15 August 2011
Manchester City 4 (Dzeko 57, Aguero 68, Silva 71, Aguero 91)
Swansea 0
Swansea's first ever Premier League game saw them lose 4-0 at title possibles Man City at the Etihad Stadium with record signing Sergio Aguero taking the plaudits, despite starting on the bench. Swansea actually began very well with good possession and some nice passing, however as the half wore on, the hosts took control as David Silva had a shot saved and smashed an effort against the bar. Edin Dzeko forced a close range block out of keeper Michel Vorm after some nifty footwork whilst the woodwork was again struck on the stroke of half time as Gareth Barry saw his shot bounce back into play. After the break Swansea managed their first effort on target as a breakaway resulted in Stephen
Dobbie forcing a decent save from home keeper Joe Hart. Ironically it came minutes before the hosts finally broke Swansea down as a mazy run by Silva saw him find Adam Johnson wide and although his shot was parried by Vorm, it fell perfectly for Dzeko to tap into the gaping net. £35m sub Sergio Aguero came on for the last half an hour and he almost
scored inside two minutes only to be denied by Vorm. It didn't take long for him to open his account though as another good move saw Micah Richards find space on the right and his excellent cross was tapped in at the far post by the striker. The third followed shortly afterwards as Aguero was sent clear and although his lob beat the keeper, it was
sailing wide before he hooked it back - possibly after it had crossed the line - for Silva to side foot into the net with the keeper stranded. Vorm had been excellent all night and outdid himself when he somehow clawed the ball back from going over the line from Yaya Toure's fizzing deflected free kick which looked in all the way and at the other end,
Hart was down sharply to hold onto Scott Sinclair's low drive. The coup de grace arrived in stoppage time as Aguero lit up the stadium again as he collected the ball 25 yards from goal and arrowed a scorching drive inside the far post.
Attendance : 46,802
Assists : n/a, Richards, Aguero, Toure
14 August 2011
Stoke 0
Chelsea 0
Andre Villas-Boas began his reign as Chelsea manager with a 0-0 draw at Stoke. After a goalless - and unsurprisingly uneventful - first half, the second half started with Fernando Torres having two half-decent shouts for a penalty, both of which were turned down and after Frank Lampard had also gone down in the area, Chelsea came as close as anyone
when John Obi Mikel's first time volley was tipped over by Asmir Begovic whilst a stinging long range effort from Florent Malouda was also well held by the Stoke keeper. With twenty minutes left, sub Nik Anelka's excellent chip was tipped against the bar by Begovic and Salomon Kalou's powerfully header was also kept out by the home stopper as Chelsea
started to take control of the game, although Glen Whelan did curl at effort straight at Petr Cech at the other end. Enter sub Didier Drogba to join Anelka and Torres for the last fifteen minutes but Stoke continued to hold firm.
Attendance : 27,421
Assists : n/a
West Brom 1 (Long 37)
Manchester United 2 (Rooney 13, Reid (og) 81)
Man United began the defence of their league title with a narrow, but deserved, win at West Brom. United led early as Ashley Young found Wayne Rooney on the edge of the area and after taking a couple of touches, he fired a low shot past the keeper and inside the far post. Albion levelled approaching half time as new United keeper David De Gea - who
looked nervy at Wembley last week - had another Taibi-moment as Chris Brunt played in Shane Long on the left and after cutting inside, his low drive under the hands of De Gea and into the net. United saved his blushes late on, courtesy of an element of luck as Dimitar Berbatov found Young and after shaping to cross, he dummied and cut into the area
before his low cross was deflected in via the unlucky Steven Reid.
Attendance : 25,360
Assists : Young, Brunt, n/a
13 August 2011
Blackburn 1 (Formica 20)
Wolves 2 (Fletcher 22, Ward 47*)
* - scored straight after Kevin Doyle's penalty was saved.
Two of last seasons strugglers served up a decent encounter at Ewood Park as Wolves came from behind to see off Blackburn. In a repeat of the last match of last season, Rovers were again off to a flyer when Jason Roberts found Mauro Formica whose low drive beat the keeper and dribbled over the line. The lead lasted two minutes as Wolves levelled when
Steven Fletcher headed in a deep cross from Matt Jarvis. Early in the second half, Michel Salgado fouled Jarvis in the area and although Kevin Doyle's penalty was well saved by Paul Robinson, the resulting cross back into the area was only partially cleared and Stephen Ward volleyed in the winner from the edge of the area.
