Sunday Wrap Up January 20, 2008

Wigan left wondering at the JJB. Steve Bruce’s side had to be stunned that they went into halftime down by two goals. After all they had played a competative first half and use of wingers Wilson Palacios and Antonio Valencia were giving the Toffees fits. Then Titus Bramble gaffed on a back pass and opened an opportunity for Andy Johnson to jump on it and embarrass Chris Kirkland for the first goal at 39 minutes. Joleon Lescott tapped in a corner three minutes later and the Latics chances were bleak.

Everton defender Phil Jagielka gave Wigan new life when he knocked the ball into his own net. But they couldn’t make any more headway even with all of the posession they had in the second half. Everton moved ahead of Liverpool for fourth spot in the Premiership for now, and with the Reds hosting Aston Villa on Monday, the Toffees could solidify that spot by tomorrow night. Wigan 1-2 Everton.

    

                        

Hammers dominant in City of Manchester. Carlton Cole scored early for the visitors with a beautiful overhead volley in the 8th minute to give West Ham an early lift. Then Darius Vassell brought them back down to earth with a controversial equalizer eight minutes later. He looked offsides, but it was close so they gave it to him. The Hammers put the pressure on in the second half and could have done it except for some nice saves by City keeper Joe Hart. Hart is getting better in the box and could make a run soon at the England keeper job. Manchester City 1-1 West Ham.

        

        

Saturday Wrap Up January 19, 2008

 Fulham feeble at Craven Cottage. Just how many players did Arsenal have on the pitch in the second half? Though up 2-0 in the second half from two Emmanuel Adebayor headers, the Gunners showed their quality by not letting up on the struggling Cottagers. Every time Fulham tried to bring the ball forward they seemed to have fifteen red jerseys surrounding them. When Czech winger Tomas Rosicky poked home Arsenal’s third goal in the 81st minute the air went out of the stadium.

I don’t know what Roy Hodgson is going to do to pull the club out of the nose dive their in. Is this a result of Lawrie Sanchez’s poor selection of talent? I think that they have some good players, however Al Fayed’s patience is going to be over if they go down to the Championship next season.

Arsene Wenger has his side playing like champions. The run in to the title is going to be fun to watch. Fulham 0-3 Arsenal.

         

 United maintain at the Madejski. Wayne Rooney took a bevy of shots last week against Newcastle and wasn’t able to make the score-sheet in the end. I felt sorry for Marcus Hahnemann coming into this match. But, the American keeper made some great saves and got a gutty performance from his defense to keep the Royals in the match. Until Carlos Tevez found Rooney in the left side of the box. Wayne stuck out his foot and redirected the ball  into the far corner. Not a power shot from the United striker, but a beautiful piece of skill. Cristiano Ronaldo kept up the scoring run with a goal deep into injury time as he counter attacked the Reading counter attack.

Manchester United retain the top spot in the Premiership on goal difference, but this race is far from over. Reading 0-2 Manchester United.

  

St. James stalemate. With all of the excitement surrounding Kevin Keegan’s return Tyneside even non-Geordie fans had to expect some fireworks in his first match. Especially as they were at home in front of an ecstatic Toon Army. Even though the Newcastle squad seemed to be more free flowing than I’ve seen in awhile, they couldn’t break down a gritty Bolton defense.

Newcastle out shot the Trotters 2 to 1, but Bolton’s Jlloyd Samuels nearly pulled out a shocking victory for the visitors when he spun around to control a surprising through ball, then took a quick shot at point blank range. Shay Givens was lucky enough to have it hit his left leg and deflect out of bounds. This wasn’t how “King Kev” wanted to start. On the plus side last week they lost 6-0. Newcastle United 0-0 Bolton Wanderers.

                                    

The race for futility is in full swing as the bottom three teams lost by a combined score of 8-1 on Saturday. Sunderland is in a tight race with five other teams to stay in the top flight. However, Fulham and Derby County are definitely rejoining the ranks of the second tier. It’s sad that a team like Derby would only get one year up with the big boys before going back to the Championship. Fulham on the other hand has been on life support for a couple of years now and it would be merciful to the club and it’s fans to put it out of it’s misery.

Birmingham City 0-1 Chelsea; Blackburn Rovers 1-1 Middlesbrough; Portsmouth 3-1 Derby County; Tottenham Hotspur 2-0 Sunderland.