22 AUGUST 2001

Fulham (0) 2 (Hayles 70, Saha 85)
Sunderland (0) 0

Fulham left it late against Sunderland as Louis Saha shot himself to
the top of the Premiership scoring charts. Barry Hayles broke the
deadlock with twenty minutes to go, firing home after good work from
Steed Malbranaque. Saha completed the scoring late on with a shot
that clipped Sunderland's George McCartney, totally wrong footing
the keeper.


Blackburn (0) 2 (Beckham (og) 48, Gillespie 69)
Manchester United (1) 2 (Giggs 20, Beckham 78)
RED CARD : Short (Blackburn) 77

David Beckham scored at both ends in a remarkable encounter at Ewood
Park. After Blackburn had dominated early on, United took the lead
when Ryan Giggs was sent clear by Beckham and fired crisply past
Brad Friedel at the near post. Rovers levelled matters early in the
second half when Beckham could only glance an inswinging free kick
into his own net and twenty minutes later, United were behind
courtesy of the goal of the game. A long cross found Keith Gillespie
who wriggled away from Silvestre before crashing his shot past
Barthez. Craig Short was then sent off for a second bookable
offence, a high tackle on Dwight Yorke, and from the resulting free
kick, Beckham took a leaf from Ian Harte's book and chipped a
quickly taken free kick over Friedel from fully 35 yards to earn a
point.


21 AUGUST 2001

Leeds United (1) 2 (Harte 29, Viduka 53)
RED CARD : Bowyer 78, Mills 87 (both Leeds)

Leeds were ahead by 4-0 on bookings when they took the lead on goals
as well. Ian Harte's quickly taken free kick on the edge of the
area, possibly too quickly, deceived the wall and keeper David
Seaman before finding the bottom corner. The lead lasted three
minutes before Silvain Wiltord's sharp reactions levelled matters as
his diving header gave Martyn no chance from Ashley Cole's driven
cross-shot. Leeds regained the lead against the run of play when
Harry Kewell found Mark Viduka on the edge of the area, he shifted
the ball past his man to make space and fire home into the corner.
Leeds were reduced to nine men when Lee Bowyer was firstly shown a
second yellow card for a foul on Ashley Cole and in truth, having
seen eight bookings in the game until then, a dismissal was no
surprise. Danny Mills followed him within ten minutes after
appearing to kick the ball against an injured Arsenal player, an act
that could only have been seen as ungentlemanly conduct by the ref.


Bolton (1) 1 (Ricketts 39)
Middlesbrough (0) 0

Weekend league leaders Bolton took the lead shortly before half time
when, after a neat interchange of passes, Michael Ricketts
sidefooted past a flat footed keeper from the edge of the area.


Ipswich (1) 3 (George 14, 76, Naylor 48)
Derby (0) 1 (Ravanelli 84)
RED CARD : O'Neill (Derby) 32

Ipswich collected their first points of the new season with a
comfortable win over Derby County, courtesy largely of two goals
from new signing Finidi George. His first was slotted neatly home
after a through ball from Matt Holland, and he followed it late on
when his diving header found the net from a corner. Between those
efforts, Derby had Brian O'Neill red carded for a second bookable
offence and Richard Naylor scored at the near post. Fabrizio
Ravanelli netted a late consolation for Derby when he ran through
the back line to bobble an effort into the corner.


20 AUGUST 2001

Everton (0) 1 (Ferguson (pen) 64)
Tottenham (1) 1 (Anderton 45)
RED CARDS : Doherty 63, Poyet 66 (both Spurs)

Spurs took the lead against the run of play on the stroke of half time. Darren
Anderton's fine run took him deep into home territory. Teddy Sheringham
then found Stefan Iversen whose shot was half saved, leaving Anderton
to crash home from close range. Nik Alexandersson then had a goal ruled
out for pushing, although replays suggested that Everton were fouled
against rather than the club who committed the offence. The game then
changed in a remarkable three minute spell as Spurs were reduced to nine
men and pulled back level. Firstly Gary Doherty was harshly dismissed for
holding back Kevin Campbell as he prepared to shoot, Duncan Ferguson
sent Sullivan the wrong way to equalise. Minutes later, Poyet followed him
for a late, knee high, tackle on Steve Watson, that also saw, but perhaps
didn't warrant, a straight red card.

Gary Dowden
Chief Editor SoccerAge UK
http://www.soccerage.com
gary@soccerage.com
garydowden@blueyonder.co.uk