Fulham, City and Wigan win.
March 16, 2008
Fulham gave themselves a lifeline today beating a tired Everton at Craven Cottage 1-0 to go within 2 points of Bolton. A second half header from Brian McBride was enough to separate the sides. Everton looked physically tired from their UEFA Cup exploits on Wednesday when they played 120 minites of footbal.
Fulham still have much to do and will have to transfer the form at home way with 5 of their remaining games being away from Craven Cottage.
It the relegation battle Bolton visited the JJB to play Wigan. It was a terrible start for the home side who went down to ten men when Jason Koumas was sent off for a high tackle on Gary Cahill after 5 minites. The sending off galvanized the home side and the took the lead in the first half thanks to Emilie Hesky. The big forward volleyed in Mario Melchiot’s long-throw.
In the second half Bolton pilled on the pressure with Erik Edman clearing off the line but the home side held on to take all three points and move 12th in the table
At the City of Manchester Stadium Spurs seemed to have had got over their midweek hangover due to going out of the UEFA Cup. Robbie Keane struck in the first half after a mistake from Vedran Corluka let Chimbomda in. To City’s credit they came back in the second half Stephen Ireland directed a shot in to equalize and Nedum Onuoha thumped in a header from a corner.
Everton win in UEFA: Cup of also-rans
February 14, 2008
Everton maintain their good chances of winning the UEFA cup in an impressive season by beating SK Brann 2-0 away in Norway.
Goals by Leon Osman and Victor Anichebe saw them take a lead into the second leg that most peeps would assume to be enough for them to get through.
A late scare in the first-half was the best that the home side could muster, former-Pompey striker Karadas bundling in a corner, the goal being ruled out for a foul on keeper Tim Howard by former Leeds midfield man Eirik Bakke.
Everton broke the deadlock on 59 mins, thanks to Osman’s technique and skill, sending a low, swerving shot past keeper Opdal.
With three minutes left, Lescott whipped in a superb cross converted through Anichebe.
Manager Moyes was very happy with Yaks after he put in lots of work during the game with no goal-reward. After his recent antics and subsequent punishment, this may signal that there are no hard feelings.
Well done the Toffees, its always nice to get English teams through in Europe.
Premiership Round Up
February 9, 2008
Another great Premiership Saturday, it was good to get back to watching football after the weeks major news of the announcement of the possibility of a 39th game to be played overseas. With the top 3 not playing the concentration was on the battle for 4th place and the battle of the bottom.
Aston Villa 4 – 1 Newcastle
Kevin Keegan is still without a win in his second spell at Newcastle. Micheal Owen had given the away side the lead in the first half. The second half with a few chances Villa came out on top, a deflected Bouma shot, two Carew headers and a Carew penalty sealed the match. Carew was awesome and fully deserves his hattrik
Everton 1 – 0 Reading
Yakubu was left out after coming back late from the African cup of Nations. The first half of the match was pretty quiet at Goodison Park. The addition of James Vaughan at half time helped, and Everton took the lead when a second ball from a corner found Phil Jageilka who looped in a header at the far post. That defeat for Reading and other results meant that the Royals moved into the bottom three for the first time this season.
Sunderland 2 – 0 Wigan
Sunderland recorded their fourth straight home win, and over fellow relegation rivals meant they moved out of the bottom three. Dickson Etuhu back from the African Cup of Nations grabbed a goal just before half time heading in from a free-kick. The Black Cats doubled the lead in the second half, this was after Wigan hit the woodwork twice, a cracking ball from Andy Reid found Daryl Murphy who thumped in a shot of the underside of the bar form all of 25 yards.
Middlesborough 1 – 0 Fulham
Afonso Alves who signed last week for £12 million started the game on the bench, it was another stirker who grabbed the only goal of the game in the frist half, Jeremie Aliadiere slotting in after breaking the offside trap. Alves came on the second half but was unable to make an impact.
