Sunday Wrap Up February 3, 2008

Heads up at St James’. I want to know first of all how does Michael Owen out jump anyone to score a header????? Well he did it in the 60th minute to give Newcastle a 1-0 lead after having two other goals disallowed. Late in the second half Robert Huth tied the score with a deflection from his noggin breaking Kevin Keegan’s chances for his first victory since returning Tyneside. Stuart Downing would have made things worse had he not been offsides in injury time. The stats were evenly split so it seems to reason that the final score be the same. Newcastle United 1-1 Middlesbrough.

A win for Fulham! No really! Roy Hodgson got his first victory courtesy of a gutty performance by his club. The Cottagers came out swinging and came close a few times, however it was Aaron Hughes’ own goal that put an attacking Aston Villa on top. Fulham fought back and Jimmy Bullard found Simon Davies for the equalizer four minutes later. Bullard, who has come back from career threatening knee surgery, became the hero of Craven Cottage when he curled in a beautiful free kick in the 86th minute. Look out, the Cottagers are on the rise! They scored three times today!

The bad news is that Gabriel Agbonlahor went out at the half with a hamstring injury. He’s very doubtful for Switzerland Wednesday. Fulham 2-1 Aston Villa.  

Last matchups for 2007

It’s been an exciting year for football and we have finally reached the last weekend of 2007. Hopefully these games will give us all something good to remember when the clock strikes midnight. On with the show:

Goodison Park will be electric when the ball starts rolling on Saturday. Everton has played well lately and they know that they have a prime opportunity to put their stamp on the title race. Arsenal comes off of a disappointing draw with Portsmouth on Boxing Day, so they know that they have to beat the Toffees on the road. David Moyes will be without Leon Osman, Alan Stubbs, Leighton Baines and possibly Tomas Graveson for this match. But, everyone else will be ready to take on the Gunners. Arsenal might have William Gallas, but they will be without Robin van Persie and Theo Walcott.

Everton has a great chance to beat Arsenal. The Toffees have a record of 6W-1L-1D in December with their only loss at Manchester United (2-1). If anyone is in the right form to beat Arsenal it’s Everton. They have shown an ability to play stifling defense while looking to strike on the counter attack. Arsenal have a potent attack of their own, but they showed that they had trouble with Pompey’s defense on Wednesday. I’m going with the upset in this game. 1-0 Everton.

Sam Allardyce’s woes will continue on Saturday. Chelsea will be without Frank Lampard, John Terry, Florent Malouda, Ricardo Carvalho (r.c.), Ashley Cole (r.c.) and Claude Makelele this weekend. Newcastle will be without Joey Barton because he’s in the nick. They might have Michael Owen back from his thigh injury, but he’ll injure something else after fifteen minutes. Newcastle can’t seem to get things together and Chelsea are infinitely better than Wigan. The Toon Army will be screaming for Big Sam’s sacking unless he gets a big win over the Blues. Not happening. Even though they are depleted Chelsea are better than Newcastle. 3-1 Chelsea.

West Ham have a full squad for this match with League leading Manchester United. Unfortunately for Alan Curbishley, he can’t put all of them on the pitch at the same time. The Red Devils will have everyone but Edwin Van der Sar (groin). Carlos Tevez is making his return to Upton Park where he single handedly kept the Hammers in the Premiership. With Tevez, Rooney and Ronaldo all on the attack Robert Green will get quite a workout in the West Ham goal. The Hammers did the double over Man U last season so Sir Alex will have no trouble firing up his lads for this game.

Tevez isn’t the only Red Devil to have played for West Ham. Michael Carrick and Rio Ferdinand both got their start at Upton Park. Kinda like old home week. Don’t expect mercy from these three on Saturday. United need a win to keep the pressure on Arsenal and Cristiano Ronaldo is just unstoppable this season. If West Ham gives up a free kick anywhere inside their own half Ronaldo will most likely make them pay. 3-0 Manchester United.

Wigan have beaten Blackburn (5-3) and Newcastle (1-0), drawn Manchester City (1-1) and Fulham (1-1) and lost to Bolton (1-4) in December. So they are playing better than their League standing suggests. Aston Villa are coming off of three straight draws (Sunderland, Manchester City and Chelsea). So on form Wigan should win this game. Not so fast. Villa have Gabriel Agbonlahor and Ashley Young on the wings. Their speed is amazing! The Latics will struggle to keep them from finding Big John Carew in the centre. Marcus Bent will give Wigan some hope in the offense as he will take advantage of the Villans missing defender Zat Knight (r.c.).

