14 February 2005

Arsenal (3) 5 (Bergkamp 32, Reyes 35, Henry 39, 77, Vieira 54)
Crystal Palace (0) 1 (Johnson (pen) 63)

Arsenal move to within two points of Man United and eleven of Chelsea
after inflicting a Valentines Day massacre onto relegation threatened
Crystal Palace. It took Arsenal over half an hour to take the lead,
during which time Palace could have scored themelves including what was
almost an Enckleman style mistake from keeper Jens Jehmann, however the
breakthrough arrived when Jose Antonio Reyes found space on the leftand
crossed for Dennis Bergkamp to finish well at the near post. Three
minutes later, Palace failed to clear a cross and Reyes was on hand to
drill home a low shot from the edge of the area and a further four
minutes on, a short corner was played to Thierry Henry and he thumped
home a beauty from twenty yards to mark his 200th Premiership game. A
fourth arrived early in the second half when Henry played Patrick Vieira
through and having rounded the keeper, he tapped the ball into the empty
net. Palace gained a consolation when Vieira tripped Andy Johnson in the
area and the striker blasted home the penalty via the underside of the
bar, however Arsenal added a fifth when Bergkamp set up Henry who found
space on the edge of the area to blast the ball home.

Assists : Reyes, n/a, Reyes, n/a, Johnson (won pen), Bergkamp Attendance : 38,056

13 February 2005 Man City (0) 0 Man United (0) 2 (Rooney 68, Dunne (og) 75) United won the Manchester derby with two goals in seven second half minutes, both involving the same pair of players. The opener came when Gary Neville's cross was turned in at the near post by Wayne Rooney, however the final touch was from defender Richard Dunne as he slid in to challenge the striker. No doubts about the second goal though as Rooney crossed for Dunne to slice horribly into his own net, the ball sailed in off of the far post. Attendance : 47,111 Assists : n/a, n/a 12 February 2005 Bolton 0 Middlesbrough 0 Honours even at the Reebok as two European hopefuls were denied by the goalkeepers. Boro keeper Mark Schwarzer was the major pain for Bolton as among other stops, a double save in the first half really took the eye as he firstly tipped a shot from Kevin Nolan onto the bar and then just recovered in time to keep out Kevin Davies's header. Attendance : 24,322 Assist : n/a Birmingham 2 (Pandiani 38 pen, Gary 45) Liverpool 0 Liverpool's Champions League hopes took a nose dive as they were well beaten by half time against Birmingham. Two goals in a seven minute spell did the trick for the home side, firstly when Sani Hyypia fouled Emile Heskey in the area and Walter Pandiani blasted home the spot kick and then in stopage time, a cross from Jermaine Pennant was met at the far post by Julian Gray to volley home. Attenace : 29,318 Assists : Heskey (won pen), Pennant Blackburn 3 (Pedersen 17, Dickov 39, 62) Norwich 0 Blackburn eased their relegation fears at the expense of fellow strugglers Norwich at Ewood Park. The hosts went ahead when a long crossfield ball by Tugay was nodded over a defender by Morten Pedersen who then thumped a near post shot home via the hands of keeper Robert Green. The lead was doubled when a Pedersen corner was met at the near psot by Paul Dickov with a glancing header and the Scot netted again after half time when he was found by Paul Gallager and his shot from the edge of the area seemed to go through the hands of Green, who was not helped by extremely heavy rain. Attendance : 20,923 Assists : Tugay, Pedersen (ck), Gallacher Portsmouth 1 (Yakubu 24 pen) Aston Villa 2 (De Zeeuw 17 og, Hitzelsperger 73 A stunning goal from Thomas Hitzlsperger gave Aston Villa a fine win at Portsmouth, who had earlier come from behind to pull level. The visitors went ahead when Arjan De Zeeuw could only divert a cross from Luke Moore into his own net, however within seven minutes Portsmouth were level when Yakubu converted a penalty after Steve Stone had been tripped by Gareth Barry. The winner arrived when Juan Pablo Angel found Hitzlsperger and his superb 25-yard volley tore into the net, leaving the keeper standing. Attendance : 20,150 Assists : n/a, Stone (won pen), Angel Everton 0 Chelsea 1 (Gudjohnsen 69) Chelsea took another step towards the title with a narrow win over fourth placed Everton, who played most of the game with ten men. James Beattie was the anti-hero as he took exception to William Gallas running in his way as the pair ran for a loose ball and after barging him in the back, Beattie made sure he completed the job with a headbutt into the back of Gallas's head! There was some debate after the game that Gallas had made more of it, however there was definately intent and contact, therefore a red card! The only goal came with twenty minutes to go as a cross from Paulo Ferreira was helped onto the bar by Gallas, leaving a tap in for Eidur Gudjohnsen. Attendance : 40,270 Red Card : Beattie 8 (Everton) Assist : n/a Gary Dowden - Joint Admin Topica Premier-L list
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