Arsenal came into the match against Blackburn with renewed confidence, coming off a win last weekend and a draw mid-week in Germany. Arsene Wenger expected nothing less but victory at Ewood Park. Blackburn has been on a downward spiral ever since the new owners put Steve Kean in charge. The supporters have been vocal about their displeasure of the manager and have held protests for his dismissal.
What proceeded to happen was anything but pleasant for Gunners fans. It started off brightly with Gervinho scoring within ten minutes, but just quick Rovers were on level terms. Yakubu scoring his first for Rovers, but David Hoilett deserved all the plaudits for the set-up. After being taken off the field on a stretcher last week, the Canadian born midfielder was a surprise inclusion to the starting line-up.
The scoring continued when Mikel Arteta giving Arsenal the lead. Running into space at the perfect time to smash the ball past Paul Robinson, his first for the club on a nice one timer provided by Aaron Ramsey. An unlucky bounce tied the score in the second half. Another set piece was Arsenal's undoing due to their timid defensive structure. Alex Song looked hesitant to clear the ball and just watched Ruben Rochina's free kick hit off his leg and go past Wojciech Szczesny. You can clearly see the nervousness the players have when defending dead ball situations.
Wenger will be upset after watching the replay of Yakubu's second as Blackburn took their first lead of the game. The Nigerian was clearly offside when re-directing Steve N'zonzi's initial shot but the goal stood. Luck continued to elude the Gunners, Martin Olsson exposed Johan Djourou's lack of pace down the flank and sent a cross into a dangerous area that was deflected in by Laurent Koscielny for the unfortunate own goal, the second of the match for Arsenal It is incredible to watch the string of bad luck the Gunners have endured. Marouane Chamakh pulled them within one with five minutes to go, however the match finished with another disappointing result for Wenger. Rovers held on for the victory and gave their manager some more time in charge before the inevitable ends up happening.
Villa Park played host to surprising top four placed Newcastle United with Shay Given looking to spoil the great start to the season by his former club. Aston Villa were first to score, Gabriel Agbonlahor showing determination to win the ball and slot it past Tim Krul. The Magpies pressed for the equalizer and could have had much more if it weren't for the alertness of Given, always being in the right place to deny the opposition. I was really impressed with the play of Yohan Cabeye, coming under the radar from Lille in the summer and becoming the play maker Newcastle have been in search of for quite some time. He came close to scoring on a couple of occasions but it was Leon Best that tied it up after getting two chances to score. His initial attempt was stopped point blank by Given, but succeeded on the rebound with the Irishman at his mercy.
Darren Bent had a great chance late on to win the game for the home side, but his weak effort was cleared off the line by Steven Taylor, hustling back to make a great defensive save and preserve the draw. The feel good factor continued for Tyneside, after five matches Newcastle continue to defy their critics.
Bolton has struggled since their opening day victory on the road, losers of three straight. Norwich City were still looking for their first win back in the top flight but have a horrible record away from home in the Premiership. It has been seventeen years since their last victory away from Carrow Road, but that horrendous record was put to bed from strikes by Anthony Pilkington and Bradley Johnston. Both goals coming within six minutes of each other in the first half after Paul Lambert made significant changes to his starting eleven.
It was the visitors who were the aggressors with Bolton struggling to find a rhythm. Their dominance continued in the second half and should have added to the lead. David Ngog was subbed on by Owen Coyle at the re-start and provided Bolton their chance to score. Being hauled down in the box, Martin Petrov converted the spot kick to cut the lead in half. Looking visibly boosted by the goal, Bolton pressed forward to earn the equalizer. Ngog came closest late but could not deliver the decisive blow and Norwich earned the victory.
Everton were able to display some much needed perseverance to earn their first home win of the season. Wigan took the early lead from a deflected shot by Franco Di Santo that beat Tim Howard, the Latics striker has three on the season and all have come in this manor. The Toffees have struggled in the scoring department early on, clearly missing an offensive threat to provide the goals needed to win. Phil Jagielka took on the offensive responsibilities and tied up the game, before youngster Apostolos Vellios gave Everton the lead.
For a club who lack funds to compete, David Moyes has always gotten the best out the players at his disposal. They fight to the bitter end and leave everything on the pitch. Royston Drenthe padded the lead with his first for the club at the death to seal it. The win however was tainted with the antics of Louis Saha. After finding out he was not to feature in the match, the Frenchman left Goodison Park and tweeted some interesting comments about Moyes decision. He better get used to watching from the stand because the manager is not the type to put up with that sort of behavior, despite their problems in attack.
