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Saturday, January 3, 2009

FA Cup: Third Round (LIVE RESULTS)

Hartlepool 2-0 Stoke (Full Time)

Hull 0-0 Newcastle (Full Time)
Sheff Wed 1-2 Fulham (Full Time)
Sunderland 2-1 Bolton (Full Time)
West Ham 3-0 Barnsley (Full Time)
West Brom 1-1 Peterborough (Full Time)
Middlesbrough 2-1 Barrow (Full Time)
Portsmouth 0-0 Bristol City (Full Time)
Macclesfield 0-1 Everton (Full Time)
Chelsea 1-1 Southend (Full Time)
Arsenal 3-1 Plymouth (Full Time)
Man City 0-3 Nottm Forest (Full Time)
Forest Green 3-4 Derby (Full Time)

Thursday, January 1, 2009

Top six running away

Liverpool thrashed hapless Newcastle United 5-1 to stay top of the league at the end of the year 2008. This score line could have been 10-1 easily. Say Given was outstanding under the bar and he saved at least six times in the first 30 minutes of the match. Liverpool played this match without Torres and Keane. Gerrard scored twice. Will 2009 bring back the title in Liverpool after 19 years? At the moment they are playing well but still 18 more rounds left and anything can happen.

Top six teams are creating a gap with the others. Manchester United, Arsenal, and Aston Villa all had a narrow victory over their dogged opponents. Berbatov of Manchester United scored the match winner in the 69th minute. Zayatte’s own goal in the 88th minute gave Aston Villa victory over Hull. Hull is running out of stream and this is third consecutive defeat. They are now lying in the 8th position. Gallas scored in the 81st minute to help Arsenal to overcome Portsmouth 1-0.

Everton remain in the sixth place with an easy victory over Sunderland. They won the match by 3-0 with Arteta scoring twice. Chelsea is the only team in the top six to drop points. They were held 2-2 by Fulham. Chelsea paid for their missed chances when Dempsey equalized in the 89th minute. Lampard scored twice in the second half to give Chelsea the lead after Dempsey opened the scoring for Fulham in the 10th minute.

The relegation fight is becoming close affair. Blackburn drew 2-2 with Manchester City to remain the 19th position. Robinho scored the equalizer deep in the injury time (94th minute). West Brom registered a crucial victory against Tottenham with two late goals from Bednar and Beattie. They are still lying at the bottom of the league with 18 points same as of Blackburn. Stroke went down to West Ham 2-1 after a bizarre red card of Fuller who tried to hit his own captain after West ham equalized.

In another match Wigan defeated Bolton 1-0. Zaki scored the winner from a penalty.

Next week we will have matches from the FA cup.

Saturday, December 27, 2008

Liverpool mantains lead

Liverpool remains on the top of the league by defeating Bolton 3-0 at Anfield. Robbie Keane scored two goals in the second half to take his tally to 3 goals in two matches. Liverpool dominated the match and deserved to win. Chelsea played very professionally to defeat West Brom 2-0. Chelsea scored both goals in the first half. Manchester United overcame the jetlag to defeat Stoke 1-0. Tevez scored the winner in the 84th minute. But the turning of the match was sent off of Wilkinson. He needlessly fouled Ronaldo in the 72nd minute for his second yellow card. With this defeat Stroke moved into the relegation zone. It will be very difficult for them to move out of this zone.

Manchester City crushed Hull 5-1. Caicedo and Robinho scored twice. They were leading 4-0 at halftime. Manchester city have to be consistent to finish on the top. They moved out of the relegation zone. But Hull started to slip. This is their second consecutive big defeats. They now conceded 9 goals in last two matches after drawing 2-2 with Liverpool. It will not be easy for them to qualify for Europe if they do not improve.

Arsenal and Aston Villa played a thrilling 2-2 draw. Aston Villa should have won this match. They have hot the crossbar thrice in the first half. Aston Villa are now placed fourth whereas Arsenal is lying in the fifth position.

Everton moved quietly in the sixth position with a 1-0 victory over Middlesbrough. Middlesbrough is now lying 17th position. Tottenham who played a 0-0 draw with Fulham is in the 16th position. Middlesbrough, Tottenham, and Stroke all have 20 points. Sunderland played a 0-0 draw with Blackburn who is still in the relegation zone.

Wigan defeated Newcastle 2-1 and West Ham defeated Portsmouth 4-1 to register valuable win.

More excitement will be on Sunday. I will be more interested in the relegation zone battles.

Thursday, December 25, 2008

Exciting Relegation Fight

Chelsea again missed the opportunity to go the top. They drew 0-0 with Everton. Chelsea played with 10 men for 55 minutes as their captain Terry was shown red card. Chelsea for the first time dropped points in an away match this season. Liverpool maintains their slender lead over Chelsea. They are now going for Boxing Day match as league leaders. Liverpool played 1-1 draw with Arsenal at emirates. Manchester United who won the World club championship will be most benefited team with the above results. They are now 7 points behind the leader Liverpool with 2 matches in hand.

