Week 20: Premier League Tops & Flops

Sports - Football - Premier League - Picks of the Weekend

Little side-note: 2012 has seen 1095 goals in the Premier League, an all-time record!!! LOVE IT!!!

WOW!

The seven-goal thriller between Norwich and Man City was unbelievable! It had a little bit of everything! Sergio Aguero, David Silva and Edin Dzeko starred for City and produced a brilliant opening goal to make it 0-1 after just 85 seconds. Aguero and Dzeko worked and shone together again to double the score after four minutes. Anthony Pilkington's free kick was deflected in to get one back for the home side. 
When Sebastien Bassong and Samir Nasri clashed, seeing yellow and red respectively, the prior for his fowl and the latter for his reaction, it was a shocker! Everyone was gob-smacked! But with City down to ten, they just got on with it, Aguero making it 1-3 with a delightfully chipped finish. And that wasn't all! Bassong headed across goal for Russell Martin to head the ball into the back of the net to make it 2-3 and put the pressure up on City. But Dzeko had a better idea and got his hat-trick, onside, off the post and keeper, and in, 2-4. Norwich fought on, and Martin got another one in eventually after their corner was not cleared and the ball ricochet about and in off Joe Hart, 3-4. That was the full-time score and Norwich ended up empty-handed after a great late rally, but they can take a lot of confidence from this performance and stubbornness!

OMG!

Arsenal 7-3 Newcastle, yes, you read right, that was the full time score between the Gunners and the "wee club". Arsenal legend Thierry Henry was watching the star performer Theo Walcott scoring a stylish hat-trick. Especially the third goal was a stunner, what a run, showing hunger, ambition and courage! The question for Arsene Wenger is though, will his star stay or will the top scorer go? Demba Ba could have had a hat-trick of his own too! And it was only 1-1 at half time! Bloopers, weak and leaky defence, plus top class quality attack, delivered a total of ten goals, eight of them in the second half! Olivier Giroud was a super-sub making a great impact and also on a hat-trick when he saw the ball come off the post late on. What a game! The Toons scored six goals in two games but have still ended with no points on the board keeping them in fifteenth on twenty points, only two points clear of the relegation zone.

TOP!

SStoke showed some great resilience coming back from behind twice against Southampton earning them a hard-fought point! Rickie Lambert opened the scoring off Guly do Prado with a brilliant ball and sweep, 0-1. Kenwyne Jones then produced a superb cheeky little back heeler with the right foot to level the scoreline, 1-1. After Robert Huth helped the ball onto his own cross bar, off a Lambert cross, Jay Rodriguez couldn't miss netting a sublime 1-2. Off Lambert again, this time Andy Wilkinson helped the ball into his own goal right in front of Asmir Begovic, there was a stunned silence at the ground at 1-3.
But the comeback kings did not give up that easily. A Stoke corner lead to some ping pong in the box, Matthew Upson got in there and put the ball softly past the keeper to make it 2-3. Jones then appealed for a handball, Jose Fonte looked to have tapped the ball with his left hand, but nothing was given. Instead, Steven Nzonzi was then sent off after appealing for a fowl himself, what an idiotic act that was! Down to ten men, there was another handball claim by Stoke. But Cameron Jerome's right-foot smacker, a half-volley into the roof of the net preserved Stoke's unbeaten home record at 3-3. There was a lot of last minute/second drama! Peter Crouch saw his late header off a free kick saved. Stoke showed some unbelievable resilience! Even though so many decisions went against them! It was a great watch!

FLOP!

Aston Villa's home defeat against Wigan was their third defeat on the trot, conceding 15 goals in the process. I still cannot believe or even grasp how this Villa side beat Liverpool at Anfield! Paul Lambert's men were complete shambles to watch! No one picked up Ivan Ramis before he headed in a corner to make it 0-1 after just 2.5 minutes! Emmerson Boyce doubled the score for the Latics after a nice one-two with Arouane Kone and confident tuck-in. Kone then made it 0-3 at Villa Park with a nice right-footer on the turn. You cannot blame the Villa fans for leaving the ground in disgust with still over half an hour to go!
Liverpool used and abused and made the most of their opponents weaknesses too. QPR were just awful, abysmal, shocking, absent, asleep... Harry Redknapp was blunt an honest about his side's display after his 600th Premier League game as a manager was less to celebrate about, but will or can he be the hero for QPR?! They need a miracle to escape relegation, stuck at the bottom of the table, eight points from safety.

HERO!

