6 December 2006 Newcastle 3 (Sibierski 23, Martins 57 Pen, Emre 84) Reading 2 (Harper 37, 42) Newcastle moved out of the bottom three after a brilliant late goal from Emre gave them the points in a topsy-turvy game against Reading. They went ahead when Antoine Sibierski sent a powerful diving header past Marcus Hahnemann from Nol Solano's cross, however Reading turned it around before half time. James Harper did the damage, firstly with a deflected effort from the edge of the area after John Oster had set him up and then with a curling shot from a similar position after Glen Little's cross had been parried clear by Shay Given. The hosts equalised when Obafemi Martins was adjudged to have been fouled in the area by Ibrahim Sonko, although it looked clumsy rather than anything else, however Martins buried the spot kick although the keeper did get hands to it. The winner was a beauty as Emre won the ball from Ivar Ingimarsson in midfield, ran half the length of the pitch before firing a dipping effort that tore into the net. Attendance : 48,182 Assists : Solano, n/a, n/a, Martins (won pen), n/a West Ham 0 Wigan 2 (Cotterill 51, Spector 58 og) West Ham moved into the drop zone after two second half goals gave Wigan victory at Upton Park. The first was set up by Kevin Kilbane whose cross found David Cotterill and after cutting inside his marker, he fired a cracking shot into the top corner of the far post. Seven minutes later the game was over as a corner was cleared to Leighton Baines who walloped a scorching shot from 30 yards which looked to be going wide until a wicked deflection off of Jonathon Spector took the ball into the opposite corner. Attendance : 33,805 Assists : Kilbane, n/a 5 December 2006 Charlton 1 (El Kharkouri 90 fk) Blackburn 0 Charlton moved off of the bottom of the table after a last gasp win over Blackburn. The alloted two minutes of stoppage time was up when the hosts were awarded a free kick 25 yards out. With Rovers expecting Andy Reid to step up, Talal El Kharkouri took charge and curled a shot around the outside of the wall and into the net leaving keeper Brad Friedel totally rooted to the spot. Attendance : 23,423 Assist : M Bent (won fk) Tottenham 2 (Berbatov 48, Keane 84) Middlesbrough 1 (Huth 80) SENT OFF : Zokora (Spurs), Boateng (Middlesbrough) both 87 Spurs continued their good home form with a narrow, but deserved, win against Middlesbrough although the headlines were not made by the scoreline. All the goals came in the second half, starting with a stunning volley from Dimitar Berbatov after he latched onto a Pascal Chimbonda header. With ten minutes to go, Spurs failed to clear a corner and allowed Robert Huth space to crash the ball in, however Spurs super sub Robbie Keane restored the lead with a low long range effort after Tom Huddlestone tapped a free kick to him although keeper Mark Schwarzer did get a hand to the shot. Then it all kicked off after George Boateng's ankle high tackle on Aaron Lennon saw the pair sqaure up, however Didier Zokora, followed by most of the other players, decided to get involved resulting in Zokora and Boateng getting sent off. Attendance : 34,154 Assists : Chimbonda, Pogatetz, Huddlestone (fk) 4 December 2006 Manchester City 0 Watford 0 Goalless at the City of Manchester Stadium although Man City and Watford put on a decent match. The visitors had the better of the first half and almost scored when Danny Shittu headed against the bar. The second half was a different matter with City creating the chances and they came close late on when Bernarno Corradi was denied by a reaction save from Ben Foster. Attendance : 35,915 Assist : n/a 3 December 2006 EVERTON 2 (Osman 51, Vaughan 90) WEST HAM 0 Two second half goals kept Everton in contention for a Champions League place whilst West Ham remain a little too close to the drop zone to be comfortable. The hosts went ahead through Leon Osman although huge credit to James Beattie who didn't give up on what looked to be an overhit pass and after he somehow hooked the ball across goal, Jonathon Spector headed to the edge of the box where Osman controlled the ball and volleyed into the top corner. The win was secured in stoppage time as Lee Carsley sent youngster James Vaughan clear to fire low past Robert Green. Attendance : 32,968 Assists : n/a, Carsley 2 December 2006 MIDDLESBROUGH 1 (Morrison 66) MANCHESTER UNITED 2 (Saha 20 Pen, Fletcher 68) Man United increase their lead at the top to six points with a hard fought win at Middelsbrough. After a good start from Boro, United took command and could have scored twice prior to going ahead through a disputed penalty. Cristiano Ronaldo burst clear only to go down as keeper Mark Schwarzer came out. Replays showed no contact with the United man losing his balance more than anything else. Louis Saha slotted in the penalty to put United ahead, although