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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!
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...