Frank Lampard and Luis Suarez stole the show, game and points for their sides with two goals each. The Chelsea legend saw his side come back from an early goal down at Goodison Park, being in the right place, at the right time, twice. Both clubs had so many chances, but Chelsea ended up on top thanks to Lamps and his 192nd goal for the club. Will Roman Abramovich offer his star man a new deal though? He is still waiting for a new contract...
A certain controversial Uruguayan forward delivered his absent manager Brendan Rodgers a perfect "get well soon" message with his double. Suarez saw Liverpool to a comfortable 3-0 victory at Loftus Road, the Reds bouncing back nice and easy from their Boxing Day defeat against Stoke. Rodgers can only hope this is a good omen for the new year and just the start to a good run.

ZERO!

Tottenham's 2-1 at Sunderland was not a game to compliment but more to cringe about! It was a deja vue for Gareth Bale after he was booked yet again for diving. It looked like there was contact, knee to knee. But maybe Bale's too quick, even for the referee! Jermain Defoe copied his team mate nicely with his dive too. Carlos Cuellar was the main offender in his team's down fall though. First the Spanish defender put a corner into his own net to level the score for Spurs, then he was lucky just to see yellow for a slasher tackle!
West Ham's Carlton Cole just had his red card against Everton retracted and was able to play against Reading, and he ended up kicking another player! It was an off-ball incident and he was lucky to escape... But Reading had already capitalised on an other Hammer's mistake earlier on in the game after seeing Pavel Pogrebnyak make it 1-0, pouncing on James Collins error, a soft back pass. It just hurt to watch!

My Predictions => Actual Results
Sunderland 3-2 Tottenham => 1-2
Aston Villa 1-0 Wigan => 0-3
Fulham 0-0 Swansea => 1-2
Man United 3-0 West Brom => 2-0
Norwich 1-0 Man City => 3-4
Reading 0-0 West Ham => 1-0
Stoke 1-1 Southampton => 3-3
Arsenal 2-1 Newcastle => 7-3
Everton 1-2 Chelsea => 2-1
QPR 1-0 Liverpool => 0-3

Week 7: Premier League Tops and Flops

Sports - Football - Premier League - Picks of the Week

This weekend saw 34 goals, 30 bookings, 1 sending off, 3 penalties, 1 missed penalty, plenty of referee controversy, missed chances and opportunities. So, I had loads to choose from, here are my top and flop picks of this week:

Top game: The Merseyside derby definitely lived up to its reputation, all the action, controversy, rivalry, heart and soal in the game every football fan can desire - well, maybe not Everton fans. A crucial and controversial decision went against them with Jack Rodwell's sending off, Luis Suarez being the controversy in person once again and making the most of the show, and panned out to Liverpool's advantage. That's the cruel world of football.

Top team: Fulham will be the happiest after their 6-0 thrashing of QPR, their first win this season came in style and it was also the first time they had taken the lead this term in the Premier League. Before the game, Fulham were the only Premier League side still without a win this season. Talk about relief! Another team celebrating and worth a note are Newcastle after their controversial win against Wolves made this their best start to a season in 17 years being unbeaten in their last 10 PL games.

Top player: Everyone who had started to write off Frank Lampard should be ashamed and laugh/write themselves off! With his third hat-trick in the Premier League, the Chelsea man overtook the 1930s legend George Mills as Chelsea's fifth highest league goalscorer, with 119. I think that should be enough to silence his critics. Hats off to Andrew Johnson, too, the first Premier League hat-trick scorer for Fulham.

Top goal: Manchester City produced some beauties after a forgettable first half at Ewood Park: Adam Johnson's opening strike, a sweet curl into the top corner, and Mario Balotelli's fine volley from close range into the bottom left corner of the goal to make it 2:0 against Blakburn. That's more I like it.

Top news: Time out from the Premier League sees the Euro 2012 qualifiers conclude the coming week, England looking for a point against Montenegro to take them to Poland and Ukraine.

Flop game: Newcastle's win against Wolves was marred by controversy after the homeside were denied a penalty AND a goal for offside, with referee Mark Halsey judging Steven Taylor's foul on Jamie O'Hara to have been outside the area when it was inside and the assistant referee deeming Adam Hammill's cross to have gone behind before it was headed back for Kevin Doyle to net it. It made it Wolves fourth defeat and they have claimed only one point from a possible 15. Is it more than just bad luck?

Flop team: After the 5:1 thrashing defeat at Stamford Bridge means this is Bolton's worst league start for 109 years. Their sixth defeat keeps them at the bottom of the table, one point behind under fire Steve Kean's Blackburn and two behind Wigan and West Brom, the prior two also recording defeats 4-0 v City and 2-0 v Villa respectively, whilst West Brom recorded a draw and point against Sunderland. It is going to be a sour crunch at the bottom of the table, that's for sure - Arsenal only two points safe of the relegation places after their defeat against bitter rivals Tottenham.

