SERVICES

Tuesday November 19, 2008

Liverpool And Chelsea Battle For Top Spot In The League

Bolton Wanderers 0 Liverpool 2

Liverpool survived a test of character at Bolton Wanderers to maintain their challenge at the top of the Premier League with a 2-0 win at the Reebok Stadium.
The disappointment of the Carling Cup defeat by Spurs was swept away by what eventually turned out to be a convincing victory.
Liverpool have never enjoyed Bolton's physical approach but they stuck to their gameplan and won with fine goals from Dirk Kuyt and Steven Gerrard.

Arsenal 0 Aston Villa 2

Arsenal suffered a major setback in their title challenge as Gabriel Agbonlahor earned victory for Aston Villa at the Emirates Stadium.
Ashley Young had a first-half penalty saved by Manuel Almunia but then helped set up the opener when he crossed for Agbonlahor, who celebrated despite Gael Clichy appearing to get the final touch.
Agbonlahor then added the second 10 minutes from time when Villa broke, with Arsenal cancelling out the good work of last week when they beat Manchester United.

Blackburn Rovers 1 Sunderland 2

Djibril Cisse completed a rousing comeback by Sunderland as he scored the winner in the 72nd minute to end a run of three straight league defeats that had seen his club tumble down the League table.
With fit-again Kenwyne Jones getting the equaliser, the victory also gave Sunderland revenge over a Blackburn Rovers side who had delivered a knock-out punch in the Carling Cup in midweek.
Paul Ince's team dominated the first half but failed to build on making the breakthrough through Christopher Samba - and have now won only one of seven league matches at home.

Fulham 2 Tottenham Hotspur 1

Fulham proved Harry Redknapp is not super human after all as Spurs slipped to a 2-1 defeat at Craven Cottage.
It was their first reverse in seven matches since Redknapp breezed into White Hart Lane after the sacking of Juande Ramos last month.
But his magic finally ran out as a first-half error from Spurs goalkeeper Heurelho Gomes and a clinical 69th-minute finish from Andrew Johnson earned Fulham their second consecutive League victory despite a late consolation efort from Fraizer Campbell.

Manchester United 5 Stoke City 0

Cristiano Ronaldo's 100th and 101st goals for Manchester United made it a double cause for celebration as the League champions marked 50 years in the game for Sir Alex Ferguson with a comfortable win over Stoke City.
Ronaldo took just three minutes to reach his personal milestone with a trademark free-kick and rounded off United's biggest win of the season in similar fashion at the end.
In between Michael Carrick and Dimitar Berbatov found the net, with England Under-19 forward Danny Welbeck scoring on his debut as Ferguson did at Stranraer half a century ago.

Newcastle United 2 Wigan Athletic 2

Newcastle United old boy Titus Bramble returned to Tyneside with a vengeance to deny his former club a much-needed victory over 10-man Wigan Athletic.
The defender headed home an 89th-minute equaliser just when it looked as though substitute Michael Owen and Obafemi Martins had snatched a win from the jaws of defeat.
Trailing to Ryan Taylor's third-minute strike despite Emmerson Boyce's 54th-minute dismissal, the Magpies belatedly launched a fightback - which saw the two strikers score inside seven minutes at the end of the match.
But with seconds of normal time remaining, Bramble headed a Daniel de Ridder corner past Damien Duff on the line to snatch a point.

West Ham United 0 Portsmouth 0

West Ham kept their first clean sheet in 25 matches in a battling draw with Portsmouth.
Portsmouth manager Tony Adams would have been devastated at the sight of Lassana Diarra limping out of the contest early on, he would otherwise have been delighted with a match which saw the best chances fall to former Hammers striker Jermain Defoe.
Although the Hammers dominated the bulk of the second half and Craig Bellamy hit the crossbar with a terrific free-kick they were lucky to survive some magic moments from their former striker Defoe who hooked an early half-chance over and forced three fine saves from goalkeeper Robert Green.

West Bromwich Albion 0 Chelsea 3

Chelsea rewrote the history books as Nicolas Anelka continued his prolific form to take them back to the top of the League.
Luiz Felipe Scolari's side equalled Spurs' 48-year-old record with a 10th successive away win in the top flight and surpassed their own previous best League run away from Stamford Bridge set four years ago.
Anelka's double took his tally to 12 league goals for the season and eight in the last four matches after Jose Bosingwa had broken the deadlock.
Chelsea's comfortable success, courtesy of three goals in 12 minutes before half-time, saw them overtake Liverpool on goal difference at the top of the table.
They have now scored 19 goals in seven away league matches this season and conceded just one.

Everton 1 Middlesbrough 1

On Sunday, Ayegbeni Yakubu grabbed a point for Everton with a second-half equaliser against his former club.
Middlesbrough had led from the eighth minute when Gary O'Neil scored after breaking down the right onto a Stewart Downing pass.
Everton battled away for parity and it eventually came after 65 minutes when Yakubu deflected a free-kick home off his back.

Hull City 2 Manchester City 2

Geovanni edged the battle of the Brazilians as he salvaged Hull an entertaining draw against his former club at the KC Stadium.
Robinho, drafted in by the Eastlands side for £32.5m after his compatriot's release on a free transfer, was lively but overshadowed by team-mate Stephen Ireland who grabbed both the visitors' goals.
Two defensive errors, from Ben-Haim and Zayatte, made it 1-1 before a sublime second from Ireland and Geovanni's deflected free-kick cancelled each other out.