Ziaian Football Reports

No revenge for North London

2012-01-27T04:43:00.000-08:00

After the humiliating defeats for Arsenal and Tottenham to their Manchester rivals earlier in the season, Arsenal lost 2-1 to United at the Emirates while Tottenham were defeated 3-2 in Manchester with Balotelli - who was lucky not to have been shown red - scoring a last minute winner from the spot. Clint Dempsey scored a hat-trick as Newcastle were taken apart 5-2 at Fulham and Wigan lost 3-1 at QPR while Chelsea played a goalless match at Norwich. Robbie Keane scored twice for Aston Villa who won 3-2 at Wolves and WBA grabbed a late 2-1 winner at Stoke. while Swansea fell 2-0 at Sunderland. Liverpool went down 3-1 at Bolton and Everton were held to a 1-1 draw at home to Blackburn.

In Spain Real Madrid and Barcelona won 4-1 at home to Atletico de Bilbao and away to Malaga respectively with Messi netting a hat-trick for the Catalan side, and the 2 Spanish giants clashed in the Copa del Rey with hosts Barcelona going through 4-3 on aggregate after a 2-2 draw.

Cardiff City reversed their 1-0 away defeat to Crystal Palace to take the match to extra time and penalties, with the visitors reduced to 10 men, and earn a place in the Wembley final where they will meet Liverpool for the League Cup trophy after the Reds drew 2-2 at home to Manchester City.

Manchester winning

2012-01-20T03:33:00.000-08:00

A single goal at Wigan on Monday kept Manchester City at the top of the league while the weekend matches saw Manchester United beat Bolton 3-0 with Paul Scholes opening the scoring for the host amd Chelsea also picked up 3 points with a Lampard goal against visiting Sunderland, but 3^rd place Tottenham could only draw 1-1 at home to Wolves and Liverpool were held to a goalless draw at home to Stoke. Arsenal took the lead but lost 3-2 at Swansea and QPR lost 1-0 at Newcastle while Blackburn moved out of the bottom 3 after celebrating a 3-1 home victory over Fulham. Norwich won 2-1 at West Bromwich Albion and Everton drew 1-1 at Aston Villa.

In Spain Messi scored twice as Barcelona won 4-2 at home to Real Betis but Real Madrid remain at the top of the La Liga table 5 points ahead of them after a 2-1 win away to Real Mallorca while 3^rd place Valencia lost 1-0 at home to Real Sociedad. In Italy the Milanese derby ended 1-0 in favour of Inter.

Among FA Cup replay matches played in Midweek Nottingham Forest were felled 4-0 at Leicester with Beckford scoring a hat-trick and Birmingham went through with a single goal at Wolverhampton while Millwall, Bolton, Queens Park Rangers and Brighton also made it to the next round.

Cup of legends

2012-01-12T17:14:00.000-08:00

The third round of the FA Cup saw the return of Paul Scholes for Manchester United in their visit to Manchester City where the early and controversial dismissal of City captain Vincent Kompany was instrumental in the visitors taking a 3-0 lead by half time, with a brace from Rooney, rendering a 2 goal fight back by the league leaders futile. Among other matches Liverpool came from behind to demolish Oldham 5-1 at Anfield and Ipswich fell 3-1 at Hull City while Cardiff lost 4-2 at West Bromwich Albion with Simon Cox netting a hat-trick. A Last minute goal gave Newcastle a 2-1 win at home to Blackburn while Stevenage travelled to stun Reading 1-0 and Bristol City lost by a single goal at Crawley Town. Chelmsford City earned a trip to Bolton with a 2-2 draw while Fleetwood Town were no match for Blackpool with Matt Phillips scoring a hat-trick in the 5-1 win by the visitors and 3 late goals saw Portsmouth lose 4-0 at Chelsea. Swindon came from behind to earn a 2-1 home win against Wigan, and Fulham put 4 past Charlton without reply thanks to a hat-trick from Clint Dempsey while a goal 2 minutes from time knocked West Ham out of the cup at Sheffield Wednesday. Thierry Henry returned to Arsenal to come off the bench and break the deadlock against Leeds on Monday evening while in the Carling Cup semi-finals Crystal Palace will take a slender 1-0 lead to Cardiff and Liverpool enjoyed the same result away to Manchester City. In the Premier League Tottenham moved closer to the summit with a 2-0 home win in their rearranged match against Everton.

Real Madrid extended their lead at the top of the Spanish league with a 5-1 win at home to Grenada while Barcelona drew 1-1 at Espanyol.

Toon stun champs

2012-01-05T16:11:00.000-08:00

The weekend losers all won in midweek with Manchester United the exception as they caved in 3-0 at Newcastle. Manchester City strengthened their position at the top with a 3-0 home win over Liverpool despite being reduced to 10 men, and Lampard, who may consider himself lucky not to be sent off, scored a late winner to condemn Wolves to a 2-1 home defeat while WBA lost to a single goal at Tottenham. Arsenal took the lead but after losing Djourou to a red card fell to 2 late goals at Fulham while at Queens Park Rangers goal scorer Joey Barton who was later dismissed watched Norwich come from behind to win 2-1, and Stoke enjoyed the same scoreline with Peter Crouch netting a double at Blackburn. Swansea won 2-0 at Aston Villa while Sunderland celebrated a blistering 4-1 win at Wigan and Everton keeper Tim Howard scored from inside his own penalty box only for visiting Bolton Wanderers to hit back with 2 for the win.

Shock end

2012-01-01T13:50:00.000-08:00

The year ended with a shock defeat for Manchester United on Sir Alex Ferguson’s 70^th birthday as Yakubu struck twice for Blackburn before Berbatov’s quick double proved to be in vain with the visitors scoring the winner too late for United to reply, while Aston Villa came from behind to beat Chelsea 3-1 with 2 late goals at Stamford Bridge and Tottenham dropped points in their 1-1 draw at Swansea. A single goal gave Arsenal all 3 points at home to Queens Park Rangers and a Bellamy brace helped Liverpool to a 3-1 win over Newcastle at Anfield. Norwich earned a 1-1 home draw with a last minute equaliser against Fulham and Wolves drew 1-1 at Bolton while ten-man Wigan drew 2-2 at Stoke. On the first day of 2012 Everton opened the scoring with a last-minute winner at West Brom and the weekend shocks continued with Sunderland breaking the deadlock with a last gasp winner against league leaders Manchester City at the Stadium of Light.

Five star United draw level

2011-12-28T11:39:00.001-08:00

Demitar Berbatov netted a hat-trick as ten-man Wigan were hit for 5 at Manchester United who were one of only 3 teams to win in the Boxing Day fixtures leaving the 2 Manchester clubs equal on points at the top of Premier League table. City were held to a goalless draw at West Brom and Fulham deprived Chelsea of a win with a 1-1 draw at Stamford Bridge while Wolves inflicted the same fate on Arsenal at the Emirates. Liverpool could only manage a 1-1 draw at home to Blackburn and there were also 1-1 draws at Sunderland who entertained Everton and Swansea who took on QPR while Stoke and Aston Villa fired blanks at the Britannia Stadium. Gareth Bale struck twice for Tottenham to decide the match at Norwich and a double gave Newcastle all 3 points at Bolton.

Manchester on top at Christmas

2011-12-23T08:12:00.000-08:00

Two more wins for the Manchester sides in a busy week of Premier League football gave them a healthy lead at Christmas. City passed the Arsenal test with a 1-0 home win before putting 3 past visiting Stoke with Aguero netting twice while United enjoyed their time in London with 2 goals at QPR and 5 at Fulham without reply. Chelsea dropped points to a late equaliser at Wigan and picked up another 1-1 draw at Tottenham on Thursday where Sunderland had lost 1-0 at the weekend while Wigan went on to hold Liverpool to a goalless draw at the DW. Aston Villa were defeated twice at home, losing 2-0 to Liverpool and 2-1 to Arsenal with the decider coming 3 minutes from time while Blackburn remain at the bottom of the pile with 2-1 home losses to West Bromwich Albion and their fellow strugglers Bolton who had earlier lost 2-0 at Fulham. Norwich drew 1-1 at Everton and 2-2 at Wolves who had lost 2-1 at home to Stoke while Everton went on to beat Swansea by a single goal at Goodison Park. Swansea managed a 0-0 draw at Newcastle where 4 days later West Brom grabbed a late winner despite another 2 goals from Demba Ba while Sunderland left it even later as their winning goal in the 3-2 win at Queens Park Rangers came in the last minute of the match after their hosts had fought back from 2 down.

In Spain a Ronaldo hat-trick help Real Madrid to a 6-2 triumph at Savilla with both teams reduces to 10 men while Barcelona returned from Japan with the Club World Cup after sailing to a 4-0 win over Brazil’s Santos with the magical Messi netting twice for the European champions.

City beaten

2011-12-16T05:59:00.000-08:00

As Manchester United bounced back from their European disappointment, to defeat Wolves 4-1 with 2 goals each from Rooney and Nani at Old Trafford, Manchester City suffered their first loss of the season, losing 2-1 at Chelsea with Lampard grabbing a late winner from the spot against their ten-man visitors to close the gap at the top. Arsenal celebrated their 125^th birthday at the Emirates with a van Persie master-goal the difference between them and Everton while Tottenham were unlucky to lose 2-1 at Stoke and there were 2-1 away wins for Wigan at West Brom and Aston Villa at Bolton. Sunderland won 2-1 against Blackburn with 2 late goals in Martin O’Neill’s first match in charge at the Stadium of Light while QPR lost 1-0 at Liverpool and Fulham went down 2-0 at Swansea. Demba Ba netted a double for ten-man Newcastle who lost 4-2 at Norwich from whom Grant Holt scored twice.

In Spain Barcelona recovered from an early Real Madrid goal to win 3-1 and overtake their hosts at the top of the table on goal difference.

The group stage of the Europa League was completed with Fulham who had taken a 2 goal lead at the Cottage crashing out to a last gasp equalizer against Odense allowing Wislaw to qualify after their 2-1 win against group winners Twente in Krakow. One goal was enough to give Birmingham a home win over Maribor but not enough to see them through as Braga drew 1-1 in Brugge and Tottenham sailed to a 4-0 win at Shamrock Rovers but suffered a similar fate as ten-man Robin Kazan drew 1-1 at Paok leaving Stoke the only English side to qualify for the knock-out stage despite losing 3-1 at Besiktas after being reduced to 10 men for 32 minutes. Red Bull Salzburg came from 2 down to win 3-2 at Slovan Bratislava and qualify ahead of PSG despite their 4-2 victory over group winners Athletico Bilbao in Paris.

In the World Club Cup Barcelona and Santos reached the final.

Champions out

2011-12-09T03:02:00.000-08:00

Two late goals gave Chelsea a flattering 3-0 win at Newcastle and Tottenham enjoyed the same result at home to 10 man Bolton Wanderers after the early dismissal of Gary Cahill while Arsenal put 4 past hosts Wigan without reply and Norwich had their wings clipped 5-1 at Manchester City. Swansea suffered a yak attack at Blackburn as Yakubu scored all 4 goals to send the Welsh side back 4-2 losers while another 1-0 win, this time at Aston Villa, gave Manchester United another 3 points and Stoke picked up the same result away to Everton. West Bromwich Albion drew 1-1 at Queens Park Rangers while Wolves came from a goal down to win with 2 Steven Fletcher goals at home to Sunderland and on Monday evening Fulham took advantage Jay Spearing’s red card to beat Liverpool 1-0 at the Cottage.

In Spain Real Madrid won 3-0 at Sporting Gijon while Levante were hammered 5-0 at Barcelona and in Germany Ribery and Robben scored 2 apiece as Bayern defeated Werder Bremen 4-1 in Munich.

In the Champions League 2 goals from Drogba helped Chelsea to a life-saving 3-0 triumph over Valencia at the Bridge while Arsenal, who had already qualified, fell 3-1 at Olympiakos whose celebrations were cut short as Marseille scored 2 late goals to come from behind and win 3-2 in Dortmund condemning the Greek side to the Europa League place. Ajax had a miserable night in Amsterdam as they lost 3-0 to Real Madrid and were overtaken on goal difference by Lyon who came from behind to run riot in Zagreb thrashing ten-man Dinamo 7-1 with 4 goals from Gomis. Both Manchester clubs crashed out of the Champions League with United losing 2-1 in Basel and City being pipped by Napoli who won 2-0 at Villareal, despite winning 2-0 at home to Bayern Munich.

Slow progress at the top

2011-12-02T02:37:00.000-08:00

In a week that football lost 42 year-old Gary Speed, the Manchester teams both drew 1-1, with United dropping points at home to Newcastle who held on for the last 11 minutes with 10 men, and City returning from Liverpool with a point in a match that saw Balotelli sent off while Adebayor scored twice as Tottenham came from behind to triumph 3-1 at West Bromwich Albion and move into 2^nd place. Thomas Vermaelen scored at both ends as Arsenal drew 1-1 at home to Fulham while Chelsea picked up an easy 3-0 win at home to Wolves and Wigan won 2-1 with a last-minute winner at Sunderland who later sacked manager Steve Bruce. Stoke beat their visitors from Blackburn 3-1 while Everton won 2-0 at Bolton and Queens Park Rangers lost 2-1 at Norwich City. There were no goals between Swansea and Aston Villa.

In Spain Real Madrid are top of the table after beating 9 man Atletico Madrid 4-1 at the Bernabeu with Ronaldo scoring twice from the spot as Barcelona lost 1-0 at Getafe. The Catalan giants beat Rayo Vallecano 4-0 in midweek.

Crystal Palace dumped Manchester United out of the Carling Cup 2-1 at Old Trafford after extra time to reach the semi-finals where they will meet Cardiff City who defeated Blackburn 2-0 in the Welsh capital. Andy Carroll missed a penalty for Liverpool who still ran out 2-0 winners at Chelsea while Arsenal were also knocked out of the Carling Cup losing 1-0 at home to Manchester City.

In the Europa League Birmingham lost 1-0 at Braga, and Fulham who had Andy Johnson sent off in the last minute, lost by a single goal away to Twente. Spurs surrendered 2-1 to 10 man Paok at White Hart Lane, but a 1-1 draw against Dinamo Kiev at the Britannia secured Stoke passage into the next round.

Concern at Chelsea

2011-11-25T12:09:00.001-08:00

Newcastle’s unbeaten record came to an end with a 3-1 loss at league leaders Manchester City while a single goal gave Manchester United 3 points at Swansea and a double from Adebayor against Aston Villa at White Hart Lane on Monday evening moved Tottenham into 3^rd place, but Chelsea suffered another home defeat, losing 2-1 to Liverpool who are behind them on goal difference together with Arsenal who came from behind at Norwich to win with a double from Robin van Persie. Yahubu completed his brace with a penalty deep into stoppage time to earn Blackburn a 3-3 draw at Wigan, and 2 goals from Helguson gave QPR a 3-2 win at Stoke while there were 2-1 home wins for WBA against Bolton and Everton against Wolves with the only goalless match being played between Sunderland and Fulham.

In Germany Bayern Munich lost 1-0 at home to Dortmund while Werder Bremen were hammered 5-0 at Borussia Mönchengladbach with a hat-trick from Marco Rues.

Dinamo Zagreb were brushed aside 6-2 at Real Madrid who scored 3 goals in the opening 9 minutes in the Champions League while Barcelona overcame Milan 3-2 in Italy and Genk were taken to the cleaners 7-0 at Valencia with Soldado netting a hat-trick. Among the English teams only Arsenal managed a win and qualified for the next round with another double from van Persie as they sent Dortmund back 2-1 losers. Manchester United could only draw 2-2 at home to Benfica while Manchester City fell 2-1 to a double strike from Cavani at Napoli and Chelsea who had taken the lead in Leverkusen lost to a last minute goal.

Narrow wins at the top

2011-11-09T04:26:00.000-08:00

League leaders Manchester City got the better of Queens Park Rangers 3-2 at Loftus Road with Jay Bothroyd having scored twice for the Londoners while Sunderland fell to a single goal at Manchester United who were celebrating Sir Alex Ferguson’s 25^th year in charge, and there were also narrow wins for Newcastle who rallied to a 2-1 home victory over Everton and Chelsea who struck once at Blackburn. Liverpool were held to a goalless draw at home to Swansea while Arsenal eased 3-0 past West Bromwich Albion at the Emirates and Tottenham were victorious 3-1 at Fulham. A double Bent effort gave Aston Villa a 3-2 home success over Norwich while Chris Eagles and Klasnic both scored a brace in Bolton’s 5-0 demolition of Stoke City and Wolves moved away from the relegation area with a 3-1 home win against bottom of the table Wigan.

