18 September 2011
Blackburn 4 (Yakubu 25, Yakubu 59, Song 50 og, Koscielny 68 og)
Arsenal 3 (Gervinho 10, Arteta 34, Chamakh 85)
Blackburn collected their first win of the season as they twice came from behind to beat stuttering Arsenal and move up above the Gunners in the table. Arsenal took an early lead when Alex Song slid the ball in for Gervinho whose shot on the turn left keeper Paul Robinson flat-footed as it netted inside the far post. Rovers levelled midway through the first half as Yakubu latched onto David Hoillet's through ball and his early prodded finish caught the keeper out, however by the interval Arsenal regained the lead as new signing Mikael Arteta thumped the ball into the roof of the net from Aaron Ramsey's cross. Blackburn turned the game around, albeit with a couple of freak goals, as they netted three times in 18 second half minutes, beginning with an own goal to level matters as Song inadvertently found the net as Ruben Rochina's free kick was looped into the area and rebounded off of his leg to bobble agonisingly over the line. As the rain lashed down, Yakubu grabbed his second to put Rovers ahead with a close range finish after Steven Nzonzi walloped the ball across goal, although he may have been marginally offside. Worse followed for the visitors when Laurent Koscielny also found the wrong end as Rovers broke away from an Arsenal corner and as Martin Olsson crossed, the Gunners defender could only bundle the ball over the line at the near post. Arsenal did grab a late goal back as Marouane Chamakh headed in superbly from Robin Van Persie's cross but Rovers somehow held on.
Attendance : 22,637
Assists : Song, Hoilett, Ramsey, n/a, n/a, n/a, RVP
Aston Villa 1 (Agbonlahor 13)
Newcastle 1 (Best 57)
Newcastle's unbeaten start to the season continues as they came from behind to earn a point at Villa Park. The hosts led when Barry Bannan crossed and after controlling the ball well, Gabriel Agbonlahor swept it into the net. Newcastle grabbed their point in the second thanks to Leon Best who netted from close range after his original header had been saved.
Attendance : 34,248
Assists : Bannan, n/a
Bolton 1 (Petrov 64 Pen)
Norwich 2 (Pilkington 37, Johnson 42)
SENT OFF : Klasnic (Bolton) 45
Two late first half goals gave Norwich an excellent win at ten man Bolton who are yet to find any form this season. The visitors took the lead when Anthony Pilkington bundled in Steve Morison's cross via the defender on the line and the post and the lead was doubled thanks to Bradley Johnson who headed in David Fox's free kick. Bolton were reduced to ten man in first half stoppage time as Ivan Klasnic head butted Marc Tierney and although contact was minimal and the Norwich player went down as though he'd been hit by a bus, the red card was shown. Bolton did pull a goal back when Martin Petrov netted from the penalty spot after David N'Gog was fouled by Leon Barnett but they couldn't find an equaliser.
Attendance : 21,223
Assists : n/a, Fox (fk), N'Gog (won pen)
Everton 3 (Jagielka 33, Vellios 83, Drenthe 98)
Wigan 1 (Di Santo 31)
Everton move into seventh, level on points with Liverpool after leaving it late to see off Wigan. It was level at half time after Franco di Santo had put Wigan ahead with an angled drive which took a deflection but still flew into the top corner, however Phil Jagielka then scored for the hosts with a header after Tim Cahill nodded a corner against the bar. With seven minutes left, Everton went ahead as Tony Hibbert's cross was headed home by sub Vellios and then fellow bench man Royston Drenthe made in three deep into stoppage time as he latched onto Denis Stracqualursi's header to slot confidently home.
Attendance : 31,576
Assists : n/a, n/a, Hibbert, Stracqualursi
Swansea 3 (Sinclair Pen 14, Lita 24, Dyer 49)
West Brom 0
Swansea collected their first league win of the season and scored their first goals as they swept aside West Brom. The opener came from the penalty spot, converted by Scott Sinclair after Joe Allen was clumsily fouled by Paul Scharner. Leroy Lita doubled matters with a close range header after Sinclair had nodded a corner goalwards. An excellent win
was wrapped up when Nathan Dyer's low near post shot found the net from Lita's flick on.
Attendance : 20,341
Assists : Allen (won pen), Sinclair (ck), Lita
Wolves 0
QPR 3 (Barton 8, Faurlin 10, Campbell 87)
QPR move level on points with Wolves after seeing off the Midlands side at Molineux. Rangers had the game won inside the opening ten minutes as Shaun Wright-Phillips sent a miss-hit volley across goal for Joey Barton to bobble in the opener and then Faurlin fired in from the edge of the area as the hosts failed to clear a cross from Barton. They wrapped it up late when DJ Campbell prodded in at the near post after excellent work from Armand Traore.
