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7 May 2006 Newcastle 1 (Bramble 73) Chelsea 0 Newcastle clinched an InterToto Cup spot after beating a second string Chelsea side who end their title winning season with two defeats. Chelsea did have two goals disallowed, however Newcastle had one that counted as Emre's corner was headed across goal at the far post by Amady Faye and volleyed into the net in stunning fashion by Titus Bramble. The hosts were reduced to ten men minutes later when Stephen Carr tackled Lassana Diarra and as the Chelsea man fell, Carr appeared to catch him in the chest with his boot. The Chelsea player appealed but there were no amateur dramatics, however Carr was sent off. Attendance : 52,309 Red Card : Carr 75 (Newcastle) Assist : Faye Arsenal 4 (Pires 8, Henry 35, Henry 57, Henry 76 Pen) Wigan 2 (Scharner 10, Thompson 34) Arsenal needed to do better than Spurs to guarantee Champions League football next season and leapfrog their North London rivals into fourth place and they did just that on a remarkable day that saw the last ever league game at Highbury. They started well and went ahead when Sol Campbell's header was hooked goalwards by Robert Pires and although Wigan keeper Mike Pollitt saved the first effort, Pires was on hand to bundle in the loose ball. Wigan, with nothing to play for but pride, battled back and were level within two minutes as Paul Scharner clipped in David Thompson's free kick at the near post and it was Thompson again who put Wigan ahead when his 30 yard free kick deceived keeper Lens Lehmann who left his near post unguarded as he expected a cross into the area. Arsenal struck straight back when Pires sent Thierry Henry clear to fire in the equaliser and early in the second half, Henry added his second as he latched onto an underhit back pass by Thompson, rounded the keeper and tapped into an empty net. Both clubs then made changes with Freddie Ljungberg and Andreas Johansson entering the field together and within 30 seconds, the latter held the former in the area as he looked to shoot and a penalty was awarded. The ref felt that it was a professsion foul and sent Andreas off, just a minute after he came on! Henry completed his hat trick in clinical style from the spot to wrap up a nostalgic day for Arsenal. Attendance : 38,359 Red Card : Johansson 76 (Wigan) Assists : n/a, Thompson (fk), McCulloch (won fk), Pires, n/a, Ljungberg (won pen) Manchester United 4 (Saha 19, Ronaldo 23, Euell 35 og, Richardson 59) Charlton 0 Man United clinched an automatic place in the league stages of next season's Champions League as they swept Charlton aside at Old Trafford in what was Alan Curbishley's last game in charge of the London side. It was all over by half time as United took an early lead when Ryan Giggs crossed for Louis Saha to glance in a header and then another Giggs crossed was initially miscontrolled by Cristiano Ronaldo, however the ball bobbled back to him and he scored from close range. Saha then crossed for the unlucky Jason Euell to slide the ball into the own net and the rout was complete after the break when Radostin Kishishev was dispossesed by Kieran Richardson in midfield and he ran half the length of the pitch to drill in the fourth. Major news from the game was that Ruud Van NIstelrooy left the ground prior to kick off after learning that he wasn't in the starting line up. Attendance : 73,006 Assists : Giggs (ck), Brown, n/a, n/a Aston Villa 2 (Barry 43, Ridgewell 78) Sunderland 1 (Collins 88) Villa ended a dismal season with a narrow win against bottom club Sunderland. They went ahead when Stephen Davis set up Gareth Barry to strike a near post shot in from the edge of the area and the same man should have doubled the lead from the penalty spot after Gabriel Agbonlahor had been tripped by Gary Breen, however Barry's kick was saved by Kelvin Davis and cleared to safety after rattling against the underside of the bar. From the resulting corner, Liam Ridgewell's header was saved, however he was quickest to the loose ball to nod in Villa's second. Sunderland pulled one back late on when Dean Whitehead's corner was headed in by Danny Collins, however it's been a season to forget for both clubs. Attendance : 33,820 Assists : Davis, n/a, Whitehead (ck) West Ham 2 (Fletcher 