win would have seen them through one game to spare, but the draw means they will have to beat Udinese in the last group fixture to guarantee qualification.
Brendan Rodgers lined up a much changed side from the Reds' win against Wigan, Oussama Assaidi, Jonjo Shelvey and Joe Cole starting up front of a 4-3-3 formation with star man Luis Suarez and captain Steven Gerrard both left on the bench.
The visitors started the brighter and almost scored from kick-off as Gonzalo Zarate put a bicycle kick over the bar. But after seeing their defender Dusan Veskovac carried off with a hamstring injury and replaced by Juhani Ojala, it seemed to disrupt the Swiss side's flow, allowing the hosts to gain control of the match.
Jordan Henderson was denied by Marco Wolfli, a fine save by the Swiss skipper after the England midfielder was put clean through by his team mate Shelvey's cheeky back-heel pass. Suso also had a shot saved before Rodgers was forced to bring on the skipper Gerrard for the apparently injured Andre Wisdom, just half an hour into the game.
Just seconds/two minutes later, Liverpool took the lead thanks to a fine buildup exchange of passes by Cole and Suso. The former Chelsea midfielder took the perfect return from his team mate which allowed him to cross for Shelvey to head in from three yards.
Cole and the Reds were buzzing and in total control after that and it was not until after the break the Young Boys made a comeback. Cole had another chance from Suso's through-ball but Wolfli smothered his shot and the visitors raced down the other end to equalise thanks to a superb left-footed strike across Pepe Reina by Raul Bobadilla.
With the game now delicately poised, Suarez replaced Suso on the hour-mark breathing some new life into the Reds. The hosts took control and pinned the opposition back and a breakthrough seemed inevitable when Suarez and Gerrard exchanged some passes, a nice one-two, the latter picking out Cole's run. The number ten took the ball with his back to the goal, spun around before stabbing it beyond Wolfli into the back of the net and celebrating in total ecstasy.
The Reds thought they had the points in the bag after that but with time running out Elsad Zverotic levelled the score for the visitors by blasting home the ball from the edge of the box, meaning Liverpool's Europa League fate now rests on the outcome of their trip to Udinese in a fortnight's time.
Liverpool manager Brendan Rodgers:
"It is a little frustrating. It is disappointing that with three or four minutes to go we didn't control the game better.
"It would have been a good win for us against a good team. But we still control our destiny. It just makes it a wee bit harder than we would have liked.
"It's a competition we want to qualify in. We had a good chance tonight but we didn't close it out."
Reina into the history book:
Pepe Reina made his 81st European appearance for Liverpool on Thursday. That saw the Spanish international pass Ray Clemence's club record for a goalkeeper.
*The images taken from the BBC and Sky Sports website's match reports respectively
Liverpool 2-2 Young Boys
Liverpool Goals: 1: 32:35 min Jonjo Shelvey (33), 2: 71:38 min Joe Cole (10).
Young Boys Goals: 1: 51:21 min Raul Marcello Bobabilla (9), 2: 87:48 min Elsad Zverotic (13).
Liverpool Lineup: 25 Reina; 19 Downing, 23 Carragher, 37 Skrtel, 47 Wisdom (8 Gerrard - 31.min); 14 Henderson, 4 Sahin (booked 78.min), 30 Suso (7 Suarez - 60.min); 11 Assaidi, 33 Shelvey, 10 Cole (31 Sterling - 75.min). 4-3-3
Subs not used: 1 Jones, 3 Jose Enrique, 16 Coates, 24 Allen.
Young Boys Lineup: 1 Wolfli; 33 Lecjaks, 22 Veskovac (3 Ojala - 23. min), 4 Nef, 23 Sutter; 8 Farnerud, 13 Zverotic (booked 89.min); 29 Nuzzolo (20 Frey - 77.min), 14 Schneuwly (7 Vitkieviez - 82.min), 19 Zarate; 9 Bobadilla. 4-2-3-1.
Subs not used: 18 Mvogo, 2 Gonzalez, 10 Constanzo, 30 Doubai.
BBC Match Stats: Liverpool-Young Boys
Attempts: 17-14
On target: 12-8
Corners: 14-5
Free kicks: 13-9
Possession: 57%-43%
Referee: Alon Yefet (Israel)
Man of the Match: Joe Cole
Sports - Football - Premier League - Picks of the Weekend
WOW!
