Week 14: Premier League Tops & Flops

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!!!

Week 21: Premier League Tops and Flops

Sports - Football - Premier League - Picks of the Weekend

Top game: Swansea's 3:2 Arsenal was a gem! It had everything! Robin van Persie opened the scoring with his 18th PL goal of the season, equalling his best season of his career 2010/11, 0:1. This record was followed by controversy with Swansea's penalty equaliser, 1:1. Then in the second half, the Swans' pressure payed off, Nathan Dyer's top class finish turned the game around, 2:1. But then the home side switched off, for just that one second and BOOM, they let one in, Theo Walcott free and in for the equaliser, 2:2. However, seconds later (45 seconds to be exact), Swansea took back the lead, 3:2! Great finish from a tight angle, Danny Graham kept composure and got it right in there. WOW!  Breathtaking stuff! What a game! Brilliant win for the Swans! Arsenal kept the pressure up late on but too little, too late, the hard earned and well deserved three points are Swansea's for keeps! WOW!

Top team: All hard work and endeaver came to nothing for Tottenham, but it was a terrific point for Wolves, who worked their socks off! After all the title talk over the last couple of days, Spurs' stumble came as no surprise, the pressure's on. At Manchester United, everything seemed to be back to normal, three goals, three points, taking them level with City before they scraped out a win at Wigan to restore their three-point lead at the top.

Top player: After Thierry Henry for Arsenal in the Carling cup, Paul Scholes scored in his comeback match for Manchester United, Antonio Valencia and Wayne Rooney in the buildup, past Danny Welbeck, the old man was not going to miss that one! Wigan's Ali Al Habsi was brilliant, he made some breathtaking instinctive saves, denying Edin Dzeko and Sergio Aguero more than once and sparing his side from a thrash against City. Shame they could not make more of it, they had their fair share of chances, too.

Top goal: Blackburn striker David Hoilett pulled a great save from Fulham goalkeeper David Stockdale. Sub Mauro Formica was on side and swiped the ball in, sweet goal, sweet game, sweet result, sweet points for Blackburn and Steve Kean, especially after going down to ten men so early on! Extraordinary performance which took them out of the relegation zone for the first time since September.

Top news: After a week that saw the return of the legends with Henry and Scholes, Robbie Kean has joined that list after signing for Aston Villa on loan from Loas Angeles Galaxy. Although he is definitely not the same rank as the other two who have returned to their teams of heart and history, unlike Kean with Tottenham, I am curious to see what impact he will make at Villa, if any...

Flop game: Liverpool are not getting beaten but can't get a win at Anfield either! This weekend saw another goalless draw against Stoke, seeing plenty of chances going to waste. Everyone seemed to have an off day missing everything, including referee Howard Webb! It doesn't hide the fact though that Liverpool have only won four of their last 11 home matches, that means 14 points dropped and lost, which would have seen them one point ahead of United in second place! Instead Kenny Dalglish's boys are stuck in seventh, left scratching their heads.


Flop team: Martin O'Neill was on his knees. Chelsea's defence looked in shambles at times, Sunderland missing the loads of chances. Similar to Wigan's draw against City, it was the underdogs against the rich and glamourous, with the prior frustrating the latter and looking like they could pull off a shock and nick a point (or three). But it was not to be, for Sunderland at least, but they (Wigan especially) can hold their heads up high, if they show the same stubbornness and determination against fellow strugglers and teams lower down the table, they should be able to survive in the Premier League.

Flop player: Having Aygbeni Yakubu sent off so early on in the match was cruel for Blackburn. He saw an instant red for his high tackle on Danny Murphy. Everyone was gob-smacked, but it was knee-high, studds showing, red all day long in my book! It was just stupid. But it seemed to pull the team together. Not that he or any player should feel encouraged to repeat such foolishness, but Steve Kean can be proud that his guys didn't let themselves be dragged down by such act and feel sorry for themselves. They got a grip and a win with it!

Flop goal: It was a spectacular take by Fernando Torres which came off the bar, off Frank Lampard and in. Great technique by the Spaniard but Lampard's on the scoresheet, not him. Tough luck. Wolves' goal came from a corner that shouldn't have been given and Emmanuel Adebayor's goal was wrongly ruled out for offside, so Tottenham have good reasons not to be happy with the result. No discrediting Wolves' hard work and effort though.

Flop news: Blackburn captain Christopher Samba missed his side's 3-1 win against Fulham as he was having tests in hospital for severe stomach cramps. Then the story broke, he handed in a transfer request saying "the side is not improving at all". Did he miss this weekend's action? Didn't they show football in hospital? Did they hit him in the head?

My predictions - Actual results

Aston Villa 0:2 Everton - 1:1

Blackburn 1:1 Fulham - 3:1

Chelsea 1:2 Sunderland - 1:0

Liverpool 3:0 Stoke - 0:0

Man Utd 2:0 Bolton - 3:0

Tottenham 3:0 Wolves - 1:1

West Brom 2:2 Norwich - 1:2

Newcastle 1:0 QPR - 1:0

Swansea 1:2 Arsenal - 3:2

Wigan 1:1 Man City - 0:1