Weekend's best

By James Pearson   Last updated: 2nd December 2007  

Team of the weekend

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Weekend's best

Bentley: Player of the weekend

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Game of the weekend

Tottenham v Birmingham

Alex McLeish made a winning start to life as Birmingham boss as the Blues dramatically secured a 3-2 victory over ten-man Tottenham at White Hart Lane. In a topsy-turvy encounter Birmingham took the lead through a Gary McSheffrey penalty, but a brace from Spurs skipper Robbie Keane then turned things around. That, though, was to be only the start of the drama as Cameron Jerome levelled things for Birmingham just minutes before Keane was harshly sent for an early bath after lunging at Fabrice Muamba. Both sides then seemed destined for a share of the points, but Sebastian Larsson had other ideas as he unleashed a 30-yard injury time winner. Arsenal's sublime 2-1 comeback against Aston Villa on Saturday also deserves honourable mention. Villa boss Martin O'Neill will also feel aggrieved as his side played their part in an entertaining contest and they were unfortunate not to earn a share of the spoils.

Player of the weekend

David Bentley

The Blackburn winger was instrumental in Rover's win over Newcastle. Despite the Magpies taking the lead at Ewood Park, Bentley inspired Rovers' comeback. Firstly, he curled home a delightful free-kick past Shay Given before smashing a long-range shot in off the far post as Blackburn ran out 3-1 winners, heaping more misery on under-fire Newcastle boss Sam Allardyce in the process.

Goal of the weekend

Sebastian Larsson

The Birmingham midfielder's strike against Tottenham ticks every box in contention for wonder goal status. Not only did Larsson's spectacular effort hand McLeish a win in his first game in charge, but the Swede's drive also has the luxury of being a last minute 30-yard, pearl. With Spurs down to ten-men, and seemingly set for a draw, Dimitar Berbatov dallied in possession on 92 minutes and Larsson - a former Arsenal player to rub salt in White Hart Lane wounds - promptly unleashed a swerving long-range effort to leave Tottenham goalkeeper Paul Robinson completely helpless as the ball arrowed into the top corner.

Miss of the weekend

Nicolas Anelka

Bolton suffered a demoralising 4-0 away drubbing at the hands of Liverpool on Sunday, but it could have been a different story had the Trotters' star striker rolled in the simplest of chances. With the score still only 1-0 to Liverpool, Reds defender Jamie Carragher collided with his own goalkeeper Jose Reina to allow the ball to drop to Anelka. However with Reina floored, Carragher looking decidedly punch-drunk, and the goal gapping, the Frenchman some how managed to scuff the ball into the side netting from 12 yards for not only the miss of the weekend, but surely, the season.

Gaffe of the weekend

Titus Bramble

The Wigan defender is often noted for his mistakes at the back and Saturday was no exception. He gifted Manchester City their opening goal on just 30 seconds after completely missing a left-footed clearance - allowing Geovanni to nip in, round Chris Kirkland and roll home into the empty net. Thankfully for Bramble, Paul Scharner levelled matters as Steve Bruce began his second time in charge of the club with a 1-1 draw.

Performance of the weekend

Sunderland

Sunderland claim this award after bouncing back from last weekend's humiliating 7-1 thrashing by Everton with success over fellow relegation rivals Derby. The proverbial six-pointer had looked like finishing goalless until Anthony Stokes snatched a last-gasp winner at The Stadium of Light. The win maintains Sunderland's hopes of staying up, while also starting off Paul Jewell's reign in charge of The Rams on a losing note.

Substitute of the weekend

Tuncay Sanli

Middlesbrough were heading for yet another defeat at Reading when Tuncay Sanli picked the perfect time to open his Boro account. Dave Kitson's effort had The Royals ahead and that goal looked like being the winner for much of the second half. However, Tuncay headed home Luke Young's cross in the 83rd minute to secure a deserved share of the spoils.

Comments (6)

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Andy Deans (Liverpool fan) says...

Typical.. yet another overwhelming performance by Liverpool and no Gerrard this week, despite being involved in all 4 goals and Drogba ahead of Torres? Laughable. Perhaps you lot should watch complete games instead of highlights packages.

Posted 19:04 3rd December 2007

David Grimshaw (Blackburn Rovers fan) says...

Completely agree with Bentley being player of the weekend, thing is he does it every week for rovers. Bend it like Beckham? Don't we mean BEND IT LIKE BENTLEY. Should be in any England starting eleven.

Posted 15:31 3rd December 2007

Delia Miller (Tottenham Hotspur fan) says...

Robbie Keane should have been in your team of the weekend if he had not been so wrongly sent off !! What is the matter with all the Refs lately do they realize a game is won or lost on their flippant decisions.Also I wonder how impartial they are sometimes!!

Posted 13:17 3rd December 2007

Chris Douglas (Liverpool fan) says...

Im surprised that so many Arsenal players are included in this, I thought Villa looked the better team in the second half of their game, Arsenal were just hanging on if Villa had a decent striker instead of Carew they would have scored a second

Posted 13:05 3rd December 2007

Dwaine Crawford (Manchester United fan) says...

Sorry but all Drogba did was head the ball for Joe cole to score when marginally offside. Cameron Jerome scored and had a good game. Seb Larsson wonder goal should be in team of week.maybe torres or carew....or is the team of week picked by a biased Chelski FAN perhaps?????

Posted 12:56 3rd December 2007

Rory Hall (Milton Keynes Dons fan) says...

As much as I agree with your Best of the Weekend section, your Team of the Weekend is in need of an update considering Gerrards performance yesterday and Torres was immense...again. (I'm pretty sure Drogba did pretty much nothing against West Ham).

Posted 10:42 3rd December 2007
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