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15 January 2006 Wigan (0) 0 West Brom (0) 1 (Albrechtsen 56) SENT OFF : Moore (West Brom) 43 West Brom won away in the league for the first time this season with a narrow victory at Wigan, despite playing more than half the game with ten men. Wigan had just about the better of a drab first half and their caused looked to be aided two minutes from half time when West Brom defender Darren Moore was sent off for a second bookable offence as he clearly blocked the run of Jason Roberts on the halfway line as the Wigan forward looked to use his pace to burst through. Boss Bryan Robson then replaced Nathan Ellington with Martin Albrechtsen to shore up the defence, however eleven minutes into the second half, he turned makeshift attacker to win the game! Wigan lost possession in midfield to Ronnie Wallwork and he played Albrechtsen in down the right flank, he cut into the area and slotted a shot under the keeper and in. The remainder of the game was almost exclusively Wigan attacks, however poor finishing and strong defending kept West Brom ahead. Lee McCulloch came close when his header hit the bar, however former West Brom striker Roberts should have equalised in the third minute of stoppage time, however he close range shot was brilliantly kept out by keeper Tomasz Kuszczak. Attendance : 17,421 Assist : n/a Sunderland (1) 1 (Lawrence 12) Chelsea (1) 2 (Crespo 28, Whitehead 69 og) SENT OFF : Robben (Chelsea) 70 Arjen Robben scored the winner and was sent off for over celebrating as league leaders Chelsea came from behind to beat bottom club Sunderland at the Stadium of Light. Sunderland shocked their illustrious opponents and made a mockery of the massive 52 points difference between the clubs by taking an early lead when Julio Arca's cross was only cleared to the edge of the area by John Terry and Liam Lawrence hammered the loose ball into the bottom corner giving keeper Petr Cech no chance. Chelsea equalised just before the half hour when William Gallas crossed deep for Joe Cole to just keep the ball in play and nod across goal for Hernan Crespo to head in from close range. Chelsea had the better of the second half which saw home keeper Kelvin Davis make a number of excellent saves, however he could do nothing about the winning goal as Gallas found Robben on the edge of the area and his shot found the net via the head of Dean Whitehead. Robben's delight turned to despair as he ran to celebrate with Chelsea fans behind the goal and, having been booked for a foul in the first half, was shown a second yellow and subsequent red. Attendance : 32,420 Assists : n/a, Cole, n/a 14 January 2006 Man City (2) 3 (Sinclair 32, Vassell 39, Fowler 90) Man United (0) 1 (Van Nistelrooy 76) SENT OFF : Ronaldo (Man United) 66 Man City win the 134th Manchester derby as they condemned ten man United to only their third defeat of the season. After a fairly mundane opening half an hour, City burst into the lead with two goals in an eight minute spell. The first came as United failed to clear a cross and after Gary Neville partially headed away, Stephen Ireland prodded the ball back into the area for Trevor Sinclair to turn and shoot into the bottom corner. The lead was doubled when Andy Cole forced the ball into the area for Darius Vassell who controlled well and slotted in, although like the first goal, there was a doubt over a possible offside. United had the better of the second half, however their cause wasn't helped when Cristiano Ronaldo was shown a straight red card for a studs first tackle on Cole, just seconds after the United man felt he'd been fouled. No contact was made, however the ref obviously felt that the intent was there. Down to ten men, United then pulled one back when Ruud Van Nistelrooy collected a cross from Ryan Giggs, controlled well on his chest and fired an effort inside the near post. An equaliser never arrived though and in stoppage time, City clinched the win when Ireland set up Vassell who then found Robbie Fowler to drill into the corner as United were caught on the break. Attendance : 47,192 Assists : Ireland, n/a, n/a, Vassell Arsenal (4) 7 (Henry 20, 30, 68, Senderos 22, Pires 45, Gilberto 59, Hleb 84) Middlesbrough (0) 0 SENT OFF : Doriva (Middlesbrough) 73 Arsenal recorded the biggest Prem win of the season and equalled their own best Premiership win after destroying Middlesbrough at Highbury. Star of the show was Thierry Henry who scored three of the seven goals and had a hand in three others, beginning with his first which was a stunning volley from the edge of the area after Freddie Ljungberg had crossed from the right. Two minutes later, Phillipe Senderos headed home a corner from Jose Antonio Reyes at the far post and Arsenal never looked back. Henry added the third with a lovely finish after Reyes