23 AUGUST 2000

West Ham 0
Leicester 1 (Eadie 54)
RED CARD : Stimac (Hammers) 45 mins

Controvesy at Upton Park as Leicester win at West Ham for the first time in 
34 years. The only goal was scored by Darren Eadie who thumped his effort 
into the roof of the net from 10 yards after Hislop made a hash of collecting a
cross. The Hammers were fuming on half time though when Igor Stimac was
sent off for a second bookable offence, a bodycheck on Robbie Savage and
I have to admit that it looked harsh as he couldn't really get out of the way.
Akinbiyi had a late header ruled out unluckily for offside as again Hislop
struggled with the cross.


Southampton 1 (Tessem 52)
Coventry 2 (Bellamy pen 20, Roussel 62)

Coventry's first away win in the league since April 3rd 1999! New £6.5m man 
Craig Bellamy got the scoring started when he fired home a penalty although 
how much contact was made is open to debate after he was apparently fouled 
by Tahar. Early in the second half Rosler was fuming when he felt he was 
tripped in the area, however the Saints didn't get the penalty. Jo Tessem 
levelled the scores for Saints, cutting inside from the right before shooting
superbly inside the far post, but the lead last just ten minutes until Cedric
Rousell clinched the points with a near post header from a Eustace corner.


Newcastle 3 (Cort 5, Cordone 46, Glass 55)
Derby 2 (Strupar 45, Johnson 83)
RED CARD : Barton (Newcastle) 78 mins

Tense stuff at St James Park which left Derby boss Jim Smith livid at the ref for
what he called 'a poor performance', even though Newcastle had Warren
Barton sent off for a professional foul on Deon Burton. The commentator felt it
was harsh, I didn't! He was the last man and he pulled  Burton back - red card,
end of story. Carl Cort scored his first goal for Newcastle early on, heading home
from close range after Solano's cross, however on the stroke of half time Branko
Strupar equalised having taken advantage of a lucky ricochet after latching on
to Higginbottom's long pass. Cordone restored the lead early in the second half,
slotting home after Powell made a hash of clearing a cross from Glass and it
Glass, on as a sub for the injured Cort,  who added a third shortly after, curling
home a beauty from 25 yards after the visitors failed to clear a corner. A late 
Seth Johnson goal gave Derby hope as he slotted home a Valakari cross, but 
the equaliser wasn't forthcoming.


Man City 4 (Wanchope 4, 78, 88, Haaland 23)
Sunderland 2 (Quinn 64, Phillips 67)

A new hero at Maine Rd as new signing Paulo Wanchope scored a superb hat 
trick. His first early on was a thumping shot at the far post from Weah's cross
and then Alfie Haaland doubled the lead midway through the half with a tap
in, also from a Weah cross. Niall Quinn pulled a goal back, heading home
Kilbane's cross and three minutes later Kevin Phillips made it 2-2 showing
excellent control before volleying home from 12 yards. However two in the
final twelve minutes from the ex West Ham man won the points for City. His
second and city's third was a bobbled effort past the keeper after getting
onto the end of Edhill's long ball and he completed the hat trick with a neat
clipped shot across the keeper into the corner.


Everton 3 (Jeffers 54, Ferguson 84, 90)
Charlton 0
RED CARD : Tiler (Charlton) 38 mins

Everton took their time to break down a resolute Charlton side and it was left to
late substitute Duncan Ferguson to really sew up the points. Charlton coped well
with the first half dismissal of Carl Tiler, sent off for two bookable offences, the
second a clash with Mark Hughes where he appeared to throw a punch, but
eventually went behind when Francis Jeffers scored with a fine 20 yard shot into
the bottom corner, set up by Paul Gascoigne. Enter big Dunc who scored twice in
the final six minutes, firstly slotting home Gazza's through ball and then with a
cross shot that took a wicked deflection and looped in over Kiely.


22 AUGUST 2000

Bradford (1) 2 (Windass 24, Carbone 72)
Chelsea (0) 0

Chelsea's inability to win away to so called unfashionable sides was again 
their downfall as they crashed at Valley Parade. Dean Windass grabbed the 
first, heading home a deep Lee Sharpe cross and after Jimmy Floyd Hasselbaink
had been substituted (and shown his anger by thumping his first on the dugout
roof), Beni Carbone crashed home the second with a dipping, swerving 30 yard
effort that totally deceived De Goey who should have done much better.


Ipswich (1) 1 (Wilnis 7)
Man United (1) 1 (Beckham 40)

Ipswich played superbly to earn a draw against a United side that never really
found their form. Fabien Wilnis scored a cracking opener, firing home from the
edge of the box, the ball nestling into the corner giving Barthez no chance.
A slightly lucky equaliser followed when Beckham's 30 yard free kick was
crossed into the area, flew past all and sundry and found the back of the net.


Middlesbrough (0) 1 (Summerbell 59)
Spurs (1) 1 (Leonhardsen 41)

A tale of two headers in a fine encounter at the Riverside. Spurs took the lead
before half time when Oyvind Leonhardsen stooped to loop home a good cross
from Rebrov. Points were shared as the teams go equal top thanks to a firm
headed reply from Mark Summerbell just before the hour mark.


21 AUGUST 2000

Arsenal (1) 2 (Lauren 7, Henry 89)
Liverpool (0) 0

RED CARDS :
McAllister (38) - Liverpool
Vieira (74) - Arsenal
Hamann (79) - Liverpool

Three red cards, none of which was justified, two goals and a first Arsenal 
win over Liverpool wince 1994.

Cameroon Lauren opened the scoring in a game dominated by Arsenal when 
Liverpool failed to clear a corner and he pounced from six yards to find 
the net, via a deflection off Adams. The points were clinched late on when 
Henry produced a neat side footed finish after his original effort was 
saved by Westerveld.

It's the red cards that will dominate the game though. McAllister was first 
to go when he slid in on Vieira from behind. He did catch the Arsenal man 
but also took a bit of the ball and was very unlucky to see a straight red. 
In the aftermath Gilles Grimandi clearly stepped on McAllister's hand and 
was extremely lucky that the ref missed it. Partik Vieira then collected a 
second bookable offence after flying it two footed on Hamann after losing 
his temper following two clashes with Carragher. Vieira, like McAllister, 
played the ball, but the ref ruled that the intent was there and off went 
the Frenchman for the second time in three days. Five minutes later Hamann 
followed them after pulling back Pires in the midfield, also a second 
bookable offence.

A deserved victory for the Gunners, but it won't be the goals and the 
performances that everyone is talking about!

Gary Dowden
Chief Editor - Soccerage (UK)
http://www.soccerage.com
gary@soccerage.com