In Spain Cristiano Ronaldo scored a hat-trick as Real Madrid slaughtered Osasuna 7-1 in the capital while Barcelona needed a last-minute goal to earn a 2-2 draw at Atletic de Bilbao.

Gunners bridging the gap

2011-11-04T04:25:00.000-07:00

Robin van Persie netted a hat-trick as Arsenal came from 2-1 down to upset Chelsea 5-3 at Stamford Bridge and climb into 7^th place while at the top Manchester City, despite being reduced to 10 men, picked up a 3-1 home win against Wolves and Manchester United won by a single goal at Everton. A last minute goal earned Norwich a 3-3 home draw against Blackburn while Aston Villa shared 4 goals with hosts Sunderland and ten-man Bolton fell 3-1 at Swansea. A brace from Bale helped Tottenham to a 3-1 home win over QPR while there were 2-0 away wins for Liverpool over WBA and Fulham at Wigan with Moussa Dembele scoring both goals for the visitors. On Monday evening Newcastle sank Stoke 3-1 at the Britannia with a hat-trick from Bemba Ba.

In Spain Real Mallorca were thumped 5-0 at Barcelona thanks to a Messi hat-trick while Real Madrid picked up 3 points with a single goal at Real Sociedad.

Messi bagged another hat-trick in the Czech Republic as Barcelona triumphed 4-0 at Viktoria Plzen in the Champions League while Marseille held Arsenal to a goalless draw in London and Chelsea could only draw 1-1 at Genk. Porto fell 2-1 to surprise package Apoel in Nicosia while Ronaldo scored both goals for Real Madrid at Olympique Lyonnais and Dinamo Zagreb were hammered 4-0 at Ajax. Manchester United picked up a routine 2-0 home win against Otelul Galati while Manchester City sank Villareal 3-0 in Spain with 2 goals from Yaya Toure and Napoli failed to complete their comeback from a Gomez hat-tick, losing 3-2 at Bayern Munich.

In the Europa League Stoke beat Maccabi 2-1 in Tel Aviv while Hapoel drew 3-3 at PSV Eindhoven and Udinese were undone 4-0 at Atletico Madrid. Fulham enjoyed a cracking 4-1 victory against Wisla Krakow at Craven Cottage with 2 goals from Andy Johnson while Tottenham lost 1-0 at Rubin Kazan and Birmingham came from 2 down to draw at home to Brugge.

City smash United

2011-10-28T03:37:00.000-07:00

Manchester City widened the gap at the top after destroying ten-man United 6-1 at Old Trafford while nine-man Chelsea lost by a single goal at Queens Park Rangers. Aston Villa who also had a player sent off lost the lead and match 2-1 at home to West Brom while van Persie came off the bench at the Emirates to net a brace in Arsenal’s 3-1 win over Stoke and van der Vaart scored both goals in Tottenham’s 2-1 success at Blackburn. Wolves denied Swansea an away win with 2 late goals to draw 2-2 and 2 late goals at Bolton decided the match in Sunderland’s favour while one goal was enough to give Newcastle a home win over Wigan. Norwich held Liverpool to a 1-1 draw at Anfield but 2 goals right at the end gave Everton a 3-1 victory at Fulham.

In Spain a Ronaldo hat-trick helped Real Madrid to a 4-0 win at Malaga while Barcelona were held to a goalless draw at home to Sevilla with Varas saving a Messi penalty as 2 of the visiting players saw red. In Germany Bayern Munich lost 2-1 at Hanover.

In Carling Cup matches Manchester United picked themselves up from their weekend humiliation to win 3-0 at Aldershot while Chelsea got the better of hosts Everton 2-1 in extra time and Southampton lost 2-0 at Crystal Palace. Suarez scored both goals for Liverpool who triumphed 2-1 at Stoke and Arsenal came from behind to beat Bolton 2-1 with 2 goals in quick succession at the Emirates while one goal at Cardiff sent Burnley out of the cup. Manchester City were too powerful for Wolves devouring their hosts 5-2 while Newcastle scored 2 goals at the death to force extra-time at Blackburn who sealed a 4-3 win in the 120^th minute.

City clear

2011-10-21T15:45:00.001-07:00

A convincing 4-1 home win over Aston Villa sent Manchester City 2 points clear of United who drew 1-1 at Liverpool while Chelsea kept up the pressure by beating Everton 3-1 at Stamford Bridge. Anthony Pilkington scored twice for Norwich who sent Swansea back 3-1 losers and Bolton won by the same score at Wigan while Blackburn drew 1-1 at Queens Park Rangers and Stoke hot 2 at home to Fulham. West Bromwich Albion beat Wolverhampton Wanderers 2-0 in the Black Country derby while van Persie scored another double as Arsenal defeated Sunderland 2-1 at the Emirates and Tottenham drew 2-2 away to Newcastle.

In Spain Real Madrid swept Betis aside 4-1 with another hat-trick from Higuain while Barcelona put 3 past Racing Santander with 2 from Messi.

In the Champions League 2 penalties from Rooney gave Manchester United a win at Otelul Gulati and Manchester City recovered from an early goal to score a last gasp winner at home to Villareal while Aaron Ramsey scored the only goal of the match in stoppage time for Arsenal at Marseille and Torres scored twice as Chelsea gunked Genk 5-0 at the Bridge.

In the Europa League Birmingham recorded a famous victory in Brugge with their 2-1 winner coming deep into injury time and Stoke put 3 past Maccabi with both teams having a player sent off at the Britannia stadium while the controversial 29^th minute dismissal of Dembele in Krakow was the talking point in Fulham’s 1-0 loss to Wisla and an unstoppable rocket of a free-kick from Pavlyuchenko was the difference between Tottenham and Rubin Kazan in London.

A matter of goals

2011-10-06T06:02:00.000-07:00

Two goals against Norwich at Old Trafford was enough for Manchester United to top the table on goal difference ahead of City who after a goalless first-half cruised to a 4-0 win at Blackburn while a hat-trick from Lampard helped Chelsea batter Bolton 5-1 at the Reebok stadium, but it was Fulham who filled their boots with Andy Johnson claiming a hat-trick in their 6-0 slaughter of Queens Park Rangers at the Cottage. The controversial early dismissal of Everton’s Jack Rodwell helped Liverpool win 2-0 at Goodison despite missing a penalty and there were 2-0 home wins for Aston Villa and Swansea against Wigan and Stoke respectively while Sunderland had to come back from 2 early goals to earn a point at home to West Bromwich Albion. Arsenal lost the North London derby 2-1 at Tottenham and Newcastle won by the same scoreline at Wolves while in Italy the outstanding result was 10 man Inter’s 3-0 home defeat to Napoli who could afford the luxury of missing a penalty and in Spain Barcelona won 1-0 at Sporting Gijon while Real Madrid were 4-0 winners at Espanyol with a hat-trick from Higuain.

Stoke end United winning streak

2011-09-30T13:36:00.000-07:00

Manchester United finally lost points as they were held to a 1-1 draw at Stoke while 2 goals gave Manchester City a home win over Everton and after Torres had scored for Chelsea and then been dismissed in the first half, 2 goals from Santos sent Swansea home 4-1 losers. Blackburn lost 3-1 at Newcastle to a Demba Ba hat-trick and Robin van Persie scored twice for Arsenal at the Emirates to celebrate his 100^th goal for the Gunners in their 3-0 win over Bolton while Liverpool won 2-1 at home to Wolverhampton Wanderers and Tottenham were victorious by the same result at Wigan. Fulham drew 0-0 at West Bromwich while QPR had to rely on a last minute own goal to salvage a 1-1 draw at home to Aston Villa and Sunderland lost 2-1 at Norwich City.

In the Spanish league Ronaldo scored twice from the spot in his hat-trick that helped Real Madrid to a 6-2 home victory over Rayo Vallocano While Atletico Madrid were thumped 5-0 at Barcelona with a hat-trick from Messi.

Ajax lost 3-0 at Real Madrid in the Champions League while Manchester United needed a last minute goal as their Swiss visitors Basel earned a 3-3 draw with Fabian and Alexader Frei doing the damage and Manchester City lost a double from Mario Gomez at Bayern Munich. Barcelona battered Bate Borisov 5-0 in Belarus with a brace from Messi while Arsenal rallied to a 2-1 home win over Olympiakos and a late penalty at Valencia denied Chelsea a win as they returned home with a 1-1 draw.

It was a clean sweep for English teams in the Europa League with Andy Johnson scoring both goals in Fulham’s win at Odense and Tottenham winning 3-1 at home to Shamrock Rovers while Birmingham came from behind in Slovenia to beat Maribor 2-1 and Stoke achieved the same at home to Besiktas.

Promoted joy

2011-09-23T09:36:00.000-07:00

Manchester City lost ground on United as 2 Aguero goals were wiped out by a Fulham comeback to send them home with a point from the Cottage while Manchester United defeated Chelsea 3-1 with Rooney scoring a goal and missing a penalty at Old Trafford. The promoted teams all picked up wins with QPR brushing Wolves aside 3-0 at Molineux and Swansea enjoying the same result at home to WBA while Norwich won 2-1 at Bolton. Arsenal’s defensive problems continued at they lost 4-3 at Blackburn while ex-Gunner Adebayor scored twice for Tottenham who demolished Liverpool 4-0 in London and Sunderland celebrated the same result at home to Stoke. Wigan lost 3-1 at Everton and Newcastle drew 1-1 at Aston Villa.

In the Spanish league Messi grabbed another hat-trick as Barcelona annihilated Osasuna 8-0 while Real Madrid lost 1-0 at Levante and in midweek Madrid lost further points in their goalless draw at Racing Santander while Barcelona came from behind to draw 2-2 at Valencia.

In League Cup matches Michael Owen scored a brace for Manchester United who triumphed 3-0 at Leeds and Arsenal came from behind to get the better of Shrewsbury 3-1 at the Emirates while Tottenham were knocked out on penalties after a goalless draw at Stoke. Millwall were torn apart 5-0 at Wolves and Newcastle won 4-3 with a last minute goal in extra time at Nottingham Forest while Chelsea needed penalties to get past Fulham after a goalless draw at Stamford Bridge.

Manchester hat tricks

2011-09-16T05:01:00.000-07:00

Manchester United continued where they left off with Rooney scoring his second hat-trick in succession and Javier Hernandez netting a brace as Bolton received a home battering while Aguero scored all 3 goals for City at home to Wigan. Chelsea came away from Sunderland with a narrow 2-1 win and Liverpool lost 1-0 at Stoke while Adebayor opened his account with a goal for Tottenham in their 2-0 victory at Wolves. Everton and Aston Villa shared 4 goals at Goodison Park and while Arsenal recorded their first win of the season with a single goal at home to Swansea and an early Odemwingie goal for West Brom at Norwich gave the Bagged 3 points for the baggies. Blackburn drew 1-1 at Fulham and on Monday evening Queens Park Rangers were held to a goalless draw at home to Newcastle.

In Spain Barcelona lost a 2 goal lead to draw 2-2 at Real Sociedad while Real Madrid romped to a 4-2 home win against Getafe.

In Germany Mario Gomez scored 4 times in Bayern Munich’s sizzling 7-0 home win over Freiburg.

In the Champions League Milan earned a 2-2 draw at Barcelona while Bayer Leverkusen fell 2-0 to Chelsea at the Bridge and there were 1-1 draws for the other 3 English representatives as Manchester City entertained Napoli, United played away to Benfica and Arsenal travelled to Dortmund.

In the Europa League there were also 3 draws for English teams as Tottenham played a goalless match at PAOK, Fulham were held 1-1 at home to Twente and a last minute goal denied Stoke a win at Dinamo Kiev while Birmingham lost 3-1 at home to last season’s beaten finalists Braga.

North London take Manchester mauling

2011-09-02T01:18:00.000-07:00

Manchester City ran riot at Tottenham with Edin Dzeko helping himself to 4 goals in their 5-1 demolition of Spurs while Arsenal, who missed a penalty and once again ended the match a man short, were slaughtered 8-2 at Old Trafford with Rooney scoring a hat-trick for the sharp-shooting United who sit at the top of the Premier League table ahead of their flamboyant neighbours. Chelsea needed 2 late goals to overcome Norwich 3-1 at the Bridge and Liverpool enjoyed the same scoreline at home to Bolton while Leon Best scored both goals for Newcastle in their 2-1 home win against Fulham and Wolves held onto their unbeaten record with a goalless draw at Aston Villa. Blackburn who missed 2 penalties were beaten by a last minute penalty at home to Everton while QPR lost to a double from Franco di Santo at Wigan. There were no goals between Swansea and Sunderland and the Match between West Brom and Stoke was also goalless until a last-minute goal settled it for the visitors.The Spanish La Liga got under way with Cristiano Ronaldo grabbing a hat-trick as Real Madrid smashed Zaragoza 6-0 away from home while Barcelona opened with Fabregas getting on the score sheet for his new club and Messi netting a brace in their 5-0 home win over Villareal.

Gunners down but not out

2011-08-27T06:21:00.001-07:00

Arsenal are still without a win in the Premier League after losing 2-0 at home to Liverpool having once again been reduced to 10 men while Manchester City rallied to a 3-2 win at Bolton and 2 goals just before the break against Fulham at Molineux gave Wolves another 3 points. Newcastle were victorious by a single goal at neighbours Sunderland while Blacburn lost 3-1 at Aston Villa and Chelsea got the better of WBA 2-1 at the Bridge. The newcomers all picked up points with QPR’s 1-0 win at Everton the pick of the bunch while a last minute Kenwyne Jones goal for Stoke at Norwich denied the Canaries a win and Swansea entertained Wigan a goalless draw. On Monday Tottenham travelled to Manchester where they were beaten 3-0 by United.
In the German league among other matches Bayern Munich Hammered Hamburg 5-0 and Werder Bremen won a 5-3 thriller with 2 late goals at home to Freiburg.
Arsenal came from a goal down at Udinese to make it through to the group stage of the Champions League with a brilliant Szczęsny penalty save and 2 second-half goals and it was a clean sweep for English teams in the Europa League with Kenwyne Jones scoring twice for Stoke who disposed of Thun 4-1 at the Britannia stadium and Birmingham easing 3-0 past their Portuguese guests Nacional. Fulham lost 1-0 at Dnipro progressed 3-1 on aggregate while a goalless draw at Tottenham was scant consolation for Hearts as the Londoners sat comfortably on their massive away win. Schalke were among the goals sinking HJK Helsinki 6-1 with Huntelaar netting 4 times and Metalist triumphed 4-0 at Sochaux while a last gasp goal for Legia Warsaw at Spartak Moscow saw the Polish team through 5-4 on aggregate.
The Super Cup between Barcelona and Porto on Friday was won 2-0 by the Spanish and European champions with goals from Messi and new signing Sesc Fabregas.

Slow Premier start

2011-08-19T09:57:00.000-07:00

The Premier League brushed off its summer cobwebs amidst transfer speculations and started with some low-scoring matches. Only Bolton and Manchester City had their scoring boots on as Bolton gave new boys Queens Park Rangers a rude awakening subjecting the hapless Londoners a 4-0 lashing at Loftus road while on Monday evening Swansea City had their wings clipped 4-0 on their first Premier League outing with Sergio Aguero coming on to net a double on his home debut for Manchester City. In a controversial match at St James’ Park, Newcastle held ten-man Arsenal to a goalless draw while Chelsea drew 0-0 at Stoke and there were no golas between Fulham and Aston Villa. Suarez missed an early penalty at Anfield but scored for Liverpool only for Sebastian Larsson to earn Sunderland a point with a superb volley while newcomers Norwich City earned a point with a 1-1 draw at Wigan. Wolves came from a goal down to win 2-1 at Blackburn and Ashley Young scored the winner for Manchester United as the champions triumphed 2-1 at West Bromwich Albion. Everton’s match at Tottenham was postponed due to the recent riots.
An early goal at the Emirates gave Arsenal a slender lead to take to Udinese in the Champions League while in the Europa league Tottenham broke hearts down 5-0 in Scotland and Clint Dempsey scored twice as Fulham sent Dnipro back to Ukraine 3-0 losers. Birmingham drew 0-0 with Natcional in Portugal while Stoke were 1-0 winners against Thun in Switzerland.
In the Spanish Super Cup after a 2-2 draw at Real Madrid, and with the same result looking likely at the Camp Nou, Messi added to his earlier goal with the winner 2 minutes from time in a match that ended with 3 red cards for a mass brawl.