Flop player: Off the field, Sunderland defender Titus Bramble caused most turmoil and has been suspended after he was arrested on suspicion of sexual assault and possession of a Class A drug. On the field, Suarez has been the man of controversy once again after his drama antiques led to Everton man Rodwell seeing red. It just spoilt which looked to be a promising juicy derby encounter.

Flop goal: The goals that weren't leave the most sour taste: Wolves disallowed equaliser and denied penalty. But Bolton keeper Adam Bogdan, making his first Premier League start of the season in place of the injured Jussi Jaaskelainen, had an afternoon to forget. Two bloopers, one easy save fluffed and one strike parried, gave Daniel Sturridge and Lampard an extra tick on their and Chelsea's scoreboard and turned an already bad enough afternoon for the Wanderers even worse.

Flop news: Aaaaaaand there has been another delay on introducing goal-line technology. At this rate I'd call myself lucky if I'll get to see it in my lifetime!!!

My predictions - Actual results:

Aston Villa 1:0 Wigan - 2:0

Blackburn 0:3 Man City - 0:4

Bolton 1:3 Chelsea - 1:5

Everton 1:1 Liverpool - 0:2

Fulham 1:1 QPR - 6:0

Man Utd 4:0 Norwich - 2:0

Sunderland 3:0 West Brom - 2:2

Swansea 1:2 Stoke - 2:0

Tottenham 2:1 Arsenal - 2:1

Wolves 1:3 Newcastle - 1:2

Premier League Tops and Flops

Sports - Football - Premier League - Picks of the Weekend

Top game: Manchester City against Chelsea was the battle of the riches. It was not the best display by the referee with some crucial errors that led to both City goals. It was a competitive encounter that could have gone either way, but City created most of the pressure and got Petr Cech sweating most throughout the match.

Top team: Manchester City ended up on top. Chelsea keeper Cech struggled to keep up with the pressure. Mark Hughes will be very happy to finally bank a win after the long run of draws and fans starting to doubting the credibility of the side and manager.

Top player: Shay Given was man of the match at the City ground, with a brilliant display and decsisive penalty save against one of the most consistent penalty takers Frank Lampard. Chelsea are starting to shake and leak, to the relief of their rivals and other title competitors. The race is long from over.

Top goal: Wolves' opener stunned Bolton. The more stunned they were when Nenad Milijas turned from provider to scorer with a devil of a strike for the second goal. From over 20 yards outside the box the swing left Jussi Jaaskelainen with no chance. Beauty.

Flop game: Liverpool's goalless draw against Blackburn was and is only worth a yawn...

Flop team: The team with the worst home record faced the side with the dimnest away record - and Portsmouth ended up on top. Burnley looked better but have to keep working on their travelling display.

Flop player: What was Steven Gerrard thinking? At least Martin Atkinson called it right as a dive and gave a free kick against him. But Phil Dowd was not as alert when Hermann Hreidarsson tried out his theatricals on him. Players do not help making the job easier for the referees, in a time where a growing majority call for video referees and stiffer penalties against whiners and divers, i.e. drama queens.

Flop goal: As mentioned above, Wolves' opener stunned Bolton, but looked offside, with three Wolves players clear of the defenders. In the end is was good fortune and play for Wolves and hard luck for Bolton. They had more than enough chances to not only equalise but to run away with all three points, Ivan Klasnic enjoying but missing most of the chances, the one goal he got on target was just not enough.

My Predictions - Actual Results

Arsenal 1:0 Stoke - 2:0

Aston Villa 2:0 Hull City - 3:0

Blackburn 0:0 Liverpool - 0:0

Man City 2:2 Chelsea - 2:1

Portsmouth 2:1 Burnley - 2:0

West Ham 1:1 Man Utd - 0:4

Wigan 1:0 Birmingham - 2:3

Wolves 2:3 Bolton - 2:1

Everton 1:1 Tottenham - 2:2

Fulham 3:0 Sunderland - 1:0

UEFA Champions League Quarter Final Match Report: Chelsea 4-4 Liverpool

Sports - Football - UEFA Champions League Quarter Final - Chelsea 4:4 Liverpool - Chelsea progress 7:5 on aggregate

I am still pinching myself to make sure I have not dreamed all this up!

It had everything in it: Drama, quality, errors, comebacks, nerve-wrecking tensions; both sides showed and the game went from brilliance to shambles, stamina to leaks, stubbornness to weaknesses, hope to disappointment, unpredictability to the abvious, pure class to shame; back and forth it went, you just had to remember to keep on breathing whilst watching on in utter stunned-ness.

After enjoying a 3-1 victory at Anfield - Liverpool's first defeat at home in all competitions this season - and Steven Gerrard not even on the bench for the Reds, Chelsea were favourites to progress and started the match very much laid-back, Didier Drogba left isolated at the front. But after conceding three against Bolton at the weekend (nearly four) and Liverpool having scored four or more goals in four of their last nine matches - opponents including Real Madrid and Manchester United, the Blues should have known better. The Reds are famous for their against-all-odds comebacks.