Bolton 0 – 1 Portsmouth
The first half saw former Pompy player Matt Taylor miss a sitter, an open goal from all of 3 yards. The only goal came late in the game for the away side Lassana Diarra with his first goal in the Premiership. He did look offside which compounded the misery for the home side who had been the better side and had been denied by an inform David James on numerous occasions, no doubt that James is England’s number 1.
Derby 0 – 3 Tottenham
Well the Rams managed to hang on till the second half but then Spurs class shone. Robbie Keane tabbed in after Roy Carroll saved from Malbranque. The second from Kaboul when Derby couldn’t clear from a corner. The third form the spot for Berbatov after Stubbs handballed.
West Ham 1 – 1 Birmingham
James McFadden grabbed his first goal for Birmingham again West Ham, the Scot equalized from the spot after he was brought down in the box by Lucas Niell. West Ham had taken the lead in the first half, a long throw was flicked on by Cole and Ljungberg stole in at the far post to tap smash in the opener. Lee Bowyer decide to get himself sent off for a lunge on Johnson, bit of a shocker from Mr Battenburg.
Two games tomorrow complete the weekends football, and you don’t better than Liverpool Chelsea and the Manchester derby.
Barclays Premier League
Chelsea v Liverpool, 16:00
Man Utd v Man City, 13:30
winning is everything – quick round-up
February 8, 2008
Just some quick notes on the happenings of the day.
Benjani was surprised to be sold by Pompey to City in the transfer window. Pity he wasn’t so shocked that he couldn’t sleep otherwise the whole mess of this last week could have been avoided.
Manchester United pair Cristiano Ronaldo and Sir Alex Ferguson both won the monthly awards handed out for player and manager of the month respectively. Amazingly the last time that Fergie won was February last year.
Yakuba will miss out playing for Everton this weekend after arriving back late from the African Nations. Silly boy.
Micah Richards has signed a new five-and-a-half year deal at Eastlands although how much contracts are worth these days are anyones guess.
Adios for now.
winningiseverything Premiership round-up
February 4, 2008
The results are in for the weekends matches, the Premiership finished with for another week.
The big winners this weekend were those at the wrong end of the table really. Fulham, Wigan and Bolton all won their respective games against Villa (2-1), West Ham (1-0) and Reading (2-0) to leave Derby further adrift at the bottom and some worried faces at clubs such as Reading (who are in free-fall), Sunderland and Birmingham.
Arguably anyone up to Tottenham are still in the relegation fight, but with Spurs having an upturn in fortunes and a scoring record the envy of many European contenders they will be fine. After their perhaps surprising 1-1 draw with champions Manchester United they will be looking to move onward and upward toward top-half status.
Newcastle and Middlesbrough played out a dull 1-1 draw as did Derby and Birmingham.
Jermain Defoe will be pleased with his weekends work, as he scored on his debut for Portsmouth against Chelsea to push the London club further behind the leaders.
Speaking of which, Arsenal maintained their excellent form this season with a 3-1 win at Manchester City, with two goals form the superb Adebayor. Wenger just seems to have a knack of selling players when he sees that they are holding up the progression of others. He did it with Viera to allow Fabregas to progress and now he has done it this season, letting Henry go to give Adebayor room to shine. As for Manchester City, they suffered their first home defeat this season and will be hoping that the Benjani deal goes through so that they have a striker that can actually score.
European contenders Blackburn and Everton played out a 0-0 draw at Ewood, but the Toffees will be disappointed that Andy Johnson’s goal in the second half was ruled out by the officials.
Finally, Liverpool recaptured some form as they beat Sunderland 3-0 at home. With their game in hand they may now feel a little more confident for that fourth spot.
Late deals
February 1, 2008
A few late deals from the Premiership last night including a right balls up from the blue half of Manchester.
First off, strugglers Fulham signed some experience for the run-in including former Liverpool forward Jari Litmanen and defender Toni Kallio. Both feature from manager Roy Hodgson’s past, having played for him in the Finnish national side. Litmanen is initially on trial, but arrives on a free anyway, while Kallio joins from Swiss side BSC Young Boys. Stalteri also joins from neighbors Tottenham on loan until the end of the season. I make this 7 signings for Fulham in this window.
