22 August 2011
Manchester United 3 (Welbeck 61, Andersen 76, Rooney 87)
Tottenham 0
Man United remain 100% this season after seeing off Spurs at Old Trafford as the London side finally got their league campaign started.
United's staring line up was their second youngest in Premier League history and they had chances in a goalless first half as Tom Cleverly forced a fine save from Brad Friedel with a low shot and Ashley Young looped a header just wide. It wasn't all one way though as Rafael Van Der Vaart forced two saves from under pressure keeper David De Gea and
Jermaine Defoe fizzed a low shot just wide.
After the break, Young's low shot forced Friedel into action who was also on hand to deny long range efforts from Andersen and Wayne Rooney. United were beginning to take control as Young volleyed over before the deadlock was broken just after the hour as Cleverly's cross was superbly headed into the corner by Danny Welbeck. The lead was almost
doubled when Rooney's free kick was just kept out by the keeper and then the same player walloped a shot just wide. Welbeck's confidence was high now as his attempted overhead kick was straight at Friedel and then Johnny Evans saw a volley blocked as United dominated. The second goal was no surprise and when it arrived it was a beauty as a lovely passing
movement ended with an excellent one-two between Welbeck and Andersen as the latter swept the ball in from 12 yards. Spurs almost got back into it as De Gea dropped a cross and Defoe smashed a shot against the post. Rooney should have added a third but volleyed over from four yards but it made little difference as, three minutes later, he did get on the
scoresheet with a fine header after Ryan Giggs had crossed.
Attendance : 75,498
Assists : Cleverley, Wellbeck, Riggs
21 August 2011
Bolton 2 (Klasnic 39, Davies (K) 63)
Manchester City 3 (Silva 26, Barry 37, Dzeko 47)
Man City are top at the end of the Sunday games after seeing off Bolton in a five goal thriller. City led thanks to David Silva who collected a pass from Micah Richards and then saw his long range effort deceive keeper Jussi Jaaskelainen who allowed the ball to fly past/through him. Gareth Barry doubled matters with a stinging shot from the edge of the
area after a corner was played to him by James Milner. Bolton battled back and found the net inside two minutes when Martin Petrov crossed for Ivan Klasnic to turn the ball in at the near post, however early in the second half, City's two goal lead was restored as Edin Dzeko slotted in James Milner's overhead pass and although Bolton grabbed another goal
back as Kevin Davies headed in Paul Robinson's free kick, they couldn't find an equaliser.
Attendance : 24,273
Assists : Richards, Milner, Petrov, Milner, Robinson (fk)
Wolves 2 (Doyle 42, Jarvis 45)
Fulham 0
Wolves remain 100% as two quick fire goals saw off Fulham. The brace came just before half time as Matt Jarvis found Kevin Doyle who held off the challenge of a couple of men at the near post before walloping the ball in. The lead was doubled in first half stoppage time when Jarvis thumped the ball after Roger Johnson had hit the post.
Attendance : 22,657
Assists : Jarvis, n/a
Norwich 1 (De Laet 37)
Stoke 1 (Jones 90(+4))
SENT OFF : Barnett (Norwich) 63
MISSED PENALTY : Walters (Stoke) 64 - Saved
Stoke netted a late, late equaliser to salvage a point against ten man Norwich. The hosts were ahead at half time when Ritchie De Laet headed in Bradley Johnson's cross, however the turning point came just after the hour as Leon Barnett brought down Jon Walters and was sent off as a penalty was awarded, even though the tackle was outside the area.
Justice was done when keeper John Ruddy saved the kick from Walters. Stoke finally levelled deep in stoppage time when Kenwyne Jones nodded in Glen Whelan's cross.
Attendance : 26,272
Assists : Johnson (fk), Whelan
20 August 2011
Sunderland 0
Newcastle 1 (Taylor (R) 62)
SENT OFF: Bardsley (Sunderland) 89
Newcastle won the bragging rights in the Tyne-Wear (should that be Wear-Tyne?) derby with a narrow win at the Stadium of Light. The visitors felt they should have had a penalty in the first half when Sebastien Larsson handled Joey Barton's goalbound header and the ball looped over the bar, however neither ref or linesman managed to spot it. That aside, Sunderland had the better of the first half but the visitors woke up for the second half and clinched the win just after the hour when Ryan Taylor's free kick from the left edge of the area was superbly curled inside the far post with namesake Steven Taylor almost getting an un-needed touch. It was bad tempered throughout and Sunderland finished
with ten men when Phil Bardsley was shown a second yellow card for a hard, clumsy challenge on Fabricio Coloccini.
