6 December 2004 Middlesbrough (1) 3 (Viduka 9, 54, Hasselbaink 65) Man City (1) 2 (Fowler 39,Wright-Phillips (B) 79) Middlesbrough move to within two points of Man United, and a Champions League spot, after a pulsating 3-2 victory against Man City at The Riverside. Boro took an early lead when Stuart Downing played in Mark Viduka who collected the ball in his stride, nipped between two defenders before clipping the ball in past the advancing keeper. The lead lasted half an hour before City levelled matters when a high ball forward was nodded on by Jon Macken and in one movement, Robbie Fowler controlled and fired into the net. Nine minutes after half time, Viduka restored the home side's lead as he played a neat one-two in the area with Jimmy Floyd Hasselbaink before curling a beauty powerfully into the far corner. Not to be outdone, Hasselbaink then added the third himself with a stunning free kick from 25 yards which gave David James no chance as it fizzed into the bottom corner, however with eleven minutes left, a grandstand finale was ensured when Danny Mills nodded the ball down for Bradley Wright-Phillips to turn and find the net from close range, just three minutes after coming on from the subs bench for his Prem debut! Five minutes later, he had a great chance to level things up but fired wide from the edge of the area, whilst Joey Barton's piledriver was kept out by Mark Schwarzer as City pressed for an equaliser. Assists : Downing, Macken, Hasselbaink, Hasselbaink (won fk), Mills 5 December 2004 Crystal Palace (0) 0 Charlton (0) 1 (Rommedalh 90) MISSED PEN: Johnson (58) - Saved Dennis Rommedalh scored with the final kick of the game to clinch victory for Charlton at Crystal Palace. After a drab opening hour, Palace were awarded a penalty when Andy Johnson broke into the area and was absolutely flattened by a rash challenge from Talal El Karkouri, however as Johnson got to his feet to take the spot kick, his effort was pushed wide by Dean Kiely who guessed correctly to his shot. A goalless draw looked likely until the final seconds of injury time when Danny Murphy found Rommedalh wide and after cutting inside, his drilled effort from the edge of the area tore inside the near post. Assist : Murphy 4 December 2004 Chelsea (0) 4 (Lampard 63, Drogba 69, Robben 89, Kezman (pen) 90) Newcastle (0) 0 Chelsea moved into an eight point lead at the top of the table, at least until the later afternoon games, after a hard fought win agaisnt Newcastle. Indeed, the away side more than matched their illustrious opponents for an hour or so before the breakthrough finally arrived. A chip into the area by Claude Makelele was nodded down by Didier Drogba and after controlling it with his chest, Frank Lampard volleyed the ball in from cloe range. Roles were reversed sux minutes later when Lampard's through ball was collected by Drogba and after cutting inside, he slotted the ball into the bottom corner. It was almost three when Mateja Kezman crashed an effort against the post, however they didn't have long to wait as Damien Duff found Arjen Robben who ran at the defence and shot home clinically from the edge of the area. In stoppage time, Duff was fouled in the area by Shay Given, allowing Kezman to cheekily chip home from the spot, his first league goal for the club. Ultimately it was comfortable for Chelsea, but that was only really the case for the last half an hour. Assists : Drogba, Lampard, Duff, Duff (won pen) Arsenal (1) 3 (Pires 33, Henry 80, 86) Birmingham (0) 0 Arsenal moved to within five points of Chelsea, although they left it late to finally see off a stubborn Birmingham side. Robert Pires opened the scoring with a crisp shot into the bottom corner after his original cross caused problems in the area and was eventually cleared back to him. The points were secured with two late efforts from Thierry Henry, firstly a solo run and shot after being found by Gael Clichy and then with a stooping far post header after an excellent cross from Freddie Ljungberg. Assists : n/a, Clichy, Ljungberg Aston Villa (1) 1 (Solano 44) Liverpool (1) 1 (Kewell 16) Honours even at Villa Park as Harry Kewell ended a ten month goal drought for Liverpool. The Australian netted with a header after Jamie Carragher had nodded