The most intriguing fight this year will be the relegation fight. It is very difficult to say who will go down at this stage. Hull who is in the sixth position with 27 points is just 9 points away from the relegation zone. West Bromwich Albion is at the bottom with 15 points 1 point behind Blackburn Rovers. The two rounds in the Christmas time will determine who is going to down. Manchester City with 18 points is the third team in the danger zone. But I believe they will come out of this. Stroke who is lying fifteenth with 20 points will be the team most likely to be in the danger zone.

Will Liverpool able to maintain the lead in the half way stage or not we have to wait and see.

Sunday, December 21, 2008

Manchester United is English, European and World champions

Manchester United has defeated Liga de Quito of Ecuador1-0 in the final of World Club Cup. They become the second European club to win the championships. AC Milan defeated Boca Juniors in 2007 4-2 to become the first European winners of the FIFA Club World Cup Liverpool in 2005 and Barcelona in 2006 lost in the final to the South American opponents.

Manchester United played with 10 men for most part of the second half as Nemanja Vidic is shown a straight red for an elbow aimed at Claudio Bieler. Rooney scored the winner with a brilliant strike in the 73rd minute. With this strike Manchester United crowned champions of England, champions of Europe and champions of the world.

What a draw?

There will be some mouth watering ties in the Champions league. The ties will be played in the last week of February and second week of March. But as a fan it is really hard to wait for so long. Some of the matches will be real cracker. It is very difficult to say who will win in these ties.

Chelsea will have to improve their home form against Juventus if they want to progress to the quarterfinal. Juventus won both their match against Real Madrid. Chelsea on the other hand had struggled to qualify. But it will be a superb match to watch. But I believe Chelsea can make it last eight.

The most interesting match will be Manchester United against Inter Milan. This match is popularly known as Mourhinho versus Ferguson. Mourhinho wanted an English club before the draw. So he may have something on his mind. It will be very difficult to predict the winner for this match. Inter is going great guns in Seria A way ahead of its rival Juventus and AC Milan. On the other hand Manchester United is having an average season so far. They are lying third in the EPL. Inter Milan is favorite in this match for me.

Arsenal will have a difficult time against Roma. It will be a tricky match. Though Arsenal played some superb matches especially against bigger opponents but they lacked consistency. Arsenal has to play brilliantly to win this tie. Roma who started the season disastrously has made an excellent recovery. Roma will start as favorite for this match.

Liverpool will start as favorite against Real Madrid. Ramos will eager to proof that his failure with Spurs is just one off incident in his career. Rafa Benitez should guide his team to last eight of the Champions league.

The above four matches have taken so much attention that people will hardly notice there are four more matches to be played. For me the tournament favorite Barcelona will cruise easily to the last eight. Lyon may not able to put any real challenge to them. Atletico Madrid, Bayern Munich, and Villarreal should win their respective ties against FC Porto, Sporting Lisbon, and Panathinaikos respectively.

Sunday, December 7, 2008

Liverpool Leads ...

Big guns in EPL win this week to create a gap with the other teams. All the big guns struggled to script a victory. Liverpool win 3-1 against Blackburn to ease the nerve of the fans. They drew 0-0 in their last two home matches. Arsenal recorded 1-0 win over Wigan but they played very poorly in the second half. Arsenal time and again showing their inconsistency in the field. They played superbly against Chelsea last week.

Manchester United dominated the match against Sunderland but could score only in the 91st minute. Chelsea survived the storm of Bolton in the second half to win 2-0. Hull city continues to impress and recorded 2-1 win over Middlesbrough. All the goals were scored in the last quarter of the match.

Newcastle squandered their winning changes by surrendering their 2-0 advantage against Stroke city. Owen scored both the goals in the first half for Newcastle. Ab Faye scored in the injury time to give Stroke a point. Manchester United drew 1-1 draw with Fulham and they are very much in the relegation fight. They are just 3 points away from the relegation zone.

In Spain, Barcelona is breaking free from others. Their emphatic 4-0 win at home to third-place Valencia. Henry scored a hattrick. Barcelona has opened up a 6 points lead over second place Villarreal who drew 3-3 with Getafe.

In Germany, Bayern Munich registered a 2-1 win over league leaders TSG Hoffenheim. Bayern now are level in points with TSG Hoffenheim who has a better goal difference. The two teams are 3 points ahead of Bayer Leverkusen who registered an emphatic 3-1 victory over Borussia M'gladbach.

In Italy, Inter Milan is racing away towards the title. They defeated Lazio 3-0 to open a 9 point lead over Juventus and AC Milan. Both Juventus and AC Milan have a match in hand. Roma continues to fight back with a 1-0 win over bottom placed Chievo.