Saturday 29 September 2012

Liverpool's First Win, Chelsea Become First To Win Three, Spurs' First Win Since 1989 and a Hand of Ba

Manchester United 2-3 Tottenham: Spurs win at Old Trafford for the first time since 1989. Based on the first half, the visitors deserved the three points, but after the 90-minutes, United probably should have got at least a point. The deadlock was broken after just two minutes when Jan Vertonghen was allowed through the defence before his shot was deflected in off Jonny Evans, his first Premier League goal. United still didn't get going and found themselves 2-0 down when a counter attack saw Gareth Bale out-pace Rio Ferdinand and finish coolly into the bottom corner. The second saw a mad two minutes and 22-seconds; half-time substitute Wayne Rooney crossed the ball that Nani poked home six minutes into the half. Straight from kick-off, Spurs were back on the attack and 3-1 up when Bale's shot was parried by Anders Lindegaard and Clint Dempsey was on hand to rebound it home, his first Spurs goal. It turned into a basketball match as United went straight up the other end and Robin Van Persie fed Shinji Kagawa for the Japanese to slot past Brad Friedel. United came close to levelling on two occasions; first Rooney smashed the post from a free-kick before a looping Nani header also hit the woodwork. Tottenham just managed to hold onto the victory for an iconic three points.

Norwich 2-5 Liverpool: Liverpool finally win their first Premiership game this season with Luis Suarez scoring a hat-trick for the second season in a row at Carrow Road. The Uruguayan broke the deadlock when Nuri Sahin touched it back for him to finish on two minutes. He made it 2-0 when sloppy defending allowed him to intercept before finishing on seven minutes before half-time. Suarez then provided the assist for their third two minutes into the second half when he pulled it back for Sahin to score his first Premiership goal. Suarez's hat-trick came ten minutes later when he curled a shot into the bottom corner via a deflection. Norwich's first goal came when Steve Morison rebounded a parried Lee Martin shot home just after the hour mark. But it was 5-1 on 68-minutes when a Steven Gerrard shot was deflected into the bottom corner. Norwich did then have the last word courtesy of Grant Holt three minutes before the end.

Arsenal 1-2 Chelsea: Chelsea become the first side to beat Arsenal at the Emirates three times, their first ever without Didier Drogba. Fernando Torres opened the scoring on 20-minutes when he diverted a free-kick home with a clever hooked touch. Arsenal were level three minutes before half-time when Alex Oxlade-Chamberlain played a low ball into Gervinho, the Ivorian then turned before lashing a shot into the top corner for his fourth goal of the season. The winner came from another free-kick, Juan Mata took it and it looked to have evaded everyone before nestling into the bottom corner, although it did look like Laurent Koscielny got a slight touch to bamboozle Wojiech Szczesny. Petr Cech was on hand to provide some wonderful saves to keep Chelsea ahead but Arsenal's best chance of an equaliser came late on when substitute Olivier Giroud was put through and rounded Cech before shooting, from a tight angle, wide. The win preserves Chelsea's unbeaten start to the season.

Fulham 1-2 Manchester City:The champions come from behind to secure a late three points. Fulham took the lead on ten minutes when John Arne Riise was brought down by Pablo Zabaleta. Mark Halsey pointed to the spot but it looked like the challenge was made on the edge. Mladen Petric stepped up and sent Joe Hart the wrong way, leaving City still without a clean sheet this season. Fulham conceded their first goal at home this season two minutes before half-time; a deflected shot from Carlos Tevez was well parried by Mark Schwarzer, but Sergio Aguero was the quickest to react and equalise. Substitute Edin Dzeko scored the winner 66-seconds after coming on, a poorly defended cross fell to the Bosnian for him to rifle home three minutes from time.

Everton 3-1 Southampton: Southampton have now conceded 12-goals in their three away games. The visitors did actually take the lead when Gaston Ramirez headed an Adam Lallana corner home after six minutes, his first Premiership goal. Everton equalised when Kevin Mirallas' cross was stopped dead in the box, Leon Osman was the quickest to pounce onto the loose and smashed it into the net on 25-minutes. The game was turned around with Nikica Jelavic finishing on 32-minutes after being played through by Marouane Fellaini. The damage was completed before half-time when a Jelavic header from a Seamus Coleman cross could only be parried into the net seven minutes before the interval.

Reading 2-2 Newcastle: Reading denied their first win of the season by a very controversial goal. Jimmy Kebe gave Reading the lead 13-minutes into the second half with a low shot. They had the lead for less than a minute when Demba Ba smashed a great first time volley home after it dropped over his shoulder. Reading then retook the lead when Noel Hunt headed home on 62-minutes. But three points were snatched away from them when Ba levelled the game with an attempted header, but he missed the ball with his head and the ball went in via the arm seven minutes before the end. Jobi McAnuff came closest to winning the game after hitting the post.

Stoke 2-0 Swansea: Peter Crouch was the hero of the day in the Britannia. The striker put Stoke in front by heading a corner home on 12-minutes. The win was then secured when Crouch saw his initial shot poorly parried by Michel Vorm back into his path to poke home nine minutes before half-time.

Sunderland 1-0 Wigan: Wigan made it extremely difficult for themselves three minutes into the second half when Jordi Gomez was harshly sent off, but he had left the ground whilst making the tackle so you can see why Howard Webb produced the red card. It was no surprise to see Sunderland take full advantage and even less of a surprise to see Steven Fletcher score it three minutes after Wigan went a man down.

 

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