All it took was a spot kick for Swansea City to record their first goal in the Premier League. Scott Sinclair etched his name into the clubs history books after he converted the penalty past Ben Foster. Liberty Stadium erupted in celebration as the ball crossed the line, and they had more to celebrate ten minutes later. Leroy Lita banging in the header from close range as the West Bromwich defence watched in agony. The third came early in the second half, Nathan Dyer showing off his speed and power to hold off his defender before going five-hole on Foster. It took five games for the first to come but the Swans managed three to beat the Baggies.
The Swans did suffer a small set back when Neil Taylor was taken off the field on a stretcher after colliding with Peter Odemwingie. Taylor was attended to for several minutes due to the head injury suffered in the collision, it looked severe but hopefully the Swans defender will be ok.
Queens Park Rangers steam rolled right through Wolverhampton at Molineux in the day’s final match-up. Neil Warnock's new-look squad came out and impressed with a decisive victory. Joey Barton led by example scoring the opener from a nice cross by Shaun Wright-Phillips. The Hoops have looked remarkable after bringing in re-enforcements at the deadline. Barton was given the captaincy and has been instrumental in commanding the middle of the pitch. Wright-Phillips brings lots of pace down the wing and Adel Taarabt can now focus more on creating in the midfield, Barton giving him the freedom to play further up the field.
Wolves were under pressure for the full ninety minutes, being picked a part by pinpoint passing. After a great start to the season, Mick McCarthy has seen his side become stagnate and lacking creativity in the offensive end. DJ Campbell was able to score his first for the club close to the final whistle and QPR collected all three points. Barton was up to his twitter antics after the game, getting into a war of words with Karl Henry. I love when players speak their minds on social media sites, keep on tweeting Joey.
On Sunday Liverpool came to White Hart Lane on the back of comments made by manager Kenny Dalglish, questioning the officiating and being on the receiving end of poor decisions to start the season. However Tottenham showed the real problem for Dalglish is his lethargic and clumsy defensive line. Right from the start Spurs dictated the flow of play with fantastic runs and great ball distribution. Martin Skrtel looked completely out of his depths at right back, with Gareth Bale exploiting his lack of pace and weakness throughout the first half.
The opener came quick, Luka Modric smashing a laser beam past a helpless Pepe Reina. Sloppy defending was to blame, but a wonderful strike nonetheless by the Croatian for his first of the season. Things continued to go sour for the Reds. Daniel Agger picked up another injury and was forced to leave with Sebastian Coates coming in for his debut. Charlie Adam was then sent off after picking up two early yellows, although his first booking was soft and the second was harsh considering he had his eyes on the ball before catching Scott Parker with a high foot. The cards continued to escalate for Liverpool as they were clearly a step behind the pace. Spurs looked the better side going into the break.
The speed of Spurs was impossible to contain, the link play coming from Parker was exquisite, continuously finding Bale on the wing or Emmanuel Adebayor through the middle to wreak havoc in the visitors end. On the hour mark Skrtel was given his marching orders, picking up a second yellow off a silly challenge on Bale.
Down two men Defoe instantly made them pay, out-muscling his defender to double the lead. Reina was at fault for the third, gifting a rebound right to Adebayor for the easy tap in. Although Reina was left stranded all game by his defenders and should not be judged on that one mistake as it could have been a lot worse by that point. The Togolese striker then added another in injury time for added insult. Dalglish was fuming despite his calm demeanor. This was an embarrassing loss that was not due to the officiating. Liverpool never once threatened offensively. Brad Friedel was very much a spectator in goal for Spurs.
Alarm bells will be ringing at Anfield, it is still early but Dalglish must address his side’s defensive shortcomings quickly if Liverpool is to challenge for the top four. On the opposite side, Harry Redknapp will be delighted after Spurs performance, an amazing team effort that proved Tottenham should not be underestimated.
The Stadium of Light was treated to a route by the home side, with Sunderland earning their first win of the season thrashing Stoke City. The Potters were unbeaten coming in to the match, while Sunderland has looked awful thus far and in desperate need of three points to take some pressure off Steve Bruce. Their have been rumblings of change circulating Wearside if this poor form continued, whether it was Niall Quinn stepping down or the sacking of Bruce something needed to change if results remained negative.
In thirty minutes the Black Cats eased the pressure exploding for three goals in quick succession. Titus Bramble scored his first, followed by an own goal by Jonathan Woodgate, ending with Craig Gardner's deflected shot that beat Asmir Begovich. The Bosnian looked stellar last week but was on the wrong end of a four goal demolition today. Sebastian Larsson curled in the fourth for Sunderland off an impressive free kick. Stoke could not muster up much offence until Peter Crouch missed with the net at his mercy close to the end of time, it would have provided small consolation for the visitors.