within two minutes, Abel Xavier almost equalised with a thumping header that hit the post. Midway through the second half, the hosts did level matters when Stuart Downing's cross was only partially clear and sub James Morrison walloped in the loose ball. Parity lasted under two minutes as Ronaldo again found space and crossed perfectly for Darren Fletcher to head home. Attendance : 31,238 Assists : Ronaldo (won pen), n/a, Giggs WIGAN 0 LIVERPOOL 4 (Bellamy 9, 26, Kuyt 40, McCulloch 45 og) Liverpool's away jinx ended in sensational style as they hammered Wigan at the JJB. Al four LIverpool goals cam,e in the first half with Craig Bellamy scoring the opening. His first was a lovely clipped finish having been put through by John Arne Riise's long ball which Emmerson Boyce failed to cut out and his second was a neat slotted finish after Steven Gerrard sent him clear. A fine sweeping move led to the third as Gerrard set up Bellamy again and although he could have gone for his hat trick, he sqaured the ball to give Diork Kuyt a tap in. On the stroke of half time, Lee McCulloch stabbed Gerrard's fierce cross into his own net and the rout was complete. Attendance : 22,089 Assists : n/a, Gerrard, Bellamy, n/a READING 1 (Doyle 33) BOLTON 0 Reading's excellent season continued with a narrow win against faltering Bolton. The only goal came from Kevin Doyle whose far post header from John Oster's cross found the net. Attendance : 23,556 Assist : Oster BLACKBURN 2 (Nonda 6, Pearce 19 og) FULHAM 0 Blackburn recorded a much needed win at home to Fulham thansk to two first half, long ball goals. The opener came as Stephane Henchoz lauched the ball forward for Shabani Nondo who turned and flicked the ball first time past the keeper. The second was similar although this time it was Lucas Neill's long pass to find Benni McCarthy who controlled, turned and hit a deflected effort that looped into the far corner. Attendance : 16,799 Assists : Henchoz, n/a PORTSMOUTH 2 (Taylor 52, 80 Pen) ASTON VILLA 2 (Barry 37 Pen, Angel 82) Cracking game at Fratton Park as Portsmouth and Aston Villa shared four goals. Villa went ahead just before half time when Gabriel Agbonlahor was clattered in the area by David James, allowing Garteh Barry to blast home the penalty. The hosts thenn turned it around in the second half as Matt Taylor headed in a Benjani crossed and then slotted in a penalty of his own after Barry had handled in the area. Within two minutes, Villa were level as Sol Campbell's poor clearance fell to Juan Pabo Angel whose first time shot from the edge of the area deflected off of Campbell and found the net. Pompey ended the game with ten men when Pedro Mendes was shown a second yellow card for a late challenge on Gavin McCann. Attendance : 20,042 Red Card : Mendes 86 (Portsmouth) Assists : Agbonlahor (won pen), Benjani, n/a, n/a SHEFFIELD UNITED 2 (Morgan 64, Gillespie 88) CHARLTON 1 (Reid 17) Sheffield United moved out of the bottom three with a second successive win agaisnt a fellow struggler with Charlton on the receiving end this time. Charlton did take the lead when Andy Reid's superb run ended with Daren Ambrose having a shot blocked, however Reid was on hand to bundle the loose ball in. United levelled in the eciond half when Chris Morgan powered in a header from Keith Gillespie's corner and Gillespie himself grabbed the winner with a brilliant 20-yard first time volley after Rob Kozluk's long throw was only partially cleared. Attendance : 27,368 Assists : n/a, Gillespie (ck), n/a ARSENAL 3 (Adebayor 19, Gilberto Silva 42 & 72 Penalties) TOTTENHAM 0 Arsenal won a one-sided North London derby although they did get the benefit of some borderline decisions as Spurs were swet aside. Arsenal dominated the first half and were two up by half time although both goals irked Spurs. They felt that Emmanual Adebayor was offside as Kolo Toure played him through to bear down on goal and finish cooly. Replays suggested that the striker was marginally onside with Pascal Chimbonda probably keeping him level. Chimbonda was also involved in the second Gunners goal as he was judged to have fouled Tomas Rosicky although this time he seemed to have played the ball before the man. A penalty was given and Gilberto Silva drilled the ball low into the corner. Spurs improved after the break but rarely looked like making an impression on the scoresheet and it was ultimately Arsenal who added to their tally. Again it was a disputed penalty as Jermaine Jenas fouled Robin Van Persie, however Spurs were angered that the Arsenal man seemed to handle in the build up. Gilberto netted from the spot again to secure a fine win. Attendance : 60,115 Assists : Toure, Rosicky (won pen), Van Persie (won pen) 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.fortunecity.com http://www.peanutsfan.pwp.blueyonder.co.uk/footiemad The Unofficial Premiership Site |