Attendance : 47,571
Assists : Gutierrez (won fk)
Arsenal 0
Liverpool 2 (Ramsey (og) 78, Suarez 90)
SENT OFF: Frimpong (Arsenal) 70
Arsenal's uncertain start continues with a home defeat against Liverpool. The Gunners looked second best for long spells and their cause wasn't helped with Emmanuel Frimpong picking up a second yellow - although it could have been a straight red - for a late, studs first, tackle on Lucas as he went to block the ball. It proved important although it needed a freak goal to put Liverpool ahead as Raul Meireles looked to thread Luis Suarez through but it was intercepted in the area by Ignasi Miquel, however his clearance thudded into the chest of Aaron Ramsey to loop back over his keeper and into his own net. In the build up, Suarez may have been marginally offside and the same happened when the lead was doubled late on as Lucas found Meireles and as the keeper came out, he squared the ball for Suarez to tap in.
Attendance : 60,090
Assists : n/a, Meireles
Aston Villa 3 (Agbonlahor 12, Heskey 25, Bent 67)
Blackburn 1 (Pedersen 52)
Blackburn slumped to their second defeat in as many games as they were well beaten at Aston Villa who went top ahead of the later weekend games. They were well ahead at the interval as Darren Bent found Gabriel Agbonlahor on the left and he twisted his marker inside-out before cutting inside and curling a beauty inside the far post. The lead was
doubled when Agbonlahor found Emile Heskey on the edge of the area who fired in a low shot. Rovers pulled one back when David Hoillet crossed for Morten Gamst Pedersen to thump in a header but Villa wrapped it up as Stiliyan Petrov's shot was blocked but it fell nicely for Bent to control the ball and score inside the post.
Attendance : 32,319
Assists : Bent, Agbonlahor, Hoilett, n/a
Everton 0
QPR 1 (Smith 31)
Everton's opening game ended in defeat as QPR put last week's nightmare behind them. Everton came desperately close to taking the lead when Leighton Baines crashed a free kick against the underside of the bar. The only goal came after half an hour as Phil Jagielka lost the ball to Akos Buzsaky who found Tommy Smith who took the time to take a touch and
curl the ball low into the net.
Attendance : 35,008
Assist : Buzsaky
Swansea 0
Wigan 0
MISSED PENALTY : Watson (Wigan) 73 - Saved
Swansea's first ever Premier League home game ended goalless although they rode their luck against Wigan. This was crucially evident in a remarkable four minute spell in the second half as firstly Jordi Gomez crashed a long range shot against the post and a couple of minutes later, Victor Moses did the same against the bar and from the rebound,
Gomez was tripped by Ashley Williams to concede a penalty. The hosts luck held though as Ben Watson low shot was excellently saved by keeper Michel Vorm.
Attendance : 19,028
Assists :
Chelsea 2 (Anelka 53, Malouda 83)
West Brom 1 (Long 4)
Chelsea begin their home campaign with a win but they were made to struggle as they came from behind to see off West Brom.
The game could hardly have started better for the outsiders as Shane Long won the ball from Alex in midfield and then held off the challenge of the Chelsea man to surge into the area and fire low into the net past Henrique Hilario and although Chelsea enjoyed decent possession for ten minutes afterwards, it was the Baggies who almost netted again with Paul
Scharner's near post shot pushed away. With only Fernando Torres and Nik Anelka having attempts - albeit weak ones - on goal for the hosts, the manager replaced Salomon Kalou with Florent Malouda after just 34 minutes. They did come close on half time when Alex belted a free kick goalwards which was deflected straight to the keeper and Anelka's header
was equally simple for Ben Foster to deal with, although they did seem to have a good shout for a penalty when Anelka was upended by Foster.
The second half saw the pressure eventually pay dividends as Frank Lampard lost the ball in the area and amid half hearted penalty appeals, Anelka collected the ball wide, cut inside and found the net with a low shot across goal, aided by a deflection. They came close to going ahead minutes later as both Anelka and Malouda had goalbound shots saved.
Chelsea were handed a reminder of their fragility when Somen Tchoyi's curling effort was palmed away by Hilario but sub Didier Drogba had a decent chance to put his side ahead but failed to connect properly to a cracking cross from Branislav Ivanovic. Anelka was then sent clear, sparking Foster to come miles out of his area and although Anelka
slotted the ball past him with ease, it was just off target and drifted just wide of the near post but just two minutes later, they finally took the lead. Jose Bosingwa did brilliantly on the right to beat two men and his superb low cross was thumped in at the far post by Malouda. Full credit to the visitors who battled back and almost levelled when sub Peter Odemwingie's far post volley was straight at the keeper. Tempers flared near the end with both John Terry and Ashley Cole throwing their toys out of the pram as they clashed with Odemwingie who was strangely booked after being clattered by Cole.
Attendance : 41,091
Assists : n/a, n/a, Bosingwa
Spurs v Everton - Postponed to due to aftermath of riots ove
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