The contrast was gobsmacking and mind-boggling between the two Manchester sides. City were top-class sweeping aside Aston Villa, whilst United flopped to a shock defeat at Norwich, with two hat-trick candidates in Sergio Aguero and Carlos Tevez for the prior whilst the latter were held back at Carrow Road and obviously missed Wayne Rooney.
It was a surpirse to see Roberto Mancini's side use alternate penalty takers, especially with a hat-trick on the line. It is maybe a good tactic to keep the goalkeeper guessing, on his toes and/or confused. But I would have thought a striker on a hat-trick would have his objections against not being the penalty taker. It was good team play in the end though.
And Anthony Pilkington's brilliant header was a smacker for Norwich and a deserved winner against Sir Alex Ferguson's men. The former United trainee pulled ahead of Chris Smalling before looping a header over Anders Lindegaard on
the hour mark. Comeback kings United are used to going behind and still bag the three points later on, but this time it was not to be and the Red Devils fell to their third defeat of the season and into second place, one point behind league leaders City.
OMG!
The weekend was packed full of surprises and sides chuffed to finally be back on the winners list with Arsenal, Reading and Southampton, plus Norwich, Swansea and West Brom! I would love to see what the odds were for these results!
Reading got their first win of the season with a great comeback from being a goal down and deserving the three points for their stubbornness and commitment.
Steve Clarke has done a great job at West Brom and they should have now shut up all their doubters with their convincing win against Chelsea. Their formation worked a treat with striker Peter Odemwingie nodding in the winner to continue his side's impressive run and shoot them up into the fourth Champions League qualification spot.
Swansea impressed in a 2-1 triumph at St James' Park which took them to tenth and above Newcastle in the Premier League table. Man-of-the-match Miguel Michu was a constant threat with a clever interplay and display and he was rewarded when he provided the opening goal with a fine header. The Swans then made sure victory was theirs with their
second goal coming from a fast break,
that presented Danny Graham with a chance to shoot at goal. Tim Krul
pulled off a brilliant save but Jonathan de Guzman netted the
rebound.
TOP!
Southampton's performance was impressive and mouthwatering. Nigel Adkins knew his men would do a good job and not sit back and so they did. After the Saints went ahead, a lot of sides would have sat back kept the back line strong to keep the lead. But that did not happen in this fixture. The visitors kept themselves forward, on attack and pressure up on the home side. It was a delight to see and watch and a fully deserved win and three points for the promoted side. If they keep up this work ethic, I don't think they will struggle to stay up.
And I have to give Fulham a mention after they kept fighting on, even after going down to ten, then nine men! Defender Brede Hangeland's sending off was harsh and substitute's Mladen Petric late injury after he had scored the equaliser did not help. But in the end Sunderland's stubbornness prevailed and the visitors ended up two goals to the good. It will be a hard lesson and feel harsh for Martin Jol's men, but the spirit is there.
FLOP!
QPR and Mark Hughes have to be really worried! Hughes' men lacked confidence, desire and a plan in their defeat against Southampton and were left still looking for their first win of the season stuck at the bottom of the table with just four points from 12 games and five points from safety. Much in contrast to Fulham mentioned above, there is a difference between a hard fought defeat and being outplayed and not showing or giving much for it.
HERO!
Liverpool finally found the winning way thanks to a certain Mister Suarez once again! The Uruguayan starred with two goals against Wigan and provided one for man-of-the-match Jose Enrique, his first for the club. This took Suarez's tally for the season to 13 goals for Liverpool and bagged his side only their second home win of the season in the Premier League to lift them up to 11th spot in the table.
ZERO!
Emmanuel Adebayor went from hero to zero within minutes at the Emirates. The Togolese striker scored against his former employers, giving Tottenham a well deserved lead as they had started the game well on top. But minutes later, he threw the game out of the window for Spurs letting emotions get the better of him when he saw red for his lunge on Santi Cazorla. They still played and fought on, the scoreline was harsh on them. But hopefully the lesson was learned by Adebayor! His stupidity let the Gunners back into the game and they made the most of it, netting five goals and bagging three points on their local rivals.
