Monday, 01 December 2008
Liverpool 0-0 West Ham

Sunday, 30 November 2008
Chelsea 1-2 Arsenal
Man City 0-1 Man Utd
Portsmouth 3-2 Blackburn
Tottenham 0-1 Everton

Saturday, 29 November 2008
Aston Villa 0-0 Fulham
Middlesbrough 0-0 Newcastle
Stoke 1-1 Hull
Sunderland 1-4 Bolton
Wigan 2-1 West Brom

Manchester United edged neighbours Manchester City in the Premier League yesterday, thereby claiming their first victory away from home in four matches.

United always looked to have City’s measure in the Manchester Derby,  forcing City keeper, Joe Hart, to make several good saves before Waye Rooney scored from a deflection off the keeper on 42 minutes.

Manchester City had an opportunity to get back into the game with 20 minutes to go, after Cristiano Ronaldo was red-carded for his second bookable offence. City’s best chance on goal came in injury time when Richard Dunne forced an excellent save from Patrice Evra.

”We showed them too much respect in the first half,” City manager Mark Hughes told ESPN. ”This is not going to happen overnight for us. We are going in the right direction but it takes time. We have to compete against that and in the near future we will. But at the moment they are a better team than us.”

Sir Alex Ferguson declared himself satisfied with the result of a match that allowed Manchester United to reel in the lead held by Chelsea and Liverpool in the Premiership.

”We needed to win the game because we are behind Liverpool and Chelsea, so it was a significant result for us,” he said. ”I love the type of goal Wayne scored. Andy Cole was a specialist at it. Wayne anticipated the situation very well and I am delighted with that.”

Arsenal are back in contention for the Premier League title after they beat Chelsea at Stamford Bridge this weekend.

The Gunners bounced back from a string of disappointing results in the Premier League to edge the Blues 2-1 in the London derby. Robin van Persie played a brilliant match for Arsenal, scoring both of the club’s goals.

The result left Luiz Felipe Scolari pondering his club’s third poor performance against a top four rival. Scolari eventually pinned the blame for his club’s loss on the referee, claiming that van Persie had been offside when he scored the equaliser.

“Arsenal scored the first goal one metre in front of our players and in the first half the same linesman gave Kalou offside when it was not,” Scolari said. “It is important to speak to the people about this. If we play and the referee gives two things against my team sometimes it is difficult to win.”

Wenger, meanwhile, was overjoyed to see the form that his young side has shown in the Champions League and Carling Cup filter through to the Premiership.

“To come here and win is fantastic for the team. We had chances and they had very few. We had the quality and we were on top in the second half,” Wenger said. “We have fantastic character in this side. We have now to be humble and come back and work hard.”

Sunderland manager Roy Keane will be feeling the pressure after his club slumped to a 4-1 defeat to Bolton on Saturday.

Despite a dream start that saw Djibril Cisse draw first blood for Sunderland with a goal in the 11th minute, Keane’s defence was not equal to the task of defending a lead and the equaliser was scored by Bolton just minutes later.

Gary Cahill put Bolton ahead in the 21st.  Sunderland fought back bravely and were desperately unlucky to have a second Cisse goal disallowed after the referee ruled that Kenwyne Jones had pushed Jlloyd Samuel to facilitate the goal.

From there on in it was Bolton’s game as Johan Elmander tore through the hapless Sunderland defence to score twice more for his team.

“It was very poor again,” Keane told the Canadian Press. “Individual mistakes have cost us for three of the four goals and obviously it is a very hard one to take again. We are giving teams a helping hand and maybe one or two players lost confidence in the second half.”

The result sees Bolton firmly entrenched in the top half of the Premier League table, while Sunderland are in serious danger of relegation as they remain mired in 18th place in the league table.

Aston Villa missed out on a golden opportunity to entrench themselves at the top of the Premier League table on Saturday after stuttering to a disappointing draw with Fulham at Villa Park.

Following the match Aston Villa manager Martin O’Neill told reporters that strengthening his squad during the January transfer window would be crucial to further success in the Premier League.

“If we are to genuinely compete we will have to try and do something in January,” O’Neill told the AFP. “We could be in the last 32 of the UEFA Cup, the FA Cup and also chasing the Holy Grail in terms of the Premiership.”

O’Neill singled out a lack of penetration amongst the forwards as his side’s biggest weakness, as Villa seemed unable to cut through a tight Fulham defence.

“It was a disappointing result for us,” O’Neill continued. “We went into the game with high hopes and high on confidence and there was no lack of effort. There was an opportunity there for us to go into third place, even if only until tomorrow, but we did not gasp it.”

Inter Milan striker Zlatan Imbrahimovic is against Chelsea striker Didier Drogba’s proposed move from Stamford Bridge to the San Siro.

Following reports that Drogba met with Inter Milan management and Jose Mourinho’s personal agent, those involved in the possible transfer deal have been quick to deny that Drogba’s defection from Stamford Bridge is on the cards.