Young Lions Czeched out

2011-06-24T02:57:00.000-07:00

After salvaging a late 1-1 draw against favourites Spain and being held to a goalless draw by Ukraine, England needed a win against the Czech Republic to make it to the last four of the 2011 UEFA under 21 tournament in Denmark. England seemed to be on their way to the semi-finals when Daniel Welbeck gave them a deserved lead with a firm header in the 76th minute, but with a minute left on the clock, Chramosta knocked the ball past the impressive Frank Fielding for the equalizer, and as England pushed forward in stoppage time a Czech counter-attack resulted in Chramosta teeing the ball up for Pekhart to score the winner with the last kick of the match.

Going up

2011-06-03T02:18:00.001-07:00

Swansea City took an unassailable 3-0 first-half lead at Wembley and despite Reading’s valiant attempted comeback became the fist Welsh side to gain promotion to the Premier League winning 4-2 thanks to a hat-trick from Scott Sinclair.
Darren Ferguson took Peterborough United to Old Trafford where 3 late goals against Huddersfield Town gave them promotion to the Championship
A single goal at Old Trafford saw Stevenage move up into League 1 at the expense of Torquay, and at the City of Manchester stadium, after a goalless draw AFC Wimbledon won promotion to the Football League by beating Luton Town in a penalty shoot-out in the Conference play-off final.

Survival Sunday

2011-05-26T06:22:00.001-07:00

On the last day of the season Blackpool had a daunting trip to Manchester United where they took a 2-1 lead but were eventually beaten 4-2 by the newly crowned champions and consequently relegated. At Molineux Wolverhampton Wanderers seemed doomed after falling 3-0 behind to Blackburn in the first half, but 2 goals after the break gave Wolves a better goal difference over Birmingham who were drawing at Tottenham until Roman Pavlyuchenko sank the Blues with his second deep into stoppage time keeping Wolves alive. A single goal at Stoke kept Wigan in the Premier League while already relegated West Ham bowed out with a 3-0 home defeat to Sunderland and West Bromwich Albion came from 3 down at Newcastle at draw with a 2nd half hat-trick from Tchoyi. Chelsea lost 1-0 at Everton but finished 2nd in the league followed by Manchester City who consolidated 3rd spot with a 2-0 win at Bolton while a 2-2 draw at Fulham left Arsenal in 4th place. Aston Villa ended the season on a high, with a 1-0 victory over Liverpool at Villa Park.

A City United in glory

2011-05-20T07:14:00.001-07:00

A Wayne Rooney penalty at Blackburn gave Manchester United a 1-1 draw and their 19th league title on the day that Manchester City defeated Stoke City to win the FA Cup at Wembley. At the other end of the table Wigan came from 2 Demba Ba goals down to beat West Ham 3-2 with a brace from N’Zogbia that condemned their visitors to the dreaded fall, while DJ Campbell netted twice for Blackpool who got the better of Bolton in a 7 goal thriller at the seaside and Wolves triumphed 3-1 at Sunderland. Hangeland scored both goals for Fulham at troubled Birmingham while Everton lost to a single goal at West Brom and Liverpool were suffered a 2-0 home defeat at the hands of Tottenham. Chelsea could only manage a 2-2 draw at home to Newcastle while Darren Bent scored 2 early goals as Aston Villa won 2-1 at Arsenal who dropped into 4th place after Manchester City’s 3-0 midweek victory over Stoke with Tevez scoring twice for the hosts.
After goalless matches in the first legs, Swansea beat Nottingham Forest 3-1 and 2 goals from Shane Long helped Reading to a 3-0 win at Cardiff to set up a Wembley final for a place in the Premier League.
In Europe Porto won the Europa League, defeating compatriots Braga 1-0, and the Dutch picked up the UEFA under 17 trophy with a 5-2 triumph over Germany in the final.

United point to the title

2011-05-13T10:40:00.001-07:00

Manchester United are a point away from winning the Premier League for the 19th time after a 2-1 home win over their closest rivals Chelsea, while Arsenal continued their recent dismal run with a 3-1 defeat at Stoke. Manchester City lost 2-1 at Everton but a Tottenham own-goal at Eastlands secured them a top 4 finish in midweek. Defoe had rescued a point for Tottenham at the weekend with a late goal against visiting Blackpool and Liverpool had put Fulham to the sword 5-2 at the Cottage with another 3 goals from their on-form striker Maxi Rodriguez on Monday evening. A last gasp goal gave Sunderland a 2-1 win at Bolton while Newcastle won by the same score line at home to Birmingham. There were 1-1 draws for Blackburn at West Ham and Wigan at Aston Villa while in the Black Country derby Wolverhampton Wanderers picked up 3 vital points with a 3-1 victory over West Bromwich Albion to move out of the bottom three. There were no goals in the first leg semi-final play-offs for the Premier League between Reading and Cardiff, and Nottingham Forest and Swansea.
In Spain Cristiano Ronaldo netted 4 times in Savilla as Real Madrid demolished their hosts 6-2 and added a hat-trick to his tally 4 days later to help his side cruise 4-0 past visiting Getafe, but a 1-1 draw for Barcelona at Levante on Wednesday was enough to give the Catalan giants the Spanish title.

Not over the line

2011-05-06T08:53:00.000-07:00

Manchester United are still not home and dry after losing 1-0 at Arsenal while Chelsea picked up 3 points at Stamford Bridge with a controversial 2-1 win over Tottenham, once again raising the question of goal-line technology. Liverpool enjoyed a 3-0 home win against Newcastle and Fulham won by the same score line at Sunderland thanks to a Simon Davies double while a single goal was enough to give Blackburn a win at home to Bolton. Ten-man West Bromwich Albion defeated Aston Villa 2-1 at the Hawthorns and West Ham fell by the same result at Manchester City while Everton drew 1-1 at Wigan and there was a goalless encounter between Blackpool and Stoke City. Queens Park Rangers were promoted to the Premier League as champions and were later joined by Norwich City who finished runners up in the Championship.
In Spain, Real Madrid who had lost 3-2 at home to Real Zaragoza and Barcelona who had suffered a 2-1 loss at Real Sociedad in the league, met in the Champions League at the Camp Nou where a 1-1 draw was enough to see Barcelona reach the final at Wembley where they will meet Manchester United who eased 4-1 past Schalke at Old Trafford.
Braga booked their place in the Europa Cup final on the away goals rule with a 1-0 home win against Benfica while a 3-2 defeat at Villarreal was not enough to deny Dublin an all-Portuguese final as Porto had hammered the Spanish outfit 5-1 in the first leg.

Chelsea chase the title

2011-04-29T05:17:00.000-07:00

A bitter blow at Bolton virtually ended Arsenal’s hopes of a league title after they lost 2-1 to a last minute goal while Manchester United picked up 3 points with a late goal at home to Everton. Fernando Torres finally scored fro Chelsea who moved into 2nd place with a 3-0 win over West Ham at the Bridge. Dzeko also got on the score sheet with the only goal for Manchester City at Blackburn while a Maxi Rodriguez hat-trick helped Liverpool demolish Birmingham 5-0 at Anfield, and Jordan Henderson scored twice in Sunderland’s 4-2 home win over Wigan. There were 1-1 draws for Fulham at Wolves, Newcastle at Blackpool and Stoke at Aston Villa while WBA picked up a vital point in their 2-2 draw at Tottenham. The most notable result in the Spanish league was Real Madrid’s 6-3 victory at Valencia in which Higuain bagged a hat-trick. In midweek matches there were 3-0 home wins for Stoke against Wolves and Fulham against Bolton with Clint Dempsey netting a brace.
Manchester United returned from Schalke with a 2-0 advantage in the Champions League semi-final while a double from Messi was the difference between Barcelona and Real Madrid in the Spanish capital. In the Europa League Falcao scored 4 times as Porto pummelled Villarreal 5-1 while Benfica still have plenty to do after their 2-1 win over Braga in Lisbon.

Top draws give Chelsea hope

2011-04-22T00:42:00.000-07:00

While Manchester United were being knocked out of the FA Cup 1-0 by Manchester City who will meet Stoke in the final after their 5-0 belittling of Bolton, Chelsea moved into 2nd spot of the Premier League after 3-1 wins away to WBA and at home to Birmingham, overtaking Arsenal who on Sunday opened the scoring against Liverpool with a penalty deep into stoppage time at the Emirates only to concede from the spot with the last kick of the game and were pegged back from 3-1 up to draw away to Tottenham on Wednesday. Manchester United failed to capitalise on Arsenal’s misfortune, managing only a goalless draw at Newcastle while in other league matches Everton and Birmingham picked up 2-0 home wins against Blackburn and Sunderland respectively and Blackpool lost 3-1 at home to Wigan while a last minute goal gave Aston Villa a 2-1 win at West Ham.
In Spain Real Madrid and Barcelona shared the point in a league match with penalties from Ronaldo and Messi, but on Wednesday it was an extra-time header from Cristiano Ronaldo that gave Real Madrid the Copa del Rey against their illustrious rivals.

United on course

2011-04-15T10:29:00.000-07:00

Manchester United took a step closer to the Premier League title with a routine 2-0 home win over Fulham while Arsenal kept their hopes alive with a 3-1 victory at Blackpool and a single goal at Chelsea was enough to give the hosts all 3 points against lowly Wigan. Peter Crouch netted twice at White Hart Lane as Tottenham defeated Stoke 3-2 and West Brom won by the same result at Sunderland while Birmingham drew 1-1 at Blackburn. Daniel Sturridge scored twice as Bolton sent West Ham away 3-0 losers and Everton won by the same score line at Wolves while Newcastle lost 1-0 at Aston Villa. Andy Carroll scored a brace in front of his home crowd as Liverpool sent Manchester City packing 3-0 on Monday evening.
After prolific first-leg wins Barcelona and Real Madrid will meet in the semi-finals of the Champions League having won their away matches 1-0 against Shakhtar Donetsk and Tottenham respectively, while the other semi-final will be between Manchester United and Schalke who won their home matches 2-1 against Chelsea and Inter Milan.
In the Europa League 3 Portuguese teams reached the last 4 to join Spanish side Villrreal who triumphed 3-1 at Twente. Porto disposed of Spartak 5-2 in Moscow and a 2-2 draw at PSV Eindhoven was enough to see Benfica through while Braga who played 60 minutes with 10 men held on to a 0-0 draw against Dynamo Kiev and progressed thanks to their 1-1 away draw a week earlier.

Rooney swears to make a difference

2011-04-08T12:39:00.001-07:00

Wayne Rooney helped Manchester United to a 4-2 win with a hat-trick at West Ham after Mark Noble had put the Hammers 2 up in the first half, but was later handed a 2 match suspension for letting off steam in front of the cameras, while Arsenal failed to break down the 10 men of Blackburn at the Emirates and fell further behind the leaders. Chelsea could only manage a 1-1 draw at Stoke and Tottenham played out a goalless match at Wigan while Manchester City showed intent with the 5-0 thumping of Sunderland. Newcastle tore visiting Wolves apart 4-1 while Darren Bent scored both goals for Aston Villa who drew at Everton and a double for Bobby Zamora helped Fulham to a 3-0 home win over Blackpool. Chris Brunt scored a brace for West Bromwich Albion as the home side came from a goal down to defeat Liverpool While Birmingham enjoyed the same result at home to Bolton.
In the Champions League former Arsenal player Emmanuel Adebayor scored twice for Real Madrid who humiliated Tottenham 4-0 with the visitors down to 10 men after the 15th minute dismissal of Peter Crouch while Schalke shocked Inter 5-2 at the San Siro. A goal from Rooney was the difference in United’s favour at Chelsea while Shakhtar Donetsk took a 5-1 battering at Barcelona.
In the Europa League a hat-trick from Falcao put Porto in the driving seat with a 5-1 home win over Spartak Moscow while Benfica also took a huge step towards a semi-final place with a 4-1 victory at home to PSV Eindhoven. Braga returned to Portugal after a 1-1 draw at Dynamo Kiev and Twente Enschede were taken apart 5-1 at Villarreal.

United glad for Gunners’ gift

2011-03-24T10:15:00.000-07:00

Manchester United left it late to break the deadlock and pick up all 3 points at home to Bolton while Arsenal found themselves 2 goals behind but fought back to earn a point at West Brom. Chelsea continued their climb with a double at home to Manchester City while Liverpool enjoyed the same result at Sunderland, and Tottenham were held to a goalless draw at home to West Ham. Blackburn Rovers fought back to earn a home point with a last minute goal after Charlie Adam had put Blackpool 2 up and a last minute goal for Wigan gave the hosts a 2-1 win over Birmingham while Fulham lost 2-1 at Everton and Newcastle were taken apart 4-0 at Stoke.

Manchester semi joy

2011-03-18T07:52:00.001-07:00

Arsenal were left with only the league to aim for after 2 goals at Old Trafford set up an FA Cup semi-final clash between Manchester United and Manchester City who ended Reading’s brave run in the cup with a single goal at the City of Manchester. Bolton scored a last minute winner in a 5 goal thriller at Birmingham and will meet Stoke City in the other semi-final after their 2-1 home win over West Ham.
Manchester witnessed another cup success when Hernandez scored twice as United sent Marseille home 2-1 losers in the Champions League after a goalless first leg while Inter came from behind to break German hearts with a late winner, beating Bayern Munich 3-2 to go through on away goals. Real Madrid strolled 3-0 past Lyon at the Bernabeu while a goalless match at Stanford Bridge was enough to see Chelsea through to the quarter-finals at the expense of FC Copenhagen.
A 1-0 Europa League win in Manchester was not enough to save City from elimination against Dinamo Kiev while Liverpool bowed out of the competition having fired blanks at home to Braga who are one of 3 Portuguese teams to make it to the last 8 with Benfica drawing 1-1 at Paris Saint-Germain and Porto achieving a 2-1 home win against CSKA Moscow. Another Russian team to be knocked out were Zenit St. Petersburg despite winning 2-0 at home to Twente Enschede, but Spartak Moscow reached the next round after brushing Ajax aside 3-0 in the Russian capital. PSV Eindhoven triumphed 1-0 at Glasgow Rangers and Villarreal made it through after a 2-1 win over Bayer Leverkusen in Spain.

Unhappy Arsenal close the gap

2011-03-11T13:28:00.000-08:00

A Dirk Kuyt hat-trick at Anfield gave Liverpool a 3-1 victory over their bitter rivals Manchester United, and Arsenal the chance to close the gap on the league leader, but the Gunners could only manage a goalless draw at home to Sunderland having had a goal disallowed. At the wrong end of the table Wigan lost 1-0 at Manchester City, and Wolves Shared 6 goals with visiting Tottenham while West Ham enjoyed a 3-0 home win over Stoke and WBA moved out of the bottom 3 with a 3-1 success at Carling Cup winners Birmingham. There were 3-2 home wins for Bolton against Aston Villa and Fulham against Blackburn while Chelsea won 3-1 at Blackpool with 2 goals from Frank Lampard. Everton overtook Newcastle with a 2-1 win at St James’ Park and a 1-1 home draw in midweek against Birmingham.
Arsenal travelled to Barcelona in the Champions League where the controversial dismissal of van Persie helped the host win 3-1 and knock the Londoners out of Europe with a double from Messi while Tottenham held Milan to a 0-0 draw at White Hart Lane to progress to the next round where they will be joined by Shakhtar Donetsk who brushed Roma aside 3-0 and Schalke who came from behind to defeat Valencia 3-1.
In the Europa League first-leg matches Liverpool lost 1-0 at Braga and Manchester City have a 2 goal deficit to make up after their visit to Dynamo Kiev.

