The second weekend of the Premier League season brought yet more six-goal hauls and a reality check for one or two sides riding high after wins last weekend. It was, of course, a difficult weekend to take for the teams who shipped six, in particular a Villa side suffering from the loss of James Milner to Manchester City and the disgraceful timing of Martin O’Neill’s departure.
Arsenal 6-0 Blackpool
Theo Walcott stole the show as Arsenal launched the new clock at the Emirates. The revitalised England star hit a superb hat-trick, including a brilliantly worked opener, to give the Gunners the springboard for a six goal victory. Andrey Arshavin’s penalty, a fantastic Abou Diaby finish and Marouane Chamakh’s first competitive Arsenal goal also found their way past Matthew Gilks to bring Ian Holloway’s Blackpool crashing back to earth after thrashing Wigan last weekend.
Birmingham City 2-1 Blackburn Rovers
Birmingham came from behind at St Andrews to frustrate Blackburn on Saturday. Steven Nzonzi’s header gave Rovers the lead, but Blues quickly hit back with a simple finish by Craig Gardner who has James McFadden to thank for a deft assist. Gardner’s second, a low shot from distance, banked three points for the hosts. But it was goalkeeper Ben Foster who earned the plaudits with an eye-catching performance that included a brilliant penalty save from Morten Gamst Pedersen at 0-0.
Everton 1-1 Wolverhampton Wanderers
Everton and Wolves shared the spoils on an irritating afternoon for David Moyes. Tim Cahill lashed in the opening goal just before the break but it was a goal dripping with controversy. Wolves felt that Cahill had committed a foul after Mikel Arteta’s free kick, but the foul that saw it awarded in the first place had clearly taken place inside the penalty area. Kevin Doyle laid on the Wolves equaliser for Sylvan Ebanks-Blake with fifteen minutes left, but again Everton were aggrieved, believing that Adlene Guedioura had fouled John Heitinga in the build-up.
Stoke City 1-2 Tottenham Hotspur
Spurs look likely to benefit from a top-notch season from their Welsh winger Gareth Bale. After an excellent pre-season, Bale tested Joe Hart on a number of occasions last weekend but had to wait for this win against Stoke to get his reward. After his first ricocheted in off his face at the Britannia, he hit a stunning left-footed volley past Thomas Sorensen to give Tottenham an impressive win. Ricardo Fuller had equalised after Bale’s first, but the season’s first goal-line debate saw Chris Foy wave away Stoke’s claims for a second after Jon Walters’ header was cleared by Peter Crouch. General consensus suggest that the ball had crossed the line.
West Bromwich Albion 1-0 Sunderland
West Brom were on the end of the scoreline du jour last week, being hammered 6-0 by champions Chelsea. A debut goal for former Lokomotiv Moscow striker Peter Odemwingie was enough to earn his new side 3-0 against a singularly unimpressive Sunderland outfit.
West Ham United 1-3 Bolton Wanderers
West Ham slumped to their second defeat in a row thanks to a confident Bolton performance at Upton Park. Carlton Cole’s missed penalty will be consider the turning point by Avram Grant, but the same could be said of the opening goal, which saw Matthew Upson head the ball past Rob Green and have his nose broken in the process. Johan Elmander scored a rare brace either side of Mark Noble’s consolation penalty to secure the win for Wanderers. Next up for West Ham after two consecutive losses? Manchester United and Chelsea.
Wigan Athletic 0-6 Chelsea
Ignore the scoresheet, for Didier Drogba was head and shoulders above 21 other players as Chelsea thumped Wigan at the DW. The Ivorian went for assists rather than goals in this late kick-off, but his performance was utterly scintillating. Florent Malouda and Yossi Benayoun scored the first and the last, with doubles from Nicolas Anelka and Salomon Kalou in between. Chelsea, with the exception of John Terry who was lucky to escape without a red card from a spineless Mike Dean and made some worrying errors, look incredible. Wigan are already in trouble.
Newcastle United 6-0 Aston Villa
Another six, and one that should see off any prospect of Kevin Macdonald replacing Martin O’Neill at Villa. John Carew smashed an early penalty over the crossbar and it was the start of a miserable afternoon for Villa. Joey Barton got the first with a lovely strike from outside the box but it was to be Andy Carroll’s day. He set up the second for Kevin Nolan and then got the third to begin his hat-trick. Nolan got the fifth of a humiliating defeat for Villa. And so the dribbling pro-Newcastle media get the result they wanted after a year away, but the swooning shouldn’t take away from an excellent hat-trick by Carroll or a disgrace of a performance by the visitors.
Fulham 2-2 Manchester United
Cue the jokes about the end of the title race. Paul Scholes’ low drive was as precise as it was powerful and continued the 35-year-old’s good form but couldn’t send United on their way to three points. Simon Davies squeezed in the first equaliser after good work by Damien Duff and Bobby Zamora and Nemanja Vidic, who consistently gets away with ridiculously obvious fouls in the penalty box, escaped censure for a clear shirt pull on Clint Dempsey. United capitalised with an own goal by Brede Hangeland, but missed an opportunity to confirm the points when David Stockdale saved Nani’s penalty. A frantic finished was capped by Hangeland’s payback, a headed equaliser from a last-minute corner.
Manchester City v Liverpool
Tonight, all eyes are back on the City of Manchester Stadium after a brief absence from the limelight for Roberto Mancini’s side. Roy Hodgson takes along a Liverpool side who missed out on two points on opening weekend after an error by Pepe Reina. Both sides are looking for their first win after respectable but frustrating draws in their first games.
Top Five Players: Didier Drogba (Chelsea), Gareth Bale (Tottenham), Theo Walcott (Arsenal), Andy Carroll (Newcastle), Joey Barton (Newcastle)
Tags: Premier League Roundup