4 April 2006 Birmingham (1) 1 (Jarosik 37) Bolton (0) 0 Birmingham move out of the bottom three for the first time in five months after a narrow win against Bolton, whose own European hopes are taking a battering. The only goal was a superb one as Jiri Jarosik collected a pass from Damien Johnson, skipped past a defender and struck a brilliant shot into the bottom corner from the edge of the area. Attendance : 26,493 Assist : Johnson 3 April 2006 Blackburn (0) 1 (Kuqi 84) Wigan (0) 1 (Roberts 53) Honours even in the Lancashire derby as Blackburn came from behind to earn a point against Wigan in a controversial encounter. Blackburn had the better of a tight first half in which both clubs had goals harshly disallowed. Rovers' effort came first as Wigan keeper John Filan spilled the ball under pressure from Paul Dickov, allowing Morten Gamst Pedersen to tap into am empty net, however the ref decided that Dickov's challenge was illegal when, at worst, contact was minimal. Equally unlucky was Arjan De Zeeuw who hammered the ball in from close range only to be ruled out by the linesmans flag, possibly for a tight offside decision against Jason Roberts. Wigan went ahead early in the second half when Roberts cheekily scored from close range after Rovers failed to clear a corner and Pascal Chimbonda headed the ball goalwards, however Rovers levelled matters when Filan again lost the ball in his control when Lucas Neill barged into him, this time though the whistle didn't go when it should have and Shefki Kuqi scord from the loose ball. Attendance : 20,410 Assists : Chimbonda, n/a 2 April 2006 West Ham 0 Charlton 0 No goals at Upton Park in a poor game which summed up the mid table positions of both clubs. West Ham had the better chances, mostly in the second half, as Bobby Zamora had a header cleared off the line and Teddy Sheringham almost celebrated his 40th birthday with a goal, however his close range shot was well saved by Charlton keeper Thomas Myhre. Attendance : 34,753 Assist : n/a Manchester City 0 Middlesbrough 1 (Cattermole 42) Middlesbrough collected a useful win at fading Man City thanks to a goal from a local Boro lad. The breakthrough in a poor game arrived just before half time as Stuart Downing's cross was nodded inside the far post by Lee Cattermole. Attendance : 40,256 Assist : Downing 1 April 2006 Birmingham (0) 0 Chelsea (0) 0 Birmingham collected an unexpected point in their battle against the drop as they held Champions elect Chelsea to a goalless draw at St Andrews. The home side had the better of the first half with Emile Heskey missing a trio of half-chances and Oliver Tebily forcing a stunning save from keeper Petr Cech. After the break Chelsea stepped up a gear and had two goals disallowed, albeit correctly, for offside. Late on Hernan Crespo had a close range shot save and another blocked whilst Ricardo Carvalho sent a free header wide. Attendance : 26,364 Assist : n/a Arsenal (2) 5 (Adebayor 19, Henry 25, 46, Van Persie 71, Diaby 80) Aston Villa (0) 0 Arsenal's end of season revival continued with a vengance as they walloped Aston Villa at Highbury with a stunning display of football. The rout started when Thierry Henry's effort was headed off the line, however Emmanual Adebayor was on hand to head in via defender and bar. Six minutes later, Henry doubled the lead with a fine lob having been sent clear by Jose Antonio Reyes and in the first minute of the second half, he doubled his personal tally with a briliant curler from 25 yards after Adebayor's back heel gave him the chance. Sub Robin Van Persie made it four after good work from Robert Pires, the Dutchman rounding the keeper twice before shooting in from a tight angle and the fifth followed shortly afterwards as a counter attack saw Adebayor set up Vassiriki Diaby to sweep the ball into the roof of the net. Attendance : 38,183 Assists : n/a, Reyes, Adebayor, n/a, n/a, Adebayor Bolton (1) 1 (Davies 26) Manchester United (1) 2 (Saha 33, Van Nistelrooy 79) Man United came from behind to beat Bolton as move to within seven points of Chelsea. Bolton went ahead when Kevin Nolan found Kevin Davies to surge through the United defence and slot in, however within seven minutes, United levelled when Mikael Silvestre sent Louis Saha clear down the left and his superb shot with the outside of his boot found the far corner. The winner came from sub Ruud Van Nistelrooy, his second in two games, shooting home from close range from Saha's cut back. Attendance : 27,718 Assists : Nolan, Silvestre, Saha Everton (2) 2 (Osman 5, McFadden 26) Sunderland (1) 2 (Stead 16, Delap 80) Bottom club Sunderland gained a rare point after twice coming from behind at Everton. The hosts were ahead early on when Gary Naysmith's cross was met by James Beattie with a bobbler of a volley that was touched in by Leon Osman, however Sunderland fought back and were level when a near post corner was nodded on by Chris Brown for Jon Stead to tap in his first goal for his club. Everton were back ahead before half time as the visitors failed to deal with a long throw by Phil Neville and allowed James McFadden to sweep the ball in, however again Sunderland battled back and earned a draw late on as Dean Whitehead's cross was headed in by Rory Delap. Attendance : 38,093 Assists : Davies, Brown, Neville (throw in), Whitehead Fulham (1) 1 (Malbranque 10) Portsmouth (2) 3 (O'Neil 30 secs, Lua-Lua 24, Christanval 62 og) SENT OFF: Brown (Fulham) 74 Three wins in three games now for Portsmouth who are now only in the relegation zone on goal difference after an excellent victory at Fulham. They went ahead with the quickest goal of the Prem season so far as Benjani Mwaruwari's cross was bobbled in at the far post by Gary O'Neil after just half a minute, however by the tenth minute the home side were level as Steed Malbranque collected a throw in, turned inside and unleashed a beauty of a shot that curled in off the far post. That was as good as it got for them through as Mwaruwari headed the ball on for Lomana Lua-Lua to out pace the defender and score with a superb shot with the outside of his foot. Pompey clinched it in the second half largely thanks to a stroke of luck as Lua-Lua found O'Neil and his long range effort struck Phillippe Christanval on the head and looped past his own keeper. Fulham were reduced to ten men twelve minutes later when Michael Brown launched into a two-footed tackle on Sean Davis to end a miserable day for the home side. Attendance : 22,322 Assists : Benjani, Bridge? (throw in), Benjani, n/a Newcastle (2) 3 (Bowyer 2, Ameobi 25, Shearer (pen) 30) Tottenham (1) 1 (Keane 19) SENT OFF: Dawson (Spurs) 61 Spurs are clinging onto fourth place after crashing to defeat at Newcastle. Things began badly for the Champions League hopefuls when Charles N'Zobgia's fine run and cross was tapped in by Lee Bowyer, however Spurs did equalise when Aaron Lennon's cross was headed in by Robbie Keane. Newcastle didn't take long to regain the lead as Shola Ameobi reacted quickest to poke the ball in after Paul Robinson failed to hold Nol Solano's shot and within five minutes, the lead was doubled thanks to a thumping Alan Shearer penalty after Bowyer was bundled over by Edgar Davids. Jermaine Jenas missed a sitter for Spurs after the break and Keane crashed a shot against the bar, however it was effectively over when Michael Dawson was sent off for holding back Shearer, his second bookable offence. Attendance : 52,301 Assists : N'Zogbia, Lennon, n/a, Bowyer (won pen) West Brom (0) 0 Liverpool (2) 2 (Fowler 7, Cisse 38) Liverpool stay within five points of Man United after a comfortable win at struggling West Brom. Liverpool dominated the first half and deserved their two goal half time lead which started thanks to another goal from prodigal son Robbie Fowler. Xabi Alonso began the move with a pass which Paul Robinson failed to cut out on it's way to Djibril Cisse and although he appeared to handle the ball, play went on and his low cross was tapped in at the far post by Fowler. Two of the trio combined again half an hour later as Alonso long pass was perfect for Cisse to collect, round the keeper and fire in. The hosts came more into it after the break with sub Zoltan Gera coming close, however Liverpool rarely looked in any danger of losing their lead. Attendance : 27,576 Assists : Cisse, Xabi Alonso 29 March 2006 Manchester United (1) 1 (Van Nistelrooy 45) West Ham (0) 0 Seven wins in a row now for Man United as they move to within nine points of Chelsea after a narrow, yet comfortable win against West Ham. United had the better of things throughout and won in late in the first half when Ji-Sung Park's excellent run and cross from the right was swept in at close range by Ruud Van Nistelrooy. Attendance : 69,522 Assist : Park Gary Dowden - Joint Admin Topica Premier-L list http://www.topica.com/lists/premier-L/ Leeds United and Scotland and proud of it http://footiemad.95mb.com http://www.peanutsfan.pwp.blueyonder.co.uk/footiemad The Unofficial Premiership Site |