Birmingham glory denies Arsenal silverware

2011-03-04T07:49:00.000-08:00

A last minute defensive error handed Birmingham a 2-1 win over Arsenal and the Carling Cup. In the league Manchester United swept their hosts Wigan aside 4-0 with Hernandez grabbing a brace, but lost their vital midweek clash 2-1 at Chelsea while Ashley Young scored twice at home for Aston Villa who thumped Blackburn 4-1 before being knocked out of the FA Cup 3-0 in a midweek match at Manchester City who had earlier been held to a 1-1 draw by visiting Fulham in the league. A double from Sylvan Ebanks-Blake helped troubled Wolves to a 4-0 home triumph over Blackpool while Jermaine Beckford scored both goals for Everton against Sunderland and Liverpool went down 3-1 at West Ham while Newcastle v Bolton and Stoke v WBA finished one apiece.
Reading pulled off an FA Cup shock 1-0 win at Everton, but there were no surprises at the Emirates as Arsenal strolled 5-0 past Leyton Orient in their replay to set up a trip to Manchester United in the next round.
In a tempestuous Scottish FA Cup replay, 3 Rangers players saw red as they lost 1-0 at Celtic.

Chelsea lose cup

2011-02-25T02:19:00.000-08:00

Reigning FA Cup champions Chelsea lost a replay on penalties to Everton at Stamford Bridge while Manchester United struggled to get past little Crawley Town, winning 1-0 at Old Trafford, and super sub Johnatan Tehoue scored a late goal to cancel out Rosicky’s effort for Arsenal and earn Orient a trip to the Emirates. Stoke and Birmingham were 3-0 winners at home to Brighton and Sheffield Wednesday respectively while a single goal gave Bolton victory at Fulham and Patrick Viera headed in a double as Manchester City went on to ease 5-0 past Notts County in a home replay. On Monday evening Burnley were hammered 5-1 at West Ham and in the only Premier League match of the weekend the Black Country derby was drawn 1-1 between West Bromwich Albion and Wolverhampton Wanderers with Carlos Vela scoring a last-minute goal in Roy Hodgson’s first match as Baggies manager. Tottenham lost 3-1 at Blackpool in midweek while Stoke fell to a single Arsenal goal at the Emirates.
In the Champions League Anelka struck twice for Chelsea in Copenhagen, Real Madrid drew 1-1 at Lyon and Bayern Munich scored in the last minute to win 1-0 at Inter while Manchester United drew 0-0 at Marseille.
In the Europa League Kuyt broke the deadlock against Sparta Prague with 4 minutes to go at Anfield to see Liverpool through and Edin Dzeko scored twice as Manchester City disposed of Aris 3-0 while Rangers, who had suffered a 3-0 defeat in the Old Firm derby at the weekend in which Gary Hooper netted twice, scored in stoppage time at Sporting Lisbon to draw 2-2 and go through on away goals. Benfica progressed to the next round with a 2-0 win in Stuttgart winning 4-1 on aggregate.

North London leads Europe

2011-02-18T04:19:00.000-08:00

Wayne Rooney scored with a spectacular overhead kick to delight the home crowd as United beat City 2-1 in the Manchester derby while a double from Dutchman van Persie saw off Wolves at Arsenal, and Tottenham came from behind to win 2-1 at Sunderland. Liverpool could only manage a 1-1 draw at home to Wigan, and a last gasp Zigic goal was the difference between Birmingham and stoke while Aston Villa drew 1-1 at Blackpool. There were no goals between Blackburn and Newcastle but 6 goals at West Brom as West Ham came from 3 down to earn a point with 2 goals from Demba Ba. Everton lost 2-0 at Bolton and on Monday evening Chelsea drew 0-0 at Fulham who had a Clint Dempsey penalty saved in stoppage time.
Both Arsenal and Tottenham faced formidable opposition in the first leg of Champions league knockout stage and came out with flying colours. Tottenham returned from the San Siro with a 1-0 victory over AC Milan and on Wednesday Arsenal came from behind to overcome the mighty Barcelona 2-1 at the Emirates. In the Europa League Manchester City and Liverpool played out goalless matches at Aris Thessaloniki and Sparta Prague respectively

Rooney scores winner in Manchester derby

Comeback upsets top guns

2011-02-11T06:11:00.000-08:00

Manchester United scored a 3rd minute goal but ended up losing their unbeaten record 2-1 at Wolves, while having taken a 3 goal lead in the first 9 minutes and gone into the break 4 up at Newcastle, Arsenal had Abou Diaby sent off and were pegged back to 4 all by the Magpies. In other high scoring matches Louis Saha scored 4 times as Blackpool were beaten 5-3 at Everton, and Blackburn lost 4-3 at Wigan while Aston Villa and Fulham score 2 apiece at Villa Park. Carlos Tevez scored a hat-trick on his birthday in Manchester City’s 3-0 home win over WBA and Tottenham beat Bolton 2-1 with a last minute goal at White Hart Lane while Robert Huth netted his second of the match in the last minute as Stoke came from behind to get the better of Sunderland in a 5 goal thriller at the Britannia stadium. On Sunday Birmingham and Liverpool were both 1-0 winners in London as the Blues defeated West Ham and the Reds beat Chelsea and new singing Torres at the Bridge.

Window of opportunity

2011-02-04T11:48:00.001-08:00

In the 4th round of the FA Cup at the weekend a stunning 1-0 win at Torquay earned little Crawley Town a trip to Manchester United who had returned from Southampton with a 2-1 win while a 2-1 victory for Leyton at Swansea gave them a home tie against Arsenal who struggled to defeat Huddersfield at the Emirates. Tottenham were dumped out of the cup 4-0 by Fulham at Craven Cottage while a single goal at Watford saw Brighton move into the next round and Birmingham came from 2 down at home to gain a 3-2 success against Coventry. Victor Obinna gave West Ham a home victory with a hat-trick in their 3-2 win over Nottingham Forest while Wolves lost by to a single goal at home to Stoke and Everton will have to travel to London after their 1-1 draw with Chelsea. Blackburn were beaten 3-1 at Aston Villa and Notts County earned a replay at Manchester City after their 1-1 draw on Sunday.
The January transfer window was closed and the league resumed in midweek with Suarez coming off the bench to score on his home début in Liverpool’s 2-0 win over Stoke while Rooney netted twice for United as Aston Villa were stung 3-1 in Manchester and Arsenal kept the pressure on the leaders with a 2-1 win at home to Everton. Chelsea gained momentum with a 4-2 win at Sunderland and an early header by Crouch was the difference in Tottenham’s favour at Blackpool while Manchester City drew 2-2 at Birmingham. Victor Obinna added 2 more goals to his tally and Robbie Keane scored on his début for the Hammers as West Ham rocked Blackpool 3-1 at the seaside and Wigan shared 4 goals with their host West Brom while Fulham and Bolton enjoyed 1-0 home wins over Newcastle and Wolves respectively.

Big names win big

2011-01-28T04:40:00.000-08:00

Dimitar Berbatov scored a hat-trick as United battered Birmingham 5-0 in Manchester and helped himself to 2 more in midweek at Blackpool as the league leaders came from behind to win 3-2, while Robin van Persie scored all 3 and missed a penalty in Arsenal’s home win over Wigan, and Chelsea powered past Bolton 4-0 away from home. Liverpool enjoyed a rise in the table after winning 3-0 at Wolves, thanks to 2 goals from Torres, and a 1-0 win at Fulham in the week while Everton scored a last-minute goal to draw 2-2 with visiting West Ham who had had Piquionne sent off for celebrating what he thought was the winning goal for the Hammers. Darren Bent scored the only goal of the match in his début for Aston Villa at home to Manchester City while Tottenham drew 1-1 at Newcastle and Fulham defeated Stoke 2-0 at the Cottage.
Arsenal and Birmingham will contest the Carling Cup final after the Gunners overturned Ipswich 3-0 at the Emirates and Birmingham came from behind to beat West Ham 3-1 at St Andrews.

Sunday draws and Arsenal stay on course

2011-01-21T05:01:00.000-08:00

Chelsea got back to winning ways with 2 goals at home to Blackburn while Manchester City were stretched at home by Wolves, eventually winning 4-3 and Arsenal found the going easy at West Ham scoring 3 goals without reply. On Sunday all 4 matches ended in draws with Tottenham and top of the table Manchester United firing blanks at White Hart Lane, and the derby matches between Sunderland and Newcastle, and Birmingham and Aston Villa ending a goal apiece while Kenny Dalglish earned his first home point as Liverpool manager in their 2-2 draw against Everton.
In FA Cup replays Stoke won 2-0 at Cardiff, Doncaster were devoured 5-0 by Wolves at Molineux, Manchester City put Leicester out 4-2 in Manchester and Arsenal returned 3-1 victorious from Leeds.

Cup hits north England

2011-01-14T03:19:00.000-08:00

Liverpool’s 2-1 midweek defeat at Blackpool was the only Premier League match of the week as the FA Cup took centre stage with Liverpool managed by Kenny Dalglish losing to an early Giggs penalty for Manchester United at Old Trafford. Newcastle United were dumped out of the cup 3-1 at Stevenage and Sunderland lost 2-1 at home to Notts County while Middlesbrough suffered the same result as hosts Burton Albion came back with 2 late goals from Shaun Harrad to make it a bad day for the north with Carlisle also dropping out after their 1-0 loss at Torquay. In a tale of 2 penalties Arsenal earned a trip to Leeds with a last minute spot kick, and Leicester earned a trip to Manchester City with a 2-2 draw while Jermain Defoe scored a double as Tottenham put Charlton out 3-0 at White Hart Lane. Chelsea smashed Ipswich 7-0 at the Bridge while Queens Park Rangers lost to a single goal at Blackburn and West Bromwich Albion suffered the same fate at Reading. Millwall were demolished 4-1 by visiting Birmingham and a Diomansy Kamara hat-trick at the Cottage helped Fulham shatter Peterborough 6-2 while Sheffield Wednesday won 3-0 at Bristol City and Sheffield United lost 3-1 at home to Aston Villa. . In the battle of the seasiders Portsmouth lost 3-1 at Brighton and Blackpool were beaten 2-0 at Southampton. Cardiff drew 1-1 at Stoke while Leyton celebrated a 1-0 win at Norwich and Wolves drew 2-2 at Doncaster. Nottingham Forest won 2-1 at Preston and Crystal Palace lost by the same scoreline at Coventry.
In the Carling Cup semi-final first-leg matches ten-man West Ham thrilled their crowd with a 2-1 success over Birmingham and the Tractor Boys of Ipswich bounced back from their humiliating hammering at Chelsea to send Arsenal back with a 1-0 defeat.

Chelsea losing ground

2011-01-07T07:44:00.000-08:00

Manchester United remain top after winning 2-1 at West Bromwich Albion and at home to Stoke in the space of 3 days, while a single goal gave Manchester City a home win against Blackpool before holding Arsenal to a goalless draw at the Emirates after the Gunners had cruised to a 3-0 win at Birmingham. Chelsea thought they had completed a late flight-back with the winner a minute from time but Aston Villa left Stamford bridge with a 3-3 draw, and days later the Londoners lost 1-0 at bottom side Wolves to move down to 5th in the table while Wolves who had earlier lost 2-0 at West Ham moved out of the relegation zone leaving the Hammers rooted to the bottom after their 5-0 humiliation at Newcastle who had earlier won 1-0 at Wigan making this period perfect for the north of England as Sunderland were the only other team to pick up 6 points with a 3-0 home victory over Blackburn and a 1-0 win at Aston Villa. Tottenham lost 2-1 at Everton but had already moved above Chelsea into 4th spot with a 1-0 home win over Fulham who went on to beat West Brom 3-0 at Craven Cottage. Liverpool enjoyed a 2-1 home win over Bolton but the pressure on manager Roy Hodgson mounted as they lost 3-1 at Blackburn while in other matches Everton lost 2-0 at Stoke and Blackpool were beaten 2-1 by visitors Birmingham.

Manchester leads London at New Year

2010-12-30T02:39:00.000-08:00

The year will end with Manchester United and City at the top of the table ahead of London teams Arsenal, Chelsea and Tottenham. Dimitar Berbatov scored both goals in United’s win over Sunderland at Old Trafford on Sunday and another goal 2 days later away to Birmingham who denied the league leaders all 3 points with a controversial late equaliser. Manchester City picked up 6 points with Tevez scoring twice in their 3-1 win at Newcastle and Balotelli scoring a hat-trick as they crushed Aston Villa 4-0 at Eastlands. Arsenal dropped a point in their 2-2 draw at ten-man Wigan but will fondly remember Monday evening and their 3-1 home victory over rivals Chelsea who returned to the Bridge to beat Bolton 1-0 in midweek.. Tottenham are only a point behind Chelsea after winning 2-1 at Aston Villa and defeating Newcastle 2-0 at White Hart Lane. In other matches during the holiday period West Ham eased their troubles at the foot of the table with a 3-1 win at Fulham and a point in their 1-1 home draw against Everton. Stoke returned from Blackburn with a 2-0 win only to fall to 2 early Baird goals at home to Fulham while Blackburn picked up the pieces to win 3-1 at West Brom who had earlier lost 2-0 at Bolton. DJ Campbell scored both goals as Blackpool won at Sunderland, and Wolves lost 2-1 at home to Wigan before earning a memorable 1-0 victory against Liverpool at Anfield.

There’s snow change at the top

2010-12-22T06:00:00.001-08:00

Snow decimated the English Premier League fixtures with only 2 matches played at the weekend. Bolton Wanderers lost 1-0 at Sunderland, and West Ham picked up a point in their 1-1 draw at Blackburn. On Monday evening Manchester City missed the chance to overtake Manchester United and go into Christmas as league leaders when they lost 2-1 at home to Everton who played the last 30 minutes a man short after the dismissal of Victor Anichebe.
Away from the European snow, Italy’s Inter were crowned Fifa Club World Cup champions after cruising to a 3-0 win over Mazembe of DR Congo in Dubai.

United top Gunners

2010-12-17T05:14:00.000-08:00

A goal from Park Ji Sung at Old Trafford on Monday evening was the difference between Manchester United and Arsenal with Rooney missing his target from the penalty spot while a day earlier Drogba had scored for Chelsea before seeing his spot kick saved in their 1-1 draw at Tottenham. Manchester City won 3-1 at troubled West Ham and Liverpool lost by the same score at Newcastle while Aston Villa defeated West Bromwich Albion 2-1 at Villa Park. There were no goals between Fulham and Sunderland or Everton and Wigan while a single goals at Wolverhampton gave the hosts all 3 points against Birmingham, and Blackburn’s 2-1 loss at Bolton resulted in the dismissal of manager Sam Allardyce. Queens Park Rangers finally lost their unbeaten record in the Championship going down 3-1 at home to Watford.
The Europa League group stage came to an end as Manchester City topped their group with a 1-1 draw at Juventus followed by Lech Poznan who won by a goal to nil at Red Bull Salzburg. Champions Atletico Madrid bowed out of the competition with a 1-1 draw at Bayern Leverkusen who were joined in the next round by Aris Tessaloniki after their 2-0 home win over Rosenborg. Zenit St Petersburg became the only team to win all 6 group matches with a 3-0 victory at AEK Athens who saw Anderlecht overtake them and move into the knockout round with a 2-0 win at home to Hajduk Split. In an exciting match Borussia Dortmund failed to get the win they needed at Sevilla and shared 4 goals with their Spanish hosts who join group winners PSG in the next round. Liverpool who had already done enough to top their group played out a goalless draw at home to Utrecht and were joined by Napoli who beat Steaua into second place with a goal deep into stoppage time in Naples.
As the European cups go into a winter break; the draws for the next phases were made with 2009-2010 Champions League finalists Bayern Munich and Inter meeting in the Europa Cup and Arsenal facing Barcelona in the Champions League round of 16 to be played in February.

Arsenal reach top

2010-12-10T03:12:00.001-08:00

As Manchester United’s match at Blackpool fell foul of the weather Samir Nasri scored twice to send Arsenal top with a hard-earned 2-1 victory over Fulham at the Emirates while Chelsea could only draw 1-1 with Everton at Stamford Bridge. An early Tevez goal gave Manchester City all 3 points at home to Bolton while Tottenham drew 1-1 at Birmingham and Stoke shared 4 goals with their hosts Wigan and 3 goals for Blackburn sent Wolves packing. Newcastle United were defeated 3-1 at West Brom with Peter Odemwingie scoring twice for the baggies and West Ham lost 1-0 at Sunderland while on Monday Liverpool cruised to a 3-0 win over Aston Villa at Anfield.
League leaders Arsenal were the only English side not to top their Champions League group as a 3-1 home win over Partizan Belgrade send them through behind Shakhtar Donetsk who won with 2 late goals at home to Braga. Chelsea lost 1-0 at Marseille but qualified ahead of the French side while Manchester United drew 1-1 at home to Valencia, and a 3-3 away draw to FC Twente saw Tottenham top their group as Inter lost 3-0 at Werder Bremen. Karim Benzema scored a hat-trick as Real Madrid put 4 past Auxerre at the Bernabeu, and having parted with manager Martin Jol and already secured a consolation Europa League place, Ajax won 2-0 at AC Milan.