My Predictions => Actual Results
Arsenal 2-1 Tottenham => 5-2
Liverpool 2-1 Wigan => 3-0
Man City 2-1 Aston Villa => 5-0
Newcastle 2-1 Swansea => 1-2
QPR 2-1 Southampton => 1-3
Reading 2-1 Everton => 2-1
West Brom 2-1 Chelsea => 2-1
Norwich 2-1 Man United => 1-0
Fulham 2-1 Sunderland => 1-3
West Ham 2-1 Stoke => 1-1
In case you noticed and wondered, I once again
forgot to put through my predictions, hence, all games were set to 2-1
automatically...
*All images taken from the BBC website's match reports
Sports - Football - Premier League - Picks of the Weekend
WOW!
It was a surprise to see Olivier Giroud not step up for Arsenal's spot kick which would have won his side the game and bagged himself a hat-trick against local rivals Fulham. OK, maybe I would not have picked this out if Mikel Arteta had hit the back of the net and converted the penalty, but, and that is a big but, as a football player, what is your main aim? Score and win, no?
OMG!
Aston Villa started so well and United were nowhere when the home side went 2-0 up in the second half. But that seemed to have caused some kind of switch on or turnaround for United and they turned the game on its head.
Andreas Weimann scored either side of the interval to give the home side an unlikely lead, but half-time substitute Javier Hernandez scored twice and saw another shot turned into his own net by Ron Vlaar to keep United at the top of the Premier League.
TOP!
Dimitar Berbatov starred for Fulham against Arsenal at the Emirates! It was a feisty and juicy London derby, no disappointment. Six goals and plenty more talking points. After a bright start by the visitors it was the Gunners who took the lead thanks to Giroud and Lukas Podolksi doubled their score half way through the first half. But the Cottagers were never lacking in fight or threat and pulled one back on 29 thanks to Berbatov's header. And just before half time, the ground was muted when Berbatov moved freely onto the ball leading to Alex Kacaniklic who headed in the equaliser. The second half was just as entertaining and after some dreadful defending by Arteta, the Spaniard brought down Bryan Ruiz in the box and Berbatov gratefully converted the spot kick to give his side the lead. It did not last long though and minutes later Giroud equalised for the Gunners and as mentioned above, could have grabbed the winner late on, but it was not ment to be. It ended up 3-3 and was a smacker of a game!
FLOP!
Reading are still looking for their first Premier League win of the season and after their goalless draw with Norwich at the Madejski stadium, I cannot see where it will come from! Both sides struggled to create anything, the home side unable to convert set pieces and the visitors showing some fine creativity and craftsmanship in the buildup without any end product in the final third. It was a disappointment for the eye of the spectator and the record of both sides. Reading are hovering just over the relegation zone on nine points in 17th place, only goal difference serperating them from Villa in 18th. Norwich have a bit more breathing space on 14 points in 13th.
HERO!
It seems like I am writing the same thing week in and week out under this category! Luis Suarez and Edin Dzeko were the saviours for their sides once again. Like it or not, Liverpool would be nowhere/even worse off then where they are now (13th) and if he likes to be branded that or not, Dzeko is THE super-sub for City against Tottenham. Liverpool had loads of chances once again but could in the end be glad to leave Stamford Bridge with the point.
ZERO!
Once again, the referees' inconsistencies were very annoying and irritating this weekend! What one official interprets and penalises as a dive against the one side, another will give it as a fowl against the other. Same with hand balls, some give it as a fowl, some ignore it as inadvertent, unavoidable accident. Ok, they are only human and cannot see everything. Players cover players, blocking the view. And the game can build up such a speed a referee cannot keep up. But what about the linesmen?! Is that not what theyr are there for? To help the referee? Sometimes it seems like they just don't have the guts to make the right decision with all the players on their case. And other times it seems like they just want to make a point against (a) certain player(s) eventhough they are not sure or know they are not in the right! I beg for video officials to be introduced to cut this crap out! So the referees can finallz see what they miss out and the players can finally be put on the spot for their idiotic acts and drama scenes!
