14 JANUARY 2001

Ipswich (0) 2 (Stewart 79, Scowcroft 89)
Leicester (0) 0

Ipswich move up to fourth place, level on points with Arsenal, after
a well deserved but hard fought victory over Leicester. A drab first
half was followed by a second dominated by the hosts, however
visiting keeper Simon Royce kept Ipswich at bay until the 79th
minute when Gary Rowett was robbed trying to allow the ball to run
out of play. Alun Armstrong drilled the ball across goal and Marcus
Stewart crashed home the header from close range. A lovely move
confirmed the victory late on when Stewart found Wilnis wide and his
fine cross was met by James Scowcroft with a fine diving header.
Three defeats on the bounce now for Leicester.


13 JANUARY 2001

Arsenal (1) 1 (Pires 3)
Chelsea (0) 1 (Terry 61)

Arsenal conceded second place, and the title according to boss
Arsene Wenger, after only drawing at home to London rivals Chelsea
despite taking an early lead. Inside three minutes, Robert Pires cut
in from the left after being found by Vieira, and drilled a bullet
shot past Cudicini, however John Terry levelled matters with his
first ever goal, scrambling home after Dixon had cleared
Gudjohnsen's header off the line. Arsenal are now 13 points behind
leaders Man United


Aston Villa (0) 0
Liverpool (2) 3 (Murphy 23, 52, Gerrard 32)

Aston Villa were torn to shreads by a rampant and hugely impressive
Liverpool team. An almightly error from Alpay put Liverpool ahead,
the Turk mis-kicking his clearance and after Gerrard hit the post,
Murphy snatched up the rebound. Alpay is set to face an internal
fine after appearing to strike own goalkeeper, David James, in the
face after the goal. Gerrard doubled the lead ten minutes later,
firing home after Murphy had helped on Litmanen's through ball.
Murphy was back in the act shortly after half time, his deflected
effort sending David James the wrong way after collecting Heskey's
cross.


Bradford (0) 0
Manchester United (0) 3 (Sheringham 72, Giggs 75, Chadwick 87)

Manchester United needed a glaring error from former keeper Gary
Walsh to set them on their way against bottom club Bradford, but
ended up sinking their opponents without trace. With just 18 minutes
to go, Walsh totally mis-kicked a clearance to Teddy Sheringham who
was left to latch onto the air shot and tap in an easy goal. Ryan
Giggs made it 2-0 three minutes later, shooting off the post after a
mazy run following a pass from Wes Brown. Young sub Luke Chadwick
completed the victory late on, slotting home a fine pass from David
Beckham.


Everton (0) 0
Tottenham (0) 0

Spurs collect only their third away point of the season, leaving
Everton just two points above the drop zone, however the home side
missed enough chances to sink Spurs. Visiting keeper Neil Sullivan
was the hero, saving well from Thomas Gravesen and Joe-Max Moore in
particular. Kevin Campbell also had a first half effort ruled out
for offside and hit the post in the second.


Manchester City (0) 0
Leeds United (1) 4 (Bakke 31, Bowyer 80, Keane 89, 90)

Leeds United won away for only the second time in the league this
season, although both managers agreed that the result was
flattering. Eirik Bakke lit up a poor first half when he latched
onto an error by Andy Morrison whose pass fell straight to Jason
Wilcox, he found the Norwegian and Leeds were ahead. Ten minutes
from time the result was beyond doubt when Lee Bowyer secured the
points for the visitors, firing home a deflected goal from Mark
Viduka's cross. Robbie Keane came on as sub for the last twenty
minutes and found the net twice in the final minutes, firstly
lobbing home nicely from Bowyer's pass and then firing home a late
corner, also from Lee Bowyer.


Middlesbrough (1) 4 (Boksic (pen) 43, 81, Ehigou 59, Ricard (pen) 90)
Derby (0) 0

Four (Yes, FOUR!) goals for Middlesbrough as they remain unbeaten
under Terry Venables and hoist themselves out of the bottom three.
Alen Boksic opened the scoring just before half time, slotting home
a penalty after Powell was judged to have elbowed Christian
Karembeu. Uho Ehigou doubled the lead just before the hour mark,
thumping home a header following excellent work by Karembeu and Paul
Ince. Boksic added a third when he beat Riggott before shooting home
and Hamilton Ricard scored a late fourth from the penalty spot again
after Mawene was guilty of fouling Brian Deane.


Newcastle (1) 3 (Speed 4, Ameobi 58, Dyer 66)
Coventry (0) 1 (Glass (og) 78)

A good win for Newcastle that sees Coventry slip into the bottom
three. Gary Speed opened the scoring early on when he headed home a
Nol Solano corner. Shola Ameobi scored his first ever goal for the
club in the second half, the leggy striker scoring easily from
Kieron Dyer's cross. Dyer got the third himself, curling home having
 been found by Solano and although Stephen Glass unluckily headed a
fierce Thompson corner into his own net, it couldn't dampen Toon
spirits.


Southampton (0) 0
Charlton (0) 0

Goalless at The Dell and few chances of note. Away keeper Dean Kiely
kept out efforts from James Beattie and Matt Oakley, whilst Oakley
also crashed a shot against the bar, but a goal never looked likely.


West Ham (0) 0
Sunderland (1) 2 (Varga 21, Hutchison 68)

Sunderland go second after beating West Ham in front of new England
boss Sven Goran Eriksson. Stanislav Varga of all people opened the
scoring midway through the first half, heading home a Gavin McCann
cross. The result was beyond doubt in the second half when Don
Hutchison fired home a quickly taken long range free kick.


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