EPL round 21 recap
by Paul O'Donnell
The 2nd game of the 2nd half of the EPL season, or Round 21 comes around this New Year's Day with many teams quickly becoming desperate such as Derby's Paul Jewell acknowledging the obvious when he said "we're just not good enough" in a post game interview after the last round. For some of these clubs we should be hearing about substantive changes being made as the 'winter transfer window' opens. One thing for certain regardless of the low key approach by most of the managers transfers are and have been in the works for some time. For many of them it's a matter of survival or not and the financial rewards for another season in the EPL are huge.
In New Year's Day contests the Arsenal-West Ham London Derby will surely produce fireworks. Wouldn't it be sweet if the Hammers handed the leaders a defeat at home?
Or, Spurs visit to Villa will be (for me anyway) the big match of the day. Others of course would say Man United v Birmingham or Reading entertaining Portsmouth will be their focus. That’s why they make chocolate and vanilla, right? At any rate it's interesting to see that less than a full day after Berbatov notched 4 goals that his personal agent has begun the shopping around with an effort to strike it big after such a display. Spurs say he's not up for sale, but we've all heard that a million times.
It will also be interesting to see how Everton respond to their walloping by Arsenal on their trip to The Riverside. And, do Fulham have enough talent and will to really mount a challenge to a weakened Chelsea side and earn the much needed points to lift themselves from the dreaded drop zone?
Hard to see how Newcastle could challenge Man City, but I suppose that is after all why they play the games. Oh, they'll make them work hard but neither team generates much in the way of offense. If Petrov is on his game it has to be advantage City. It just could be the match where we see Alan Smith decide to play soccer instead of imitating a Rugby center-half. Oh well, anybody see Michael Owen lately?
Rovers will get a stiff challenge at home from Sunderland and look for Liverpool to try to bully Wigan who might have a surprise or two in store for Benitez and his underachieving Reds. I call myself a fan of Liverpool, and I am, but I'm also getting really agitated over their failures to step up especially in the big games against the top teams. No, it’s not agitated; I'm just plain angry I guess. Ten points behind the leader at the halfway mark isn't a measure of success no matter what Benitez says. Geez, makes you wonder how the guy that put up a half-billion dollars so he could say he owns the Reds must feel huh?
Arsenal 2:0 West Ham
Early goals from Eduardo (2) and Adebayor (18) kept the leaders on top as they defeated the Hammers for the first time in league play in 4 seasons when facing them at either Highbury or the new home at the Emirates.
Aston Villa 2:1 Tottenham
Villa strengthened their rebound with a strong display against Spurs who had scored 11 goals in their last two games. Mellberg's header in the 41st from a free kick put them out front and the lead might have been far greater while Spurs were having trouble producing any quality chances of their own. DeFoe volleyed home to level the score in the 79th and looked to have rescued a point for Tottenham. It wasn’t meant to be as Laursen produced the game winner in the 85th to gather all the points for the Villains.
Man United 1:0 Birmingham
Carlos Tevez led the Red Devils and slotted home the only goal of the game in the 25th. It wasn't what you'd call a classic display at Old Trafford. It was more that they did enough to win against a determined City.
Reading 0:2 Portsmouth
Reading's Sonko was shown red in the 3rd minute for a clumsy challenge but Hahnemann saved the Kranjcar penalty to limit the damage at that stage. Just minutes later the keeper would spill what should have been a routine catch of a cross and Sol Campbell stabbed it home for the opener (9). Utaka tacked on Pompey's 2nd of the day in the 66th against the 10 man Royals who continue to have trouble when playing on their home turf this season.
Fulham 1:2 Chelsea
Fulham played well in the opening half after taking an early lead on a successful penalty by Danny Murphy (10) to hold that lead at the break. Chelsea subbed on Ballack and others for the 2nd half and soon dominated the run of play. They leveled from Kalou in the 54th and Ballack added a penalty in the 62nd for the winning margin.
M'Boro 0:2 Everton
Boro's Downing and Tuncay failed to convert some excellent chances so despite being on the front foot for much of the match goals from Andy Johnson (67) and McFadden (72) won the points for the Toffees at the Riverside.
Wednesday, January 2, 2008
Newcastle 0:2 Man City
Back on the hot seat for Big Sam after another unproductive match at home. The real trouble here is that what Newcastle needs are players not another change of the boss. They have had five managers since dismissing Sir Bobby Robson and have languished on the verge of mediocrity ever since; even before Shearer's retirement. City goals from Elano (38) and Gelson (76) set the scoreline and the truth is Newcastle rarely challenged or created a decent chance.
Bolton 1:0 Derby
Another goal at the death robbed the Rams and Paul Jewell but this was one for the highlight reel. A long clearance from keeper Jaaskalinen was chipped over the Derby keeper by Stelios and he headed home the winner into the empty net in stoppage time. A brilliant effort for the win.
Blackburn 1:0 Sunderland
The Black Cats actually bossed the game for a good portion of it but the penalty from Benni McCarthy saved the day for Rovers.
Liverpool 1:1 Wigan
Yet another poor result for the Reds on their own hallowed ground at Anfield if you can believe it. Sorry, but yes, it is true, they drop another 2 points to a team they are supposed to defeat. Wigan out worked them and were resilient and determined throughout the contest while Liverpool seemed uninterested at times. A poor clearance from Gerrard fell to Titus Bramble who thumped it home (80) to level. Benitez thinks spending even more money so he can have more chess pieces to move around will be the answer; Rafa is a fool. He has the pieces; what he hasn't done is get the best out of them consistently and they seem to lack the instinct to be ruthless and win matches. As a result they now find themselves 12 points behind the leaders. Liverpool's goal came from a nice combination of Gerrard to Finnan, whose cross made for an easy goal for Torres.