Swedish international Zlatan Ibrahimovic has taken this a step further,  explaining that Drogba’s transfer is unlikely purely because his services as striker are not required by Inter Milan.

“He is a great player, one that thanks to his physical strength scores so many goals,” Ibrahimovic told Corriere dello Sport. “But when it comes to great strikers we already have plenty. Adriano for example can make a massive difference if he’s fit. I really enjoy playing alongside him and he creates a lot of space for me.”

However, Ibrahimovic’s comments may be motivated by a personal desire to stay off the bench. Industry insiders have since confirmed that Drogba’s move to Milan is very much on the cards, and that Inter is prepared to sell Hernan Crespo, Adriano and Mario Balotelli to raise money for Drogba’s transfer fee.

Arensal will be looking to make up ground on the clubs at the summit of the Premier League when they take on Chelsea in the Premiership on Sunday.

While Chelsea are currently the Premiership log leaders based on goal difference, they’ll be under pressure going into the encounter, knowing that a loss or draw, followed by a good result for Liverpool against West Ham on Monday will see them drop to second place in the league.

“Arsenal-Chelsea’s a huge game,” Chelsea midfielder Frank Lampard told the Canadian Press. “They’re going to want to stay in the title race; we need to try and get a win to try and stay at the top of the table. It’s a chance for us to put even more distance between us and them.”

While Arsenal won’t be brimming with confidence after their 3-0 loss to Manchester City on the weekend, the Gunners’ ship will have been stabilised by a mid-week victory over Dynamo Kiev in the Champions League.

Both teams are experiencing problems with key players, with Didier Drogba reportedly unsatisfied with his lot at Chelsea and William Gallas currently out of favour with the Arsenal management. This may benefit fans as the unsettled feel to both squads promises to make for a close, competitive encounter.

Wigan beat Everton 1-0 on Monday night to climb out of the Premier League drop zone.

The Toffees looked in good form from the kick-off, coming close to scoring off their first big break of the game. However, Wigan ‘keeper Chris Kirkland produced a brilliant one-handed save to keep out a Saha strike.

Kirkland’s save galvanised his team, and Wigan began to put pressure on the Everton defence, coming close to scoring off a Wilson Palacios cross in the 34th minute. The Everton ‘keeper produced two more good saves before Wigan finally broke through with a goal by Camara.

“Sometimes football is a strange game. It was arguably one of our worst performances - we have played better and lost,” Wigan boss Steve Bruce said of a result which ended Everton’s five game unbeaten run.

Wigan’s victory saw the club move from 18th to 15th place in the Premier League. Everton remain 7th on the league table despite the loss, but is separated from Wigan by only 3 points.

“We started quite well and looked in control for long periods but goals are what matter. Wigan got theirs and looked stronger as the game went on,” Everton manager David Moyes told the BBC. “I was hoping for more from us but it was a poor performance.”

West Ham United put a worrying string of results in the Premiership behind itself yesterday, as Valon Behrami scored his first goal for the club to give the Hammers a 1-0 victory over Sunderland at the Stadium of Light.

West Ham, who have been plagued by rumours of financial difficulties, were bolstered by a brilliant performance by Matthew Upson on defence. Coach Gianfranco Zola singled out Upson as his player of the match after seeing his club win for the first time in eight matches.

“The players have been fantastic and this win is all down to them but Matthew was absolutely perfect,” Zola told the Telegraph. “I could not give him a mark out of ten because I would have had to give him 11. I can’t remember him losing one challenge and he commanded the defence.”

Sunderland, meanwhile, were left in the doldrums after suffering their fifth defeat in six matches. Roy Keane’s players were booed as they walked off the pitch at the end of the match.

We need to be doing better and that’s why we all need to be taking responsibility, ultimately the manager,” Keane said at the end of the match. “We can’t seem to string two wins together and sometimes that feels like it’s in the mentality and the fibre of the club. We’re working daily to change that.”

Tottenham Hotspur claimed its 6th victory in 8 matches on Sunday, as Harry Redknapp’s men defeated Blackburn to climb out of the relegation zone quagmire.

The match went Tottenham’s way from kickoff, with Roman Pavlyuchenko scoring the opening goal in the first quarter of the game. Blackburn were then crippled just before half time when Martin Olsson was sent off for two consecutive fouls on Aaron Lennon.

“It’s been a hard start to the season and now we’re glad to get out of again,” Tottenham winger Aaron Lennon told Sky Sports after the match. “Hopefully we can carry on and push up the table now.”

The win saw Tottenham climb to 15th position in the Premiership, ahead of Sunderland. The result was disastrous for Blackburn, who now occupy 19th position on the league table, and may struggle to escape the relegation zone.

“We had a good few chances in the first half and could have killed the game off, especially once they were down to 10 men,” Lennon continued. “We’re happy.”

Although Harry Redknapp will be happy with the progress his side has made in the last month, questions linger over the form and technique of Spurs keeper Heurelho Gomes, whose consistent straying off the line would have resulted in a goal for Brett Emerton if Jonathan Woodgate hadn’t been sharp on defence.