United hammered in seventh heaven

2010-12-03T04:32:00.000-08:00

Having drawn 1-1 at Newcastle, Chelsea were replaced at the top of the table by Manchester United who demolished Blackburn 7-1 with Demitar Berbatov scoring 5 of the goals at Old Trafford, while Arsenal kept up the pressure winning 4-2 at Aston Villa. Wolves grabbed a late winner in a 5 goal thriller against Sunderland at Molineux and West Bromwich Albion triumphed 4-1 at Everton while Bolton and Blackpool shared 4 goals at the Reebok stadium. West Ham gave themselves some hope at the bottom of the table with a 3-1 home win against Wigan, and Tottenham beat Liverpool 2-1 with a last minute goal at White Hart Lane while Stoke earned a 1-1 draw with a last minute goal at home to Manchester City and Birmingham drew 1-1 at Fulham in a week that saw every Premier League team get on the score sheet.
In themost eagerly awaited match of the week Barcelona thrashed Jose Mourinho’s Real Madrid 5-0 in the Spanish el classico.
In the Carling Cup Manchester United were hammered 4-0 at West Ham while Arsenal booked a semi-final place with a 2-0 win at home to Wigan where they will meet Ipswich who knocked WBA out with a single goal at Portman Road. A 2-1 victory for Birmingham over local rivals Aston Villa was marred by a pitch invasion at the end of the match bringing back unpleasant memories from the decades gone-by.
In the Europa League Mario Balotelli scored twice as Manchester City winged their way 3-0 past Red Bull Salzburg at the City of Manchester stadium to go top ahead of Lech Poznan who drew 1-1 at home to Juventus while Liverpool remain at the top of their group after a 1-1 draw at runners-up Steaua Bucharest.
On Thursday England lost out to Russia in their bid to host the 2018 World Cup while the 2022 World Cup will be entrusted to Qatar.

Gunners slip

2010-11-25T03:12:00.000-08:00

Chelsea remain top of the league despite losing 1-0 at Birmingham as Arsenal let a 2 goal lead slip to end up losing at home 3-2 to local rivals Tottenham, but Manchester United are hot on their heels in 2nd place after beating 9 man Wigan 2-0 at Old Trafford. The inconsistent Newcastle United were battered 5-1 at Bolton while West Bromwich Albion lost 3-0 at home to Stoke and West Ham lost by the same scoreline at Liverpool. Wolves lost 2-1 at Blackpool while Morten Gamst Pedersen scored both goals for Blackburn to send Aston Villa home empty handed and Manchester City outclassed Fulham 4-1 at Craven Cottage with Tevez grabbing a brace. On Monday a Danny Welbeck double gave sunderland a point against visiting Everton.
In Spain a Cristiano Ronaldo hat-trick helped Real Madrid sweep Atletic de Bilbao aside 5-1 at the Bernabeu while Barcelona annihilated Almeria 8-0 with Lionel Messi scoring an away hat-trick in the process.
In the Champions League Arsenal fell to 2 late Matheus goals, but there was better news for the other English teams with Tottenham affording a missed Bale penalty in their 3-0 home win over Werder Bremen and Chelsea scraping 2-1 past Zilina at the Bridge, and Rooney making the difference from the spot for Manchester United at Glasgow Rangers. Real Madrid mauled Ajax 4-0 in Amsterdam but there could be repercussions if their 2 late dismissals for time wasting are adjudged to have been deliberate. Mario Gomez scored twice for Bayern Munich but Roma delighted their home crowd with 3 goals in the 2nd half, and Hapoel celebrated a 3-0 victory over Benfica in Israel while Turkish outfit Bursaspor were hammered 6-1 at Valencia.

Black Cats lick Chelsea at the Bridge

2010-11-19T15:11:00.001-08:00

Having recently parted company with assistant coach Ray Wilkins, Chelsea suffered a shock 3-0 home defeat to Sunderland but remain at the top of the Premier League table 2 points ahead of Arsenal who won 2-1 at Everton while Manchester United fought back from 2 down with 2 late goals to picked up a point at Aston Villa. Gareth Bale scored twice for Tottenham as they put 4 past Blackburn Rovers before the visitors earned some respect with 2 late goals, and Wolves failed to come back from 3 down against Bolton as they could only treat their home fans to 2 goals, while the matches between West Ham and Blackpool, Newcastle and Fulham, and Manchester City and Birmingham failed to produce a single goal. Liverpool lost 2-0 at Stoke and WBA fell to a single goal at Wigan.

No real winners

2010-11-12T04:13:00.001-08:00

Blackburn Rovers were the only team to emerge from the weekend and midweek fixtures with 6 points having picked up 2-1 wins at home to Wigan and away to Newcastle who had shocked Arsenal 1-0 at the Emirates. The Gunners picked up the pieces with a 2-0 victory thanks to first and last minute goals by Chamakh at Wolves who had fallen to another two-goal hero Park Ji Sung in their 2-1 loss at Manchester United. Chelsea lost 2-0 at Liverpool with Fernando Torres netting a double and adding another on Wednesday as the Reds could only manage a 1-1 draw at Wigan while Chelsea returned to the Bridge to beat Fulham 1-0 with an Essien goal before his late dismissal. Asamoah Gyan was also among the goals, scoring twice for Sunderland in their 2-0 home win against Stoke before earning a 1-1 draw for the Black Cats at Tottenham who had earlier lost 4-2 at Bolton. West Ham drew 2-2 at Birmingham and at home to West Brom, while Everton earned the same result at Blackpool before drawing 1-1 at home to Bolton. Aston Villa drew 1-1 at Fulham before returning home to defeat Blackpool 3-2, and there was a 3-2 win for Stoke at home to Birmingham. Manchester City won 2-0 at West Bromwich Albion before playing out a goalless draw at home to their local rivals United.

Top two win late

2010-11-05T13:31:00.001-07:00

Chelsea came from behind to grab a late 2-1 winner at Blackburn while Arsenal left it late to break the deadlock at home to West Ham, and a controversial Nani goal at Old Trafford sealed a 2-0 win for Manchester United against Tottenham. Manchester City disappointed their travelling fans, losing 2-1 at Wolverhampton while Clint Dempsey scored both goals in Fulham’s home win over Wigan. Aston Villa and Birmingham drew 0-0 and Liverpool picked up 3 points with a late goal at Bolton while a Kevin Nolan hat-trick and 2 from Shola Ameobi saw Newcastle hammer their local rivals Sunderland 5-1 at St James’ Park, and on Monday evening Blackpool struggled to beat nine-man West Brom 2-1 at Bloomfield Road.
In the Champions League Tottenham defeated visiting champions Inter 3-1 while Manchester United were 3-0 winners at Bursaspor and Chelsea cruised past Spartak Moscow 4-1 at Stamford Bridge, but Arsenal lost 2-1 at Shakhtar Donetsk with Eduardo netting the winner. Real Madrid salvaged a 2-2 draw with a last minute goal at AC Milan while Marseille slaughtered Zilina 7-0 in Slovakia and Ajax lost 2-1 away to Auxerre.
In the Europa Leage Steven Gerrard rescued Liverpool with 3 goals in the last 15 minutes at Anfield to give the Reds a 3-1 victory over Napoli while Manchester City fell by the same result at Lech Poznan,

Gunning in the goals

2010-10-29T04:56:00.000-07:00

Chelsea marched on with a 2-0 home win over Wolves while Arsenal moved into 2nd place after celebrating a 3-0 victory away to Manchester City whom they overtake on goal difference. Manchester United’s 2-1 win at Stoke leaves them with the same number of points and sandwiched between Arsenal and Manchester City while Tottenham are 2 points behind the pack after drawing 1-1 at home to Everton. West Bromwich Albion are sitting pretty in 6th after defeating Fulham 2-1 at the Hawthorns, followed by Sunderland after their 1-0 home win over Aston Villa. Newcastle won 2-1 at bottom club West Ham while Liverpool earned the same result at home to Blackburn.
In Spain Cristiano Ronaldo scored 4 times as Racing Santander fell 6-1 at Real Madrid and Lionel Messi scored both goals as Barcelona won at Zaragoza while the most eye-catching result in Europe was the PSV’s 10-0 demolition of Feyenoord at Eindhoven in the Dutch league.
Theo Walcott scored twice as Arsenal knocked the Toon Army out of the Carling Cup with a 4-0 at Newcastle while Stoke lost 3-1 at West Ham in extra time, and Javier Hernandez came off the bench at Old Trafford to settle the match 3-2 in United’s favour against Wolver Hampton Wanderers.

City aiming for the top

2010-10-22T13:26:00.000-07:00

A 3-2 win at Blackpool took Manchester City a step closer to Chelsea who fired blanks in their draw at Aston Villa while Arsenal came from behind to beat Birmingham 2-1 at the Emirates and Tottenham won by the same score line at Fulham. West Bromwich Albion bounced back to earn a 2-2 draw at Manchester United, and Newcastle fought back at home to cancel out N’Zogbia’s double for Wigan while troubled Wolves and West Ham drew 1-1 at Molineux and the Merseyside derby ended in a 2-0 win for Everton at Goodison.
Eduardo returned to the Emirates in the Champions League to score a consolation goal for Shakhtar Donetsk as they were outclassed 5-1 by Arsenal and in Moscow Zhirkov scored a corker with Anelka adding another to make it 2-0 to Chelsea against Spartak while Ronaldo and Özil scored early goals to give Real Madrid a home win over AC Milan. Ten-man Ajax won 2-1 at home against Auxerre who were reduced to 9 players late on in the match while FC Basel picked up a 3-1 win at Roma, and a brace from Messi for Barcelona sent FC Copenhagen home with a defeat. A superb second-half hat-trick from Gareth Bale at Inter was not enough to bale Tottenham out as the Londoners who had keeper Gomez dismissed had gone 4 down early in the match, and in the Europa League Adebayor netted a hat-trick for Manchester City as they registered a 3-1 home win against Lech Poznan while Liverpool draw 0-0 at Napoli.

Joy and frustration on a goalless day for England

2010-10-15T07:29:00.000-07:00

Montenegro remain unbeaten and on top of group G after holding England to a 0-0 draw at Wembley on Tuesday evening. The outstretched legs of Peter Crouch failed to steer the ball goal-bound and his towering header flew over the bar in a first half dominated by a toothless England side that came out with more bite after the break to test Božović in the Montenegrin goal through efforts by Rooney, Gerrarld and Barry, but Montenegro almost stole the 3 points when Jovanovic hit Hart’s crossbar with a dipping volley moments after getting away with a handball in his own box.
Earlier in the day a goalless draw in Romania saw the England under 21s qualify for the 2011 Euro championships in Denmark having beaten the Romanians 2-1 at home the previous

Blues lead the way

2010-10-08T04:58:00.001-07:00

Didier Drogba netted again against Arsenal and Alex da Costa sealed victory with a rocket of free-kick at Stamford Bridge to keep Chelsea at the top of the Premier League table with Manchester City moving into 2nd place after their 2-1 win at home to Newcastle United. Manchester United were held to a goalless draw at Sunderland while Tottenham replied to an Aston Villa goal with a double from Rafael van der Vaart at White Hart Lane and Fulham drew 1-1 at West Ham, as did Bolton at West Brom. Blackpool rocked Liverpool 2-1 at Anfield and Everton were 2-0 winners away to Birmingham while Wolves lost 2-0 at Wigan and a single goal at Stoke put Blackburn on the losing side.
In Spain Real Madrid hammered Deportivo la Coruna 6-1 while Barcelona could only draw 1-1 at home to Real Mallorca, but Valencia remain at the top of La Liga after their 2-1 home win against Athletico de Bilbao.
In Italy Juventus drew 0-0 at Inter who were replaced at the top by Lazio after winning 1-0 at home to Brescia.

Flop of the top

2010-10-01T09:09:00.001-07:00

Manchester United twice came from behind to earn a point at Bolton in a week when their 2 closest rivals at the top were both defeated, with Chelsea losing to a Tevez goal at Manchester City and Arsenal failing to complete a comeback from 3 down against West Brom at the Emirates. Tottenham lost 1-0 at West Ham and a double from Bent gave Sunderland a point at Liverpool while Fulham v Everton and Birmingham v Wigan ended goalless. Wolves and Newcastle lost 2-1 at home to Aston Villa and Stoke respectively.
In the Champions League Arsenal overcame Partizan 3-1 in Serbia and Chelsea put 2 past Marseille without reply at the Bridge while AC Milan drew 1-1 at Ajax and Real Madrid won 1-0 away to Auxerre. Manchester United defeated Valencia 1-0 in Spain and 2 penalties in Russia resulted in a 1-1 draw for Barcelona against Rubin Kazan while Tottenham cruised past Twente Enschede 4-1 at White Hart Lane with van der Vaart missing a penalty and scoring a goal before his dismissal half an hour from time. Samuel Eto’o netted a hat-trick as Inter crushed Werder Bremen 4-0 at the San Siro while Benfica fell 2-0 at Schalke and Copenhagen triumphed by the same score line at Panathinaikos.
Liverpool drew 0-0 away to Utrecht in the Europa League and Juventus drew 1-1 at Manchester City while Napoli shared 6 goals with their Romanian hosts Steaua. Bate Borisov hammered Alkmaar 4-1 in Belarus while Savilla were 1-0 winners at Dortmund and Sporting Lisbon thumped Levski Sofia 5-0 in Portugal.

Mersey misery

2010-09-24T04:59:00.000-07:00

Dimitar Berbatov foiled a 2 goal Gerrard comeback for Liverpool when he claimed his first hat-trick for Manchester United to give the home side all 3 points while the blue side of Mersey also suffered as Everton lost 1-0 at home to Newcastle. Sunderland scored a last gasp equalizer against Arsenal who had missed a penalty at the Stadium of Light while West Ham picked up their first point of the season with a 1-1 draw at Stoke, and Bolton earned a point at Aston Villa also with a 1-1 draw as did Fulham at Blackburn. WBA and Tottenham enjoyed 3-1 home wins against Birmingham and Wolves respectively, and Manchester City won 2-0 at Wigan while Chelsea remain at the top of the Premier League after brushing Blackpool aside 4-0 at the Bridge.
The Carling Cup put paid to the hopes of several big names with Chelsea losing a thriller 4-3 to Newcastle at Stamford Bridge and Manchester City going out 2-1 at West Bromwich Albion. Everton were stung on penalties at Brentford and a bad week at Merseyside was completed when Liverpool needed a goal late in extra time to draw 2-2 with Northampton at Anfield before losing to the Cobblers on penalties. Arsenal scored 3 times in first-half extra time at Tottenham to secure a place in the next round with a 4-1 victory and Manchester United proved too strong for Scunthorpe United as they rallied to a 5-2 win over their hosts.

The Power of London

2010-09-17T04:22:00.001-07:00

Manchester United are looking up to see Chelsea and Arsenal above them in the Premier League table after letting a 3-1 lead at Everton turn into a draw in stoppage time while Chelsea returned from West Ham with a 3-1 win and Arsenal swept Bolton aside 4-1 at the Emirates. Blackpool are in 4th place after their 2-0 win at Newcastle, followed by Birmingham who played out a goalless draw at home to Liverpool. Moussa Dembele scored both goals for Fulham as they beat the travelling Wolves 2-1 and Stoke came from behind with 2 late goals to defeat Aston Villa by the same score line at the Britannia on Monday evening.
In Spain Hercules celebrated a memorable 2-0 victory over Barcelona at the Camp Nou, and in Italy the most noteworthy result was the 5-1 roasting of Roma at Gagliari.
The Champion’s League group stage got underway in midweek with Rangers holding Manchester United to a goalless draw at Old Trafford while Tottenham drew 2-2 at Werder Bremen having taken an early 2 goal lead, and Barcelona bounced back from their league defeat to outplay Panathinaikos 5-1 at the Camp Nou. Champions Inter drew 2-2 at Twente Enschede while on Wednesday the top London teams were easy winners with Chelsea cruising to a 4-1 win over Zilina in Slovakia and Arsenal outclassing Portugal’s Braga 6-0 at the Emirates.
David Ngog scored twice in the Europa League as Liverpool put Steaua to the sword 4-1 at Anfield while Lech Poznan shared a 6 goal thriller with Juventus in Italy and Manchester City won 2-0 at Salzburg.
The English women qualified for next year’s World Cup in Germany after winning their 2nd leg play-off match 3-2 away to Switzerland.

