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16 April 2006 Blackburn 0 Liverpool 1 (Fowler 29) Robbie Fowler's first half goal was enough to give Liverpool all three points at Blackburn, however the hosts felt that the strike should not have been allowed. It came from a long throw by John Arne Riise that was chested on by Fowler, however whilst Fernando Morientes collected the pass, Djibril Cisse was clearly offside, yet adjdged not to have been interfering with play. The visitors played on and Morientes crossed for Fowler to tap into the gaping net. Attendance : 29,142 Assist : Morientes Aston Villa 3 (Baros 10, Cahill 56, Baros 78) Birimingham 1 (Sutton 25) Gary Cahill, making only his third apearance for Aston Villa, scored a wonder goal as his side won the second city derby, leaving Birmingham three points adrift in the drop zone. Birmingham began well but went behind inside ten minutes. A cross from Aaron Hughes somehow evaded three defenders in the middle, allowing Milan Baros stacks of time to control the ball and blast into the roof of the net at the far post. Birmingham were almost level straight away, however Martin Taylor had a shot cleared off the line by James Milner after a scramble in the area. The equaliser did arrive when Villa failed to deal with a long free kick hoisted into the area and after Mikael Forsell failed to control Emile Heskey's header, Chris Sutton pounced to shoot home his first Birmingham goal from close range. In the second half, Cahill struck in sensational fashion as Liam Ridgewell's cross was poorly headed clear by Olivier Tebily and after Kevin Phillips had a couple of attempts, centre-half Cahill twisted in midair and connected perfectly with an airbone volley that flew in from close range. Birmingham battled back and Forssell had a stinging effort well saved by Thomas Sorensen, however Villa wrapped the game up when Juan Pablo Angel and Milner set up Baros to drill across goal and inside the far post. Attendance : 40,158 Assists : Hughes, n/a, Phillips, Milner 15 April 2006 Bolton (0) 0 Chelsea (1) 2 (Terry 44, Lampard 59) SENT OFF : Ben Haim (Bolton) 90 Chelsea go nine points clear with four games to play after a scrappy victory at Bolton. The first half was dire with chances few and far between, although Bolton did come close midway through when Ricardo Vaz Te bobbled a shot against the post. Chelsea went ahead a minute before half time when Frank Lampard's inswinging free kick was met by Didier Drogba and John Terry at the far post with the latter appearing to get the final touch into the bottom corner. No doubts over the second goal after the break as Lampard found Hernan Crespo wide and he delayed a return pass until hia team mate was in the area and having received the ball back, Lampard walloped it into the roof of the net from six yards. They rarely looked in any danger thereafter as they saw out time comfortably to collect a vital win, aided during stoppage time when Bolton were reduced to ten men after Tal Ben Haim received a second yellow card for hacking down Michael Essien. Attendance : 27,266 Assists : Lampard (fk), Crespo Arsenal (1) 3 (Hleb 44, Pires 76, Bergkamp 89) West Brom (0) 1 (Quashie 72) Arsenal kept up the pressure on fourth placed Spurs, although they needed a couple of late goals to see off lowly West Brom. They went ahead just before half time when Alexander Hleb played a neat one-two with Thierry Henry before firing into the roof of the net from a tricky angle, however with 18 minutes left, the Baggies scored a surprise equaliser when Nigel Quashie drilled in from the edge of the area after Eboue missed his tackle. Within four minutes Arsenal regained the lead and on a day dedicated to Gunners legend Dennis Bergkamp, it was no surprise to see the sub set up Robert Pires to loop a shot in, although only after his original effort had been saved. It was all set up for a Bergkamp special late on and it duly arrived in the final minute when the Dutchman collected a pass from Eboue and curled in a trademark shot from the edge of the area. Attendance : 38,167 Assists : Hleb, Henry, n/a, Eboue Everton (0) 0 Tottenham (1) 1 (Keane (pen) 33) Spurs stay four points clear of their North London rivals after a penalty gave them all three points at Everton. Robbie Keane won the spot kick when he was held back by Alan Stubbs, although had the ref not been so whistle happy, a goal would have been awarded as Jermaine Jenas shot home as the official blew. Keane dispatched the penalty clinically into the bottom corner to ease any protests. Attendance : 39,856 Assist : Keane (won pen) Fulham (2) 2 (Boa Morte 15 fk, 30) Charlton (1) 1 (Euell 26) Fulham all but confirmed their Premiership status for another season with a narrow win against faltering Charlton. All the goals came in the first half with Luis Boa Morte scoring two very different strikes. His first was from a free kick wide on the right that found the net directly inside the near post, totally deceiving the keeper. Jason Euell nodded a close range equaliser after Hermann Hreidarsson had prodded the ball forward, however four minutes later, Boa Morte set off on a solo run from the centre circle, culiminating in a decent finish inside the post. Attendance : 19,146 Assists : Helguson (won fk), Hreidarsson, Helguson Newcastle (2) 3 (Shearer (pen) 28, 66, Bramble 36) Wigan (1) 1 (Bullard 5 fk) Newcastle could yet snatch an unlikely UEFA Cup place after comfortably seeing off Wigan. The visitors took an early lead when Jimmy Bullard fired in a 25 yard free kick that left the keeper wrong footed, however Newcastle were level when Michael Chopra was bundled over by Reto Ziegler, leaving Alan Shearer to find the top corner from the penalty spot. Woeful marking then allowed Titus Bramble to head home Nol Solano's corner and in the second half, Solano was provider again with a through ball that sent Shearer in to round the keeper and slot in. Attendance : 52,302 Assists : Thompson (won fk), Chopra (won pen), Solano, n/a Portsmouth (0) 1 (O'Neil 54) Middlesbrough (0) 0 Portsmouth moved out of the bottom three with a narrow win against cup team of the season, Middlesbrough. The only goal came early in the second half when Todorov found Gary O'Neil and his crisp shot found the net from the edge of the area. Attendance : 20,204 Assist : Todorov West Ham (1) 1 (Newton 15) Manchester City (0) 0 West Ham are still on target for a European place after sending Man City spinning to their fifth defeat in a row. Shaun Newton scored the only goal as he latched onto a crossfield pass from Bobby Zamora before drilling clinically home. Attendance : 34,305 Assist : Zamora 14 April 2006 Manchester United (0) 0 Sunderland (0) 0 Sunderland are relegated after sensationally holding Man United to a goalless draw at Old Trafford, leaving United six points behind Chelsea. However, the anticipated `Slaughter Of The Doomed` didn't materialise and although United dominated possession in the first half, chances were at a premium as Ji-Sung Park shot inches wide and on half time, Wayne Rooney's effort was pushed over by the keeper. Sunderland had a couple of chances themselves as Liam Lawrence had a shot saved and Jon Stead hit the side netting from a tight angle after a cross had beaten the keeper. United upped the pace at the start of the second half but continued to struggle to break down a stubborn Sunderland side. Ryan Giggs sent a free kick over and Cristiano Ronaldo had a shot saved, but the visitors also came close at the other end as a Chris Brown cross almost drifted inside the far post before being tipped away by Edwin Van Der Sar. On the hour, keeper Kelvin Davis saved well from Ruud Van Nistelrooy and Rooney inside a matter of seconds as the pressure increased and within a minute, Van Nistelrooy came so close to turning in Gary Neville's cross. Ronaldo then found space on the edge of the area only for Davis to save well again and at the other end, Justin Hoyte gave United a timely reminder that there were two teams on the pitch with a terrific long range shot that just sailed wide. Midway through the second half, Ole Gunnar Solskjaer came off the bench to make an appearance after awful luck with injuries over the last two seasons although it was Neville who had the next effort only for Davis to fumble his deflected effort to safety. The game was becoming an attack v defence training exercise as it entered the last twenty minutes as Van Nistelrooy's shot on the turned was brilliantly saved as frustrations began to creep in especially from Rooney who tried to push Grant Ledbetter off the pitch as he trudged away when being subbed! Ronaldo hammered a free kick over with four minutes to go although from the restart, Anthony Le Tallec had a shot saved on the break at the other end and in stoppage time, Brown shot over with United again caught upfield. Rooney blasted wide late on but surely this is a golden chance lost for them in the pursuit of Chelsea. Sunderland are officially down but will remember this result and display for a long time. Attendance : 72,519 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://footiemad.95mb.com http://www.peanutsfan.pwp.blueyonder.co.uk/footiemad The Unofficial Premiership Site |