31 October 2005 Man City (2) 3 (Vassell 4, 26, Delaney 83 og) Aston Villa (0) 1 (Ridgewell 65) Man City moved into fourth place with a 3-1 home win against Aston Villa, helped largely from two goals by Darius Vassell against his former club. City were ahead inside four minutes after an almighty mix- up at the back from Villa gifted the hosts the lead. A long ball forward was headed on by Vassell, however J.Lloyd Samuel seemed to have matters under control until he failed to spot keeper Stuart Taylor who had come out of his area to collect the ball, only for the defender to nod it over him, allowing Vassell to nip in and slot the ball into an empty net. He added his second later in the half after he was set up by Andy Cole. This time the finish was a superb first time volley across goal and inside the far post. Villa pulled one back midway through the second half when Liam Ridgewell bundled the ball in at the far post from Patrik Berger's cross, however City regained their two goal lead when Vassell's header found Cole and his shot from the edge of the area took a wicked deflection off of Mark Delaney and looped over Taylor and into the net. Attendance : 42,069 Assists : n/a, Cole, Berger, n/a 30 October 2005 West Brom (0) 0 Newcastle (0) 3 (Owen 46, 78, Shearer 80) Newcastle move into the top half of the table after a second half goal blitz was more than enough to see off West Brom at The Hawthorns. The visitors had the better of a goalless first half and then took the lead inside 30 seconds of the second when Michael Owen's near post volley tore into the net after an excellent cross from Charles N'Zogbia. Owen added his second with twelve minutes remaining when sub Kieron Dyer crossed from the right for him to finish with another near post effort and two minutes later, Alan Shearer, also on as a sub, finished a fine passing move with a prodded effort from Peter Ramage's cross. Attendance : 26,216 Assists : N'Zogbia, Dyer, Ramage 29 October 2005 Middlesbrough 4 (Mendieta 2, Hasselbaink 25, Yakubu 45 pen, Mendieta 78) Manchester United 1 (Ronaldo The Manchester United bubble hasn't so much burst, but more exploded after they crashed to their heaviest league defeat in 18 months at Middlesbrough. Boro dominated the game throughout and were three goals up at half time, beginning early when Gaizka Mendieta collected a pass from Emanuel Pogatetz and fired home from 30 yards, although keeper Edwin Van Der Sar should have done better after getting his hands to the ball. The lead was doubled when Mendieta's pinpoint pass was collected by Jimmy Floyd Hasselbaink and after holding off Rio Ferdinand, he turned and drilled home from a tight angle. Inside the third minute of stoppage time, Kieron Richardson held back Stuart Parnaby in the area and Yakubu calmly slotted home the penalty that gave Boro an emphatic half time lead. Mendieta added a fourth when he was left with a simple finish after Yakubu did well to get to the goal-line and cut the ball back and although Cristiano Ronaldo headed home a Paul Scholes corner in stoppage time to register United's 1,000th Premiership goal, it couldn't dampen a superb Middlesbrough performance. Attendance : 30,579 Assists : Pogatetz, Mendieta, Parnaby (won pen), Yakubu, Scholes (ck) Birmingham 0 Everton 1 (Davies 43) Everton are off the bottom as they recorded a narrow win against fellow relegation strugglers Birmingham. The only goal came just before half time as Andy Van Der Meyde found Simon Davies in midfield and his long range effort seemed to bounce in front of the diving Maik Taylor who allowed it to sail through his hands. Both clubs remain in the bottom three though. Attendance : 26,554 Assist : van der Meyde Charlton 0 Bolton 1 (Nolan 72) Has the Charlton bubble burst? After a midweek shoot out win at Chelsea, they slumped to defeat at home to Bolton, who move up to fourth, one point and place above their opponents. The only goal came from Kevin Nolan, however it was largely due to Abdoulaye Faye whose deflected shot was well saved by keeper Stephan Andersen, however the rebound was played back across goal by Hidetoshi Nakata for Nolan to tap in. Attendance : 26,175 Assist : Nakata Chelsea 4 (Drogba 10, Lampard 14 pen, 62 fk, Khizanishvili 74 og) Blackburn 2 (Bellamy 18 pen, 44) After a draw and a penalty shoot out defeat this week, Chelsea returned to familiar winning ways, although only after allowing a two goal lead to slip at home to Blackburn. The league