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21 February 2010

ASTON VILLA 5 (Young 32, Downing 56, Downing 58, Heskey 61, Agbonlahor 68)
BURNELY 2 (Fletcher 10, Paterson 92)

Aston Villa came from behind to blitz Burnley with a superb second half display. Burnley stunned their hosts with a goal inside the opening ten minutes as David Nugent's low cross was tapped in at the far post by an unmarked Steven Fletcher. Villa struggled to get into the game but levelled with a strange goal just after the half hour as James Milner played a short corner to Ashley Young and his curling effort from the left edge of the area went through a crowd of players and somehow found the net via a couple of deflections. Villa took the lead after the break as Young found miles of space on the left and crossed low for Stuart Downing who took a touch an drilled a shot through four defenders and a goalkeeper that went in off the far post. Two minutes later he scored again after Gabriel Agbonlahor burst clear only to be denied by Brian Jensen, however the ball fell wide to Milner who set up Downing to turn his man and find the net from 25 yards aided by a horrible deflection off of Danny Fox. In fact he almost completed an astonishing four minute hat trick but his volley was well saved by Jensen but it only temporarily delayed the fourth goal as Agbonlahor tore away down the left and his cross was perfect for Emile Heskey to tap in from six yards. Villa were rampant now and added a fifth - and fourth inside twelve minutes - when a lovely passing move ended with Milner cutting the ball across goal for Agbonlahor to bundle in from close range with Burnley all at sea. The visitors did have the last say with an irrelevant stoppage time consolation when Martin Patterson tapped in at the far post from Jack Cork's cross.

Attendance : 38,709
Assists : Nugent, Milner (ck), Agbonlahor, n/a, Agbonlahor, Milner, Cork


BLACKBURN 3 (Kalinic 41, Roberts 73, Givet 84)
BOLTON 0

Bolton remain in the bottom three after being comprehensively beaten by Blackburn in the East Lancs derby. The first half struggled to kick into life until late on when Rovers took the lead with a well struck shot from Nikola Kalinic who latched onto Morton Gamst Pedersen's header to drill home from the edge of the area courtesy of a slight deflection as the Bolton defence went awol. Bolton improved a bit after the break but rarely threatened especially after Blackburn doubled the lead when Jason Roberts volleyed in from close range after Gael Givet hooked the ball into the area. Givet added a late third with a glancing header off the far post from El Hadji Diouf's cross.

Attendance : 23,888
Assists : n/a, Givet, Diouf


FULHAM 2 (Duff 59, Zamora 91)
BIRMINGHAM 1 (Baird 3 og)

Fulham came from behind to see off in-form Birmingham in a game of sparkling goals. Birmingham took an early lead when Chris Baird thundered a header past his own keeper from Lee Bowyer's cross. Not quite an own goal of `Sandy Brown` vintage but close! Fulham levelled on the hour as Damien Duff's one-two with Zoltan Gera resulted in the winger cutting inside and crashing a superb effort in off the post from the edge of the area. With time ebbing away, the hosts grabbed the points when Bobby Zamora found the top corner with a stunning 20 yard free kick. For those wondering who Sandy Brown is, then do a video search on Google for Sandy Brown Own Goal!

Attendance : 21,758
Assists : n/a, Gera, Gera (won fk)


MANCHESTER CITY 0
LIVERPOOL 0

Oh dear, this was poor for a game that looked so good on paper as two of the pretenders for fourth placed battled out a dour goalless draw at Eastlands. With defences on top, Man City and Liverpool managed seven shots between them and only two on target. Says it all.

Attendance : 47,203
Assists : n/a


WIGAN 0
TOTTENHAM 3 (Defoe 27, Pavlyuchenko 84, Pavlyuchenko 93)

Spurs moved into a Champions League place with a well deserved win at Wigan. Both clubs had trouble adapting to a pitch which was a throwback to the 70s but it was a surprisingly good passing move that set up the Spurs opener as Gareth Bale found space on the left to cross for Jermaine Defoe to tap in from four yards although replays showed that he was a yard offside at least but the goal stood. The visitors confirmed fourth place in the table late on when Luka Modric played in Roman Pavlyuchenko to slide the ball past the keeper. Salt was rubbed into the wounds when Tom Huddlestone clipped in a free kick and although Pavlyuchenko's initial header was saved, he was on hand to bundle in the rebound from a tight angle.

