Saturday, March 31st
Liverpool 4, Arsenal 1
It has been a while since you've heard the name Peter Crouch and the word hat-trick in the same sentence. Singlehandedly, Crouch catapulted Liverpool above the Gunners into third place. There might have been a price to pay as Steven Gerrard walked off with what appeared to be a thigh problem (in post-game, apparently it's not serious). With the recent confirmation of ownership change and the introduction of new midfielder Javier Mascherano, Liverpool looks to make a push for momentum that will lead them into next year. Their biggest concern at this moment, though, is their Champions League clash with PSV. Also, did anyone see that Liverpool fullback Jon Arne Riise has declared bankruptcy. Something in the form of 100,000 pounds. Kind of funny considering he earns around 50,000 weekly.
LIV: Crouch (4,35,81), Agger (60)
ARS: Gallas (73)
Manchester United 4, Blackburn 1
When did Park-Ji Sung learn to put balls in the back of the net? Manchester, in my mind, have clinched. They look fluid, natural, and more importantly, intimidating. The coupling of Vidic and Rio Ferdinand in the back has completely outplayed Chelsea's match-up of Ricardo Carvalho and John Terry. With that said, Vidic is out with a pretty serious shoulder injury. Rough. Even when down today, the Red Devils scored four unanswered goals to put Brad Friedel and the Rovers to bed. All of these were scored with 30 minutes to go. How can a team this sound tactically, technically, and playing beautiful game lose this fight? Could an injury to Gary Neville have an effect? By the way, Man U had 30 shots. With that shot total against them, the Rovers were bound to lose their 4 game winning streak.
MAN: Scholes (61), Carrick (73), Ji-Sung (83), Solskjaer (90)
BLA: Derbyshire (29)
West Ham United 2, Middlesborough 0
Carlos Tevez scored his third goal in his past three games and put West Ham only 6 points behind strugglers Sheffield United. A couple weeks ago it seemed hopeless. Today, with the continuing terrible form of Sheffield United, WHU seems poised to make it very interesting in the last 8 games. You have to remember though that WHU's goals were what we call 'silver-platter goals'. A goal is a goal however and the main difference between WHU a month ago and WHU today is clearly confidence. There was no bull-shit, no ego struggles. Instead, they found a way to score.
WHU: Zamora (2), C. Tevez (45)
MID: NONE
Charlton 1, Wigan 0
Poor Filan. All the hard work and great saves ruined by an errant penalty call. Darren Bent stepped up and put it away for the Addicks a couple minutes from time. This brings me to the confusion I have with Darren Bent. I understand his pricetag is now a bit too high for midlevel teams like Everton, Portsmouth (well maybe not them anymore), and Bolton but why has NO ONE splashed the cash on this workhorse? He's consistent against high performance teams and scores when needed. Lack of international experience? The fact that he plays for Charlton? The fact that he is so desperately waiting for a bid from Major League Soccer? Hmmmmm.
CHA: D. Bent (pen 86)
WIG: NONE
Newcastle 0, Manchester City 1
Oguchi Onyewu came on in the 73rd minute to replace Aussie Craig Moore and provide a big body to find the equalizer. Didn't work. Emile Mpenza scored a late goal to put Citeh in front. I am starting to believe in the fact that Newcastle's club exists to underperform. Send me an e-mail if you're interested in researching and contributing a piece about this 'underperformance curse'. I would be eternally grateful and give you the proper credit. No Damarcus Beasley in this clash.
NEW: NONE
MAN: E. Mpenza (80)
Bolton 1, Sheffield United 0
Paddy Kenny will be playing for a Premiership team next year whether or not Sheff Utd stays up or not. A shame that he couldn't preserve the clean sheet (a beautiful low post shot from Kevin Davies made that tough). The Blades were somewhat fortunate that the score was not anything worse. Regardless, Sheffield United has lost their last 7 away games in a row. Luckily, they have Newcastle next week home.
BOL: K. Davies (80)
SHE: NONE
Watford 0, Chelsea 1
Salomon Kalou is starting to reap the praises of the hard-to-impress Jose Mourinho. Watford played valiantly, Jay Demerit specifically (don't tell me I don't give him the praise he deserves). I like that Wright-Phillips is getting his chance but Arjen
Robben was certainly missed. Chelsea, as a whole, looked tired probably from the 18 recent international call-ups. Or, quite possibly, Chelsea is anticipating their doom against Valencia this coming week. Chelsea hasn't let up a goal though in over 700 minutes. So we'll see.WAT: NONE
CHE: S. Kalou (90)
Fulham 1, Portsmouth 1
The way Fulham's results have been turning up lately, this draw against Portsmouth is a decent thing. They are creeping ever closer to a relegation stand-off. Ian Pearce's 90th minute deflection and first ever Fulham goal, gave them something to move into next game with. Nike Kranjcar's curling shot was naaasty. Brian McBride was taken out in the 65th minute to make way for Collins John. His game was fairly average, having a couple of chances to give the Cottagers a bit of hope at times. Rumors are that Niko Kranjcar's stay at Portsmouth might be up in the summer. He's too good for Fratton Park.
FUL: I. Pearce (90)
POR: Kranjcar (4)
Sunday, April 1st
Take a look at Goal.com. They decided to play with peoples' heads on April Fools' Day. The drift is...Beckham to Columbus, Bruce Area and his belly to Barcelona, and Real Madrid honcho Fabio Capello is now the U.S. head coach. I was actually kind of mad when I read it.
Tottenham 1, Reading 0
Don't let the scoreline fool you. This was one of the more entertaining games of the weekend. Robbie Keane put away another one his penalty kicks. Reading had several botched chances, mainly by 13 goal forward Leroy Lita. Other than that, the highlights involved Aaron Lennon's streaking runs and blistering pace and Dimitar Berbatov's dominance in the penalty area. Didier Zokora also had a great game and has produced a consistent string of results recently. The brightest spot for Reading was Marcus Hahnemann in net but unfortunately is game was finished after half-time when Adam Federici came in for him. No word as to what his injury might be. This is Tottenham's fifth win in a row. It is Reading's third loss in a row. Momentum clearly played a part.
TOT: R. Keane (pen 41)
RDG: NONE
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