leaders tore into a two goal lead, firstly when Didier Drogba rose to glance home Frank Lampard's cross and then Lampard himself doubled the lead with a drilled penalty after John Terry had been hauled down by Andy Todd. Rovers battled back and were rewarded with a penalty of their own, dispatched by Craig Bellamy, sending Petr Cech the wrong way after Ricardo Carvalho had fouled Zurab Khizanishvili. Cech then blotted his impecable copybook with a howler as he sliced a back pass straight into the air and after Shefki Kuqi nodded the ball across goal, Bellamy sent a header into the corner to equalise. Normal service was resumed just after the hour as Lampard sent a free kick from the left edge of the area curling toward the far post, however no-one got a touch and it sailed into the far corner. Joe Cole wrapped up the points with a 25 yard deflected effort after Claude Makelele had set him up. Attendance : 41,553 Assists : Lampard, Terry (won pen), Khizanishvili (won pen), Emerton, Cole (won fk), n/a Liverpool 2 (Repka 18 og, Zenden 82) West Ham 0 Liverpool won in the league by two or more goals for the first time since February after comfortably seeing off West Ham. The went ahead early when Luis Garcia's corner was cleared to Xabi Alonso and he found the net with a deflected effort from the edge of the area. Bolo Zenden secured the points late on when he latched onto a long ball from Riise, cut inside and drilled home off the far post. Attendance : 44,537 Assists : n/a, Riise Sunderland 1 (Whitehead 4 pen) Portsmouth 4 (Vukic 48, Taylor 59, 67, Silva 74) Sunderland go bottom after a second half horror show at home to Portsmouth. The hosts went ahead with an early penalty, side-footed in by Dean Whitehead after Brian Priske had handled, however it was after the interval that it all went wrong. Portsmouth were level inside three minutes of the second half as Gregory Vignal's cross was nodded on by Matthew Taylor for Zvonimir Vukic to turn and fire in. Taylor then took control himself as he put his side ahead with a tap in after Alan Stubbs had only headed a clearance into the air and then chested the ball away from his own keeper straight into the path of the Portsmouth star! Worse was to come for the home side as Taylor spotted Kelvin Davis off of his line and unleashed a superb shot from fully 45 yards which swerved perfectly into the net. Dario Silva added the fourth with a far post diving header from Taylor's cross which simply sealed Sunderland's fate. Attendance : 34,926 Assists : n/a, Taylor, Silva, Vukic, Taylor Tottenham 1 (King 17) Arsenal 1 (Pires 77) Honours even in the North London derby as Spurs once again failed to beat their illustrious rivals. They dominated for long spells though and went ahead in the first half when a free kick from Michael Carrick was headed in powerfully by Ledley King. The Gunners earned a point late on thanks to another error from usually reliable keeper Paul Robinson who only pawed away a free kick from Dennis Bergkamp which allowed Robert Pires to slot the ball into an empty net. Attendance : 36,154 Assists : Carrick (fk), n/a Wigan (0) 1 (Chimbonda 90) Fulham (0) 0 Wigan moved into the dizzy heights of second after a late winner against Fulham saw their excellent start to the season continue. Fulham had the better of the early stages and came close through both Thomasz Radzinski and Steed Malbranque who shot inches wide. They were also angered by a couple of decisions that went against them as Moritz Volz was booked for diving in the area when contact was definitely made and play on was given when home keeper John Filan came belting from his area to deny Collins John, however the ball did strike him on the hand and he did appear to catch the striker as the ball bobbled away to safety. As the game wore on, Wigan came more into it and should have scored when Henri Camara burst clear, rounded the keeper, but could only shoot wide as defenders came back to cover. The winner came two minutes into stoppage time when Graham Kavanagh floated a free kick to the far post and Pascal Chimbonda headed it back across goal and into the net, although keeper Tony Warner did get a hand to it. Attendance : 17,266 Assists : Kavanagh Gary Dowden Chief Editor SoccerAge UK Gary Dowden - Joint Admin Topica Premier-L list http://www.topica.com/lists/premier-L/ Leeds United and Scotland and proud of it http://www.peanutsfan.pwp.blueyonder.co.uk/footiemad The Unofficial Premiership Site |