10, Benayoun 80) Tottenham 1 (Defoe 36) A few miles across London, Spurs knew that a win would guarantee them fourth place regardless of how Arsenal were doing, however due to a spate of food poisoning, they applied to have the kick off delayed for four hours to give their players chance to recover. This was denied by the FA, leaving Spurs furious and gutted after the game. The illnesses showed early on as West Ham dominated and took the lead when Teemu Tainio was tackled by Carl Fletcher who then crashed the ball in from 25 yards. Spurs levelled at around the same time as Arsenal made it 2-2 in their game as Michael Carrick found Jermain Defoe who turned and struck a superb shot inside the far post against his former club. Tainio then fouled Bobby Zamora in the area, however former Spurs striker Teddy Sheringham saw his penalty brilliantly saved by Paul Robinson. The Hammers, looking forward to the FA Cup Final next week, won the game and broke Spurs hearts late on when Marlon Harewood's back heel found Yossi Benayoun and having made space in the area, fired into the top corner. Attendance : 34,970 Assists : n/a, Carrick, Harewood Portsmouth 1 (Koroman 85) Liverpool 3 (Fowler 52, Crouch 84, Cisse 89) Liverpool finish third and will need to qualify for the group stages of the CL next season after sweeping aside Portsmouth who sealed their safety last weekend. All the goals came in the second half, beginning with Robbie Fowler who collected a pass from Fernando Morientes, found space and hit a low shot into the bottom corner. Peter CRouch doubled the lead when he was on hand to tap in Djibril Cisse's cross after Dean Kiely had only got a hand to it, however within a minute, Portsmouth pulled one back when Wayne Routledge crossed for Ognjen Koroman to finish well at the far post. Liverpool clinched the win late on when Crouch sent Cisse through and he found the net with a crisp low shot. Attendance : 20,240 Assists : Morientes, n/a, Routledge, Crouch Fulham 1 (Helguson 84 Pen) Middlesbrough 0 Fulham ended their season with a narrow win over a below strength Middlesbrough side who have their eyes on Wednesday's UEFA Cup Final against Seville. The only goal came late as Heidar Helguson was fouled by David Wheater and calmly slotted in the resuting penalty. Attendance : 22,434 Assists : Helguson (won pen) Everton 2 (Anichebe 84, Ferguson 90) West Brom 2 (Gera 14, Martinez 47) Everton began the season in the Champions League and UEFA Cup and ended a remarkable topsy-turvy campaign with two late goals to earn a point against already relegated West Brom. The visitors were ahead when Jonathon Greening's cross was converted at the far post by Zoltan Gera and both were involved in the second as Greening's corner was nodded on by Gera and crashed in by Williams Martinez. With six minutes to go, Mikael Arteta found Victor Anichebe in the area and he turned well and slotted the ball in and with time almost up, Arteta was fouled by Martinez and although Duncan Ferguson's penalty was saved by Tomasz Kuszczak, the big Scot was first to the rebound and fired in, although the keeper again almost kept it out. Attendance : 39,671 Assists : Greening, Gera, Arteta, n/a Blackburn 2 (Khizanishvili 35, Kuqi 52) Manchester City 0 Blackburn ended the season in sixth as they swept Man City aside at Ewood Park. They began well and took the lead when City keeper David James dropped a corner from Sergio Peter and Zurab Khizanishvili hooked the ball in. Shefki Kuqi doubled the lead in the second half when he scored at the near post from Brett Emerton's cross, however they ended the game with ten men after Tugay launched into a studs-first tackle on David Sommeil and although there was some doubt as to how much contact was made, the City man rolling around on the floor in apparent agony didn't help matters. Attendance : 25,731 Red Card : Tugay 59 (Blackburn) Assists : n/a, Emerton Bolton 1 (Vaz Te 65) Birmingham 0 Bolton finished eighth as they played out a typical end of season clash against relegated Birmingham. The only goal came in the second half when Kevin Nolan's cross was volleyed in at the far post by Ricardo Vaz Te who has ended the season in good goalscoring form. Attendance : 26,275 Assist : Nolan 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 |