Manchester City could not continue their fantastic run of form despite taking a two goal lead on the road at Craven Cottage. Sergio Aguero added to his already tremendous start to English football, the Argentine scoring both of City's goals. At that point you would assume the match was over, but Fulham dug deep and were able to make a surprising comeback to earn the draw.
The Citizens played mid-week in the Champions League and looked incapable of balancing their form on both fronts. Despite having enough talent to field two star studded line-ups, playing on two fronts have proved difficult for even the best of clubs. David Silva teamed up with Aguero for the opener and his brace came right after the re-start to silence the crowd. Fulham cut the lead in half with a fine finish by Bobby Zamora, it was provided by Clint Dempsey after a great build up in play by the home side.
Both goal keepers were exquisite, Mark Schwarzer being tested early and able to keep the Cottagers in the game with a number of saves. The second half belonged to Joe Hart as Fulham kept pressing, denying Dempsey the equalizer with a last ditch challenge. But he was finally beaten on a deflected free kick from Danny Murphy that tied it all up, Vincent Kompany being the unfortunate one. Roberto Mancini tried to win it late with the inclusion of Carlos Tevez and almost did, however Brede Hangeland made a game saving block to deny the Argentine and earn the well deserved point for Fulham.
All eyes were on Old Trafford for the days most anticipated match-up. Manchester United took on Chelsea in what was the biggest test for both clubs thus far. The Red Devils struck first to take the lead, Chris Smalling nodding in the opener from a nice cross by Ashley Young off a set piece. Replays did show it to be offside, but the goal stood and Smalling was not denied his first in the Premier League.
United had more of the possession early on but Chelsea had a chance to go level after a careless give away by Anderson in his own end. Fernando Torres was sent through but hurried his shot and sent it just wide of the far corner, another perfect chance wasted by the Spaniard in what is becoming a farcical countdown for his first goal of the season. Torres got behind the defence once again, this time after a nice through ball by Juan Mata, he squared it to Ramires for the easy finish but David De Gea came up huge to make a good save. Daniel Sturridge might have had a better chance to score on the pass from Torres but the two seemed to get their lines crossed and the chance was wasted.
United made Chelsea pay for their missed opportunities, Nani was given the time and space needed to unleash a thunderous strike beating Petr Cech. The Blues were caught ball watching and made the same mistake soon after, Wayne Rooney gifted his first and United's third of the match. Phil Jones deserved most of the credit, hustling and showing determination to pressure John Terry for possession of the loose ball. The first half ended with the home side in complete control and looking like the real deal.
Andre Villas-Boas made one change after the break, bringing in Nicolas Anelka for Frank Lampard and it proved to be a smart decision. The Frenchman was able to play a perfect pass to Torres who calmly chipped it over De Gea after making an impressive run into space, easing some of the pressure on his shoulders and gaining some much needed confidence. Chelsea looked completely different in the second half, dictating the run of play with pace and smart ball distribution, it looked like they actually could turn things around.
On their first chance of the half, Nani took a shot that struck the bar and was then taken down in the box after following up on his own rebound. Rooney stepped up and surprisingly sent the shot wide right after slipping on the run in, it was pretty comical and Chelsea dodged a huge bullet. The chances continued for the visitors as Torres looked rejuvenated after scoring, showing he still possessed the speed and skill to create his own chances, he could have had a hat-trick with all the opportunities that fell to his feet. The Red Devils did not stop attacking either, Rooney was unlucky to hit the post after some nice build up play, Javier Hernandez missed on the ensuing rebound but the Mexican suffered a knock on the play and was forced to sub off.
It was a tale of two halves, with the second proving to be what I expected the entire match to be like. With less than ten minutes to go Chelsea had an unbelievable chance to get within one, Ramires sent Torres in clear through on a breakaway, the Spaniard went around De Gea but missed the net with a wide open goal at his mercy. Just when you thought Torres had regained his confidence and silenced all the critics, he provides us with the miss of the season. It is hard not to sympathize with Torres at this point as he will definitely be dominating the headlines but for all the wrong reasons. United earned the victory and sit alone at the top of the table.
Game of the Week: Manchester United vs. Chelsea
Goal of the Week: Luka Modric vs. Liverpool
Goalkeeper of the Week: Shay Given vs. Newcastle United
Lowlight of the Week: Fernando Torres horrible miss vs. Manchester United
Please share your thoughts and opinions on the best of the week.
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