*All images are taken from the Sky Sports website's match reports apart from Mark Schwarzer's picture, taken from the BBC website's match report
My Predictions => Actual Results:
Arsenal 0-0 Fulham => 3-3
Everton 2-0 Sunderland => 2-1
Reading 1-1 Norwich => 0-0
Southampton 0-2 Swansea => 1-1
Stoke 2-1 QPR => 1-0
Wigan 2-1 West Brom => 1-2
Aston Villa 1-3 Man United => 2-3
Man City 3-2 Tottenham => 2-1
Newcastle 2-1 West Ham => 0-1
Chelsea 1-0 Liverpool => 1-1
Sports - Football - Premier League - Picks of the Weekend
WOW!
Everton dropped two goals and points late on at Fulham, David Moyes ruing missed chances and giveaways. However, I think he can be more than chuffed when he looks at the table, the Toffees sitting in fourth and Champions League qualification whilst the red side of Merseyside stay stuck in 12th. Ok, it is their fourth draw in a row, so, the local rivals are both struggling to find their winning ways. However, as long as they keep creating and dominating the way they do, I don't think there is too much to worry about (yet). They just need to learn to kill a game off. Yeh, I don't think that is the first time and they are the only sides that have heard that!
OMG!
Spurs fell hard to defeat against Wigan. They have enjoyed their fair share of success on the road under Andre Villas-Boas, including at Old Trafford in September, but at home they have looked second best, chasing the game and relying too much on counter attacks. Wigan exceeded on that and well done to Roberto Martinez's men for doing so!
TOP!
Swansea fought hard to draw against Chelsea. The Mark Clattenburg allegations made by the Blues were hanging over them like a dark cloud, which did not help them. But no discrediting the Swans. Miguel Michu and Pablo Hernandez were the top performers for the Welsh side and Michael Laudrup can be more than proud. After inheriting Brendan Rodgers' squad, the pressure was all-on the new manager. I don't think there is any doubt about the improvement Laudrup has made and the quality he has added to the side. Good on him.
FLOP!
The Gunners saw Jack Wilshere sent off whilst Sir Alex Ferguson's men were lucky to keep all eleven on the pitch. Arsene Wenger was on the referee's case straight away accusing Patrice Evra of conning an "unbelievably naive" Mike Dean and also claimed RVP should have been sent off for a reckless challenge on Bacary Sagna in the second half. The Frenchman has a case with both arguments, however, it cannot cover up his side's shambolic performance and poor defending (Andre Santos and Thomas Vermaelen especially). It was only thanks to United's wastefulness in front of goal that the game did not end up like last season's epic 8-2 thrashing inflicted upon Arsenal.
HERO!
Luis Suarez was the saviour once again for Liverpool after hitting the equaliser against Newcastle. It was a fantastic goal indeed, the control the Uruguayan displayed followed by some exquisite touches concluding a sublime goal which spared his side another defeat. The more interesting it was then to hear Rodgers in the post-match press conference saying that will soon change. Is he hinting about the January transfer window? Rumour has it, Theo Walcott is one of the names at the top of the Reds manager's most wanted list. And if Wenger keeps denying his forward a place in the team, I think it would come as no surprise for him to leave and that would not be bad news at all for Liverpool fans.
ZERO!
Only 158 seconds into the game, RVP scored against his former side in United's controversial win against Arsenal and then gave away his shirt to Santos at half time. To make things worse, he then, tellingly, did not take the Arsenal left back's jersey in return. First of all, since when do players swap shirts before full time?! And secondly, the Dutchman is not allowed to forget what the Gunners and Wenger (should) mean to him as it is the London club that established him as a top striker and made him what he is. He should respect that and show his respect rather than disowning them and living in denial.
*All images taken from the Sky Sports website's match reports
My Predictions => Actual Results:
Man United 2-1 Arsenal => 2-1
Fulham 2-1 Everton => 2-2
Norwich 2-1 Stoke => 1-0
Sunderland 2-1 Aston Villa => 0-1
Swansea 2-1 Chelsea => 1-1
Tottenham 2-1 Wigan => 0-1
West Ham 2-1 Man City => 0-0
QPR 2-1 Reading => 1-1
Liverpool 2-1 Newcastle => 1-1
West Brom 2-1 Southampton => 2-0
In case you noticed and wondered, I once again forgot to put through my predictions, hence, all games were set to 2-1 automatically...