If Martin O’Neill’s boys play half as well as they did against Chelsea on Boxing Day, the J.J.B. will be a sad stadium. 3-1 Aston Villa. 

I don’t talk about the Brummies much. They haven’t been overly impressive this season with 5W-11L-3D. But, they’re playing at St. Andrews and Fulham suck something awful. Roy Hodgson will take over for the Cottagers against Chelsea, but he’s going to have to watch them lose again before then. Alex McLeish will field the same team that beat Middlesbrough 3-0. Antti Neimi got waxed by Tottenham as they sunk five goals on the Finnish keeper. He might want to fake a knock in this one and let Kasey Keller take the beating against Chelsea on New Years Day. Birmingham shouldn’t struggle in this one. 2-0 Birmingham City.

Manchester City have only beaten Liverpool once in a home Premier League game since 1995. However, the Blues are stronger this season than they have been in a long time. Sven-Goran Eriksson has this squad believing that they belong in the title race so they will not fear Liverpool for a change. The Reds struggled with Derby in their last outing and would have gone home with a draw if Steven Gerrard hadn’t beaten the rookie keeper in the waning moments (people are giving Gerrard way too much credit on this one). City won’t be a pushover and they have a better attack than the Rams did. They will challenge Pepe Reina.

No major injuries for either team makes this a good match. Daniel Agger might be back for Rafa Benitez, but Sami Hyypia will be out so that’s a wash. I think City are going to be charged up for this game. 2-1 Manchester City.

Boxing Day Results December 26, 2007

 Classic Clash at Stamford Bridge. Whether you are a fan of either of these teams or not, you had to appreciate the match that they put on. Gabriel Agbonlahor and Ashley Young started in on Chelsea early with blistering pace and great crosses in the box. John Carew’s size and strength in front made things dicey for the Blue’s back four. Two goals by Shaun Maloney gave the travelling fans reason to hope for the double over the London giants. Then Phil Dowd sent off Zat Knight after Michael Ballack put in his nomination for an Oscar with one of the most obvious dives I’ve seen in awhile. Andriy Shevchenko converted Dowd’s gift to cut the lead in half at the end of the first half. Shevchenko tied the match in the 50th minute with a beautiful strike from outside of the box. Alex and Martin Laursen traded goals to keep everyone on the edge of their seats at 3-3. The Chelsea faithful were chilling the bubbly when Ballack slipped a free kick into the Villa goal with two minutes to go in the game. But Ashley Cole was able to snatch a draw from the jaws of victory as he handled the ball on his own line giving Villa an opportunity to get a well deserved point from the penalty spot. Gareth Barry converted to finish off the match. The Villans played a fabulous game, and I think that Martin O’Neill has a side that has shown that they can make a run at the title next season. Chelsea 4-4 Aston Villa.

 

Roy sees red at Stadium of Light. His team held Manchester United to one goal earlier this year. Roy Keane would probably have given anything for that result today. But, Sir Alex had a different idea as Wayne Rooney, Louis Saha and Cristiano Ronaldo scored first half goals to put this match to bed early. Ross Wallace gave the Black Cats their only real chance of the first half only to watch Tomasz Kuszczak tip the ball away. Keane put out a more defensive formation in the second half to try and staunch the bleeding, but it was very clear that United could score when they wanted to. And when Danny Collins brought down Nani in the box Saha sunk the shot into the net and drove the stake deeper into the Sunderland heart. Manchester United moved into 1st position while Sunderland dropped to 19th. Sunderland 0-4 Manchester United.

                                     

Gunners fumble at Fratton Park. Arsene Wenger’s Arsenal knew what they had to do before kickoff. Unfortunately for them so did Harry Redknapp’s Portsmouth. Pompey had been embarrassed on the weekend by Liverpool and this was their chance to show that they were not that bad. Sol Campbell dug his heels in and led his defenders to a display of defense that kept his former team off of the scoreboard. David James was called into action occasionally and he showed why many are calling for him to be recalled for the national side. Tomas Rosicky challenged James with a shot to the top right of the frame only to see the Pompey keeper save with a leaping catch. Portsmouth had their chances to win, but at the end of the game they resolutely held on to their point under a desperate attack by Arsenal. Portsmouth 0-0 Arsenal.