Middlesbrough broke their club transfer record signing Brazilian striker Afonso Alves from Dutch club Heerenveen. The fee is thought to be in excess of £10m, with Alves putting his name on the dotted line of a four-and-a-half year deal. He comes with the reputation of being very prolific in front of goal with an especially impressive record at former club Malmo of 45 goals in 38 games. Middlesbrough will be hoping he came recapture that sort of form as they try to avoid relegation.
Everton let defender Alan Stubbs go to Derby for some first team football and then brought in some cover for their impressive defence signing Anthony Gardner on loan from Tottenham for the rest of the season.
Speaking of Tottenham, they completed another defensive signing, with Gilberto signing from Hertha Berlin. The Brazilian left-back joins for £1.9m after medical complications were ironed out yesterday.
And finally to the City/Portsmouth saga. Portsmouth captured Defoe from Spurs for an undisclosed fee with Harry especially happy at the capture. However, the deal may have been pushed through because of the transfer of Benjani to Manchester City thought to have been a done deal, for a figure thought to be around £9m. Complications have been forthcoming with City possibly not putting through the papers for the deal before the deadline thanks to the late appearance of Benjani at the club at around 11.15pm last night. Manager Sven-Goran Eriksson was trying to get the deal complete, or at least find out if it would be, until 1am but the matter remains unresolved.
It’s not all bad news for City though as they completed the capture of Ecuador international striker Felipe Caicedo from FC Basel for a fee thought to be around £5m. Caicedo is 19 and signs a four-and-a-half-year deal at Eastlands. They also signed Filippo Mancini, 17, the son of Inter Milan boss Roberto.
Stay tuned to “winning is everything” for further developments in the Benjani saga.
winningiseverything Premiership round-up
January 31, 2008
Interesting evening in the Premiership last night.
United dominated Portsmouth in their 2-0 victory at Old Trafford with a double from that boy Ronaldo (again!) leaving him with a Premiership tally of 19 so far this season. His first came after a neat one-two with Nani on the left hand side, coolly slotting home through David James’ legs. And if the keeper could do little about the first, he had no chance with the second, a rifle of a free-kick that pundits described as the best the Premiership has seen. Add to that Portsmouth’s inability to create any chances and the match was done and dusted.
West Ham gained a fantastic 3 points over Liverpool at Upton Park after a last minute penalty by Mark Noble. West Ham probably deserved the victory, which leaves Liverpool struggling to keep up in the race for fourth.
Derby actually managed to get a point at home to Manchester City, a result which would not have been predicted before-hand. Darius Vassell should have scored at least once in the first half and Derby made him pay, the Rams improving towards the break. Soon after half-time Rob Earnshaw’s shot hit the post before Sun Jihai deflected Kenny Miller’s shot in for an own goal in the 47th minute. Debutant Daniel Sturridge converted Martin Petrov’s cross to level but neither team could fashion a winner despite late City pressure.
Everton and Tottenham fashioned a dour 0-0, but this may not upset either team that much. Tottenham kept a clean sheet(!) and Everton secured their fourth spot. With Liverpool slipping up this wasn’t that bad a result for either team.
Chelsea to meet Spurs in Carling Cup Final
January 23, 2008
After Spurs secured their place in the Carling Cup Final last night Chelsea grabbed their place tonight beating Everton 1-0 at Goodison Park, to go through 3-1 winners on aggregate.
The only goal of the game came in the second half when Joe Cole latched onto a long pass from Malouda to volley past Tim Howard. Everton rallied after the goal on 69 minuets but were unable to get past Petr Cech in the Chelsea goal, the best chances falling to Phil Neville and Phil Jagielka.
The final between Chelsea and Tottenham will be played at Wembely on Sunday 24th of February.
