Week 5: Premier League Tops and Flops

Sports - Football - Premier League - Picks of the Week

It has been a disastrous weekend for some, a glorious for others. All games had it in them this weekend, like an action-packed book full of juicy chapters all with two sides to them, some ending shocking, some less shocking but just more and more impressive, intriguing and adding to the thrill of anticipation looking forward to the next weekend!

Top game: Manchester United's win against Chelsea at Old Trafford had a little bit of everything and was by far the most entertaining match of the weekend, I am sure Wayne Rooney and Fernando Torres will agree after they saw both sides of the game, the good (goals) and the evil (missed penalty/opportunity respectively). Although, don't get me wrong, all matches had it in them this weekend, brilliant competitions all the way.

Top team: The three promoted teams Norwich, QPR and Swansea all registered wins and three crucial points in the bag against Bolton, Wolves and West Brom respectively and convincingly. Tottenham made a brilliant comeback at home thrashing Liverpool after their crashing defeat against Manchester City only a couple of weeks back.

Top player: Emmanuel Adebayor was man of the match at White Hart Lane with his two goals, but his team mates and co-scorers Luka Modric and Jermain Defoe had just as much of a quality and classy performance, blending well together, with brilliant one-twos, goals, chances and contributions. It could have been five or six.

Top goal: Modric's smacker of a strike and opener for Tottenham against Liverpool was a stunner. The Croatian striker smashed the ball into the top right-hand corner from the edge of the box giving Pepe Reina no chance, not even a smell of it. This gave a good hint of what was to come

Top news: Carling Cup action this week

Flop game: None I can think of this week, all action everywhere... Although the draw at Villa Park was entertaining, it was maybe not the most exciting, but looking at the games it was against, no wonder... And it kept both Aston Villa's and Newcastle's unbeaten run going, so, not bad at all!

Flop team: Arsene Wenger's nightmare continues with an away defeat at Blackburn, against a team and manager that have been under fire themselves this season. The Gunners looked distraught, all over the place, the two own goals showing they are just not themselves at the moment, their heads are somewhere else, not focusing or just unable to focus. Steve Kean will know too well what shoes Wenger's in...

Flop player: Luis Suarez keeps on walking on thin ice with his attitude. When his side is on top and ahead we may laugh about it but on days like Sunday when his side is being crushed, Liverpool need a man who can back them up and inspire them like Steven Gerrard and not have a go at the officials and fans, diving, whining and causing more trouble than anything else like he did again this past weekend. It was bad enough being down to nine men!!!

Flop goal: Fernando Torres finally scored, got his first for Chelsea this season, second in total, a beauty he flicked past David de Gea only seconds into the second half giving Chelsea hope of a comeback from him and the London side. And then he misses a smacker! With only eight miutes left on the clock, his side 3-1 down, he has an open goal in front of him, from six yards out, on his left, and he puts it wide! How the hell he missed that one I cannot fathom!!! He could have walked that one in!

Flop news: Former Aston Villa and Liverpool boss Gerard Houllier has been forced to call it a day due to his ill health and then has to listen to crap like Gabriel Agbonlahor... That just proves he doesn't have any respect nor a clue about life and its challenges! As if he is Mr Perfect!

My predictions - Actual results:
Blackburn 2:1 Arsenal - 4:3
Aston Villa 2:1 Newcastle - 1:1
Bolton 2:1 Norwich - 1:2
Everton 2:1 Wigan - 3:1
Swansea 2:1 West Brom - 3:0
Wolves 2:1 QPR - 0:3
Sunderland 0:0 Stoke - 4:0
Tottenham 0:2 Liverpool - 4:0
Fulham 1:4 Man City - 2:2
Man Utd 3:0 Chelsea - 3:1

Nightmare thrashing for Reds at White Hart Lane

Sports - Football - Premier League - Tottenham 4:0 Liverpool

Charlie Adam and Martin Skrtel saw red as nine-man Liverpool were thumped 4-0 at White Hart Lane by a bright, confident, dominant and inspirational Tottenham side who came back fighting after they were thrashed 5:1 by Manchester City in their last home game with man of the match Emmanuel Adebayor scoring two.

Luka Modric took the lead for Tottenham early on in the game (7.) with a smacking screamer of a strike from the edge of the box into the top right hand corner of the goal giving Pepe Reina not even a smell of it.

That gave the tone of the game with Liverpool all over the place and after seeing their defender Daniel Agger going off injured things went from bad to worse for the Reds. Adam was sent off for his second bookable offence after he left a high foot on Scott Parker with his eyes on the ball but it was a dangerous tackle leaving Liverpool down to ten.

Sometimes a sending off can pull a side together and get them better focused and organised, not in Liverpool's case. Jordan Henderson and Skrtel were driven mad by Adebayor and Gareth Bale and their quick breaks and runs, the latter being booked for his frustration and risky tackle on the man of the match.

Tottenham stayed on top, creating but missing chance after chance. Luis Suarez had the most frustrating day, mostly alone up front with hardly anything or anyone coming his way and to put the icing on the cake for him and his side he was also added to the referee's book just before half time for his sarcastic applaud to a linesman.

It was a horrible half for Liverpool, with Agger off injured, Adam sent off, Bale exposing Skrtel again and again and looking certain to crack him again at some point. And it did come worse for the Reds.

After creating a couple of semi-chances/lucky free kicks thanks to Andy Carroll and Suarez, Liverpool cracked and crumbled to bits. Skrtel saw his second yellow for bringing down Bale after he once again made mockery of Henderson and broke through too easily.

Minutes later Jermain Defoe made it 2:0 after breaking through and past Jose Enrique, sending a beautiful right-footed shot into the net on the turn, putting salt on Liverpool's wounds. 90 seconds later Reina added to the nightmare after spilling Defoe's shot from the edge of the box giving Adebayor an easy one to slot in to make it 3:0.

