25 January 2005

Blackburn 0
Bolton 1 (Diouf 77)

El Haji Diouf won a penalty with an outragerous dive. Friedel parried his spot
kick but Diouf scored on the rebound in what was a dreadful encounter.

Assist : n/a


23 January 2005

Arsenal (1) 1 (Bergkamp 19)
Newcastle (0) 0

Arsenal regain second place and move to within ten points of leaders
Chelsea after a narrow, but deserved, win at Highbury against Newcastle.
The only goal came thanks to some typical finishing of Dennis Bergkamp
who collected a clipped ball into the area by Mathieu Flamini,
controlled it well and slotted it past Shay Given and into the net. They
had chances in the second half to double the lead, notably when Thierry
Henry hit the post whilst clean through, however despite a nervy finale,
they held on.

Assist : Flamini


22 January 2005

West Brom 2 (Campbell 5, Wallwork 81)
Man City 0

West Bromwich Albion stay bottom despite a hard fought, yet deserved win
against Man City. They began well and went ahead early on when Martin
Albrectsen's cross was drilled into the bottom corner by Kevin Campbell
on his home debut for the Baggies. The lead was doubled with nine
minutes to go when Jonathon Greening's deep cross was nodded back by
Geoff Horsfield for Ronnie Wallwork to stoop and head in from close
range. City thought they'd sparked a late revival three minutes later
when Richard Dunne unleashed a superb shot from a free kick that tore
into the top corner, however it was disallowed as referee Graham Poll
ruled that he'd not blown his whistle to allow the kick to be taken.

Attendance : 25,348
Assists : Albrechtsen, Horsfield


Birmingham 1 (Volz 51 og)
Fulham 2 (Cole 78 pen, Diop 83)

Fulham came from behind to win at St Andrews at Birmingham slumped to
their fourth league defeat in a row. It looked good for the hosts when
they took the lead early in the second half when a cross from Mario
Melchiot was helped on by Clinton Morrison and as Emile Heskey tried to
bundle the ball in at the far post, it rebounded off of the keeper and
against the knee of Moritz Volz and into his own net. Fulham battled
back and were level when Luis Boa Morte was bundled over in the area by
Damien Johnson and the penalty was well converted by Andy Cole, however
the hosts were angered by what they felt was a foul in the build up to
the move and that the actual foul for the spot kick was outside the
area. Their anger was increased five minutes later when a Mark Pembridge
free kick was headed home majestically by Papa Bouba Diop for his second
late winner in as many games.

Attendance : 28,512
Assists : n/a, Boa Morte (won pen), Pembridge (fk)


Chelsea 3 (Drogba 15, 39 fk, Robben 21)
Portsmouth

Chelsea continued their push for the title with a comfortable home win
against Portsmouth to move them a full eleven points clear ahead of
Arsenal playing on Sunday. The game was wrapped up by half time thanks
to Didier Drogba and Arjen Robben as the latter dribbled to the goal-
line before his low cross was tapped in by his strike partner. Six
minutes later, Frank Lampard sent Robben clear and after rounding the
keeper, he netted from a tight angle and the game was over as a contest
when Drogba added a third with a superb 20-yard free kick which gave the
keeper no chance.

Attendance : 42,267
Assists : Robben, Lampard, Robben (won fk)


Crystal Palace 3 (Leigertwood 66, Granville 70, Johnson 77 pen)
Tottenham 0

On a good day for the strugglers, Crystal Palace did their survival
prospects the power of good by walloping in-form Spurs. All three goals
came in an eleven minute spell in the second half, starting with a first
ever goal for Mikele Leigertwood who was on hand to volley in off the
underside of the bar after Tom Soares had provided the cross. Four
minutes later, Wayne Routledge sent Danny Granville clear to slot in the
second and victory was clinched when Andy Johnson was tripped in the
area by Pedro Mendes and drilled in the penalty himself. As a piece of
trivia, Palace have now been awarded eight penalties in 24 league games
this season, an average of one every three games!

Attendance : 23,723
Assists : Soares, Routledge, Johnson (won pen)


Everton 0
Charlton 1 (Holland 45)

The battle of the European hopefuls saw Everton lose at home to
Charlton, despite having the better of the play throughout. Ultimately
though, it's goals that count and the sole strike of the game was a
beauty as a mishit cross from Herman Hreidarsson fell perfectly for Matt
Holland whose first time shot from 25 yards sailed over the keeper and
into the roof of the net.

Attendance : 36,041
Assist : Hreidarsson


Manchester United 3 (Ronaldo 8, Ridgewell 69 og, Scholes 70)
Aston Villa 1 (Barry 53)

Man United moved into second place after two goals in a minute gave them
victory at home to Aston Villa. They began well and took an early lead
when Louis Saha played Cristiano Ronaldo in and he found the net well
from the edge of the area, however early in the second half, Gareth
Barry levelled matters when he scored from a similar range after being
found by Nol Solano. The lead was regained when Wayne Rooney's cross was
turned into the net by Saha, courtesy of a deflection and with Villa
still recovering, United scored again as Paul Scholes nodded in from
close range after Rolaldo's shot was saved.

Attendance : 67,859
Assists : Saha, Solano, n/a, n/a 


Norwich 4 (Francis 18, Ashton 80, McKenzie 90, Drury 92)
Middlesbrough 4 (Hasselbaink 34, 78, Quedrue 49, 55)

Struggling Norwich produced one of the most astonishing comebacks in
Prem history after they recovered from 4-1 down against Middlesbrough to
draw 4-4, including scoring twice in the final minute. They actually
took an early lead when Damien Francis was left with a tap in after
Darren Huckerby's shot was spilled, however Boro then took total command
either side of half time. The equaliser came from Jimmy Floyd
Hasselbaink who deflected a shot from Stuart Downing over the keeper and
within ten minutes of the second half starting, the unlikely hero was
Franck Queudrue who netted twice within six minutes. The first came as
he nodded in a Downing corner at the near post and it was 3-1 when
another Downing corner was headed on by Gareth Southgate and converted
at the far post by the French defender. Hasselbaink then added his
second and Boro's fourth with a 25 yard free kick into the bottom corner
and although Dean Ashton pulled a goal back on his home debut, hooking a
Huckerby cross away from the keeper and tapping into the empty net, it
looked to be too little too late. However, with a minute of normal time
left, Huckerby's cross found Leon McKenzie unmarked and his diving
header made it 4-3 and in stoppage time, Huckerby was again the provider
as his corner was met by the head of Adam Drury, again unmarked, who
nodded firmly home to complete a truly amazing recovery.

Attendance : 24,547
Assists : n/a, Downing, Downing (ck), Southgate, n/a, Huckerby, Huckerby,
Huckerby (ck)


Southampton 2 (Prutton 5, Crouch 22)
Liverpool 0

Second from bottom Southampton won their first game under boss Harry
Redknapp and ony their third of the season as Champions League hopefuls
Liverpool flop to their third defeat in a week! Southampton had by far
the better of the first half and took the lead inside five minutes. Mauricio
Pellegrino was the villain as he was caught in possesion on the edge of
his own area by David Prutton and after a quickfire one-two with Peter
Crouch, he ran on and fired in from a tight angle. The lead was doubled when
roles were reversed as Prutton crossed from the right for Crouch to power in a
header from an unmarked close range position. After the break, Liverpool
picked up a gear as both Steven Gerrard and Milan Baros came close,
however ultimately their weren't good enough against a club battling against
relegation.

Attendance : 32,017
Assists : Crouch, Prutton


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