Attendance : 21,996
Assists : Roberts, Jarvis, n/a
Fulham 0
Aston Villa 0
No goals at Craven Cottage as Fulham and Aston Villa failed to give their respective new managers a winning start. Fulham came closest to finding a winner when Bobby Zamora was twice denied by point blank saves by Shay Given, although Villa did have a first half strike from Darren Bent correctly ruled out for offside.
Attendance : 25,700
Assists : n/a
Liverpool 1 (Suarez 12)
Sunderland 1 (Larsson 57)
MISSED PENALTY : Suarez (Liverpool) 6 - Blazed over the bar!
Honours even at Anfield as Sunderland came from behind to earn a superb draw at Liverpool. The hosts began like the proverbial rocket were awarded an early penalty when Kieron Richardson tripped Luis Suarez as he bore down on goal and was a bit lucky to only get a yellow card, however Suarez blazed the spot kick well over the bar. He made amends just six minutes later with a glancing header from Charlie Adam's near post free kick to open the scoring. Sunderland battled back and levelled when Ahmed Elmohamady crossed for debutant Sebastien Larsson to send an excellent acrobatic volley across goal and inside the far post.
Attendance : 45,018
Assists : Adam (fk), Elmohamady
QPR 0
Bolton 4 (Cahill 45, Gabbidon (og) 67), Klasnic 70, Muamba 79)
SENT OFF : Hill (QPR) 90
QPR's first top flight game in sixteen years turned into a baptism of fire as they were walloped at home by Bolton. They actually had the better of the first half and had an early Jay Bothroyd goal ruled out for offside, however in stoppage time, Chris Eagles found Gary Cahill on the edge of the area and he found the top corner with a cracking curling
effort. It all fell apart from Rangers midway through the second half when Danny Gabbidon diverted another cross from Eagles into his own net. Three minutes later, a Kevin Davies header fell nicely to Ivan Klasnic whose shot from 15 yards took a wicked deflection to wrong foot keeper Paddy Kenny and it was four when Klasnic sent Fabrice Muamba through the
middle to slot past the keeper. In stoppage time, Rangers were reduced to ten men when Clint Hill clashed with Martin Petrov and butted him in the stomach.
Attendance : 15,195
Assists : Eagles, n/a, Davies, Klasnic,
Wigan 1 (Watson (pen) 21)
Norwich 1 (Hoolahan 45)
Norwich started their first Premier League campaign since 2005 with a point as they came from behind to earn a point at Wigan. Norwich full back Ritchie de Laet had a nightmare start as he lost possession in midfield to Franco di Santo and then fouled him as he chased back into his own area. Ben Watson walloped in the penalty. Norwich levelled just
before the interval as a deflected cross from Steve Morison was spilled by keeper Ali Al-Habsi, allowed Wes Hoolahan to pounce and smash in the loose ball.
Attendance : 17,454
Assists : Di Santo, n/a
Newcastle 0
Arsenal 0
SENT OFF : Gervinho (Arsenal) 77
No eight goal thriller this season as Newcastle and Arsenal failed to find the net in a bad tempered clash at St James Park. Despite being without the soon-to-be-leaving Cesc Fabregas and Samir Nasri, the Gunners began well and they came close on the half hour mark when a Tomas Rosicky corner was met by Laurent Koscielny, ahead of keeper Tim Krul but his goalbound header was hacked off the line by Danny Simpson. Debutant Gervinho was looking lively for the visitors but the first half was largely disappointing. Enter half time sub Gabriel Obertan for the hosts to replace fellow debutant Demba Ba although it was still the Gunners having the better of a tepid encounter as Robin Van Persie curled a free kick inches over the bar. Alex Song was then a little lucky to stay on as he seemed to deliberately stand on Joey Barton's calf after he'd been fouled. Sub Theo Walcott had a good chance to put Arsenal ahead but Krul saved well from his low drive before the game exploded with 15 minutes left as Gervinho dived in the area, sparking a furious Barton to charge in where he didn't belong and drag Gervinho to his feet, sparking a brawl during which Gervinho slapped Barton, causing the Newcastle man to collapse to the floor. Ultimately Gervinho was shown a straight red with Barton very lucky to get away with a yellow.
Attendance : 46,894
Assists : n/a
Spurs v Everton - Postponed to due to aftermath of riots over the last 7 days.
Gary Dowden - Joint Admin YahooGroups Premier-L list
http://sports.groups.yahoo.com/group/premier-l/
Leeds United and Scotland and proud of it