Attendance : 24,189
Assists : SWP, n/a, Traore
Tottenham 4 (Modric 7, Defoe 66, Adebayor 68, 93)
Liverpool 0
SENT OFF : Adam 28, Skrtel 63 - Both Liverpool
Spurs walloped four past Liverpool on a nightmarish afternoon for the Merseysiders who also had two players sent off. Spurs led early as Jermaine Defoe was tackled on the edge of the area but the ball fell nicely for Luka Modric to arrow a belter of a first time shot past the keeper and into the top corner. BY the break, Liverpool were down to ten men as Charlie Adam, already booked, caught Scott Parker. Probably an accident, probably unlucky but he was off nonetheless. A five minute spell in the second half decided the game as firstly Martin Skrtel earned his second yellow as he clattered into the back of Gareth Bale. Spurs then netted twice in three minutes as Defoe collected a pass from Rafael Van Der Vaart, turned his man and blasted the ball in and the Emmanuel Adebayor added a third after Defoe's shot was dropped by keeper Jose Reina, allowing the former Arsenal to collect the ball, clip it over the stopper and roll in. Adebayor wrapped it up in stoppage time as he controlled a lofted pass from Beniot Assou-Ekotto, took a touch and thumped in.
Attendance : 36,129
Assists : Kranjcar, n/a, van der Vaart, n/a
Fulham 2 (Zamora 55, Murphy 75)
Manchester City 2 (Aguero 18, Aguero 46)
Man City dropped points for the first time this season after Fulham came from two down at Craven Cottage. It seemed to be business as usual for City after David Silva set up Sergio Aguero to slot in the opener and then after just 11 seconds of the second half, Aguero latched onto Edin Dzeko's header to fire low into the bottom corner. Fulham battled back as Clint Dempsey found Bobby Zamora on the edge of the area and he found the roof of the net and they grabbed an unlikely draw as Danny Murphy's shot took a huge deflection off of Vincent Kompany to wrong foot the keeper.
Attendance : 24,570
Assists : Silva, Dzeko, Dempsey, n/a
Sunderland 4 (Bramble 5, Woodgate 11, Gardner 28, Larsson 58)
Stoke 0
Sunderland moved out of the bottom three with a thumping win against Stoke. They struck twice early on as the visitors failed to clear a corner and Titus Bramble's effort was fumbled by keeper Asmir Begovic and it bobbled over the line. The lead was doubled when Sebastien Larsson's cross was headed into his own net by Jonathon Woodgate and before half time, Craig Gardner's shot from the edge of the area took a deflection off of Ryan Shawcross and looped in. Larsson added a fourth with a stinging free kick which arrowed into the bottom corner.
Attendance : 32,296
Assists : n/a, n/a, Bendtner, Sessegnon
Manchester United 3 (Smalling 8, Nani 37, Rooney 45)
Chelsea 1 (Torres 46)
MISSED PENALTY : Rooney (Man United) 57 - Wide
Man United remain unbeaten after a pulsating win against Chelsea in a game which saw four goals, a missed penalty and one of the worst misses you'll see for a long time. United led inside 40 seconds last season but took a little longer this time around as Chris Smalling headed in Ashley Young's free kick after eight minutes. Chelsea had chances and should have levelled when Ramires was somehow denied by David De Gea from close range and it proved vital as United effectively wrapped it up before half time with two differing goals. Johnny Evans sprayed a cross-field pass to Nani who beat one man as he cut inside and as the defence backed up, he crashed an unstoppable shot inside the post from 25 yards. If that was brilliant, the third was lucky as Phil Jones burst into the area and after he was eventually stopped, John Terry's clearance thudded against Nani and rebounded to an unmarked Wayne Rooney to sweep the ball in. Remarkably, Chelsea pulled one back 32 seconds after the restart as half time sub Nik Anelka played Fernando Torres in and he clipped a supremely confident finish past the keeper. Suddenly it was end to end stuff and from a Chelsea attack, United broke and after Nani smashed a shot against the underside of the bar, he was fouled by Jose Bosingwa in the melee for the rebound for a penalty which Rooney took and scuffed horribly wide as he slipped just before he struck the ball. Torres then blew a golden chance to pull another back as he saw his first shot saved but as he got to the loose ball, he blazed over when he should have done better. Rooney then bobbled a shot against the post and Javier Hernandez blazed the rebound into the side netting and was injured in the process as he was challenged late by Ashley Cole who was booked but, oddly, no penalty awarded. We were then `treated` to the miss of the season as Ramires sent Torres clear and having rounded the keeper, he put the ball wide of a totally open goal from seven yards which would have set up a dramatic finale. Amazingly, Rooney then burst clear but set up Dimitar Berbatov instead of going for goal and the Bulgarian's effort toward an open goal was underhit and Cole cleared off the line!
Attendance : 75,455
Assists : Young (fk), Evans, Nani, Anelka
Gary Dowden - Joint Admin YahooGroups Premier-L list
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