CHELSEA VS. MANCHESTER UNTED: Midfielders Darren Fletcher (center) and Paul Scholes (left) of Manchester United battle with Chelsea’s Michael Ballack in the biggest game of the Premier League season to date. (Shaun Botterill/Getty Images)
Arsenal are top of the table after to traveling to the North of England to beat Bolton Wanderers. The Gunners went a goal down after Bolton’s Kevin Davies headed home from a corner with 15 minutes gone but Arsenal were quick to respond with Emmanuel Eboue taking his first Premiership goal from close range. Nicklas Bendtner followed that up a minute later when he bundled in a cross from Denilson.
Second half substitute Theo Walcott released Adebayor wide on the right flank to then sweep a long cross to the far post to give Denilson the tap in sealing the points 3–1.
Bolton played their typically aggressive physical game and were lucky not to go a man down after Davies was guilty of an awful two-footed challenge on Arsenal defender Gael Clichy.
Salvaging Unbeaten Home Record
Chelsea managed to pull back a draw after being a goal down for most of the game in front of their home crowd. Manchester United took the lead after Petr Cech fumbled Dimitar Berbatov’s shot and Ji-Sung Park followed it up.
Joe Cole and Nicolas Anelka wasted great chances before substitute Kalou headed in with 10 minutes to go.
United left Cristiano Ronaldo on the bench alongside Carlos Tevez leaving Berbatov and Wayne Rooney to lead the strike force. Sir Alex’s decision will be a real head-scratcher for United fans.
Chelsea had to do a last minute shuffle as Deco strained a leg muscle in the warm-up and thus Michael Ballack started.
United picked up seven yellow cards to Chelsea’s one. Chelsea managed to maintain their 85-game unbeaten streak at Stamford Bridge.
Sky High Blues
Manchester City demonstrated that they are a force to be reckoned with as they dismantled Portsmouth 6–0.
Brazilian Jo started the scoring and Irish defender Richard Dunne scrambled in the second.
At the half they were two up and the best was yet to come. In the second half, the Brazilian trio of Elano, Jo, and British transfer record signing Robinho showed what all the big transfer spending was about. But it was not just the big money signings that got the result as home grown talent Stephen Ireland from the City Youth Academy clinically set up Robinho twice for two great goals.
Ched Evans and Gelson Fernandes stepped up to complete the rout to land them at fifth in the table.
Reds Held
Liverpool was held to 0–0 draw at Anfield to Premiership newcomers Stoke. The Reds had plenty of chances but failed to make it count.
The most contentious point of the match was Steven Gerrard’s long-range free kick that bounced before going into the net. The goal was not given due to a forward in the offside position. The replay showed this was the case. The referee’s assistant did not raise his flag but the referee himself blew for it.
“Nobody knows why the effort was ruled out,” Rafael Benitez said in a BBC interview.
“The referee told Jamie Carragher that it had been his decision, not the linesman’s. It was a massive mistake.”
West Ham took on troubled Newcastle who still do not have manager or a buyer for the club. It was a good start for new Hammers manager Gianfranco Zola as his team won 3–1 which takes them to sixth in the table with an unbeaten home record.
West Ham took the lead through some attacking play and a lucky high-looping deflection from a David Di Michele shot.
Di Michele, on loan from Italy, had the Newcastle defense wrong footed on a number of occasions. It soon paid off and Di Michelle broke through to score another from a through ball from Mark Noble.
Newcastle were always in the game and had some good attacking moves. Damien Duff, Geremi, and Charles N’Zogbia showing some promise for the Magpies.
Michael Owen also showed a flash of brilliance as he turned on a six pence to find just enough space to curl a side footed shot past Robert Green.
Di Michele had an opportunity to go for a hat trick when he had clear path to goal with just Shay Given to beat but unselfishly laid off a square ball to Matthew Etherington to slot it in with his trusted left peg.