The game started suprisingly calm, both teams with a fair share of possession and a couple of chances: Fernando Torres missed a point-blank chance from about 20 yards from the goal-line after a flick-on from Yossi Benayoun; Frank Lampard put a promising looking free kick wide on the other side of the pitch. But Liverpool enjoyed more possession, Pepe Reina left with nothing to do for most of the first half.

When Fabio Aurelio netted a free kick from outside the box, putting it cheekily in the bottom right-hand corner when everyone expected him to cross it into the box to his teams mates, the tension intesified at Stamford Bridge. Liverpool kept pacing forward and pressure high, leading to a penalty when Branislav Ivanovic wrapped himself around Xabi Alonso inside the box, who confidently sent Blues goalkeeper Petr Cech the wrong way and smashed the ball into the right side of the net.

A few minutes later, Ivanovic made a weak penalty appeal against Jamie Carragher and Drogba drew a sad picture of himself fallingover and rolling around at every little challenge. But the referee Luis Medina Cantalejo was one of those who gave free kicks for every little something or nothing. Still, the Reds went into half time with confidence high; Chelsea due a rant from temporary-manager Guus Hiddink.

Second half, Chelsea started much stronger - also strengthened by Nicolas Anelka who came on just after Chelsea fell 2:0 behind. It did not help when Reina put an easy hold-on flick-shot from Drogba into his own net; but Alex smashed in a 30-yard piledriver and Lampard made it 3:" (my predicted score), putting Chelsea in the driver's seat and their quality out of question, one foot in the semi final.

Rafa Benitez took off Torres, presumably to keep him safe for their Premier League ties and title race ahead, facing Arsenal next Tuesday at home, and thereby making it seem like he had accepted and condemned the Reds to defeat. But the last ten minutes topped an already juicy, top-class match: Without Gerrard and Torres, needing three goals to advance, Liverpool seemed doomed but played on, looking everything else but resigned.

They kept possession and pace high; in the 81st minute Lucas Leiva's shot deflected in and 90 seconds later, Dirk Kuyt headed in an Albert Riera cross from the left, making it look like, once again, Liverpool were making the impossible possible and happen, with eight minutes remaining. But as with the previous three goals Liverpool had conceded, keeping the pace and pressure high and attacking continuously, gaps and leaks were left at the back for the Chelsea players able to take advantage of and score - this time it was Frank Lampard again to break Reds' hearts.

But Liverpool can definitely travel back from London with their heads held high, having netted four against Chelsea at Stamford Bridge - which has not happened to them in decades - and having made one of the best matches ever and a great contest of the quarter final, having been given no chance after being outplayed at home in the first leg and starting this match without their skipper.

The fans were great, too, they never stopped singing, holding their heads and scarves up high until the end, making it hard to believe at times that the match was played in London. Now the Reds can concentrate on the Premier League, which Rafa has seemingly and finally given priority, looking back at his team lineup and substitutions in this match. The fans are left to hope Manchester United will slip up with the full plate of fixtures in all competitions they have left. Chelsea, if they play and show the same insecurities they have in the last couple of nervous matches, will have no chance against a top-class and on-a-roll Barcelona-side. Liverpool can definitely walk on with their heads up high. YNWA! Justice for the 96!

Chelsea Cech; A. Cole, Cavalho, Ivanovic, Alex; Lampard, Ballack, Malouda, Essien; Drogba (94 Di Santo), Kalou (36 Anelka). Bookings 28 Ivanovic, 58 Cavalho, 65 A. Cole. Subs not used Hilario, Mikel, Deco, Belletti, Mancienne.

Liverpool Reina; Carragher, Aurelio, Arbeloa (85 Babel), Skrtel; Alonso, Mascherano (70 Riera), Lucas, Kuyt; Torres (80 Ngog), Benayoun. Bookings 41 Benayoun, 74 Arbeloa. Subs not used Cavalieri, Dossena, Hyypia, Agger.

Man of the match: Frank Lampard

1st half stats: Chelsea-Liverpool
Attempts: 1-5
On target: 0-3
Offsides: 2-1
Corners: 2-3
Free kicks: 14-7
Possession: 36%-64% (23.min)

2nd half stats: Chelsea-Liverpool
Attempts: 9-6
On target: 5-4
Offsides: 0-3
Corners: 2-1
Free kicks: 11-7

Overall stats: Chelsea-Liverpool (taken from skysports.com)
Possession: 60%-40%
Passing Success: 69.1%-78.3%
Tackles/Success: 10/50%-15/73.3%
Territorial Advantage: 47.6%-52.4%

Referee: Luis Medina Cantalejo (Spain)