Steven Gerrard's free kick across goal, however despite being outplayed in the first half, Villa earned a point when Nol Solano's 25-yard free kick deceived keeper Chris Kirkland and found the centre of the net. Assists : Carragher, McCann (won fk) Everton (1) 3 (Ferguson 45, Gravesen 75, Jaidi (og) 85) Bolton (1) 2 (Davies 16, 59) Controversy at Goodison as Everton twice came from behind to remain in third after a dramatic match against Bolton. The visitors went ahead when a corner from Stelios Gianakopolous was only pawed away by Nigel Martyn and Kevin Davies pounced to drill a shot into the corner. Right on half time, Everton were level when a cross from Alessandro Pistone was headed home powerfully at the far post by Duncan Ferguson, however on the hour, Davies restored Bolton's lead with a superb looping header from Andy Hunt's cross. Then came the moment which left Bolton boss Sam Allardyce livid. A free kick right on the edge of the area was blasted at the wall by Thomas Gravesen, however a re-take was ordered as it had been blocked by Jay-Jay Okocha who had moved a couple of yards forward. The second attempt was more accurate and was drilled into the bottom corner by the same taker to equalise. Ten minutes later, the game was won for the hosts when Leon Osman's shot was sliced horribly into his own net by Rahdi Jaidi. Assists : n/a, Pistone, Hunt, n/a, og Man United (0) 3 (Scholes 53, Rooney 58, Ronaldo 87) Southampton (0) 0 Much like Chelsea and Arsenal, Man United breezed past their opponents, although they needed a scrambled effort to finally get started. The breakthrough came early in the second half as Southampton failed to clear a corner. The ball eventually fell to Rio Ferdinand and his ball across goal was nodded in by Paul Scholes. Five minutes later, a solo run by Ryan Giggs ended with a through ball to Wayne Rooney and he blasted it into the roof of the net and the points were clinched late on when Cristiano Ronaldo's cross was returned by Gary Neville for Ronaldo to volley home. Assists : Ferdinand, Giggs, G Neville Norwich (0) 0 Fulham (1) 1 (Cole 7) Norwich remain in relegation trouble after a narrow home defeat against Fulham. The only goal came early after a slick Fulham move ended with a flick from Brian McBride sending Andy Cole through and although he looke marginally offside, he slotted the ball calmly home. Assist : McBride Portsmouth (1) 3 (Purse (og) 35, De Zeeuw 85, Lua-Lua 89) West Brom (2) 2 (Stefanovic (og) 14, Earnshaw 45) Portsmouth emulated Everton and twice came from behind to see off West Brom, although they left it very late on a day of own goals. The clubs shared errors in the first half and after West Brom had gone ahead when Neil Clement's cross was fired into the roof of his own goal by Dejan Stefanovic, Portsmouth levelled matters when Stefanovic himself made amends with a fine near post cross, sliced in for another own goal by Darren Purse. The visitors regained the lead when Matthew Taylor's poor control in his own area gifted the ball to Ricardo Scimeca who took full advantage and slotted it across for Robert Earnshaw to tap in. With five minutes remaining, Eyal Berkovic curled in a free kick with was met firmly by the head of Arjan De Zeeuw who powered the ball home and with time almost up, Berkovic cross again for Lomana Lua-Lua to break the offside trap, take time to control and the blast the ball into the roof of the net. Assists : og, og, Scimeca, Berkovic, Berkovic Blackburn (0) 0 Spurs (0) 1 (Keane 56) Spurs put their midweek disappointment behind them to record a narrow win at Blackburn and move up to a respectable mid-table position. The only goal of a poor game came early in the second half and although Robbie Keane gets the credit for scoring, he had a massive assist from Michael Brown who collected the ball in his own half, held off a number of challenges before squaring the ball to Keane who fired home from inside the area. Blackburn battled hard for an equaliser but were largely restricted to long range efforts. Assist : Brown Gary Dowden - Joint Admin Topica Premier-L list http://www.topica.com/lists/premier-L Leeds United and Scotland and proud of it http://www.peanutsfan.pwp.blueyonder.co.uk/footiemad The Unofficial Premiership Site |