Captain’s Blog Premiership Review 2 (1/2)
Here are the weekend’s results:
In the early game Stoke overcame a hard working Blackburn side in a 3-1 victory. Delap, Whelan and Crouch got Stoke 3 up but Blackburn never gave up and were consolidated by a screamer from Rochina. Blackburn will be gutted that they didn’t get anything from the game, and I’m sure it will leave everyone wondering when Kean will get the chop.
Everton comfortably beat Bolton in the end, 2-0. It wouldn’t have been so easy if David Wheater had of stayed on the pitch though. Wheater got sent off for a two footed lunge on Bilyaletdinov in the 20th minute. This had Bolton on the back foot immediately and were eventually finished off by goals from Fellaini and youngster Vellios. This result puts Everton into 9th with a game in hand, looking pretty well now for David Moyes’ side.
Chelsea hit Wolves for 3 in this demoralising defeat for Wolves. They were behind after 7 minutes with a trademark header from John Terry. That goal was followed by yet another from Sturridge and one from Mata before half time. In the second half, Chelsea took the foot off the pedal and seemed content with 3-0, while Wolves were nowhere to be seen. Hopefully this win will motivate Chelsea to kick on and catch up with league leaders.
In the United vs Newcastle game, it was a tightly contested 1-1 draw. At Old Trafford, I really thought United would have stepped up and beaten Newcastle. Unfortunately, after they went ahead thanks to Chicarito, they conceded a sloppy penalty, put away by Ba, and were pegged back to 1-1. Late on in the game, in the 78th, United got a big morale boost as Gutierrez got sent off for Newcastle. Even when playing with ten men, Newcastle fended United off well with the defense holding strong and Krul making some crucial saves.
In the battle between the new boys, Norwich and QPR, the home team, Norwich, came out victorious. Martin put The Canaries ahead after less than 20 minutes but were pegged back at the hour mark by Young. Soon after Norwich got the winning goal in Grant Holt. It was a very poor standard game with neither team shining. Even with both teams being mid table, I really do fear for them, as with performances like that, they won’t be there for too long more.
In another of the 3 o’clock kick offs, Wigan managed to get 3 points from Sunderland in a battle of two poor teams. Wigan won 2-1 largely due to two players. Ali AlHabsi, who kept Sunderland from only scoring 1, when they could have had 3 more! And Victor Moses, who ran the show up front, and who was constantly keeping the Sunderland defense on their toes. Larsson got Sunderland in front after only 8 minutes but Wigan got one back before half time through Gomes. The whole second half was end to end, both teams pushing for the much needed 3 points. It seemed like the match was going to end up 1 a piece until in injury time, Franco di Santo slotted home the winner. This match surely means the end of Bruce’s reign.
Check back for Part 2 for the remaining games.
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