15 February 2006 Blackburn (1) 2 (Bellamy 38, 63) Sunderland (0) 0 Blackburn move up to seventh after a goal in each half from Craig Bellamy sent bottom club Sunderland a step nearer relegation. Rovers went ahead just before half time when Morten Gamst Pedersen's shot was only partially cleared by the keeper and Bellamy was on hand to fire in. The second was more straightforward as Pedersen's cross was met with a looping header by the Welshman. Attendance : 18,220 Assists : n/a, Pedersen 14 February 2006 Liverpool (0) 1 (Luis Garcia 87) Arsenal (0) 0 MISSED PEN: Gerrard (Liverpool) 32 - saved Liverpool pulled to within three points of second placed Man United after a narrow, but well deserved win at home to Arsenal who are now four points adrift of fourth placed Spurs. Liverpool had the better of the first half possession and should have taken the lead from the penalty spot after Fernando Morientes was knocked off balance by a shove in the back from Emmanuel Eboue, however Steven Gerrard's low kick was pushed away Lens Lehmann. The second half began in much the same fashion as Lehmann did brilliantly to deny Robbie Fowler a goal on his first start at Anfield since re-signing for Liverpool. Morientes then missed a great chance late on when he mis-kicked in front of goal but within minutes, Liverpool went ahead. Dietmar Hamann had the initial shot which Lehmann again saved, however Luis Garcia was on hand to squeeze the ball in from a tight angle, despite the keeper almost keeping it out. Attendance : 44,065 Assist : n/a 13 February 2006 West Ham (1) 3 (Harewood 10, 63*, Ashton 65) Birmingham (0) 0 * rebound after his penalty was saved West Ham move into the top six after a comfortable win against Birmingham who remain rooted firmly in the relegation zone. The Hammers had the better of the first half and were ahead early on after a shot from Nigel Reo-Coker was blocked and defender Kenny Cuningham just couldn't stretch enough to get the ball to safety, instead it fell to Marlon Harewood to blasted into the net from twelve yards. Harewood doubled the lead just after the hour mark, however he needed to be quick off the mark to score from the rebound after his penalty had been saved by Maik Taylor following a handball by Martin Lakta. Two minutes later and the lead was increased further when Lionel Scaloni crossed from the right for Yossi Benayoun to glance on at the near post and leave Dean Ashton an easy header into the net at the far post. Attendance : 31,294 Assist : n/a, n/a, Benayoun 12 February 2006 Sunderland (0) 1 (Murphy 89) Tottenham (1) 1 (Keane 38) Spurs move four points clear in fourth place but were left kicking themselves after conceding a late equaliser to give bottom club Sunderland a rare point. The Londoners went ahead just before half time when Jermain Defoe's low cross from the right was tapped in at close range by the unmarked Robbie Keane. Sunderland, already with one foot in the lower league, battled back in the second half and collected a deserved leveller when Julio Arca's long ball found sub Daryl Murphy on the left and after shrugging off the attentions of Paul Staltiera, slotted in a low shot from a tight angle. Even then, Spurs almost won it with the final kick, however Jermaine Jenas turned and blasted over from close range with the goal at his mercy. Attendance : 34,700 Assists : Defoe, Arca Manchester City (1) 3 (Dunne 22, Samaras 54, Barton 62) Charlton (0) 2 (Bent (D) 51, Bent (M) 66) Man City move up a place to ninth after winning a topsy-turvy encounter against fellow mid-table side Charlton. An uneventful first half saw City ahead at the break when Joey Barton's cross was half cleared and Richard Dunne volleyed into the net through a crowd of players. The second half was far better and saw a spell of four goals in fifteen minutes, beginning with an equaliser by Darren Bent who shot home first time after Talal El Kharkouri's excellent through ball. City regained the lead three minutes later as Barton's terrific cross was headed in powerfully by Georgios Samaras and Barton then capped a fine display with a stunning 25 yard drive as he collected a pass from Kiki Musampa to drill his shot in off the post. Charlton set up a stirring finale when Marcus Bent headed in Radostin Kishishev's cross but they couldn't find another equaliser. Attendance : 41,347 Assists : n/a, El Kharkouri, Barton, Musampa, Kishishev 11 February 2006 Middlesbrough 3 (Rochemback 2, Downing 45, Yakubu 68) Chelsea 0 Shock of the season? Maybe! However Middlesbrough fully deserved to beat runaway leaders Chelsea and inflict the heaviest defeat for the Blues since Jose Mourinho took charge. They began well and were ahead inside 90 seconds as Yakubu played a square ball for Fabio Rochemback who made space to fire a half hit shot under Petr Cech and in. On half time, the lead was doubled as Yakubu was tackled and as the ball fell to Stuart Downing, his shot seemed to go through both Gaizka Mendieta and John Terry before bobbling in. The third was well deserved for Yakubu who embarked on a solo run before drilling the ball in despite the attention of four defenders. Attendance : 31,037 Assists : Yakubu, n/a, Schwarzer (gk) Fulham 6 (Helguson 4, 40, Radzinski 48, Davie 58 og, John 83, 90) West Brom 1 (Campbell 85) Fulham's amazing home form continued as they walloped fellow strugglers West Brom, leaving the primary talking point as to whether Heidar Helguson actually scored a hat trick! He definitely scored two, both in the first half, firstly with a volley after Brian McBride had headed a long ball on and then with a