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22 November 2009

BOLTON 0
BLACKBURN 2 (Dunn 32, Ricketts 73 og)

Blackburn collected their first away points of the season with a win in the East Lancs derby at Bolton. After a mediocre opening half an hour, the game burst to life in a 30 second spell as Bolton came close when Matt Taylor's free kick was deflected against his own bar by Ryan Nelsen and as Rovers broke away, Jason Roberts held the ball up well and found David Dunn whose first time curler was superb and found the far top corner even though keeper Jussi Jaaskelainen got fingertips to it. Taylor should have levelled on half time but sent a free header wide from a matter of three yards out. The second half was better as Rovers came close with Gavin McCann forced to making to goal-line clearances whilst Bolton could have levelled only for Ricardo Gardner to shoot wide and Taylor to be denied by an excellent save from Paul Robinson. Blackburn eventually doubled the lead in bizarre circumstances as Brett Emerton's long ball should have been easy for Sam Rickets on the edge of his own area, however he wasn't aware that keeper Jaaskelainen had come off of his line to collect the ball and the Bolton defender nodded it past him and into his own net from 25 yards. Bolton's afternoon was summed up late on when Ivan Klasnic rounded Robinson only for his goalbound shot to be cleared by Lars Jacobsen.

Attendance : 21,777
Assists : Roberts, n/a


STOKE 1 (Fuller 74)
PORTSMOUTH 0

Portsmouth remain rooted to the bottom after slumping to a narrow defeat at Stoke. Portsmouth were handed a golden chance to take an early lead when Rory Delap conceded a penalty after his attempted clearance almost decapitated Aruna Dindane, however Kevin-Prince Boateng's spot kick was dire and keeper Thomas Sorensen saved with ease. A poor game finally served up a goal when a lovely one touch passing movement saw Matt Etherington find Ricardo Fuller on the edge of the area and he made space before curling a lovely shot into the bottom corner.

Attendance : 27,069
Assist : Etherington


TOTTENHAM 9 (Crouch 9, Defoe 51, Defoe 54, Defoe 58, Lennon 64, Defoe 69, Defoe 87, Kirkland 88 og, Kranjcar 94)
WIGAN 1 (Scharner 57)

Jermain Defoe hit five goals as Spurs rewrote the record books at White Hart Lane with a nine goal blitz of Wigan. Spurs dominated the first half but were only one goal up at the break when Aaron Lennon's cross was headed in at the far post by a stooping Peter Crouch. It was in the second half that Spurs hit top gear with a devastating salvo of FIVE goals in just eighteen minutes, four from Defoe. The first - Spurs' second - came from Lennon's cross, superbly volleyed in at the near post by Defoe and three minutes later, Defoe netted again with a clinical finish from a tricky angle after a through ball from Wilson Palacios wasn't dealt with. Wigan actually then pulled one back as Hugo Rodallega's cross was controlled by the hand of Paul Scharner before he blasted it in amid Spurs protests. I somehow doubt Spurs will ask for the game to be replayed! Within a minute, Defoe netted his hat trick with another near post volley from another cross from Lennon and then it was Lennon's turn to deservedly get on the scoresheet with a finish from a narrow angle after being found in acres of space by Crouch. Defoe's fourth - Spurs' sixth - came with twenty-one minutes left as he was sent clear by Verdun Corluka before firing in off the near post. Spurs then gave their opponents a break until the final three minutes when they again left Wigan shell-shocked. The seventh and Defoe's fifth came as he latched onto to an awful attempted clearance by Erik Edman to slot past keeper Chris Kirkland. The eighth was the only goal with an element of luck about it as David Bentley's free kick crashed against the bar, hit Kirkland on the head and bounced in and with time almost up, Niko Kranjcar added a ninth as he walloped a shot in off the bar after being found in the area by Bentley.

Records (Prem era - post 1992-93) :

Spurs became only the second team to score nine in a game, following Man United's 9-0 over Ipswich in 1995.

Jermain Defoe became only the third player to score five in a game with Andy Cole in the above game and Alan Shearer for Newcastle against Sheffield Wed in 1999.

Defoe is the only player to score five in one half.

His first three goals were the second quickest hat trick behind Robbie Fowler's triple in under five minutes for Liverpool v Arsenal in 1994

Spurs became the only club to score eight goals in one half.

Attendance : 35,650
Assists : Lennon, Lennon, Palacios, Rodallega, Lennon, Crouch, Corluka, n/a, n/a, Bentley


21 November 2009

BIRMINGHAM 1 (Bowyer 16)
FULHAM 0

Birmingham move into mid table, level on points with Fulham after seeing off the London side at a rain drenched St Andrews. The only goal came early as Lee Bowyer latched onto a chipped ball from James McFadden and lobbed the ball over the keeper and into the net.

