5 May 2008
NEWCASTLE 0
CHELSEA 2 (Ballack 61, Malouda 82)
Chelsea and Man United will go into the final game of the season level on points after the London side beat Newcastle 2-0. Newcastle had the best chance of a tight first half as Michael Owen's shot was cleared off the line by John Terry. Chelsea could have taken the lead shortly afterwards only for Michael Ballack to shoot wide from a decent position. The second half saw Chelsea step up a gear and after Terry smacked a header against the bar, Ballack atoned for his earlier miss with a close range header inside the far post from Didier Drogba's free kick. The home side battled back with Obafemi Martins shooting just wide and Owen just failing to make contact with the ball moments later with the goal gaping. Chelsea clinched the points with eight minutes to go as Frank Lampard found Florent Malouda in the area and he slotted calmly past the keeper. Chelsea need to better the Man United result in the final game although Man United will win the title with a win at Wigan next Sunday unless Chelsea beat Bolton by 18 goals!!
Attendance : 52,305
Assists : Drogba (fk), Lampard
4 May 2008
LIVERPOOL 1 (Torres 58)
MANCHESTER CITY 0
Fernando Torres equalled a 40-year old club record by scoring the only goal as Liverpool saw off Man City. Torres netted for the eighth successive home game to equal Roger Hunt's feat as he collected a pass from Dirk Kuyt, beat his man in the area and slotted past keeper Joe Hart.
Attendance : 43,074
Assist : Kuyt
ARSENAL 1 (Bendtner 77)
EVERTON 0
Everton are yet to secure a UEFA Cup spot after slipping to a narrow defeat at Arsenal who could still nick second place and automatically qualify for the Champions League group stages. Only one goal seperated the teams as Armand Traore crossed for Niklas Bendtner to crash home a header.
Attendance : 60,123
Assist : Traore
3 May 2008
BOLTON 2 (Diouf 42, Murphy 83 og)
SUNDERLAND 0
Bolton will be playing Premiership football next season barring some last day mathamatical mayhem after a goal in each half saw off Sunderland. The first half was pretty dismal stuff however Bolton took the lead just before half time as a cross from Kevin Nolan found El Hadji Diouf at the far post and after taking one touch to control, he side footed the ball across goal and high into the top corner. Diouf headed against the post just after half time and Bolton wrapped it up late on as a Matt Taylor corner was glanced into his own goal by Daryl Murphy, the ball crossing the line despite the hacked clearance from Andy Reid.
Attendance : 25,052
Assists : Nolan, n/a
ASTON VILLA 0
WIGAN 2 (Bouma 52 og, Valencia 63)
Wigan guaranteed their Premiership place next season with a superb win at European hopefuls Aston Villa. Both goals came after the break with the first needing a huge chunk of luck as Marcus Bent found Antonio Valencia whose short from the edge of the box took a massive deflection off of Wilfred Bouma, looped over the keeper and went just inside the far post. His second was excellent though as he ran onto a header from Emile Heskey and as he was closed down, powered a shot inside the near post.
Attendance : 42,640
Assists : n/a, Heskey
BLACKBURN 3 (Santa Cruz 45, Roberts 47, Santa Cruz 77)
DERBY 1 (Miller 19)
Blackburn came from behind to see off bottom club Derby but will need the InterToto Cup for a European place. They had a shock initially though as a clearance from keeper Roy Carroll saw Kenny Miller destroy the offside trap and slot in the opener for the visitors. A goal either side of the break turned it around as Roque Santa Cruz netted from close range after Morton Gamst Pedersen's shot was saved and then Jason Roberts latched onto a poor pass from Andy Todd to slot in the second. Santa Cruz wrapped it up with a brave header in off the far post from David Bentley's cross.
Attendance : 26,110
Assists : Carroll, n/a, n/a, Bentley
FULHAM 2 (McBride 52, Nevland 87)
BIRMINGHAM 0
Fulham are out of the bottom three after a deserved win against fellow strugglers Birmingham who are now 19th. Fulham went ahead early in the second half as Jimmy Bullard's free kick was met by the unmarked Brian McBride with an excellent diving header. The win was wrapped up late on as Erik Nevland took advantage of a poor defensive header to break free and slot in the second.
Attendance : 25,308
Assists : Bullard (fk), n/a
MIDDLESBROUGH 2 (Riggott 40, Tuncay 53)
PORTSMOUTH 0
Middlesbrough are also certain of top flight football next season with a comfortable win against cup finalists Portsmouth. Both goals came from corners as firstly Chris Riggott thumped in a header from Fabio Rochemback's cross and then Tuncay headed in from close range after Stuart Downing floated in a corner.
Attendance : 24,828
Assists : Rochemback (ck), Downing (ck)
READING 0
TOTTENHAM 1 (Keane 16)
Reading join Birmingham in the bottom three after a home defeat against Spurs. The only goal came after good work from Darren Bent who found Robbie Keane who showed quick feet in the area before clipping the ball inside the far post. With just one game to go there in only one point between Fulham, Reading and Birmingham. Two of the three will join Derby in the Championship next season.
Attendance : 24,125
Assists : Bent
MANCHESTER UNITED 4 (Ronaldo 3, Ronaldo 24, Tevez 26, Carrick 59)
WEST HAM 1 (Ashton 28)
Man United edged closer to retaining the title after a comfortable win against West Ham. They had the ideal start as Cristiano Ronaldo collected a loose ball on the right and as Lucas Neill slipped, he cut inside and as the defence failed to close him down, his shot flew inside the near post aided by a deflection. United trebled the lead with two goals in three minutes as Ronaldo netted again as a cross from Owen Hargreaves was too high for two defenders and eventually went in off off of the thigh of the Portuguese and then he found Carlos Tevez who unleased a vicious shot from 30 yards which tore into the roof of the net. Almost immediately, the Hammers pulled one back as a cross from Bobby Zamora was headed into the air by Wes Brown and acrobatically finished with an overhead kick by Dean Ashton. The win was secured in the second half when Michael Carrick again took advantage of a static Hammers defence to run and shoot via a deflection from 25 yards. Among all this with the score at 3-1 we witnessed an amazing piece of acting from Nani. He and Lucas Neill clashed in the United area with the Hammers man appearing to to a `Vinny Jones` on him and grab his short and curlies, albeit briefly. Nani then squared up to Neill and headbutted him and as the West Ham man fell to the floor, so did Nani in a remarkable show of cowardice and cheating. Quite rightly he was sent off as the linesman saw the incident and although Nani has shown a tendency to playact this season, I hope he learns a valuable lesson from this.
Attendance : 76,013
Assists : n/a, Hargreaves, Ronaldo, n/a, n/a
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