12 November 2006
ARSENAL 3 (Flamini 41, Toure 56, Gallas 80)
LIVERPOOL 0
Liverpool's away day woes continue as they were swept aside by Arsenal at the Emirates Stadium. Both clubs had early goals rightly disallowed with Robin Van
Persie handling the ball past Liverpool keeper Jose Reina before tapping in, an act which earned him a second minute booking and then Peter Crouch was flagged
offside as he fired in at the far post at the other end. The breakthrough arrived just before half time from an unlikely source as Alexander Hleb set up
Cesc Fabregas and his drilled cross was bundled in from close range by Mattieu Flamini for only his second goal for the Gunners. The lead was doubled early in
the second half when Van Persie slotted Kolo Toure through and his finish beat Reina and registered an equally unlikely scorer of the second goal. Liverpool
continued to huff and puff with Bolo Zenden twice off target with headers, however Jamie Carragher was a little lucky to stay on when he escaped a second
yellow card for a crunching tackle on Van Persie. Steven Gerrard sent a deflected effort over before the Gunners increased their lead as Van Persie's
corner found William Gallas in the proverbial acres of space to nod in from close range. Liverpool thought they had a consolation three minutes later only
for an offside flag to deny Craig Bellamy's close range header, however it almost worse when sub Emanuel Adebayor wasted a golden chance for the fourth
when he shot at Reina whilst clean through having robbed Carragher on the halfway line.
Attendance : 60,110
Assists : Fabregas, Van Persie, Van Persie (ck)
READING 3 (Shorey 38, Sidwell 45, Doyle 79)
TOTTENHAM 1 (Keane 23 Pen)
Reading move above Spurs in the area as they came from behind to beat Chelsea's conquerers from last weekend. After an uneventful opening, Spurs went ahead when
Hossam Ghaly burst into the area and was fouled by Ibrahima Sonko for one of the clearest penalties you'll see this season. Robbie Keane slotted the kick into
the bottom corner with ease, however rather than galvanise Spurs, it sparked Reading into action and by the interval, they had turned matters totally around.
It began seven minutes before half time when Glen Little found Nicky Shorey 25 yards out and although there seemed little danger, he arrowed a beauty of a shot
into the bottom corner. Spurs went to sleep again in stoppage time as Little's corner was allowed to find Steve Sidwell inside the six yard box and his prodded
effort tore into the roof of the net. The second half was free flowing yet chances at a premium, however in a thirty second spell, the difference between the clubs was perfect illustrated. Spurs sub Jermaine Defoe thumped a shot into the side netting with only the keeper to beat and from the resulting goal kick, Leroy Lita headed the ball on for Kevin Doyle to strike a similar effort across keeper Paul Robinson and inside the far post. Lita then thudded a header against the post as the Spurs defence again went awol, although just minutes later Defoe did similar with a thumping effort that hit the inside of the post and the
Dimitar Berbatov skied the loose ball. All told, a classic example of 'after the Lords Mayor's show' for Spurs.
Attendance : 24,110
Assists : Ghaly (won pen), Little, Little (ck), Lita
11 November 2006
BLACKBURN 0
MANCHESTER UNITED 1 (Saha 64)
Man United stay three points clear at the top with a well deserved win at Blackburn. United had the better of the game and won it when John O'Shea's cross
was hooked back across goal by Ryan Giggs, allowing Louis Saha to score from close range.
Attendance : 26,162
Assists : Giggs
EVERTON 0
ASTON VILLA 1 (Sutton 42)
Villa go third with a fine win at Everton thanks to Chris Sutton's first goal for the club. It came just before half time when he glanced a header in from
Isiaih Osbourne's cross.