Attendance : 16,165
Assists : Bale, Modric, n/a


20 February 2010

ARSENAL 2 (Bendtner 27, Fabregas 93 Pen)
SUNDERLAND 0

Arsenal move to within two points of third placed Man United with a comfortable win against Sunderland. They led when Nicklas Bendtner scored from close range after Emmanuel Eboue's run and cross although the visitors should have levelled when Kenwyne Jones burst clear only to miss-kick horribly wide with only the keeper to beat. Arsenal clinched the points in stoppage time when Cesc Fabregas was bundled over by Frasier Campbell and he netted from the spot with a side footed effort.

Attendance : 60,083
Assists : Eboue, Fabregas (won pen)


EVERTON 3 (Bilyaletdinov 19, Gosling 76, Rodwell 90)
MANCHESTER UNITED 1 (Berbatov 16)

Man United missed the chance to go top after Everton came from behind to beat the current Champions ay Goodison. United took the lead in a pulsating first half when Antonio Valencia's cross from the right took a touch off of an Everton defender and fell to Dimitar Berbatov who took a touch and cracked the ball in off the bar in one swift movement from eight yards out. The lead lasted less than three minutes as a long ball forward was nodded away by Johnny Evans, however it was nicely taken by Diniyar Bilyaletdinov who unleashed a superb swerving shot from 25 yards which fell past the unsighted Edwin Van Der Sar. Both scorers were subbed after the break and it was the home replacement, Dan Gosling, who gave his side the lead as he latched onto Steven Pienaar's drilled low cross to shin the ball first time into the corner. Ex-Evertonian Wayne Rooney almost levelled with a free kick deflected millimetres wide and a minute later it was all over as Mikael Arteta set up Jack Rodwell in midfield and after he ran at the United defence, he beat Evans and then drilled a low shot across the keeper and into the bottom corner.

Attendance : 39,448
Assists : n/a, n/a, Pienaar, Arteta


PORTSMOUTH 1 (Piquionne 35)
STOKE 2 (Huth 50, Diao 91)

Bottom club Portsmouth lost a half time lead to lose to a stoppage time winner at home to Stoke. Pompey took a deserved lead when Quincy Owusu-Abeyie's shot from the edge of the area was well saved by Thomas Sorensen and although he pushed the ball wide, Frederic Piquionne was on hand to fire in from a tricky angle to make up for a goal unluckily ruled out for offside a few minutes earlier. Five minutes into the second half and the visitors were level when Glenn Whelan's corner was headed in powerfully from six yards by Robert Huth. Stoke's cause wasn't helped when Andy Wilkinson was sent off for a push on Aruna Dindane, his second bookable offence in a matter of a few minutes although in truth both players were giving as good as they got. Ironically just a minute later, Ricardo Fuller got off Scot free for a studs first and high challenge on Jamie O'Hara which should have been a booking for the Stoke striker at least. Portsmouth looked for a winner but rarely looked like getting one and into stoppage time, Stoke provided the sucker punch as Fuller got to the goal-line and his cut back was thumped into the roof of the net by Salif Diao.

Attendance : 17,208
Red Card : Wilkinson 73 (Stoke)
Assists : n/a, Whelan (ck), Fuller


WEST HAM 3 (Behrami 3, Cole 59, Faubert 93)
HULL 0

West Ham move four points clear of the drop zone with a straight-forward home win against stuttering Hull. The Hammers dominated for long spells after taking an early lead through Valon Behrami who played a one-two with Guillermo Franco before finding the bottom corner although in truth the return pass to him was more a poor touch from his team mate. Hull were reduced to ten men when Craig Fagan received a second yellow for a pull on the arm of Alessandro Diamanti and six minutes later the lead was doubled when Julien Faubert's perfect through ball sent Carlton Cole clear to slot past the keeper. Having made all their substitutions, Hull went a further man down when Anthony Gardner was forced off injured and the Hammers again too advantage when Faubert wrapped it up in stoppage time with an arrowing drive from the edge of the area having been found by Radoslav Kovac.

Attendance : 33,971
Red Card : Fagan 53 (Hull)
Assists : Franco, Faubert, Kovac


WOLVES 0
CHELSEA 2 (Drogba 40, Drogba 67)

Chelsea took full advantage of Man United's slip up to win at Wolves and go four points clear at the top. Didier Drogba netted both goals, one in each half, beginning with a sliding finish at the far post after Yuri Zhirkov's low cross. They went route one for the second goal as Petr Cech's punt forward found Drogba and he rounded the keeper before slotting in.

Attendance : 28,978
Assists : Zhirkov, Cech (gk)

Gary Dowden - Joint Admin Yahoo Groups Premier-L list
http://sports.groups.yahoo.com/group/premier-l/
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