SERVICES

Tuesday October 26, 2010

Gunners Beat Up 10-Man City

Tottenham Hotspur 1 Everton 1
In Saturday's early game Rafael van der Vaart returned to rescue Spurs from defeat once again but this time they were unable to complete the comeback as Everton held on for a 1-1 draw at White Hart Lane.
Suspended for Wednesday night's Champions League defeat at Inter Milan, Van der Vaart scored his fifth goal in as many matches to send Spurs third in the League.
The Dutch midfielder's effort cancelled out Leighton Baines' brilliant free-kick - his first goal for almost 14 months - while Peter Crouch missed more than one chance to seal what would have been Tottenham's fourth comeback win in five league matches.

Birmingham City 2 Blackpool 0

Nikola Zigic struck for the second time in two matches to seal Alex McLeish's 50th win as Birmingham City manager at the expense of Blackpool at rainswept St Andrew's.
The Serbian international has taken time to adjust to the Premier League after his £6m summer move from Valencia, but he followed up his goal at Arsenal last weekend with the decisive second against the Tangerines after Liam Ridgewell had opened the scoring.
It enabled Blues to end a run of seven league matches without a win and find the net in front of their own fans for the first time since 21st August.
City were well worth their second victory of the campaign with Zigic starting to adapt to the top flight after a testing start and linking up well with the midfield.
Alexander Hleb also had his best match since arriving on loan from Barcelona and made several incisive passes and probing runs.
Blackpool deserve credit for continuing to show a positive attitude away from Bloomfield Road but they have now conceded 20 goals in nine Premier League fixtures.

Chelsea 2 Wolves 0

Chelsea moved five points clear at the top of the Premier League thanks to goals from Florent Malouda and substitute Salomon Kalou.
Malouda put Chelsea in front in the 23rd minute when he finished off a cross from Yury Zhirkov.
Wolves wasted a number of chances to equalize before Kalou completed a move he began by slipping Michael Essien's pass under Wolves' goalkeeper Marcus Hahnemann 10 minutes from time.
The defeat left Wolves still looking for their first win since the opening day of the season and second from bottom.

Sunderland 1 Aston Villa 0

Richard Dunne's own goal handed Sunderland a first Premier League victory in six attempts as Aston Villa were made to pay for missed chances.
Dunne turned Steed Malbranque's 25th-minute cross past goalkeeper Brad Friedel to ensure the points remained on Wearside and end the home side's run of five successive league draws.
But Villa would have left the north-east, where they lost 6-0 to Newcastle United on their last visit, with something to show for their efforts had striker Emile Heskey not passed up a glorious second-half chance.
Stewart Downing had earlier hit the woodwork and substitute Marc Albrighton forced a good save from keeper Simon Mignolet as the visitors, who had won on their last three visits to the Stadium of Light, staged a late fightback.
However, the Black Cats' resilience, with Titus Bramble once again a rock at the back, provided the foundation for just a second league victory of the campaign in front of a crowd of 41,506.

West Brom 2 Fulham 1

West Bromwich Albion moved up to fourth in the League after coming from behind to defeat Fulham 2-1.
The Cottagers went in front early on when Scott Carson pushed Zoltan Gera's shot on to the post, only for it to bounce back against the goalkeeper and over the line.
But the Baggies were soon level through Youssouf Mulumbu before Marc-Antoine Fortune's goal turned things around in the 40th minute.
The result means the Baggies have now gone seven matches unbeaten in all competitions as their impressive start to the season continues.
Fulham, meanwhile, are still looking for an away league win, having not taken three points from a fixture on the road since the opening day of last season.

Wigan Athletic 1 Bolton Wanderers 1

Wigan Athletic and Bolton Wanderers both extended their unbeaten League runs as they had to settle for a point apiece.
After a first half notable mainly for a serious-looking injury to James McCarthy, it was the hosts who took the lead with 59 minutes gone as a lovely move involving Charles N;Zogbia and Franco Di Santo ended with Hugo Rodallega beating Jussi Jaaskelainen.
But Bolton took only seven minutes to get back on level terms, Johan Elmander netting his fifth goal of the season, as the Trotters made it five matches unbeaten and Wigan four.

West Ham United 1 Newcastle United 2

Andy Carroll fired Newcastle United to a vital three points against relegation rivals West Ham United at Upton Park.
England hopeful Carroll pounced to power a header past Robert Green after Kevin Nolan had cancelled out Carlton Cole's first goal of the season.
The result catapults the Magpies nine places up the table to ninth, while Avram Grant's team remain rooted to the foot of the table.

Stoke City 1 Manchester United 2

Wayne Rooney may have been absent as he celebrated his 25th birthday, but his presence loomed large at the Britannia Stadium as United's faltering title challenge stuttered back into life.
Rooney was persuaded this week that Sir Alex Ferguson's men remain the team to beat, but an extraordinary few days at Old Trafford looked set for a miserable finish when Stoke City substitute Tuncay hit a sublime 82nd-minute equalizer to cancel out Javier Hernandez's first-half header.
However, summer acquisition Hernandez found time to sweep in a late winner which ended a long wait for an away league victory and closed the gap on leaders Chelsea to five points.
Hernandez is looking a more astute purchase by the game as he notched his fourth and fifth goals since joining from Guadalajara for around £7m over the summer.
Facing away from goal, the little Mexican still managed to open the scoring in the 27th minute with the back of his head in what was a fine piece of finishing.
Despite dictating play for large periods the Potters were unable to test Edwin van der Sar once until Tuncay's fine strike.
And that lack of cutting edge proved crucial when Hernandez reacted quickly to poke in the winner with four minutes left.

Liverpool 2 Blackburn Rovers 1

Striker Fernando Torres ended his six-match goal drought with the winner against Blackburn Rovers to provide a much-needed boost at Anfield.
Goalkeeper Paul Robinson had kept the Reds at bay until Sotirios Kyrgiakos' 48th-minute header and although a Jamie Carragher own goal quickly levelled things up Torres struck only his second of the season soon after.
It ended a run of seven matches without a victory in all competitions and although it was still not enough to lift Liverpool out of the bottom three the result came as a welcome relief.
Torres, starved of service, has looked out of form with his only goal coming in the 1-0 win over West Bromwich Albion at the end of August.
However, if the Spain international could have chosen any team to play against it would have been Rovers, against whom he has now scored five times in their last four meetings.
And it can be no coincidence Liverpool's only two League victories have been as a result of Torres applying the decisive finish.

Manchester City 0 Arsenal 3

Samir Nasri, Alex Song and Nicklas Bendtner were on target as Arsenal struck a blow for the old guard against 10-man Manchester City.
City had been looking to reclaim second place in the League but hopes of a fifth successive win were all but dashed with the early sending off of Dedryck Boyata at Eastlands.
Nasri put the Gunners ahead 20 minutes into a fiery contest and although Joe Hart kept City in contention with a penalty save from Cesc Fabregas, Song and Bendtner finished them off.
Victory lifted Arsenal back into second spot, above City on goal difference, and contradicted recent criticism of the Londoners' record against their perceived title rivals.