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Tuesday March 30, 2010

United Stay Top... Chelsea Stay In The Chase

Birmingham City 1 Arsenal 1

On Saturday afternoon, Kevin Phillips dented Arsenal's title hopes with a dramatic late equaliser at St. Andrews.
Samir Nasri had come off the bench to fire the Gunners in front 10 minutes from time.
But Blues substitute Phillips enjoyed a stroke of luck in injury-time as the ball looped off him and over Manuel Almunia to level.

Chelsea 7 Aston Villa 1

Frank Lampard grabbed four as Chelsea demolished Aston Villa at Stamford Bridge.
Lampard's quartet made him the third-highest scorer in the club's history - eclipsing legends Roy Bentley and Peter Osgood with 151 goals.
Lampard was assisted by a double from Florent Malouda and another from substitute Salomon Kalou as Carlo Ancelotti's side smashed in 12 goals in four days.
Chelsea have now scored 82 goals so far this season and apart from John Carew's first-half equalizer, the Blues were in cruise control for long periods.

Hull City 2 Fulham 0

Iain Dowie tasted victory in his first home match Hull City manager as the Tigers gave their survival hopes a major boost with three points against Fulham at the KC Stadium.
Starting second from bottom and on a run of five consecutive defeats, Hull knew time was running out for them to turn things around.
But Jimmy Bullard calmed the home fans; nerves with a 16th-minute penalty and Craig Fagan doubled their advantage with a looping header just after the break as Hull moved level on points with 17th-placed West Ham.
Only 13 years ago these sides were meeting in the bottom tier of the Football League. Both have enjoyed meteoric rises since then but Hull knew victory was vitally important in their bid to avoid a return to the League.

Tottenham Hotspur 2 Portsmouth 0

Tottenham Hotspur remained ahead in the race for fourth place as Peter Crouch and Niko Kranjcar both scored against their old team in a 2-0 win over bottom club Portsmouth at White Hart Lane.
Spurs, chasing a fifth successive Premier League victory, started slowly, but went ahead when Crouch nodded in a deep cross from Gareth Bale before Kranjcar netted from close range five minutes before the break.

West Ham United 0 Stoke City 1

West Ham United's Premier League future is hanging by a thread after they fell to a sixth consecutive defeat.
Stoke City striker Ricardo Fuller came off the bench to score a brilliant solo goal after 69 minutes to send West Ham spiralling towards the relegation trap-door.
Hull City's victory over Fulham at the KC Stadium meant West Ham's cushion has been lost with only goal difference keeping them out of the bottom three.

Wolves 0 Everton 0

Wolverhampton Wanderers took another step towards Premier League survival by slowing in-form Everton's late-season charge at Molineux.
Louis Saha hit the woodwork and Leon Osman spurned three good chances as Everton failed to make the most of a number of early opportunities to enhance their European claims.
But Wolves were competitive throughout and fully merited a point from a feisty encounter.
Both sides had good openings in the second period with Ronald Zubar going closest for Wolves after a brilliant run into the box.
The result extended Everton's impressive run to just two defeats in 18 matches but was a setback to their hopes of snatching a Europa League spot.

Bolton Wanderers 0 Manchester United 4

In the late Saturday game, Sir Alex Ferguson's calculated gamble paid off as Manchester United remained on top of the Premier League even without the services of Wayne Rooney and Rio Ferdinand.
Ferguson admitted the England duo would both have been risked at Bolton Wanderers had United's need been dire.
Instead, with Saturday's crunch match with Chelsea splitting a Champions League quarter-final against Bayern Munich, the Red Devils chief took the decision to let the pair nurse a bruised foot and groin injury respectively.
In their absence, Jlloyd Samuel came to United's aid, breaking the deadlock in bizarre fashion seven minutes before the break with their 11th own goal of the season.
After weathering a severe Bolton storm immediately after half-time, Ferguson's men cut loose, responding to the seven goals Chelsea scored earlier in the day.
Dimitar Berbatov bagged a double before Darron Gibson lashed his first touch beyond Jussi Jaaskelainen to emphasise United are not quite the one-man team many pundits believe.

Burnley 0 Blackburn Rovers 1

David Dunn's first-half penalty earned Blackburn Rovers the local bragging rights and increased Burnley's relegation fears in the derby at Turf Moor.
Dunn converted a 20th-minute spot-kick after Clarets goalkeeper Brian Jensen was adjudged to have tripped Martin Olsson.
Burnley's fans showed plenty of passion, but Brian Laws' players failed to rise to the occasion and remain three points adrift in the Premier League drop zone.
Sam Allardyce's Rovers, meanwhile, move up to 10th in the table with their second victory in five days.