Attendance : 36,376
Assist : Osbourne
WIGAN 3 (McCulloch 13, Camara 41, Jackson 78)
CHARLTON 2 (De Zeuuw og 52, M Bent 93)
Wigan's excellent run continued with a narrow win against bottom club Charlton. Keeper Chris Kirkland claimed the assist for the first two Wigan goals, firstly
with a long clearance that Charlton allowed to bounce which allowed Lee McCulloch to volley in. Next, Kirkland's free kick outside his own area went all the way through to Henri Camara who sent a superb dipping volley over Scott Carson. Charlton pulled one back when Darren Bent latched onto a mistake from
Andy Webster and although he appeared the prod the ball past Kirkland, replays showed that Wigan defender Arjen De Zeuuw seemed to be the one who sent the ball
into the net. Matt Jackson restored the two goal cushion with a rare goal, a header from Kevin Kilbane's cross and although Marcus Bent pulled a late goal
back with a bobbled volley from Hermann Hreidarsson's long ball, it was too late for them.
Attendance : 16,572
Assists : Kirkland (gk), Kirkland (fk), n/a, Kilbane (fk), Hreidarsson
CHELSEA 4 (Drogba 27, Drogba 36, Shevchenko 52, Drogba 69
WATFORD 0
Chelsea bounce back in the league after their defeat last weekend with the second 4-0 home win in a matter of four days. Watford were the victims this
time as Didier Drogba netted a hat trick, beginning with a close range finish after Andrei Shevchenko had mis-kicked Geremi's cross. Nine minutes later, he
combined well with Shevchenko to fire in from a tricky angle and early in the second half, Drogba's pass saw Shevchenko chest the ball past the keeper and
then bundle into an empty net. Drogba completed his trio and the rout when he again netted from close range from Geremi's cross.
Attendance : 41,936
Assists : n/a, Shevchenko, Drogba, Geremi
SHEFFIELD UNITED 2 (Hulse 70, Kazim-Richards 73)
BOLTON 2 (Diouf 34, Davies 59)
Sheffield United came from two down to earn a creditable draw against faltering Bolton. The visitors were in control by the hour mark, firstly as Henrik
Pedersen's pass found El Hadji Diouf on the left and having held off his marker, he fired past the keeper. The lead was doubled when Kevin Davies driled a low
shot in from the edge of the area after being set up by Idan Tal. United pulled a goal from a firm header by Rob Hulse after Mikele Leigertwood had crossed and
then earned a point when keeper Jussi Jaaskelainen came off his line to smother the ball as Danny Webber burst through, however it fell to Christian Nade who
found Colin Kazim-Richards on the right and his shot from well wide of the area sailed past the back-peddling keeper inside the near post.
Attendance : 28,294
Assists : Pedersen, Tal, Leigertwood, Nade
PORTSMOUTH 1 (Cole 74)
FULHAM 1 (Stefanovic 57 og)
Honours even at Fratton Park as two of the season's surprise packages shared two goals. Fulham went ahead when Zat Knight's header found it's way in from Claus
Jensen's corner, however they were unhappy about the Portsmouth equaliser as Sol Campbell's header was saved by Antti Niemi, however as the ball squirmed free,
Andrew Cole eventually bundled it in. Fulham's protests were in vain and replays showed that the keeper never had the ball under control.
Attendance : 19,563
Assists : n/a, n/a
MIDDLESBROUGH 1 (Maccarone 74)
WEST HAM 0
Middlesbrough got back to winning ways with a narrow win against fellow strugglers West Ham. Sub Massimo Maccarone scored the only goal late on as he
latched on a header from Lee Cattermole, rounded the keeper and fired in as the angle got increasingly tighter.
Attendance : 25,898
Assist : Cattermole
MANCHESTER CITY 0
NEWCASTLE 0
Drab game at the City of Manchester Stadium which only came to life very late on when Newcastle mounted a series of stoppage time attacks. Prior to that late
flurry, City came closest when Georgios Samaras had a close range header disallowed, presumably for holding by sub Bernarno Corradi.
Attendance : 40,571
Assist : n/a
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