Big three on top

2010-09-02T01:24:00.000-07:00

After only 3 weeks the top of the Premier League has a familiar look with Chelsea, Arsenal and Manchester United leading the way. Chelsea maintained their perfect record with a 2-0 home win over Stoke while Manchester United defeated West Ham 3-0 at Old Trafford and Arsenal returned from their tricky trip to Blackburn with a 2-1 win to their name. Tottenham lost 1-0 at home to Wigan while Fulham shared 4 goals with their hosts Blackpool and Carroll scored again for Newcastle to earn a 1-1 draw at Wolves. On Sunday a last minute Darren Bent penalty gave Sunderland a 1-0 win over visiting Manchester City while Aston Villa earned the same scoreline at home to Everton and a single goal from Torres at Anfiled gave Liverpool the edge over West Bromwich Albion. Bolton came from 2 down at home to share the points with Birmingham.
In Spain Barcelona picked up a 3-0 win at Racing Club de Santander while Real Madrid drew blanks at Real Mallorca.

Six shooters

2010-08-27T11:39:00.001-07:00

Theo Walcott fired in a hat-trick as Arsenal battered 10-man Blackpool 6-0 at the Emirates and Chelsea returned from Wigan with a similar victory while West Ham fell 3-1 at home to Bolton. Gareth Bale scored a fluke goal and a stupendous volley to give Tottenham a 2-1 win at Stoke and Craig Gardner scored a double for Birmingham who beat Blackburn 2-1 at home. Manchester United dropped 2 points in their 2-2 draw at Fulham on Sunday while Andy Carroll knocked in a hat-trick as Newcastle demolished Aston Villa 6-0 at St. James’ Park and became the 3rd Premier League side to enjoy a 6 goal win over the weekend. Manchester City cruised 3-0 past Liverpool on Monday with Tevez finding the net twice.
Barcelona won the Spanish Super Cup at the Camp Nou thanks to a Messi hat-trick with a 4-0 triumph over Sevilla who had won the first leg 3-1 a week earlier. A few days later Sevilla suffered an exit from the Champions League going down 4-3 at home to Braga with Dos Santos netting a hat-trick for the visitors. Peter Crouch banged in a hat-trick as Tottenham spanked the Young Boys of Switzerland 4-0 at White Hart Lane for a place in the group stage, and in the Europa League Liverpool made it to the next round after a 2-1 win at Trabzonspor where they will be joined by Manchester City who added 2 goals to their 1-0 away win against Timisoara, but Aston Villa fell 3-2 at home to Rapid Vienna.
Atletico Madrid won the European Super Cup by defeating Inter 2-0 in Monaco with Jose Antonio Reyes firing past Julio Cesar at his near post in the 62nd minute and Sergio Aguero being allowed a tap-in 7 minutes from time. Diego Milito had his last minute penalty saved by David de Gea to deny the Italian side a consolation goal.

Premier start

2010-08-20T02:20:00.000-07:00

Reina last minute own-goal gives Arsenal Anfield point

The English Premier league began in London with a goalless draw between Tottenham and Manchester City thanks to a first-class performance by Joe Hart in the City goal, but defending champions Chelsea had no problem finding the net as they struck 6 without reply against West Bromwich Albion with Didier Drogba bagging a hat-trick at the Bridge. Earlier in the day newcomers Blackpool had temporarily gone top with an emphatic 4-0 win at Wigan with Marlon Harewood grabbing a brace for the Tangerines. Aston Villa got on with life without Martin O’Neill with a 3-0 home win against West Ham while Everton lost 1-0 at Blackburn. On Sunday Joe Cole received a straight red for Liverpool who took the lead against Arsenal but were pegged back in stoppage time after the visitors had Laurent Koscienlny sent off on his debut, and on Monday Manchester United eased past Newcastle 3-0 at Old Trafford.

In the UEFA Champions League Young Boys hit Tottenham with 3 goals in the first half-hour in Switzerland, but the Londoners replied with 2 goals to give themselves hope for the return leg at White Hart Lane. In the Europa League a young Aston Villa side drew 1-1 at Rapid Vienna and Manchester City won 1-0 at Timisoara in Romania while Liverpool only managed one goal at home to Turkish side Trabzonspor whose keeper Onur Kivrak saved a Joe Cole penalty.

United win Community Shield

2010-08-09T05:35:00.000-07:00

Valencia knocks the ball past Hilario

Manchester United 3 Chelsea 1 (Wembley 8 August 2010)
Manchester United began the 2010-11 season by adding the Community Shield to their silverware. Edwin van der Sar dived to claw away a header from Ivanovic in the 17th minute, but it was United who broke the deadlock when Rooney received a long ball from Scholes and squared it to Valencia to stroke home 4 minutes before the break. Valencia turned provider in the 76th minute when he delivered a cross to Hernandez who kicked the ball in off his own face. Essien fed Daniel Sturridge with a delightful ball in the 82nd minute but van der Sar got down to keep the ball out, and a minute later the Dutchman made another save from Sturridge but Salomon Kalou netted the rebound to give Chelsea hope. Berbatov put the match beyond doubt when he lifted the ball over Hilario to make it 3-1 in stoppage time.

Ready for action

2010-08-06T09:01:00.000-07:00

With 2 weeks left to the start of the Premier League, Arsenal retained the Emirates Cup on Sunday after recording the only win of the tournament. A day earlier the Gunners had conceded a disappointing goal to come away with a 1-1 draw against Milan who gained the same result against Lyon before Arsenal took on Celtic for the decider. The Londoners took a 3 goal lead but Celtic, who had fought back from 2 down to draw with Lyon on Saturday, hit back with 2 late goals to give their hosts a run for their money.
In the EUFA Europa League Liverpool moved into round 2 after an easy 2-0 home win against Rabotnicki from Macedonia. Among other big names through were Juventus who sent Shamrock Rovers back to Ireland with a Del Piero goal against their name. Both victorious teams had won their away matches 2-0 in the first leg.

If only

2010-08-05T05:00:00.000-07:00

Spain reign the world but it could have been different if only the referee had awarded the Netherlands a corner or free-kick moments before the Spanish goal, though the Dutch could have been reduced to 9 men and virtually out of the game by half time. A single goal or the lack of it due to a refereeing decision or missed chance changed the fate of many teams in the World Cup.
In the last minute of the very first match of the tournament Mphela hit the outside of the Mexican post for South Africa who finished below Mexico and were eliminated on goal difference but could have progressed from group A to the next round had the ball gone in off the post and turned their first draw into a win.
In group B Nigeria finished bottom but could have made it to the next stage instead of South Korea had Yakubu not missed an open goal in their 2-2 draw against the Koreans.
England were several times a goal away from winning group C. Even without the winning goal against the USA or Algeria, or the 2nd elusive goal in their victory over Slovenia, England would have won their group ahead of the Slovenians had the Americans not scored deep into stoppage time against Algeria. Winning their group would have given them arguably an easier path to the final.
Ghana scored a penalty in their win over Serbia and draw against Australia, but failure to convert either spot kick could have seen their opponents through in their place. Having scored both penalties the Ghanaians were poised to win group D when a wondershot by Özil put Germany in poll position changing the shape of things to come.
Group E may have been the most straightforward group but 4 of the 6 matches were decided by one goal.
Italy lost their title and finished bottom of group F but could have made it to the next round instead of Slovakia had late effort against the Slovaks not been disallowed. On the other hand had the Italians failed to convert their equalising penalty against New Zealand, the Kiwis could have made history by moving into the last 16.
Two goalless draws for Portugal against the Ivory Coast and Brazil could have gone either way changing the outcome of group G. In particular the first match in which a victory for the Ivoirians could have seen them through instead of Portugal whereas a win for the Portuguese could have seen them top the group earning them a meeting with Chile instead of Spain whom the Brazilians would have faced in the next round.
The position of the top teams in group H was decided by goal difference, keeping Spain and Brazil apart in the next round. Switzerland were 15 minutes away from holding Chile which could have seem them through instead of the South Americans.
In the round of 16 only Brazil eased through without incident. Germany may have hammered England 4-1, but the English were cruelly denied an equaliser by an obvious refereeing error after fighting back from 2 down and were consequently taken apart in the 2nd half. Mexico also felt aggrieved when they saw the officials award Argentina an offside goal to break the deadlock. Ghana disposed of the USA in extra time and Paraguay needed a penalty shootout to eliminate Japan while in the 3 remaining matches there was only one goal between the winning and losing sides with Uruguay, the Netherlands and Spain getting the better of South Korea, Slovakia and Portugal respectively.
In the quarter-finals Germany may have been clear winners over Argentina, but in a game of missed and retaken penalties a single goal put Spain through against Paraguay and a Brazilian dismissal allowed the Dutch to get the better of their illustrious rivals while Ghana missed a penalty with the last kick of extra time allowing Uruguay through after a shootout.
Both semi-final losers needed only one goal to take their match to extra time and possibly the lottery of a penalty shootout, as was the case in the third-place match play-off and final. With so many teams fantasizing over what may have been, it is only Spain who will wish to relive their golden dream turning to reality.

Warming up for the World Cup

2010-06-10T10:22:00.000-07:00

In the 10 days leading up to the World Cup Denmark were defeated 1-0 by Australia and their hosts South Africa while Australia went on to lose 3-1 to America. Italy lost 2-1 to Mexico and drew 1-1 away to Switzerland who had been beaten 1-0 by Costa Rica. The Costa Rican would go on to lose 3-0 in Slovakia. Honduras drew blanks in the draw with Azerbaijan and 3-0 loss to Romania in Austria while Serbia who could only draw 0-0 with Poland in the Austrian rain, returned home to get the better of Cameroon in a 4-3 thriller. Cameroon had already lost 3-1 to Portugal who ended their warm up matches with a 3-0 win over Mozambique in Johannesburg. Germany registered a 3-1 home win over Bosnia & Herzegovina while France were stunned 1-0 by China in Reunion and Ivory Coast defeated Japan 2-0 in Switzerland where Paraguay beat Greece by the same score line. A single goal gave Algeria a win over the UAE in Germany while Slovenia beat New Zealand 3-1 in their farewell match before travelling to South Africa where Nigeria defeated North Korea 3-1. Ghana beat Latvia 1-0 in England while Brazil played 2 matches away to African opposition winning 3-0 in Zimbabwe and 5-1 in Tanzania. Spain could only manage one goal in the win over South Korea in Austria before returning home to pulverise Poland 6-0 in Mercia. The Dutch showed good form putting Ghana to the sword 4-1 and hammering Hungary 6-1 before flying out to South Africa.

Big times for Blackpool

2010-05-22T10:14:00.000-07:00

Blackpool 3 Cardiff City 2 (Wembley Championship play-off final)

Blackpool earned a place in the Premier League with a 3-2 play-off win against Cardiff in the heat of Wembley. Michael Chopra who touched the ball onto the woodwork in the 3rd minute got behind the Blackpool defence in the 9th minute to tuck away (pictured) a pass from Wittingham and put the Blue Birds ahead, but only 4 minutes later Charlie Adam curled in a free-kick for the Tangerines. Joe Ledley picked up a great pass from Whittingham in the 38th minute to slot the ball past Gilks, but once again Blackpool responded swiftly with Taylor-Fletcher hitting the post and then heading the ball over the line within 2 minutes of the Cardiff goal when a corner-kick caused problems in the Cardiff defence. In first-half stoppage time DJ Campbell dribbled his way into the box and slipped but poked the ball to Brett Ormerod who put the Tangerines ahead for the first time in the match, and with no further goals in the 2nd half Blackpool celebrated promotion to the Premier League.

Party time for Chelsea

2010-05-13T02:13:00.000-07:00

A convincing 4-0 home win for Manchester United against Stoke was overshadowed by Chelsea ripping Wigan apart 8-0 to claim the Premier League title at the Bridge with Didier Drogba netting a hat-trick to finish top scorer in the league with 29 goals. Tottenham surrendered a 2 goal lead to lose 4-2 at relegated Burnley and finish 4th while Arsenal ended the season with a 4-0 win at home to Fulham guaranteeing them a spot in the Champions League. Manchester City had to be content with 5th place as they could only draw 1-1 at West Ham for whom Luis Boa Morte scored after returning from injury. Aston Villa suffered a 1-0 home defeat to Blackburn but finished 6th with Liverpool unable to overtake them ending their poor season with a goalless draw at Hull, but finishing ahead of their local rivals Everton who finished with a 1-0 home win against Portsmouth thanks to a Bilyaletdinov belter deep into stoppage time. Portsmouth who had long been relegated to the Championship will be joined by Burnley and Hull City.

Chelsea on course

2010-05-07T07:59:00.000-07:00

Goals from Drogba and Lampard gave Chelsea a vital 2-0 victory at Liverpool to keep them a point ahead of Manchester United who won 1-0 at Sunderland with only a match remaining. Tottenham earned a Champions League place with 1-0 wins at home to Bolton and away to Manchester City denying their Manchurian hosts the privilege and threatening to overtake Arsenal in 3rd place after the Gunners lost 2-1 at Blackburn. Aston Villa had already missed out on a top 4 spot losing 3-1 at Manchester City. With their 2-2 draw at Wigan, Hull became the 3rd team after Portsmouth and Burnley to be relegated from the Premier League. Newcastle and West Bromwich Albion were promoted to the Premier League and will be joined by one of Nottingham Forest, Cardiff City, Leicester City and Blackpool after the play-offs.

Fulham make Europa final

2010-04-30T03:41:00.000-07:00

Solomon Kalou scored a hat-trick as Chelsea demolished Stoke 7-0 at the Bridge while Ryan Giggs converted 2 spot-kicks for Manchester United who kept the pressure on with a 3-1 home win against Spurs. Arsenal and Manchester City played out a goalless draw at the Emirates while Milner scored the only goal from the spot to give Aston Villa 3 points at home to Birmingham and a brace from Steven Gerrard helped Liverpool to a 4-0 win at relegated Burnley. A last minute penalty saw Fulham fall 2-1 at Everton while Portsmouth fought back with a double from Dindane to draw 2-2 at Bolton and West Ham picked up 3 home points with their 3-2 win over Wigan.
Olic scored all 3 goals at Lyon as Bayern Munich reached the Champions League final where they will meet Jose Mourinho’s Inter who knocked reigning champions Barcelona out despite losing 1-0 at the Camp Nou. In the Europa League Diego Forlan who had scored the only goal in the first leg gave Atletico Madrid the decisive away goal in extra time to silence the home crowd at Liverpool, but there were huge celebrations at Craven Cottage as Fulham came from a goal down to win with a skilfully taken goal from Simon Davis and a 76th minute goal from Zoltan Gera to reach the final where they will meet Atletico Madrid in Hamburg on May 12th

Gunners throw title hopes away

2010-04-23T02:24:00.000-07:00

Arsenal let a 2 goal lead slip in the last 10 minutes to return empty handed from Wigan conceding the title race to Manchester United and Chelsea. Paul Scholes kept United on track breaking the deadlock with a header in the last seconds of added-on time at Manchester City while Chelsea fell 2-1 at Tottenham who are fighting for 4th to secure a place in next season’s Champions League. Tim Cahill scored a last minute goal to give Everton a 3-2 win at Blackburn while Aston Villa came from behind to win 2-1 at Portsmouth, and Liverpool eased past West Ham 3-0 at Anfield.
After dropping points in a goalless draw at Espanol, Barcelona travelled by coach to Italy due to the volcanic dust where they lost 3-1 to Inter in the first leg of the Champions League semi final. In the other semi, Arjen Robben scored the only goal of the match for Bayern Munich at home to Lyon after both teams had been reduced to 10 men with the dismissal of Franck Ribery and later on Toulalan.
In the first semi-finals of the Europa League Liverpool’s marathon trip to Atletico Madrid ended in a narrow 1-0 defeat while Fulham did better, holding hosts Hamburg to a goalless draw.

