Weekend review

Magpies woe unfurls, as Rafa rejoices

By James Dall   Last updated: 15th September 2008

Weekend review

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It was yet another histrionic weekend in the Premier League, with Newcastle United's melodrama ladling out extra smacks of misery for the barcode contingent and Liverpool chief Rafa Benitez afforded a smirk as he finally overcame Manchester United.

Newcastle supporters were out in their droves on Saturday in the hope that bellowing in unison would shudder the hierarchical structure on Tyneside to its foundations. Unknowingly, perhaps, it would emerge their protests would not be in vain, as owner Mike Ashley's statement of intent came after a dreary display versus Hull City.

Under the stewardship of caretaker manager Chris Hughton, the Magpies nosedived against the newly-promoted outfit with Marlon King grabbing a brace, the first from the penalty spot and the second a composed finish. Newcastle's debut boy Xisco managed a late reply as Danny Guthrie completely lost it at the death with an indefensible hack at Craig Fagan that largely epitomised the Toon feeling.

Saturday's lunchtime kick-off saw two adversaries meet at Anfield with the majority of signs pointing towards a Manchester United three points. The indications appeared justified when £30.75million man Dimitar Berbatov cut-back for the unmarked Carlos Tevez, who rifled home after just three minutes. However, uncharacteristically calamitous United defending would hand Liverpool a passage back into the game.

Cue cape-less Edwin van der Sar's silliest of superman impressions that saw the Dutchman fist the ball off a bewildered Wes Brown and into the back of the net. The equaliser handed Liverpool, who had both Fernando Torres and Steven Gerrard on the substitutes' bench, the impetus and with 13 minutes remaining Dirk Kuyt capitalised on more carelessness at the back to assist Ryan Babel. All this before Nemanja Vidic received a second yellow that condemns him to the sidelines for the forthcoming match at Stamford Bridge.

The evening encounter at Eastlands, involving Manchester City and Chelsea, was a fixture with plenty of subplots. It was the battle of the affluent, British record signing Robinho would face the club everyone thought he would join in the summer, and Shaun Wright-Phillips would make his City of Manchester Stadium bow 16 days after returning to the club he left for West London in 2005.

The storyline most journalists were pining for looked primed for print when Brazilian playmaker Robinho opened the scoring via a deflected free-kick. The home supporters rose in rapture, while the former Real Madrid forward drunk in each grain of glee sent in his direction. Celebrations, though, were short-lived as Ricardo Carvalho pulled his side level just three minutes later.

And the experience and quality of Luiz Felipe Scolari's men gradually told. Frank Lampard handed them the advantage eight minutes into the second period courtesy of a slick move and finish before Nicolas Anelka sealed the success. Didier Drogba then made his return from injury to hand the Blues a fillip ahead of the aforementioned United fixture, while John Terry's questionable straight red card for a grapple on Jo is to be appealed.

Arsenal continued their rise from the lows of a rotten display at Craven Cottage as Arsene Wenger's side saw off Blackburn Rovers 4-0 at Ewood Park. Fading murmurings of the Gunners' troubles 'oop narth' were silenced when Theo Walcott, still managing to breath despite the strangulation of the press' overzealous laudation, slalomed through Rovers to set Robin van Persie up for the opener. An Emmanuel Adebayor hat-trick then followed as Arsenal recorded their ninth victory in 10 games in all competitions.

Italian charmer Gianfranco Zola watched from the Hawthorns stands as West Ham United's fallibleness at the back came to the fore. Much work on the training ground this week is expected after West Bromwich Albion put three goals past shot-stopper Robert Green. James Morrison handed the Baggies the lead before the visitors responded through Mark Noble and Lucas Neill. But Tony Mowbray's men were not to be defeated and rallied to claim their first top-flight win of the term via Roman Bednar's penalty and a late Chris Brunt strike.

Middlesbrough headed to Fratton Park - the venue of their last away league triumph - in a bid to resolve their fortunes on the road. Things looked to be going according to plan when Mido slotted home from Afonso Alves' pass on 24 minutes. However, inspired by a clinical Jermain Defoe, Portsmouth came back to record a 2-1 scalp as the England international netted twice in the second period. Your scribe's remorse at Defoe's brace of course has little to do with the late call not to include him in his fantasy football team. The agony.

Fulham went head-to-head with Bolton Wanderersat Craven Cottage in their third top-flight match of the campaign. Roy Hodgson's side were in impressive form from the off as Zoltan Gera handed them a deserved lead on 15 minutes with a sweet finish. Bobby Zamora doubled their advantage four minutes before the interval with a tidy turn and potent execution. Fulham were made to sweat in the dying stages when Kevin Davies pulled one back for the Trotters, but they hung on to claim back-to-back league triumphs.

Saturday's final fixture saw Wigan Athletic host Sunderland at the JJB Stadium. Titus Bramble - who must be seriously wondering when the faux pas will come to an end - opened the scoring with a headed own goal. But his blushes were saved by masterstroke capture Amr Zaki, who scored his fourth goal in as many Premier League games. Lee Cattermole was then dismissed four minutes from time for a second bookable offence.

And finally, Sunday saw Everton travel to the Britannia Stadium to take on Stoke City. The fixture did not promise too much if truth be told, and the first half delivered only a few dots of quality as Yakubu Aiyegbeni handed the Toffees the lead. However, the 45 minutes after the break were chock-full of incident. Victor Anichebe looked to have put the game to bed with a second for David Moyes' troops, but, propelled by Rory Delap's monster throw, Stoke resorted parity by the way of Seyi Olofinjana and an own goal from Phil Jagielka. Comeback kid Tim Cahill, though, was on hand to smash hopes of a Potters win as he headed home with 13 minutes left on the clock.

Comments (1)

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Lee Gerrard (Everton fan) says...

i cant see stoke lasting too long in the premiership with that sort of direct play they did yesterday against us.All its going to take is rory delap to get injured and then what they going to do then as there football isnt good (ours wasnt much better)but its early doors team needs time to gel with the new lads coming in. All it will take to beat stoke is to stop the throw ins coming and that would be game over for them as its always about delaps throw ins.Stop that and you`ll stop stoke city from scoring with there rough bully boy tactics.

Posted 16:11 15th September 2008
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