Gameweek 25 Report
February 4, 2008
Hi all,
Well, it looks like I've been deserted by my "regular" reporters so I'm taking matters into my own hands. While time allows, I'll be writing the gameweek reports myself for a little while. So here goes...
Premier League Match Reports
Manchester City 1-3 Arsenal Arsenal emphasised their Barclays Premier League title credentials by becoming the first side to win at the City of Manchester Stadium in the league this season. The 16 points resulting from Emmanuel Adebayor's two goals and an assist helped to extend his lead as this seasons highest scoring forward. Goals were also scored by Arsenal's Eduardo da Silva and City's Gelson Fernandes.
Portsmouth 1-1 Chelsea This game proved the value of mid-season transfers, as both goals were scored by recent ring-ins. Nicolas Anelka (former Bolton forward) scored in the 55th minute to put Chelsea in front. Jermain Defoe, recently transfered from Tottenham Hotspurs, scored the equaliser for Portsmouth on his debut to earn his new side a valuable point.
Tottenham Hotspur 1-1 Manchester United Manchester United earned a point deep in injury time against Tottenham Hotspur but still lost top place in the Barclays Premier League following the draw at White Hart Lane. Half way through the first half, Dimitar Berbatov scored the opener for Tottenham after an Aaron Lennon cross. Carlos Tevez celebrated the equaliser with the last move of the match and was eventually credited with the goal after it was initially marked down as a Michael Dawson own goal.
Birmingham City 1-1 Derby County Emanuel Villa scored his first goal for Derby in the last minute of the game to rescue a point against Birmingham City. That cancelled out a 69th-minute effort from Birmingham midfielder Sebastian Larsson.
Reading 0-2 Bolton Wanderers Bolton Wanderers won an away game in the Barclays Premier League for the first time this season to leave Reading in trouble of relegation. Goals from Kevin Nolan and Heidar Helguson allowed the Wanderers to bank three precious points and move further from the relegation zone that they've occupied for most of the season, and into 13th position.
Blackburn Rovers 0-0 Everton A nil all draw between fourth placed Everton and eighth placed Blackburn has dealt a blow to Everton's Champions League aspirations. Everton dominated the match but failed to score, even as an 84th minute strike by Andy Johnson found the back of the net but was controversially disallowed.
Wigan Athletic 1-0 West Ham United Kevin Kilbane lifted Wigan Athletic out of the bottom three of the Premier League table with a rare strike for the Latics. It was only his second goal for the club in his 60 appearances. The win broke Wigan's 3 game losing streak.
Liverpool 3-0 Sunderland Goals from Peter Crouch, Fernando Torres and a Steven Gerrard penalty sent Liverpool back into fifth place in the Barclays Premier League. The crushing 3-0 win over Sunderland ended Liverpool's 5 game streak without victory. Sunderland were unfortunate not to get a penalty in the 73rd minute when the ball struck Carragher's arm but wasn't called by the ref.
Newcastle United 1-1 Middlesbrough Newcastle are now winless from the last 8 matches after a 1-1 draw with Middlesbrough. Michael Owen scored his first goal for Newcastle since gameweek 9, but couldn't secure a win for the Magpies as Middlesbrough fought back to deny Newcastle all three points. Robert Huth headed home an 87th-minute cross to cancel out Owen's goal and tie the game.
Fulham 2-1 Aston Villa In a surprise upset, Fulham came away with the three points as they toppled Villa 2-1. More even more surprisingly, Villa's only goal resulted from an Aaron Hughes own goal in the 68th minute. Fulham's goals came from Jimmy Bullard and Simon Davies.
Harold League News
This round saw very little change in the Harold League ladder, with a rather poor league average of just 44.1 points.
The biggest move up the ladder was only two places, and was achieved by 4 teams, Benit FC, boldandthebeautiful, Broken Hill United and ToonArmy. The biggest downward move came from Bend it Like Becko, moving down 3 places to 42nd overall.
The top scores for the round came from Broken Hill United, Team Schwarz and Benit FC, who scored 69, 67 and 66 points respectively.
The low scorers this week were West Penno Lions (27 points), Bend it Like Becko (16 points) and Scotland FC (12 points). If these 3 teams combined their scores they'd still only make equal 8th for the week! And Scotland FC's 12 points also landed them in 5th place on the Hall of Shame for season low scores. Ouch.
With just 13 rounds left in the season, it's time to thoroughly review your team! If you haven't used your wildcard trade yet, I'd suggest it's well overdue!
Good luck next round.
Ryan.
The thoughts ofRyan Minster at 11:31 AM
Labels: Reports
Hi Ryan,
Thanks for picking up the game week report duties. I recently got married in Dec, then took 5 weeks off to travel most of WA. In January we took of to NZ for a week and a bit. Am more than happy for you to pick up the reports for the next game as im out at Uni all week this week and next. Happy to resume duties after that. Cheers.
Nice work on the game report too. I see you are getting to watch Match of the Day as well!
Hey Troy,
Congrats mate! Rosco hadn't told me you were getting married.
I'll let you know if/when I get stuck for time, otherwise I'll keep doing the reports for a little bit and see how we go. Cheers,
R.