had sent him clear, although his cause was helped by keeper Brad Jones who came tearing from his area, leaving Henry to knock the ball past him and into the empty net. Robert Pires added the fourth in first half stoppage time as he was found on the left by Henry, cut inside and curled a beauty inside the far post. The Gunners didn't ease up in the second half as Gilberto Silva headed in a free kick from Henry to make it five and then Henry completed his hat trick having been sent clear by Reyes again, his drilled finish bringing up his 150th league goal, equalling the club record set by Cliff Bastin. As if their mountain wasn't high enough, Boro made it harder for themselves when Doriva was sent off for a second yellow card when he pulled Henry's shirt as he burst through and it only paved the way for the seventh goal, netted by Alexandre Hleb - his first goal for Arsenal - a simple tap in after Reyes had been blocked following Henry's cross. Attendance : 38,186 Assists : Ljungberg, Reyes (ck), Reyes, Henry, Henry (fk), Reyes, n/a Aston Villa (1) 1 (Hendrie 27) West Ham (0) 2 (Zamora 51, Harewood (pen) 60) West Ham came from behind to see off Aston Villa at Villa Park, leaving the home side still in the bottom six of the table. They went ahead when wantaway sub Lee Hendrie glanced in a header at the near post after J.Lloyd Samuel had crossed, however in the second half, West Ham took control and equalised when Paul Konchesky's free kick was nodded in by Bobby Zamora, his situation helped as keeper Thomas Sorensen vacated his line. The win was secured when a shot from Hayden Mullins was blocked by the arm of Mark Delaney, allowing Marlon Harewood to send the keeper the wrong way from the spot. Attendance : 36,700 Assists : Samuel, Konchesky (ck), n/a Charlton (1) 2 (Hughes 29, Bent 90) Birmingham (0) 0 Struggling Charlton collected a vital win against even more struggling Birmingham, who remain second from bottom. Former Blues star Bryan Hughes rubbed salt into the wounds of his old club as he gave Charlton the lead with a bouncing header at the far post from Dennis Rommedahl's corner and with time almost up and Birmingham pushing forward, a long clearance by Hughes sent Darren Bent clear and his finish was emphatic. Attendance : 26,312 Assists : Rommedahl (ck), Hughes Fulham (0) 1 (Malbranque 75) Newcastle (0) 0 Fulham move above Newcastle after a late goal gave them all three points against the injury ravaged Tynesiders. The only goal came from Steed Malbranque who was on hand to tap in after Collins John's shot had been pushed away by the keeper. Attendance : 21,974 Assists : n/a Liverpool (0) 1 (Kewell 59) Tottenham (0) 0 SENT OFF : Stalteri (Spurs) 87 Liverpool consolidate third place against Spurs, themselves just one place below them. The only goal was a beauty as Harry Kewell struck a stunning far post volley into the net from Steve Finnan's cross. Spurs ended the match with ten men as Paul Stalteri was shown a straight red card, somewhat unluckily, for a foul on Kewell as the Australian threatened to break clear, however as the challenge took place just outside the centre circle, a clear goalscoring opportunity was not altogether certain. Attendance : 44,983 Assist : Finnan Portsmouth (0) 0 Everton (1) 1 (O'Brien 30 og) Everton's mini revival continues at the expense of Portsmouth who stay in the relegation zone. The winning goal came from Leon Osman who missed a glorious chance early in the game, but on the half hour, bobbled a shot into the net via the leg of Andy O'Brien after James Beattie had nodded the ball on. Attendance : 20,094 Assist : n/a Blackburn (0) 0 Bolton (0) 0 SENT OFF : Nakata (Bolton) 33 Honours even in the Lancashire derby after Bolton held Blackburn to a goalless draw despite being down to ten men for almost an hour. A drab first half was notable for the sending off of Bolton's Hidetoshi Nakata who, having been booked early foir a tackle on Robbie Savage, then received a second yellow for a similar challenge on David Bentley and in truth, team mate Joey O'Brien was lucky not to follow him five minutes for a studs first tackle onto the top of the foot of Ryan Nelsen. The defender was booked when a red would not have been a surprise. Rovers began the second half strongly and almost scored within two minutes when Brett Emerton crashed a header against the underside of the bar. Midway through the half, Bolton missed a glorious chance when sub Ricardo Vaz Te broke clear and having rounded the keeper, he then slipped as he looked to slot the ball into the gaping net allowing the Blackburn defence to clear. B;ackburn bombarded the visiting goal in the latter stages and almost snatched a winner when Nelsen's header was hooked off the line by Ivan Campo. Attendance : 18,180 Assist : n/a 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 |