Chelsea entertained Manchester United at Stamford Bridge, the scene last season of alleged racial abuse leading to a contretemps between United players and Chelsea groundstaff, disciplinary action still sitting gathering cobwebs at the FA Headquarters. This time, the trouble was on the pitch, seven United players cautioned triggering an automatic £25k fine, three of which were for dissent, making a mockery of the FA’s RESPECT campaign. An enthralling encounter took place with Park giving United an eighteenth minute lead, almost cancelled out by Joe Cole later in the first half. As it was, Salomon Kalou saved the host’s blushes with ten minutes to go, giving both sides’ equal shares. To whom the point is most valuable will become more apparent next May.

Liverpool meanwhile were confident of hitting the top spot and seemed to be well on their way in the second minute when Steven Gerrard appeared to have scored his one hundredth goal for the club against Stoke City. Inexplicably, it was ruled out whereupon the visitors defended the siege of Anfield, putting heads, legs, bodies and every other extremity in the way, surviving to gain a point with no little help from the fact that Robbie Keane cannot hit a barn door at the moment, let alone find the back of the net. Five games in and still no sign of his immensely over-inflated transfer fee being repaid.

With all this point sharing going on, Arsenal took full advantage by coming from a goal down to emerge victorious at The Reebok by a 3 – 1 scoreline. Kevin Davies gave Bolton Wanderers the lead on just before the quarter of an hour mark, an advantage that lasted all of ten minutes. Emmanuel Eboue took advantage of a misjudgement by the officials, clearly offside he played to the whistle that only came after he had scored an equaliser at the near post. Sixty seconds later, all that is wonderful about The Gunners allowed Nicklas Bendtner to slide in for a second. The passing and vision of the Arsenal midfield, combined with their speed of thought and movement was too much for the pedestrian Bolton defence.

Davies then decided to put in some physical intimidation on Gael Clichy, fortunate that his recklessness did not break the Frenchman’s leg. Final revenge was extracted when Theo Walcott scared the living bejesus out of six Bolton defenders by running at them, laying the ball off to Adebayor whose cross should have been met with a simple tap-in by Denilson. The Brazilian decided that a rasping sidefooted shot into the roof of the net was more aesthetically pleasing and emphatic, a third Arsenal goal still the final outcome.

Aston Villa have been sneaking up on the rails all season and crept into the top four with a 2 – 1 derby win at The Hawthorns. Not that West Brom were entirely congenial hosts, Clinton Morrison pegging back two Villa goals in two minutes – John Carew and Gabriel Agbonlahor the scorers – with ten minutes to go to half-time. Despite The Baggies trying to huff and puff and blow the Villa defence down, the scoreline could, and perhaps should, have been wider.

Middlesbrough broke a million gamblers’ hearts by failing to score at The Stadium Of Light as Sunderland strode to a 2 – 0 victory. Had ‘Boro scored, a new Premier League record of five consecutive 2 – 1 results would have been created, beating the current Middlesbrough squad’s season best of four. Michael Chopra was the Sunderland hero with two goals in the final nine minutes. Anyone who has suffered losses as a result of ‘Boro’s failure to score is advised to blame Stewart Downing, who capped his incredibly poor international performances by missing a penalty.

Gianfranco Zola took charge of West Ham for the first time and saw them use Newcastle as a mop, wiping the floor with The Geordies in a 3 – 1 win. Italian journeyman, Davide di Michele, scored twice with Matthew Etherington adding a third; Michael Owen scored for the visitors in front of the watching Fabio Capello. It ought to be enough for the former Golden Boy to regain his place in the national team for if anyone can score for a side as poor as Newcastle, scoring at international level is a doddle.

Hull City warmed up for their visit to The Emirates by stealing a two-goal lead against Everton inside the first fifty minutes at the KC and The Sunshine Band stadium. They were tapping their toes as Turner gave the hosts the lead on eighteen, dancing in the aisles when a Phil Neville own goal increased the advantage with the second half barely five minutes old. Bottoms returned to seats when Tim Cahill pulled one back with sixteen minutes to go and the dancing in the home stand become rather more erratic and twitchy when Leon Osman scored the equaliser with twelve minutes remaining.

Blackburn Rovers overcame dogged Fulham defence at Ewood Park to win by a solitary Matt Derbyshire goal six minutes from time. Their status is a warning to the “World’s Richest Football Club” of what happens when an investor no longer pumps the funds into the club, something Manchester City need to bear in mind. Not that it really matters at the moment as Portsmouth were the sacrificial lambs at Eastlands, a 6 – 0 drubbing handed out quite deservedly with Stephen Ireland the star of the show. Jo started the rout on thirteen minutes before Stephen Dunne added a second seven minutes later. The match really sparked into life as the hour mark approached when the obligatory Robinho goal was followed ten minutes later by Shaun Wright-Phillips third in two games. Evans and Gelson finished the destruction with two goals in the final twelve minutes to hoist The Citizens to fifth spot.

Tags: Football, premier league, Soccer

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