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7 October 2007

FULHAM 0
PORTSMOUTH 2 (Benjani 50, Hreidarsson 52)

Portsmouth move into fifth after a victory at Fulham which plunges the hosts into the bottom three. After an entertaining, yet goalless, first half, Portsmouth struck twice in the opening stages of the second half. Last weeks hat trick hero Benjani grabbed the first as he collected a pass from Sean Davis, turned his marker and fired in from the edge of the area aided by a deflection. The second came shortly afterwards as Niko Kranjcar found Hermann Hreidarsson in the area and his effort from the left also deflected and sailed over the keeper.

Attendance : 20,774
Assists : n/a, Kranjcar


BLACKBURN 2 (Bentley 15, McCarthy 56 Pen)
BIRMINGHAM 1 (Jerome 68)

Blackburn move into the top six after a narrow win against Birmingham. Rovers took a first half lead when David Bentley collected a cross from David Dunn, turned and fired low inside the near post. Birmingham should have levelled early in the second half but his close range effort was ruled out for a very tight offside decision and just a minute later, Roque Santa Cruz was tripped in the area by Johan Djourou and Benni McCarthy doubled the lead from the spot. The visitors did eventually find the net when Cameron Jerome smashed into the roof of the net from Liam Ridgewell's header but they couldn't find the equaliser.

Attendance : 19,316
Assists : Dunn, Santa Cruz (won pen), Ridgewell


BOLTON 0
CHELSEA 1 (Kalou 41)

Chelsea won their first league game under the new regime, leaving Bolton still in the bottom three. The only goal came just before half time when Salomon Kalou chased a high ball into the area and nipped between keeper and defender before holding off a challenge and drilling a low shot in from a tight angle.

Attendance : 19,995
Assist : n/a


LIVERPOOL 2 (Voronin 12, Torres 92)
TOTTENHAM 2 (Keane 45, Keane 47)

Cracking match at Anfield which ultimately left both Liverpool and Spurs fans with mixed feelings. The hosts took the lead when Paul Robinson failed to hold a Steven Gerrard free kick and Andriy Voronin tapped in the rebound, however goals either side of half time from Robbie Keane gave Spurs an unlikely lead. Both were similar in their build up as they came from long kicks by Robinson that were nodded on by Dimitar Berbatov, however whilst Keane's equaliser was a flick past the keeper, his second was a superb volley off the bar. It looked to be enough until the second minute of stoppage time when Steve Finnan crossed for Fernando Torres to head a far post equaliser.

Attendance : 43,986
Assists : n/a, Berbatov, Berbatov, Finnan


MANCHESTER CITY 3 (Riggott 10 og, Elano 33, Elano 63 fk)
MIDDLESBROUGH 1 (Hutchinson 89)

Man City continue to be up with the leaders after a comfortable win against Middlesbrough. They needed a slice of luck to get started as Chris Riggott sliced a Martin Petrov corner into his own net but after that it was the Elano show. The Brazilian's first was a superb low drive from 25 yards after being set up by Michael Johnson's back heel and his second, a curling free kick into the top corner. Debutant Ben Hutchinson pulled a late goal back for Boro with a close range tap in after Tuncay's shot was only parried.

Attendance : 40,438
Assists : n/a, Johnson, Mpenza (won fk), n/a


NEWCASTLE 3 (Butt 42, Emre 86, Owen 90)
EVERTON 2 (Johnson 53, Given 90 og)

Newcastle move into the top half in a game that saw the return of England strikers Michael Owen and Andy Johnson. Newcastle went ahead just before the interval when Nicky Butt collected a weak clearance on the edge of the area and curled a beauty over the keeper and into the net. Johnson came on for Everton for the second half and netted the equaliser from close range after good work from Leighton Baines and it remained level until the final four minutes when Newcastle regained the lead after another loose clearance fell to Emre who walloped a low shot into the bottom corner from 25 yards. Owen came on for the last 15 minutes and made it 3-1 with a header off the bar from Emre's cross but even then Everton grabbed a late consolation when Mikael Arteta's cross clipped off of Alan Smith and as keeper Shay Given tried to tip it over, he only managed to palm it into his own net.

Attendance : 50,152
Assists : n/a, Baines, n/a, Emre (fk), n/a


READING 1 (Doyle 63)
DERBY 0

Reading eventually got the breakthrough just after the hour when a cross from Graeme Murty flicked off of the head of a defender and Kevin Doyle did well at the far post to adjust and direct his header back across goal and inside the far post.

Attendance : 23,091
Assist : n/a


ARSENAL 3 (Van Persie 7, Senderos 14, Van Persie 80)
SUNDERLAND 2 (Wallace 25, Jones 48)

Arsenal regained top spot but only after a hell of a fright at home to Sunderland. The Gunners blazed into a quick-fire two goal lead after Robin Van Persie's bullet free kick crashed in off the bar and then the visitors failed to clear a cross from Emmanuel Adebayor and Philippe Senderos bobbled the ball in. It should have been three however Abou Diaby had a goal wrongly ruled out for offside and it allowed Sunderland a foothold and thanks to goals either side of half time, it allowed them parity. Ross Wallace got them back into it when he shot home after Kenwyne Jones was denied by the keeper and early after the restart, Jones equalised with a header from Liam Miller's cross. Arsenal stormed back and regained the lead when Theo Walcott set up Van Persie to score the winner. Sunderland ended the game with ten men when Paul McShane was shown a straight red when his studs and then knee caught Alexander Hleb in a somewhat uncomfortable part of his anatomy.

Attendance : 60,098
Red Card : McShane 90 (Sunderland)
Assists : Fabregas (won fk), Adebayor, n/a, Miller, Walcott


6 October 2007

ASTON VILLA 1 (Gabbidon 24 og)
WEST HAM 0

Aston Villa won the battle of the claret and blues thanks to a first half free kick. Craig Gardner was the scorer from the edge of the area although it did take a huge deflection off of West Ham's Danny Gabbidon right in front of the keeper.

Attendance : 40,842
Assist : n/a

MANCHESTER UNITED 4 (Tevez 54, Ronaldo 59, Ronaldo 76, Rooney 82)
WIGAN 0

Man United go top ahead of the rash of Sunday games after finally finding their feet in the second half against Wigan. After a goalless first half, United took charge at the start of the second half when Anderson sent Carlos Tevez through and after holding off his marker, he rounded the keeper and found the bottom corner despite two defenders getting back between him and the line. It opened the proverbial floodgates as Cristiano Ronaldo added a second minutes later with a far post header after keeper Chris Kirkland failed to deal with a cross from Ryan Giggs. The third - Ronaldo's second - came after a sweeping move which ended with Wayne Rooney's low cross from the left being finished well by the Portuguese star and Rooney added the fourth himself with a header from Danny Simpson's cross.

Attendance : 75,300
Assists : Anderson, n/a, Rooney, Simpson

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