A double change followed for Liverpool with 20 minutes to go, Craig Bellamy and Jay Spearing coming on for Stewart Downing and Suarez to avoid the worst more than anything else, like another sending off and/or a worse thrashing as they were already getting. Too little, too late.

Tottenham had an easy kickabout for the last 10-15 minutes with some lovely combinations and plenty of missed chances, making 3:0 look like a modest scoreline as to what it could and should have been.

Adebayor finished the game off in the last minute of injury time by smashing the ball in with his right foot, an emphatic finish and diagonal shot past Reina to make it 4:0 and a thrilling win for Spurs. The Londoners were superior in every respect, in all dimensions and areas. This was certainly a match to remember for Harry Redknapp and his men.

For Liverpool on the other hand, this has been a match to forget, their biggest Premier League defeat for 8.5 years, seeing the first sendings off under Kenny Dalglish's current reign. Their defeat at Stoke was cruel with decisions going against them and the Reds fighting hard and coming so close. This game today was a fully fledged thrashing, beat-up, smash-up with Liverpool all over the place, disorganised, crumbled to bits. This leaves a lot to think about and work on for King Kenny and his boys.

Tottenham: Friedel; Walker, Kaboul, King (Bassong 84.), Assou-Ekotto; Kranjcar (Van der Vaart HT), Parker, Modric (scored 6:22), Bale; Adebayor (scored 67:39 & 92:47; booked 24.), Defoe (scored 66., Giovani 84.)). (4-4-2)
Subs not used: Cudicini, Pavlyuchenko, Corluka, Livermore.

Liverpool: Reina; Skrtel (booked 36., sent off 63.), Carragher, Agger (Coates 27.(booked 39.)), Jose Enrique; Henderson, Lucas, Adam (booked 12., sent off 28.), Downing (Bellamy 70.); Suarez (booked 49., Spearing 70.), Carroll. (4-4-2)
Subs not used: Doni, Maxi, Coates, Kuyt,  Robinson.

1st & 2nd half stats:
Tottenham-Liverpool
Attempts: 6-0 & 8-3
On target: 3-0 & 5-0
Offsides: 1-3 & 1-1
Free kicks: 7-5 & 4-7
Corners: 3-0 & 0-1
Possession: 56%-44% (17.min) & 55%-45% (FT)
Action areas: 12%-50%-38% 

Referee: Mike Jones (Cheshire)
Man of the match: Emmanuel Adebayor

Reds sunk by own failure in the 2nd half

Sports - Football - Premier League - Tottenham 2:1 Liverpool

This was certainly a game of two halves which reflects Liverpool's season so far, from top to flop in one game, a rollercoster ride display with a crashing end as far as the Reds are concerned.

Liverpool started on top, with chance after chance, Maxi Rodriguez sending one wide, having another smartly palmed round the post by goalkeeper Heurelho Gomes.

Spurs had their fair share of chances, too, former Red Peter Crouch stearing one wide, Jermain Defoe volleying a Luka Modric cross into Pepe Reina's gloves, for him to palm it back to the England striker, his close range shot blocked on the goal-line by Jamie Carragher.

Martin Skrtel then took the lead for the Reds just before half time. He reacted the quickest when his header off a free-kick came off his team-mate David Ngog, sending in the loose ball.

Spurs could not have wished for a better comeback in the second half, although Defoe sent the spot-kick horribly wide which Ngog blatantly conceded blocking a Gareth Bale free-kick with his arms.

Bale had his strike headed off the line by Raul Meireles only minutes before the penalty miss. But Modric eased Tottenham's disappointment soon after, breaking through the Red defence with cool ease, seeing his cross to Crouch netted in by Skrtel - turning him from the hero into the villain for the guests.


Both sides pressed after that, were denied penalties, you just knew this game was not going to settle with a draw.

Aaron Lennon made sure of that with an injury-time winner, earning his side a dramatic win and three points, side-footing the ball past Reina.

After Liverpool's missed chances and them not taking full advantage in the first half, you just felt the turnaround for Spurs and that the Reds just did not do or have enough to stop the hosts and keep it up and going for themselves.

After their 3-2 win against local rivals Arsenal last Saturday and the midweek victory over Werder Bremen in the Champions League, Tottenham proved they are fit for the top four crunch of the Premier League.

Harry Redknapp should and can be more than happy and very proud of his side and their accomplishments - less the case with Roy Hodgson.

Tottenham: Gomes; Hutton, Bale, Kaboul (Bassong 36), Gallas; Assou-Ekotto, Lennon (scored 92), Van der Vaart (Defoe (Sandro 93)), Palacios; Modric, Crouch.
Subs not used: Cudicini, Corluka, Kranjcar, Pavlychenko.

Liverpool: Reina; Johnson (booked 88), Konchesky (booked 29), Carragher (booked 40, Kyrgiakos 86), Skrtel (scored 42, booked 60, OG 65); Meireles (booked 24), Maxi, Lucas; Torres, Kuyt, Ngog (Aurelio 74).
Subs not used: Jones, Poulsen, Shelvey, Jovanovic, Babel.

BBC Stats:
Tottenham-Liverpool
Attempts: 20-12
On target: 13-8
Corners: 5-8
Free kicks: 16-6
Possession: 51%-49%

Sky Sports Stats:
Tottenham-Liverpool
Attempts: 16-8
On target: 8-4
Offsides: 1-2
Corners: 5-8
Free kicks: 18-6
Possession: 50%-50%
Passing Success: 78.8%-77.6%
Tackles/Success: 19/78.8%-35/60%
Territorial Advantage: 47.2%-52.8%

Referee: Martin Atkinson
Man of the match: Luka Modric