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Tuesday September 29, 2009

The Lactics Break Ancelotti's Unbeaten League Record

Portsmouth 0 Everton 1

Louis Saha condemned Portsmouth to a seventh successive Premier League defeat in a pulsating showdown at Fratton Park.
Saha struck his seventh goal of the season with a clinical finish which gave resurgent Everton a first-half lead they never relinquished.
It extended the Toffees' winning run to four matches - but the result was harsh on Portsmouth, who failed to take their chances once again.
Superior for lengthy spells, they created a host of opportunities with Aaron Mokoena hitting the crossbar and Tal Ben Haim failing from point-blank range.
Goalkeeper Tim Howard played a full part in frustrating Pompey, making several fine saves, but David Moyes' side rode their luck at times and cleared two shots off the line.
While Everton are heading up the table, Portsmouth are rooted to the bottom as the worst start in Premier League history continued unchecked.

Birmingham City 1 Bolton Wanderers 2

Substitute Chung-Yong Lee's late goal earned victory for Bolton Wanderers at St. Andrew's.
Lee struck only a minute after Kevin Phillips had levelled for Blues to cancel out Tamir Cohen's first-half effort for the visitors.
Victory for the Trotters eased the pressure on manager Gary Megson as Bolton, who have failed to win at home in their last six league matches, clocked up their second victory in three away encounters this season.
There was nothing pretty about their performance but they were content to sit back and defend in depth and were also effective at times on the counter-attack.
Former Blues player Fabrice Muamba was impressive in the centre of the park while Gary Cahill also made several vital interceptions.
Birmingham had plenty of possession but lacked a cutting edge and three goals in seven matches is a worrying statistic for manager Alex McLeish.
England head coach Fabio Capello made a rare visit to St Andrew's to watch the encounter.

Blackburn Rovers 2 Aston Villa 1

David Dunn kept his nerve from the penalty spot as 10-man Blackburn came from behind to shatter Aston Villa's 100 per cent away record in a stormingPremier League match at Ewood Park.
Dunn swept the winner past former Rovers keeper Brad Friedel in the 89th minute after the home side bounced back from the early blow of Gabriel Agbonlahor's opener.
Chris Samba struck an equaliser in the 24th minute but despite Vince Grella's 68th-minute dismissal the home side pushed on to claim the three points in style.

Liverpool 6 Hull City 1

Liverpool striker Fernando Torres scored a brilliant hat-trick to blow away Hull City at Anfield.
The Spain striker scored twice in the first half either side of Geovanni's equaliser and added a third soon after the interval.
Captain Steven Gerrard scored a fourth just before the hour and substitute Ryan Babel added two late goals as Liverpool made it four league wins - including 16 goals - in succession.
But the day belonged to Torres, who took his tally for the season to eight in seven matches and an incredible 33 in 34 matches at Anfield.
This was also his fourth Liverpool hat-trick and the third he has scored in the Premier League.
All in all, he writing was on the wall for Hull, who have not won in their last nine away matches, from the 11th minute when Liverpool took the lead with a neat passing move and a clinical finish from Torres.

Stoke City 0 Manchester United 2

Ryan Giggs produced another magnificent masterclass to guide Manchester United towards a deserved win at Stoke City.
For 55 minutes, Nani occupied the left-wing berth Giggs has filled for so long as United failed to make the most of their dominance.
Predictably, the response for Giggs was somewhat different.
First English football's most decorated player showed all the composure of his 35 years to provide Dimitar Berbatov with a tap-in.
Fifteen minutes later, Giggs curled over the free-kick that allowed John O'Shea to mark his 350th appearance with a goal as the Irishman guided his header into the far corner.
In both instances, the goalscorer immediately ran to their 35-year-old team-mate to offer their thanks.

Tottenham Hotspur 5 Burnley 0

Tottenham Hotspur captain Robbie Keane scored four times to defeat Burnley at White Hart Lane.
Keane has started every Premier League match this season and despite Peter Crouch's midweek treble at Preston North End, he was given the nod again and showed why he is so important to Spurs manager Harry Redknapp.
The Republic of Ireland striker scored from the penalty spot before splitting Burnley's defence in the build-up to Jermaine Jenas' second. Two cool finishes in the second half meant the 29-year-old was taking the matchball home with him, then his fourth squeezed through the legs of goalkeeper Brian Jensen.
At least Redknapp has options in attack. Much of the talk before this match was about Crouch and whether Redknapp could leave out a striker who performed so well three days earlier in the Carling Cup win at Deepdale.
Redknapp went for Keane and Jermain Defoe, small strikers reliant on pace and trickery rather than power and height. It was no surprise they were the key men in the opener.
David Nugent was the other striker in the limelight. He was signed for Portsmouth by Redknapp two years ago but failed to score a league goal while they were both at the club.
Burnley have still not scored an away goal this season but manager Owen Coyle at least signalled his intentions by pairing Nugent with Steven Fletcher in attack, rather than playing a lone striker.

Wigan Athletic 3 Chelsea 1

Chelsea's proud 100 per cent record under Carlo Ancelotti came to an end with a 3-1 defeat to Wigan Athletic at the DW Stadium.
Wigan went into this Premier League match without a victory against any of the top four in 34 Premier League matches.
But they turned the formbook on its head with not just a victory but an emphatic victory at that.
Chelsea's cause was not helped by goalkeeper Petr Cech's second half dismissal but they could have little complaint about the outcome.
Wigan went ahead in the 16th minute through Titus Bramble, only for Didier Drogba to pull Chelsea level two minutes into the second half.
Then Cech was red-carded after tripping Hugo Rodallega and Henrique Hilario was unable to prevent the Colombian converting the spot-kick. Paul Scharner completed the scoring in stoppage-time.

Fulham 0 Arsenal 1

Robin van Persie produced a well-executed second-half winner as Arsenal beat Fulham 1-0 at Craven Cottage - where young Gunners goalkeeper Vito Mannone had an inspired match.
Van Persie latched onto a defence-splitting pass from captain Cesc Fabregas to net what proved to be the winning goal on 52 minutes.
Arsenal, though, had rookie stopper Mannone to thank for securing the points with a string of fine saves as Fulham were left frustrated.
With Chelsea having lost at Wigan Athletic, Arsene Wenger's men - beaten at both Manchester United and Manchester City - took their chance to close the gap at the top of the Premier League table.

Sunderland 5 Wolves 2

Kenwyne Jones plundered a second-half double as Sunderland finally killed off a Wolverhampton Wanderers fightback in a seven-goal thriller.
The Black Cats found themselves 2-0 up three minutes into the second half after first leading scorer Darren Bent and then Jones had converted penalties.
That was perhaps a little harsh on the visitors, and John Mensah's own goal and Kevin Doyle's strike inside six second-half minutes were little more than they deserved.
However, what Sunderland lacked in defence, where they were tormented at times by Doyle and Andy Keogh, they more than made up for in attack.
Jones restored their lead with 20 minutes remaining with a powerful long-range drive, and when Michael Turner powered home a 73rd-minute header, the home fans among a crowd of 37,566 were able to breathe a little more easily.
Wolves manager Mick McCarthy's misery was complete in injury time when defender Michael Mancienne deflected Bent's shot past Wayne Hennessey to complete the scoring.