Attendance : 23,659
Assist : McFadden


BURNLEY 1 (Caldwell 9)
ASTON VILLA 1 (Heskey 86)

Aston Villa left it late to earn a point at Burnley. The hosts took an early lead when Steven Caldwell beat a crowd of players to nod in Robbie Blake's free kick but with four minutes to go, a poor punch by Brian Jensen from a corner resulted in James Milner crossing for Emile Heskey to head in his first goal since mid April.

Attendance : 21,178
Assists : Blake (fk), Milner


CHELSEA 4 (Malouda 5, Essien 12, Essien 22, J Cole 56)
WOLVES 0

Chelsea remain clear at the top after blitzing Wolves at Stamford Bridge. They were three up by the middle of the first half as firstly Florent Malouda unleashed a beauty into the roof of the net from 25 yards after a poor clearance from Jody Craddock and then Malouda's corner was headed in at the near post by Michael Essien. The same pair combined again for Essien to drill in a third from the edge of the area, a shot which seemed to go under the diving Wolves keeper Wayne Hennessy. They eased off a little after that although Joe Cole added a fourth in the second half from Salomon Kalou's pass.

Attendance : 41,786
Assists : n/a, Malouda (ck), Kalou, Kalou


HULL 3 (Cole 27 og, Zayatte 44, Bullard 46 Pen)
WEST HAM 3 (Franco 5, Collison 11, Da Costa 69)

Hull and West Ham shared six goals in a remarkable game at the KC Stadium. The Hammers began in sensational fashion with two quick fire goals as Guillermo Franco headed in a corner from Junior Stanislas and then Franco's lofted pass was headed over the advancing keeper by Jack Collison. Hull pulled one back with a bizarre goal as Jimmy Bullard's free kick deflected off of Scott Parker and then the head of Carlton Cole before looping over the keeper and in. The hosts then turned the game-on its head with two more goals before half time as Kamil Zayatte netted at the far post from Stephen Hunt's cross and then Bullard walloped in a penalty after Julien Faubert was ruled to have barged over Craig Fagan on the edge of the area. Hull's cause for three points took a knock when Bernard Mendy was shown a straight red card for clattering into Parker as he looked to burst into the area and sure enough the Hammers levelled when Manuel Da Costa converted another Stanislas corner.

Attendance : 24,909
Red Card : Mendy 54 (Hull)
Assists : Stanislas (ck), Franco, n/a, Hunt (fk), Fagan (won pen), Stanislas (ck)


LIVERPOOL 2 (Skrtel 50, Benayoun 77)
MANCHESTER CITY 2 (Adebayor 69, Ireland 76)

A real game of two halves as Liverpool and Man City shared four second half goals at Anfield. A poor first half was notable only for injuries to home pair Daniel Agger and Ryan Babel, both of whom needed to go off, and a superb save by Shay Given from a header by Martin Skrtel. The goal that the game desperately needed arrived early in the second half as Steven Gerrard's free kick on the left was fizzed in and diverted past Given by the outstretched leg of Skrtel for his first Liverpool goal. City battled back and grabbed a deserved equaliser when a corner from Craig Bellamy was headed in by an unmarked Emmanuel Adebayor and six minutes later they were ahead as Shaun Wright-Phillips did well to turn in the area and cross for Stephen Ireland to fire in from six yards, although he may have been marginally offside. The lead lasted 74 seconds as a shot from David Ngog is deflected across goal and past Given for Yossi Benayoun to smash in from close range. In the last minute of stoppage time, Lucas sent an unmarked header nearer the corner flag than the goal and with it went Liverpool's last chance.

Attendance : 44,164
Assists : Gerrard (fk), Bellamy (ck), SWP, n/a


MANCHESTER UNITED 3 (Fletcher 35, Carrick 67, Baines 76 og)
EVERTON 0

Man United remain five points adrift of Chelsea after cruising to victory at home to Everton. A superb volley from Darren Fletcher got them started as he somehow got above the ball to send a stunning volley into the top corner after Antonio Valencia had nodded a cross from Patrice Evra back to the edge of the area. Ryan Giggs set up the second with a cut back to Michael Carrick whose first time shot found the bottom corner and then Valencia wrapped it up with a good finish after being found by Paul Scholes.

Attendance : 75,169
Assists : Valencia, Giggs, n/a


SUNDERLAND 1 (Bent 71)
ARSENAL 0

Sunderland are within touching distance of the top four elite after a well deserved home win against Arsenal who failed to score for the first time this season. The only goal had an element of luck about it as Darren Bent's wildly off target header hit team mate Frazier Campbell and rebounded nicely for Bent to smash into the roof of the net.

Attendance : 44,918
Assist : Campbell

Gary Dowden - Joint Admin Yahoo Groups Premier-L list
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