The ups and downs of Pompey

2010-04-16T02:33:00.000-07:00

A day after Portsmouth had their relegation from the Premier League confirmed, their resolute performance against Tottenham at Wembley earned them a 2-0 win in extra time and an FA Cup final meeting with Chelsea who had defeated Aston Villa with 3 late goals on Saturday. In the battle to avoid relegation, Graham Alexander scored twice from the spot as Burnley recovered from an early goal to hammer their hosts Hull 4-1 and West Ham picked up 3 vital points with a 1-0 home win against Sunderland. Fulham held Liverpool to a goalless draw at Anfield, but Manchester City were in a scoring mood as they battered Birmingham 5-1 in Manchester. Manchester United drew blanks at Blackburn, giving Chelsea the opportunity to go 4 points clear at the top with a narrow 1-0 home win against Bolton in midweek. Arsenal suffered a huge setback losing 2-1 at Tottenham with Danny Rose scoring a belter to open the scoring for Spurs, and Aston Villa forced a late own-goal to salvage a 2-2 home draw against Everton.
In Spain Barcelona won El Classico 2-0 at Real Madrid to put themselves in the La Liga driving seat.

Messi Euro end for Gunners

2010-04-09T11:26:00.000-07:00

Chelsea took a big step towards the league title winning 2-1 at Manchester United with Drogba coming on to score a controversial 2nd while Arsenal kept up the pressure breaking the deadlock in stoppage time at home to Wolves. Tottenham fell 3-1 at Sunderland while Manchester City buried Burnley at Turf Moor with 3 goals in the first 7 minutes eventually winning 6-1, and West Ham picked up a point in their 2-2 draw at Everton. On Easter Monday Newcastle United celebrated promotion to the Premier League with a 2-1 home win against Sheffield United after Nottingham Forest had been held to a goalless draw at home to Cardiff, but by Tuesday all eyes were focussed on the Capm Nou where Arsenal took the lead against Barcelona only to be undone by four magical Lionel Messi goals in the Champions League. Manchester United got off to a flying start with 2 goals in the first 7 minutes against Bayern Munich and seemed to be cruising at 3-0 but the Germans pulled a goal back just before the break and after the dismissal of Rafael Da Silva Bayern found the all-important 2nd away goal with a stupendous volley from Arjen Robben to end English participation in this year’s Champions League. A goal at CSKA Moscow was enough to see Inter through to the semi-finals with Lyon also progressing despite losing 1-0 at Bordeaux.
In the Europa cup Liverpool battered Benfica 4-1 at Anfield while Bobby Zamora scored the only goal of the match in the first minute at Wolfsburg to see Fulham through. Hamburg took a step closer to playing the final in front of their home crowd with a 3-1 victory at Standard Liege, while in the all-Spanish tie Atletico Madrid drew 0-0 with Valencia to go through on the away goals rule.

Lampard hits four in Villa demolition

2010-04-02T11:57:00.000-07:00

Chelsea ran riot at the Bridge smashing forth-place contenders Aston Villa 7-1 with Frank Lampard scoring 4 times for the Londoners, while Manchester United stayed at the top with their 4-0 win at Bolton, but third-place Arsenal lost ground at Birmingham when a last gasp goal denied them a win as they drew 1-1. Harry Redknapp got the better of his old club as Tottenham beat visiting Portsmouth 2-0, and in another London match West Ham lost 1-0 to stoke while Fulham were beaten 2-0 in Hull. Torres scored twice as Liverpool picked up a 3-0 win against Sunderland at Anfield and on Monday Manchester City achieved the same result at home to Wigan with Tevez scoring all 3 goals.
In the Champions League Manchester United lost Rooney to an injury and the match 2-1 to Bayern Munich with the hosts netting the winner in stoppage time, while in France Lyon got the better of their compatriots Bordeaux 3-1 in their home leg. Arsenal fought back at the Emirates to take a 2-2 draw to Barcelona with Fabregas equalising from the spot having fractured a leg which will keep him out for an estimates 6 weeks, and Inter will take a 1-0 lead to CSKA Moscow. In the Europa League there were 2-1 home wins for Benfica against Liverpool, Hamburg against Standard Liege and Fulham against Wolfsburg, while in the all-Spanish match Atletico Madrid drew 2-2 at Valencia.

The narrowest of gaps

2010-03-26T03:20:00.000-07:00

Chelsea dropped 2 points in their 1-1 draw at Blackburn but demolished Portsmouth 5-0 at Fratton Park in midweek to move to within one point of Manchester United who went down to an early goal from Torres but ended up 2-1 winners at home to Liverpool. Arsenal who played the entire 2nd half with 10 men at the Emirates but defeated West Ham 2-0 are a further point behind the leaders. John Carew scored both goals at home for Aston Villa to rescue a point against Wolves who mauled West Ham 3-1 in midweek when Aston Villa dropped another 2 points at home with Carew equalising Fraizer Campbell’s effort for Sunderland. Darren Bent scored twice at the Stadium of Light on Saturday as Sunderland beat Birmingham 3-1 and 2 late goals gave Portsmouth a 3-2 win at home to Hull City. Manchester City’s unbeaten home record came unstuck when they lost 2-0 to Everton and in the FA Cup Fulham took the lead in their replay at White Hart Lane but Tottenham completed the semi-final line-up with 3 goals in the 2nd half.
In Scotland Rangers are running away with the title after Celtic were humiliated 4-0 at St. Mirren which lead to the sacking of manager Tony Mowbrary.
In Lisbon Benfica beat Porto 3-0 to win the Portuguese League Cup.

Historic night at Fulham

2010-03-19T05:03:00.000-07:00

A last gasp goal from Bendtner gave Arsenal a 2-1 win at Hull to keep them on the heels of Chelsea who hammered West Ham 4-1 at the Bridge and Manchester United who eased past Fulham 3-0 at Old Trafford thanks to another 2 goals from Wayne Rooney. Manchester City needed a last minute goal to earn a 1-1 draw at Sunderland, and Roman Pavlyuchenko scored a brace as Tottenham picked up a 3-1 home win against Blackburn while on Monday evening Liverpool sailed to a 4-1 win over Portsmouth with Torres scoring twice for the home side.
In Spain Higuain netted a hat-trick as Real Madrid won 4-1 at Real Valladolid, and Messi scored all 3 as Barcelona brushed Valencia aside at the Camp Nou.
Jose Mourinho took Inter to Chelsea in the Champions League and got the better of his old club, winning 1-0 to knock the Londoners out of Europe, while a 2-1 win in Savilla saw CSKA Moscow through to the next round along with Bordeaux who achieved the same result at home to Olympiakos, and Barcelona who outclassed Stuttgart 4-0 after their 1-1 draw in Germany.
In the Europa League Fulham recovered from a 3-1 defeat at Juventus and an early goal at the Cottage to record a glorious 4-1 victory on the night and knock the Italian giants out 5-4 on aggregate, while Fernando Torres scored twice to seal a 3-0 win for Liverpool over Lille at Anfield. Valencia won on away goals after their 4-4 draw at Werder Bremen, while Hamburg did enough to progress despite losing 4-3 at Anderlecht. Aguero scored both goals for Atletico Madrid in their 2-2 draw at Sporting Lisbon to see the Spanish side through on the away goals rule while Benfica scored a last minute goal to win 2-1 at Marseille, and Wolfsburg needed extra time to get the same result at home to Rubin Kazan. Standard Liege are also through to the next round winning 1-0 at home after having beaten Panathinaikos 3-1 in Greece.

Big guns rampant

2010-03-12T10:34:00.000-08:00

In a week that saw a mixture of FA Cup and Premier League matches, Piquionne scored both goals against Birmingham to give the home crowd something to celebrate as troubled Portsmouth booked a place in the semi-finals where they will meet Tottenham or Fulham who failed to score at Craven Cottage. Aston Villa came from 2 down in the first half at Reading to win 4-2 thanks to a Carew hat-trick, and will play Chelsea in the other semi after the Londoners disposed of Stoke 2-0 at the Bridge. In the league Everton hammered Hull 5-1, while Manchester United struggled to win 1-0 at Wolves, and Arsenal rallied to a 3-1 home win against Burnley.
In Spain with Barcelona drawing 2-2 at Almeria, Real Madrid moved to the top of the league after coming from 2 down at home to beat Sevilla 3-2 with a last minute goal, but their joy was short lived as they were knocked out of the Champions League in midweek after only managing a 1-1 home draw against Lyon. A rocket from Robben gave Bayern Munich the away goal to take them through despite losing 3-2 at Fiorentina, while Arsenal pummelled Porto 5-0 thanks to a hat-trick by Nicklas Bendtner who had missed 3 sitters at the weekend, and Manchester United mauled Milan 4-0 at Old Trafford. In first leg of the Europa League, Liverpool who had lost 1-0 at Wiagn on Monday, lost by the same scoreline to a late goal in Lille, and Fulham were beaten 3-1 at Juventus while Rubin Kazan, Valencia and Benfica drew 1-1 at home to Wolfsbug, Werder Bremen and Marseille respectively. Standard Liege triumphed 3-1 at Panathinaikos, and Hamburg enjoyed the same result at home to Anderlecht while nine-man Sporting Lisbon held Atletico to a goalless draw in Madrid.

Gunners close the gap

2010-03-03T10:47:00.000-08:00

With Manchester United playing in the Carling Cup final, Arsenal closed the gap on the top two with a 3-1 win at Stoke scoring 2 goals late on in a match that will be remembered for the horrendous injury to Aaron Ramsey, as nine-man Chelsea fell at the Bridge losing 4-2 to Manchester City with Tevez and Bellamy scoring a brace each, as did Lampard for the losing hosts. Portsmouth who went into administration put their financial difficulties aside for 90 minutes to win 2-1 at Burnley, while Tottenham defeated Everton 2-1 at White Hart Lane, and Liverpool secured the same result at home to Blackburn with goals from Gerrard and Torres.
In Scotland Rangers took a firm grip on the SPL by beating arch rivals Celtic 1-0 with a goal by Maurice Edu in stoppage time.

Champions beaten

2010-02-26T15:22:00.000-08:00

Manchester United who took the lead but lost 3-1 at Everton, closed the gap on Chelsea who won 2-0 at Wolves, by winning their midweek match 3-0 at home to West Ham with 2 headers from Rooney and a late goal from Michael Owen. A last minute goal saw Portsmouth lose 2-1 to ten-man Stoke, while a screamer from Bobby Zamora gave Fulham a 2-1 victory at home to Birmingham. Liverpool and City drew blanks in Manchester, and Burnley scored twice at Aston Villa with the hosts scoring 5 times in between.
In the FA Cup replays Stoke deprived Manchester City of silverware with a 3-1 triumph in extra time, and Reading returned from West Brom with a 3-2 win also in extra time, while 2 late penalties from John Carew finally ended the hopes of Crystal Palace as Villa progressed with a 3-1 home win, and Roman Pavlyuchenko scored twice at Tottenham eased 4-0 past Bolton at white Hart Lane.
Chelsea lost their first leg of the Champions League 2-1 at Inter, while in the Europa League Fulham knocked holders Shakhtar Donetsk out of the competition with a 1-1 draw in Ukraine having won their home leg 2-1, and Liverpool won 3-1 at Unirea to go through, but Everton fell 3-0 at Sporting Lisbon. A last gasp goal gave Atletico Madrid a 2-1 win at Galatasaray to see the Spaniard through after they had only managed a home draw in their first leg.

Knockout time

2010-02-19T01:08:00.000-08:00

The Premier League was given the weekend off to make room for the FA Cup while waiting for the European competitions to return in midweek. Troubled Portsmouth travelled to Southampton where they disposed of their bitter rivals 4-1 with all the goals coming in the last 24 minutes. Chelsea took a step closer to the final with a 4-1 win at home to Cardiff City while Manchester City will have to replay at Stoke after a 1-1 draw at home (a dress rehearsal in the Premier League at the Britannia on Tuesday also ended in a 1-1 draw) and Reading will travel to West Bromwich Albion after sharing 4 goals with the baggies. A last minute goal gave Birmingham a 2-1 win at Derby County. A late goal at Crystal Palace gave Aston Villa a 2-2 draw and a home replay, and Tottenham also gained a home replay with their 1-1 draw at Bolton Wanderes while Fulham eased 4-0 past Notts County at the Cottage.
In the Spanish league Barcelona lead the way despite losing 2-1 at Atletico Madrid.
Wayne Rooney scored twice as Manchester Untied returned from Italy with a 3-2 win over AC Milan in the first leg of the Champions League, while Real Madrid lost 1-0 at Olympique Lyonnais. Goalkeeping errors by Fabianski handed Porto a 2-1 home win against Arsenal, while a last minute goal in Munich gave Bayern a 2-1 win over Fiorentina.
Among Europa League matches Juventus returned from Ajax with a 2-1 victory while a single goal late on in the match gave Liverpool a home win over Unirea Urziceni of Romania. There were also 1-0 home wins for Twente against Werder Bremen, Brugge against Valencia and Hamburg against PSV. Everton and Fulham won 2-1 at home to Sporting Lisbon and Shakhtar Donetsk respectively.

Big two midweek slipup

2010-02-11T16:19:00.000-08:00

Didier Drogba once again did the damage as he scored both the goals for Chelsea to send Arsenal home empty handed, where they enjoyed a 1-0 midweek win over Liverpool as Chelsea lost 2-1 at Everton, and Manchester United who had hammered Portsmouth 5-0 at Old Trafford with the help of 3 own-goals on Saturday, dropped points in their 1-1 draw at Aston Villa. At the weekend Dirk Kuyt scored the only goal of a tempestuous derby to give Liverpool victory over Everton, and Kevin Phillips came on at Birmingham to score 2 late goals and condemn Wolves to a 2-1 loss, while Manchester City lost by the same scoreline at Hull, and Tottenham who lost their midweek match 1-0 at Wolves, played a goalless match at home to Aston Villa.

Londoners drop points

2010-02-05T05:37:00.000-08:00

A 3-1 Manchester United triumph over Arsenal at the Emirates kept the pressure on Chelsea who needed a John Terry goal to win 2-1 at Burnley and could only draw 1-1 in their midweek match at Hull. Tottenham were denied victory by a last minute goal at Birmingham and an Agbonlahor double gave Aston Villa a win at Fulham. Butterfield scored a hat-trick as Crystal Palace won their FA Cup replay 3-1 at home to Wolves, and Tottenham enjoyed the same result in their replay as Defoe netted a hat-trick at Leeds.

Rooney leads the way for United

2010-01-29T02:29:00.000-08:00

Wayne Rooney scored all 4 goals at Old Trafford as Manchester United eased past Hull City in the only Premier League match of the weekend as many other teams were busy with FA Cup ties with Arsenal being the biggest casualties of the 4th round losing 3-1 at Stoke. Among other matches Everton lost 2-1 at home to Birmingham and Newcastle fell 4-2 at West Bromwich Albion, while Jermaine Beckford scored both goals for Leeds as they earned a home replay against Tottenham. In the Milan derby Inter ended the match with 9 men but were 2-0 winners against Milan who missed a penalty through Ronaldinho in stoppage time.
In midweek Liverpool drew blanks at Wolves while Crouch and Bentley got the goals for Tottenham who were entertaining Fulham. Frank Lampard scored twice at the Bridge as Chelsea defeated Birmingham 3-0 to go top, ahead of Arsenal who drew 0-0 at Aston Villa, and Manchester United who were playing the return leg of the Carling Cup semi-final where Rooney scored the decisive goal in stoppage time to give United a 3-1 win over Manchester City and take them to the Wembley final with a 4-3 aggregate win.

Gunning above the magnificent seven

2010-01-22T05:10:00.000-08:00

Chelsea demolished Sunderland 7-2 at the Bridge but lost top spot to Arsenal who won 2-0 at Bolton, before returning home to fight back from 2 down and defeat the same team 4-2 in midweek. Manchester United kept up the pressure by winning 3-0 at home to Wigan, but lost the first leg of their Calring Cup semi-final 2-1 (with a brace from Tevez) away to City who had earlier lost 2-0 at home to Everton in the league. In the other semi-final Aston Villa took a 1-0 lead from the first leg but fell 2-0 to Blackburn before fighting back to win an unforgettable match 6-4 and reach Wembley where they will meet the winners of the Manchester derby.