 

Derby show heart of a lion. The Rams had looked like a Conference side the first time these teams met. Not today. After giving up a goal to Fernando Torres, Derby hardened up and played like a team that had new found confidence. Jay McEveley levelled for Paul Jewell’s boys in the 67th minute and Pride Park went crazy. The Reds had chances to salt away a go ahead goal, however some manic defending and some great saves by the rookie keeper Lewis Price. Steven Gerrard started and finished the attack that finally broke the home fans’ hearts in the 90th minute. I’ve never bought into the Gerrard mystique as he has a habit of not showing up for big games for club and country more often than when he comes up big. Derby can walk tall after this game. They showed that they just may belong on the same field as the big boys. Derby County 1-2 Liverpool.

                                        

Tottenham Hotspur 5-1 Fulham; West Ham 1-1 Reading; Birmingham 3-0 Middlesbrough; Everton 2-0 Bolton; Wigan 1-0 Newcastle

Boxing Day treats for all the kiddies

When these two met earlier this season at Anfield Derby lost 6-0. At one time the Rams looked more like they were directing traffic than defending. Now Paul Jewell is here and everything is right with the world. Oh, the Reds are still going to give Derby a thumping, but hopefully only four or five goals. Seriously, if Rafa rotates the squad like he usually does to rest up his big players for mince pie after the match, Derby might be able to rescue some dignity at home. Stephan Bywater may be between the posts for the Rams, but he injured his shoulder against Newcastle so he might be short on mobility although the Liverpool offense with give him plenty of stretching during the match. 4-0 Liverpool.

Roy Keane gets to play host to his former boss at the Stadium of Light. When these teams met at Old Trafford the Black Cats only lost 1-0, not bad. Now Sunderland is third from the bottom and squarely in the relegation battle. They are going to need some of that Keane magic that brought them the League Championship title last year. What better way to start it off than by a Boxing Day beating of Man U? Roy has all of his top scorers available for this match, Kenwyne Jones, Michael Chopra and Danny Higginbotham will have the hopes of the Cats’ faithful on their shoulders.

Manchester United will have their full complement of players for this game with the exception of Van der Sar (groin). They visit West Ham on the weekend so a couple of key players might sit this one out. Either way Fergie’s boys should win this one, but Sunderland will keep it close. 2-0 Manchester United.

Villa beat Chelsea at Villa Park earlier this season and if the Blue’s form against Blackburn carries over they probably will again on Wednesday. Petr Cech is probably out due to injury so Avram Grant may need his third choice keeper to step in again. Henrique Hilario didn’t get much of a workout against the Rovers, but he should get more action against the Villans. Didier Drogba is still out, but with all the talent they have there is absolutely no reason they can’t still score on anyone. 

Gabriel Agbonlahor has scored six goals for Martin O’Neill’s side, one of those against Chelsea. Gareth Barry and Olof Mellberg have been solid and will need to be Wednesday to keep Chelsea at bay. Scott Carson has had an up and down season so concentration could be an issue. He’s not a bad keeper and when he’s on, he’s on. I think he’s going to step up. 1-1 Draw.

Everton can feel good, even though they are coming off of a loss to Man U. They played fantastic defense and really should have walked out of Old Trafford with a draw. Mikel Arteta might be back from illness and that would be bad news for Bolton. He’s a crafty midfielder so the Wanderers could have a rough day. Bolton are playing much better under Gary Megson, Nicolas Anelka could be playing for a big money transfer and this would be a prime opportunity for him to show the goods. This will be a good game so if you get to see it, do. 2-1 Everton.

Manchester City has had an impressive turn around this season and Sven-Goran Eriksson has the squad playing cohesively. Blumer Elano, Rolando Bianchi and Martin Petrov lead the team in goals, but the Blues are getting goals from all over. Joe Hart seems to have the nod as City keeper and Kasper Schmeichel is coming back from his loan spell with Cardiff City. Andreas Isaksson will probably end up moving on I think. Blackburn will be missing Robbie Savage, Stephen Warnock and Keith Treacy for this match and that will give Mark Hughes some heartburn. The Rovers do have Roque Santa Cruz though and they know how to put the pressure on, just ask Chelsea. 2-2 Draw.

Happy Christmas to all!