Match of the Dave

Arsenal 1 - 1 Aston Villa

There were contrasting fortunes coming in to this game, Arsenal top of the league but coming off the back of a shock draw with a determined Birmingham last week (and that horrific injury to striker Eduardo) while Villa found themselves sitting pretty in the top six after a comprehensive (in performance if not scoreline) victory away at Reading. As is often the case with the Premier League, that meant going in to this game the result was anyone’s guess.

Continuing to re-build his confidence and reputation was Villa’s on-loan keeper Scott Carson who had a strong performance in this game. Early stops from Arsenal’s initial flourish gave the impression that things might go Villa’s way, though at the other end there were some equally impressive defensive moments - even from professional two-year-old William Gallas who managed to avoid the toys he’d thrown from his pram last week to make an excellent well timed challenge when a useful chance presented itself.

An early corner for Arsenal should really have resulted in a goal when the ball fell to Senderos just inside the Villa area. Unfortunately for the gunners, Senderos blazed his shot high and wide. Proving that it really wasn’t his day, a short time later Villa attacked and in trying to track back and cover, Senderos knocked the ball in to his own net, giving the visitors a 1-0 lead.

It was a strong Villa display and they could have actually been two-nil up soon after were it not for a stupendous bit of goalkeeping from Almunia.

Arsenal went pressing for an equaliser and Walcott looked lively. From his work on the right wing, Fabregas found himself with space to shoot but could only place the ball over the crossbar. As the game wore on it became a tale of two keepers as both Carson and Almunia strived to preserve their team’s lead and keep their team in the game, respectively.

As the game wound down, Arsenal’s pressure looked to be telling and yet they couldn’t break through, Flamini coming close from the edge of the box but not troubling Carson. Just as it seemed Villa might become the 2nd team to beat Arsenal at their (relatively) new home, up stepped Bendtner with a calm, well placed finish to ensure a share of the points.

Disappointing for Villa who also saw defender Curtis Davies go off injured.

Fulham 0 - 3 Manchester United

Many would have said the writing was on the wall long before kick off in this fixture, but things nearly got off to a great start for the home side when a great save from Edwin Van Der Sar in the united goal was all that stopped a fine goal.

The expected script began to be followed soon after when in the 15th minute, an Owen Hargreaves free kick beat the static Fulham wall and nestled in the bottom left corner of the goal. Fulham goalkeeper Niemi was never close to getting to the ball, but he can blame his wall as it was the side of the goal they were (supposedly) covering.

Paul Scholes, who had an excellent game, had a header well saved by Niemi and then Fulham really should have equalised when Murphy found himself with a rare free header which he struck straight at Van Der Sar with the goal at his mercy.

As united tend to do, they punished Fulham for the missed chance with a smart attack. With energy belying his age, Scholes made himself some space to cross and Park Ji Sung connected to head in off the underside of the bar on the stroke of half time.

Fulham showed some signs of attempting to get back in the game and Volz was unlucky to see a promising shot deflected wide, but the bad news was that they found themselves at 2-0 down despite the fact that both Rooney and Ronaldo had been rested and were sat on the bench for United.The last thing a weary Fulham didn’t want was their introduction and of course that’s exactly what then happened.

The next goal came when John O’Shea made a foray in to Fulham territory, bursting in to the box on the right and cutting back with multiple targets in the middle. In the end, none of these targets were required as Davies, running back to cover, turned the ball past Niemi though he wouldn’t have known much about it.

With the game drawing to a close, Niemi made a smart stop to deny Ronaldo yet another goal in the league.

Birmingham City 4 - 1 Tottenham Hotspur

The big story to come out of this one is the extremely promising signs of a productive partnership between Birmingham strikers Mcfadden and Forssell. Early on, a corner led to the former setting up the later for a tidy finish and a somewhat unexpected 1 - 0 lead for the home side. Berbatov hit the post shortly before half time but play resumed in the Second Half with a fine save from Paul Robinson in the Spurs goal. It wasn’t long before Birmingham’s lead was doubled when Larsson swept a fine free kick beyond Robinson and hardly any time later, Forssell was again on the scoresheet after Robinson could only parry a deflected shot.