Chelsea enjoy snow break

2010-01-15T09:30:00.000-08:00

With the English Premier League fixture list decimated by severe weather conditions, league leaders Chelsea whose match at Hull was postponed watched their nearest rivals drop points as Manchester United drew 1-1 at Birmingham, while in the only other match to be played at the weekend Arsenal needed a last gasp goal to salvage a 2-2 draw at home to Everton. Carlos Tevez scored a hat-trick on Monday in Manchester as City buried Blackburn 4-1 to move into 4th place. Reading who had earned a replay at Liverpool celebrated a famous 2-1 win at Anfield knocking the Reds out of the FA Cup in extra time.
In the Spanish cup Zigic scored twice for Valencia in their 2-2 draw at Deportivo La Coruna and Barcelona won 1-0 at Sevilla but both teams were knocked oput as a result of their 2-1 home defeats.

Early cup exit for Man Utd

2010-01-08T07:06:00.000-08:00

Leeds United rose to the occasion at Old Trafford to knock Manchester United out of the FA Cup in the 3rd round, with a goal from Jermaine Beckford in the first half. Liverpool will need a replay after their 1-1 draw at Reading while Arsenal progressed to the next round with 2 goals in the 2nd half after going a goal down at West Ham. Aston Villa are also through, winning 3-1 at home to Blackburn.
In Spain Barcelona and Valencia both suffered 2-1 home defeats in their first leg Copa del Rey matches against Sevilla and Deportiva la Coruna respectively.
Both midweek Carling Cup semi-final matches in England were postponed due to severe weather conditions.

Chelsea hang on to top spot

2009-12-31T09:24:00.000-08:00

Chelsea ended the decade ahead of their rampant rivals but may feel the pressure in the absence of their African starts who will be on international duty in January. With each team playing twice during the Christmas week the league leaders dropped points in their goalless draw at Birmingham and came back with 2 goals in quick succession to defeat Fulham 2-1 at Stanford Bridge, while Arsenal enjoyed a convincing 3-0 win over Aston Villa at the Emirates before sailing to a 4-1 victory at Portsmouth, and Manchester United returned from Hull with a 3-1 win before thumping Wigan 5-0 at Old Trafford. Liverpool got back to winning ways with a 2-0 win at home to Wolves and more importantly grabbing a late goal to break the deadlock at Aston Villa. Manchester City who picked up 6 points in their first 2 matches under the guidance of their new manager Roberto Mancini winning 2-0 at home to Stoke and 3-0 away to Wolves have a game in hand over Tottenham who with their goalless draw at Fulham and 2-0 success at West Ham end 2009 in 4th spot.

Dazzling Fulham

2009-12-24T08:11:00.000-08:00

Bobby Zamora scored twice for Fulham as Manchester United were stunned 3-0 at Craven Cottage while Arsenal won by the same score-line at home to Hull, and Aston Villa earned another 3 points when Carew scored the only goal of the match at home to Stoke. Mark Hughes finally lost his job despite Manchester City winning 4-3 at home to Sunderland, while Rafa Benitez returned from bottom club Portsmouth with a 2-0 defeat but still in charge of Liverpool. Peter Crouch scored both goals in Tottenham’s win at Blackburn, and Chelsea needed a twice retaken penalty from Lampard to cancel out a first-half penalty at West Ham for a share of the points.
As Barcelona were winning the Club World championship with a Messi extra-time goal in their 2-1 win against Estudiantes de la Plata of Argentina, Real Madrid were putting 6 past Real Zaragoza without reply in the Spanish league.

Villa on the up

2009-12-18T04:47:00.000-08:00

A goal from Gabriel Agbanlahor gave Aston Villa a rare victory at Old Trafford and left Manchester United ruing their failure to close the gap on Chelsea who drew 3-3 at home to Everton. Arsenal were the only other winners among the top teams as Arshavin scored a stunning winner to condemn Liverpool to a 2-1 home defeat while Tottenham lost 1-0 at home to Wolves, and Manchester City, who had Craig Bellamy controversially send off, shared 6 goals in an exciting match at Bolton. In the midweek matches Arsenal dropped points in their 1-1 draw at Burnley while Aston Villa made it a perfect week with goals from Heskey and Milner at Sunderland. Manchester City were humbled 3-0 at Tottenham while Chelsea struggled at the Bridge to overcome Portsmouth 2-1 and Manchester United picked up 3 points with a 3-0 home win over a depleted Wolverhampton Wanderers. In the Europa League Bobby Zamora scored twice in Basel as Fulham won 3-2 to progress to the knockout stage.

Manchester smiling

2009-12-11T04:22:00.000-08:00

Manchester United who demolished West Ham 4-0 in London were happy to see their nearest rivals Chelsea lose 2-1 at Manchester City with Frank Lampard missing the opportunity to earn a point from the spot. Fabregas also missed a penalty but Arsenal ran out 2-0 winners against Stoke at the Emirates and Aston Villa enjoyed a 3-0 home win against Hull, while Liverpool and Blackburn fired blanks at Ewood Park. Everton scored late goals to earn a 2-2 draw at home to Tottenham.
Christiano Ronaldo returned from injury to miss a penalty, score a goal and get sent off in front of his home crowd as Real Madrid came from 2-1 down to win 4-2 against Almeria. The Portuguese star added another 2 on Tuesday to help his side triumph 3-1 at Olympique de Marseille while Chelsea could only draw 2-2 at home to Apoel Nicosia. Michael Owen netted a hat-trick in Germany as Wolfsburg succumbed 3-1 to Manchester United, and Messi scored a late goal to give Barcelona a 2-1 win at Dynamo Kiev while Liverpool bowed out with a 2-1 home defeat to Fiorentina.

Gunners down and out

2009-12-04T06:48:00.000-08:00

Arsenal were outmuscled 3-0 at home to leaders Chelsea with two-goal Drogba making the difference. Both teams were knocked out of the Carling Cup later in the week with the Gunners suffering the same result at Man City while Chelsea were shown the exit after a penalty shoot-out at Blackburn. Manchester United remain 2nd in the league after their 4-1 victory at Portsmouth while Tottenham moved above their miserable neighbours Arsenal with a 1-1 draw at Aston Villa. Manchester City recorded another draw in the league making it 7 in a row with their 1-1 tie at home to Hull City while Liverpool won the Merseyside derby 2-0 at Everton, and an avalanche of goals at West Ham saw Burnley lose 5-3 after trailing 5-0 with 22 minutes remaining.
In Spain Barcelona got the better of Real Madrid with Zlatan Ibrahimovic scoring the only goal at the Camp Nou.

Spurs strike nine

2009-11-27T12:25:00.000-08:00

Jermain Defoe scored 5 times as Tottenham humiliated Wigan 9-1, while their north London rivals, Arsenal, lost 1-0 at Sunderland. Leaders Chelsea devoured Wovles 4-0, and Manchester United eased past Everton 3-0 while Manchester City earned a 2-2 draw at Liverpool. In Europe Liverpool failed to reach the next round of the Champions League despite winning 1-0 away to Debreceni of Hungary whereas Manchester United suffered a shock 1-0 home defeat to Besiktas but topped their group with a game in hand. Other teams to have already qualified for the knockout stages are Bordeaux, Chelsea, Porto, Fiorentina, Olympique Lyonnais, Sevilla and Arsenal.

Swiss boys on a roll

2009-11-21T10:44:00.000-08:00

Switzerland won the under 17 World Cup with a 1-0 victory against hosts Nigeria in the final. The Swiss began the tournament with what seemed to be a surprising 2-0 win over Mexico and added another 3 points by defeating Japan 4-3 in their 2nd match before upsetting Brazil 1-0 to top their group.
Nigeria were trailing by three goals to nil when Germany were reduced to 10 men in the 53rd minute, and within 7 minutes the hosts had resorted parity and went on to claim a point from their first match. A single goal against Honduras in their next match and a 2-1 victory against Argentina in their final group match saw them progress to the next round where they hammered 10-man New Zealand 5-0. Switzerland had a much tougher test in this round, needing extra time to overcome Germany 4-3 and reach the quarter finals.
Switzerland added another big name to their list when they defeated Italy 2-1 while Nigeria continued their path brushing South Korea aside 3-1 to join Colombia and Spain in the semi finals.
Switzerland eased into the final hammering Colombia 4-0 after the South Americans had suffered a dismissal as early as the 13th minute. Sani Emmanuel scored twice as Nigeria reached the final with a 3-1 win over Spain.
A day after the Nigerian senior side had qualified for the World Cup finals, the country prepared for a double celebration, but Haris Seferovic popped up in the 63rd minute to meet a corner kick and head the ball into the Nigeria net giving Switzerland their first ever world trophy at any level.

United fall at the Bridge

2009-11-13T13:10:00.000-08:00

A 4-1 win at Wolves moved Arsenal up into 2nd place ahead of Manchester United who lost the top of the table clash 1-0 at Chelsea. Manchester City dropped another 2 points at home after coming from 2 down to take the lead against Burnley only to concede an equaliser 3 minutes from time. Troubled Hull City gained a 2-1 home win against Stoke while West Ham lost by the same result at home to Everton. Aston Villa enjoyed the biggest win of the week thumping Bolton 5-1 while Liverpool needed a Steven Gerard penalty to draw 2-2 at home to Birmingham. In Spain the top teams both won with Real Madrid coming up on top 3-2 in the Madrid derby at Atletico and Barcelona beating Real Mallorca 4-2 at the Camp Nou.

Liverpool in the red

2009-11-06T02:12:00.000-08:00

Liverpool’s troubles continued when they lost 3-1 at Fulham having been reduced to 9 men in a weekend that saw a record 9 players sent off in the premier league. Chelsea put on another powerful performance to win 4-0 at Bolton and remain at the top of the league while Manchester United kept on the pressure winning 2-0 at home to Blackburn, and Arsenal proved too strong for Tottenham winning 3-0 at the Emirates. In the Netherlands Feyenoord ended the match with 9 players as they were thumped 5-1 at Ajax while in Germany Hamburg suffered a shock 3-2 defeat to Borussia Munchen Gladbach. Barcelona who were held to a 1-1 draw at Osasuna in the league fired blanks in their midweek European match away to Rubin Kazan while Manchester United needed 2 late goals to avoid a home defeat and draw 3-3 with CSKA Moscow. Bayern Munich lost 2-0 at home to Bordeaux and Real Madrid drew 1-1 away to Milan while in France Olympique Lyonnais scored a last gasp goal to cancel out a Ryan Babel rocket for Liverpool.

Chelsea enjoy slip-ups

2009-10-30T12:35:00.000-07:00

After a sweeping 5-0 win at home to Blackburn, Chelsea sit at the top of the Premier League as their closest rival, Manchester United, lost 2-0 at Liverpool, and Arsenal relinquished a 2 goal lead to draw 2-2 at West Ham, while Manchester City suffered the same fait at home to Fulham. Tottenham dominated their home match against Stoke in vain as they lost 1-0 and Aston Villa drew 1-1 at Wolves, while Everton rallied back from 2 down only to lose to a late goal at Bolton.
In Spain Real Madrid dropped points in a goalless draw at Sporting Gijon while Barcelona hammered Real Zaragoza 6-1 at the Camp Nou.
Arsenal knocked Liverpool out of the Carling Cup with a 2-1 win at the Emirates on Wednesday.

Life is a beach

2009-10-24T08:11:00.000-07:00

A bizarre goal scored with the aid of a beach ball was the undoing of Liverpool at Sunderland while Chelsea’s 2-1 defeat at Villa was also good news for United who went top after their 2-1 win over Bolton in Manchester.
In the Champions League Rubin Kazan produced the shock of the week beating Barcelona 2-1 at the Camp Nou while Real Madrid also lots at home going down 3-2 to Milan in a match laden with goalkeeping errors. Glasgow Rangers were thumped 4-1 at home to Romanian Unirea Urziceni and Liverpool lost their home tie 2-1 to Olympique Lyonnais. Kalou scored twice and Lampard also got on the score sheet at the Bridge as Chelsea eased 4-0 past Atletico Madrid while 9-man Bayern Munich lost 2-1 away to Bordeaux who missed 2 penalties.
In the Europa League Everton took a 5-0 battering at Benfica while Roma who had a penalty saved by Mark Schwarzer forced a 1-1 draw with the last kick of the match at Fulham, and Slavia Prague earned the same result at Valencia. Kazim Richards scored the only goal for Fenerbahce who won at Steaua Bucharest while another Turkish Romanian encounter ended in Glatasaray hammering visiting Dinamo 4-1 with Shabani Nonda netting twice and Harry Kewel also among the scorers. Hapoel Tel Aviv enjoyed a convincing 5-1 victory at home to Rapid Vienna while young Swede Marcus Berg scored the only goal for Hamburg at Celtic Park.

Young Ghana win World Cup

2009-10-17T11:00:00.000-07:00

Ghana became the first African team to win the FIFA under 20 World Cup by beating Brazil on penalties in Egypt. Despite Daniel Addo’s controversial sending off in the 37^th minute, Ghana took Brazil to extra time where the drought continued mainly thanks to Ghanaian keeper Daniel Agyei who made an outstanding save to keep Brazil at bay. In the penalty shootout Brazil were a penalty kick away from lifting the cup but failed to convert their last 2 kicks, giving Emmanuel Agyemang-Badu the chance to score in sudden death and send Ghana into frenzy as they lifted their first Under-20 World Cup trophy.

Earlier in the day Hungary scored a last minute penalty to draw 1-1 with Costa Rica and win third place on penalties.

Hosts Egypt began the tournament with a convincing 4-1 win over Trinidad & Tobago, but were silenced 2-1 by Paraguay in their next match needing a spirited performance to defeat Italy 4-2 and finish top of group A followed by Paraguay and Italy who also pregressed.

Spain shone in Group B winning all 3 matches with a clean sheet and scoring 13 in the process including 8 against Tahiti. Venezuela and Nigeria also progressed from this group.

All 4 teams in group C registered wins but only Germany and South Korea made it to the next round. The Koreans had lost 2- 0 to bottom team Cameroon, but a 1-1 draw against Germany and 3-0 victory over USA - who had thrashed Cameroon 4-1 and lost 3-0 to Germany - saw them through.

Ghana and Uruguay dominated group D while Uzbekistan and England made up the numbers and took early flights home.

Brazil who started their campaign by sweeping Cost Rica aside 5-0, finished on top of group E with 7 points, ahead of the Czech Republic on goal difference. Costa Rica reached the next stage as one of the best 3^rd teams thanks to their 3-0 win over Australia who returned home pointless.

Group F saw a complete reversal of fortunes for Hungary and Honduras. After being beaten soundly 3-0 by Honduras, the Hungarians woke up to hammer South Africa 4-0 and top their group with a 2-0 win over the UAE, while Honduras finished bottom of the group losing 1-0 to the UAE and 2-0 to South Africa who both followed Hungary into the next round.

In the round of 16 Spain finally met their match losing 3-1 to Italy while South Korea eased 3-0 past Paraguay. Ghana needed extra time to dispose of South Africa 2-1, and Hungary needed a penalty shootout to get past the Czechs after drawing 1-1 in normal and 2-2 in extra time. Hosts Egypt suffered a shock exit losing 2-0 to Costa Rica, while 3 goals in 9 minutes gave Brazil a 3-1 victory over Uruguay. The United Arab Emirates continued their quests by beating Venezuela 2-1, and Bjorn Kopplin scored a last minute goal to give ten-man Germany a 3-2 win and knock Nigeria out of the competition.

In the Quarter-finals Ghana defeated South Korea 3-2, while Italy who had 3 players sent off lost 3-2 in extra time to ten-man Hungary in a match that saw both managers sent to the stands. Maicon scored 2 minutes from time and a minute into extra time to give Brazil a 2-1 win over Germany, and Costa Rica scored in the last minute of extra time to knock the UAE out by the same score line.

In the Semi-finals top scorer Dominic Adiyiah scored twice as Ghana beat Hungary 3-2 to reach the final where they met Brazil who defeated Costa Rica with a single Alan Kardec goal.

A bridge too far for Liverpool

2009-10-10T00:38:00.000-07:00

Sunderland came close to a win at Old Trafford but gifted United an equalizer with a stoppage time own goal, while Chelsea go into the international week break at the top of the league table after beating Liverpool 2-0 in their Sunday match at the Bridge. Portsmouth registered their first points of the season with a 1-0 win at Wolves, and Arsenal twice came from behind to eventually run out comfortable 6-2 winners against Blackburn at the Emirates. On Monday Aston Villa and Manchester City drew 1-1 as Richard Dunne scored for Villa against his old club.

In Germany Bayern Munich find themselves in 8^th place after only managing a 0-0 home draw against lowly Köln and in Spain Real Madrid relinquished their top spot to Barcelona after losing 2-1 at Sevilla who are now equal with them on points.