far post header from Simon Elliott's free kick. Fulham went into overdrive after the break and took no time to add a third as Steed Malbranque's through ball was well controlled by Thomasz Radzinski and finished superbly with a neat lob. The question mark came over the fourth goal as Helguson's shot from the edge of the area took a massive deflection off of Curtis Davies and bobbled in, however it looked as though the original effort was sailing well side, making it an own goal. No doubt about the fifth as Collins John touched in a cross from Radzinski and although Kevin Campbell scored a consolation with a near post shot after Junichi Inamoto had set him up, Fulham had the final word as John scored again, tapping into a gaping net after Radzinski had unselfishly given him the chance. Attendance : 21,508 Assists : McBride, Elliot (fk), Malbranque, n/a, Radzinski, Inamoto, Radzinski Arsenal 1 (Gilberto Silva 93) Bolton 1 (Nolan 12) Arsenal left in late to earn a point against Bolton as both clubs continued their push for a European place next season. Bolton began very well and could have gone ahead even before Kevin Nolan netted with a neat lob inside the far post after Matt Jansen had been tackled. The first half then degenerated into an exhibition of how not to tackle as Jose Antonio Reyes was carried off after being caught by a two-footed tackle by Bolton's Abdoulaye Faye for which he was lucky only to receive a yellow card and not to be outdone, Arsenal Mathieu Flamini then did the same on Ricardo Gardner whose quick feet saved him from injury and saved the Gunners midfielder from any punishment. Arsenal then bombarded the Bolton goal in the second half with Robert Pires in particular denied twice by keeper Jussi Jaaskelainen. The equaliser finally arrived deep in stoppage time when Cesc Fabregas crossed for Gilberto Silva to hook a volley into the net. Attendance : 38,193 Assists : n/a, Fabregas Aston Villa 1 (Moore 16) Newcastle 2 (Ameobi 2, N'Zogbia 29) Red Card : Babayaro 61 (Newcastle) Two wins from two games for Newcastle since they sacked boss Graeme Souness, however the needed a slice of lucky to see off Aston Villa. The visitors went ahead early on when Nol Solano and Alan Shearer set up Shola Ameobi to slot in from a tight angle, however Villa levelled when Luke Moore nodded in Craig Gardner's free kick at the near post. Former Villa star Solano then saw a shot well saved, however the ball fell free for Charles N'Zogbia to beat three defenders to the ball to prod it over the line. Newcastle were reduced to ten men when Celestine Babayaro tripped Milan Baros in the area as he shaped to go round the keeper and was shown a red card. Baros struck the penalty poorly though and although keeper Shay Given went the wrong way, his trailing leg managed to divert the ball high and away from the goal. Attendance : 37,140 Assists : Shearer, Gardner (fk), n/a Everton 1 (Beattie 33) Blackburn 0 Everton's recent good run continued with a narrow win against Blackburn, made all the more remarkable by the fact that they played for 10 men for eighty minutes and gave league debuts to TWO goalkeepers! They also wasted a glorious chance early on as James McFadden took advantage of poor defending to hammer the ball against the bar with the keeper well out of his goal and although the miss wasn't quite of Ronnie Rosenthal proportions, it was pretty dire nonetheless. Then came the dismissal of debutant keeper Iain Turner who handled a header from Alan Stubbs just outside the area as Florent Sinama-Pongolle looked to put pressure on them. Fourth choice keeper John Ruddy came off the bench for his debut as he replaced the sacrificed McFadden but was rarely tested by the visitors. Everton then won it when James Beattie headed in a Mikael Arteta free kick as Rovers looked to play the offside trap. Attendance : 35,615 Red Card : Turner 9 (Everton) Assist : Arteta (fk) Portsmouth 1 (Taylor 88) Manchester United 3 (van Nistelrooy 18, Ronaldo 38, 45) Man United moved to within twelve points of Chelsea after a comfortable win at struggling Portsmouth. United were out of sight by half time as they clinically sliced Portsmouth apart to go in three up at the break. The first was made by Ryan Giggs who played a neat one-two before bursting through and rounding keeper Dean Kiely, however his shot from a tight angle cracked against the underside of the bar and bounced down nicely for Ruud Van NIstelrooy to nod into the empty net. Cristiano Ronaldo added a second as he collected a loose ball before hammering a 25-yarder into the net that went straight above Kiely. Whilst the ball may have moved in the air slightly, it was the sheer power that beat the keeper. In first half stoppage time, Wayne Rooney sent Ronaldo in down the right and his shot across the keeper took a slight deflection before finding the far corner. The hosts had the better of the second half and finished strongly as they pulled one back with three minutes to go when Wayne Routledge's shot was sailing wide until Matt Taylor nodded in unmarked at the far post. Attendance : 20,206 Assists : n/a, van Nistelrooy, n/a, Routledge Liverpool 1 (Hyypia 30) Wigan 0 Liverpool bounced back from their midweek disappointment with a narrow win at Wigan. The only goal of a poor game came from the unlikely source of Sami Hyypia who stayed forward after a free kick was cleared and having latched onto a through ball from Jamie Carragher, sent a weakly hit volley past the keeper and inside the far post. Attendance : 25,023 Assist : Carragher 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 |