Steve Sidwell to sign for Aston Villa
July 10, 2008
With Gareth Barry on the verge of joining Liverpool, Villa look likely to sign Chelsea’s Steve Sidwell as a ready made replacement in a deal worth £5 million to the London club.
That’s a rare profit from Chelsea, who usually lose money on transfers as they’re often forced to pay out such huge sums due to their wealth. Sidwell joined Chelsea on a free from Reading last Summer, but was unable to break into their side.
Sidwell is a former England under-21 international, and began his career at Arsenal before signing for Reading in 2003. He left the Royals rather acrimoniously in 2007 after refusing to sign a new contract and walking out on a free transfer. As predicted by Football pundits however, it turned out to be a bad move by Sidwell as he failed to break into the Chelsea side, and has pretty much sat out the last year of his career in the reserves.
Sidwell was instrumental in propelling Reading into the Premiership when he played for them, and Aston Villa will be hoping he finds his feet quickly this season.
Reading 0 – 2 Fulham
April 12, 2008
A first win away from home in the league for Fulham since September 2006. Reading are still not safe after this defeat and still need to pick up more points to be sure of a place in the Premiership. Fulham took the lead in the first half Brian McBride slotting in Davies cross. Doyle nearly grabbed a goal in the first half for the home side with a header which just went wide.
In the second half Brian McBride nearly grabbed a second and a goal of the season season with a cracking volley from the edge of the area which was tipped onto the bar by Hahnemann. Fulham hit the bar again with a Hangeland header’s again tipped on the bar by the impressive Hahnemann. Fulham then hit the bar for the third time when Bullards free kick bounced down off the bar.
It didn’t prove to be three times unlucky and the the second did eventually come late on when Nevland smashed in a crisp low shot past Hahemann for his first Fulham goal. At long last an away win for Fulham and there is a glimmer of hope for Roy Hodgson’s team.
Liverpool 2 – 1 Reading
March 15, 2008
After their midweek win at Inter Benitez kept Torres upfront and Gerrard and Mascherano in midfield, But it was Reading that took the lead with what could be the goal of the season, a free kick was squared to Marek Matejovsky who thumped the ball in off the bar for his first goal in english football. Javier Mascherano then decide to have crack and scored a cracker with a powerful shot form 22 yards for his first goal in Liverpool colours.
Liverpool took the lead in the second half a Gerrard free kick found Torres who headed in for his twentieth goal this season.
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
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.