The Fin completed his hat-trick with a strong left foot shot, something many neutral observers would join Birmingham fans in celebrating given the tough time Forssell has had with injuries in recent years - especially as this was a “perfect hat-trick” - one with his right foot, one with his left and one with his head! Jermaine Jenas was in the right place at the right time to score a consolation for Spurs in the 90th minute but there was never any danger of the London side following up their Carling Cup win with a league victory here.

West Ham United 0 - 4 Chelsea

Chelsea bounced back from their Carling Cup Final defeat with an early demolishing of West Ham. They should have taken a very early lead when Joe Cole was sandwiched and from the resulting free kick, Anelka had a goal wrongly ruled out for offside.

Soon after, Anton Ferdinand brought down Kalou in the box and Frank Lampard stepped up to score the resulting penalty confidently, sending Robert Green the wrong way. Joe Cole then scored a great goal, left footed and low in to the bottom right corner. The “will it work?” partnership of Lampard and Ballack certainly worked in the 22nd minute when Lampard’s run up the left wing resulted in a cross that Ballack, finding himself in an almost embarassing amount of space, buried for 3 - 0.

Cech was called upon to make a great save to preserve the visitors’ strong advantage, before there was a potential wobble as Lampard was sent off. It seemed a somewhat soft decision and Ballack was booked after the sending off for protesting a little too strongly.

West Ham realised they had to go for it and brought on striker Dean Ashton but their closest chance came when Chelsea captain John Terry defied most laws of physics to acrobatically clear off the line with Cech beaten.

The scoring was completed when left back Ashley Cole put the ball in the back of the net from an extremely tight angle.

Newcastle United 0 - 1 Blackburn Rovers

Kevin Keegan is still looking for his first win during this second spell as Newcastle manager and early signs suggested this might be his day. Damien Duff, Alan Smith and then Michael Owen all had very good chances in the opening exchanges, but failed to make them count.

Instead, it fell to goalkeeper Harper to keep Newcastle in the game while chance after chance went begging, oftentimes with Newcastle’s players getting in each others way. To add insult to injury, whenever they did get it right - such as Owen’s powerful, well directed header - Brad Friedel in the Blackburn goal pulled off a string of fine saves to deny them.

A simple dispute over who’s throw it was led to some fisticuffs between Gamst Pedersen of Blackburn and Newcastle’s Beye, with a heated exchange ending in a booking for both players.

The game was decided, like so many others today, in the 90th minute when Blackburn’s Matt Derbyshire pounced on a fine through ball and provided a sharp 20 yard finish, giving Harper no chance and increasing Newcastle fears of the very real possibility of a relegation dogfight as the season draws to a close.

Middlesbrough 0 - 1 Reading

Following an unwanted club record of 8 straight league defeats, Reading made wholesale changes to their starting 11 and it was one of the newer guys, Rosenior in for Murty at right back, who intervened when a threatening cross came in from the left. Signs of Reading’s sapped confidence were evident as the game began and John Oster will have been relieved to see his horrendously under-hit back pass come to nothing having been latched on to by Boro.

Doyle was the first to have the ball in the back of the net, turning and finishing well when the ball appeared in front of him. Unfortunately for Reading, the opportunity presented itself as a result of Bikey impeding the goalkeeper and so the goal was not allowed to stand.

At the other end, Alves went close with a free kick but it was well saved by Marcus Hahnemann. Downing was soon after booked for diving in the box. An encouraging sight for Reading fans would be a return of Nicky Shorey’s willingness to get forward.

By and large the game wasn’t much of a classic, but just as it looked like it was heading for a goalless stalemate, Reading midfielder James Harper found himself on the edge of the box and received the ball from Stephen Hunt before powering home a low shot in injury time to seal Reading’s first points of 2008.

Saturday’s remaining games, Manchester City v Wigan and Derby County v Sunderland both ended goalless, being particularly drab affairs. Chances were few and far between but Benjani really should have done better when played in by Darius Vassell.

The weekend’s Premier League fixtures conclude on Sunday when Bolton Wanderers meet Liverpool and Everton play Portsmouth.

Popularity: 31% [?]