Wednesday’s EPL Results
By Sam McPhee
Birmingham City 2-2 Manchester City
Birmingham’s version of the Blues fought back from deficits twice to earn a draw against Manchester’s “Millionaires.” Carlos Tevez put Man City in front after only 4 minutes when he knocked home from close range following a mazy run by Spanish international David Silva. It looked like Man City would run away from the start but Nikola Žigić poked home with the slightest of touches from a David Bentley freekick to level for Birmingham the first of two times. A few minutes before the halftime break, Man City restored their supremacy with an Aleksandar Kolarov freekick from the right side of the arc. Birmingham’s League Cup hero, Craig Gardner, then leveled from the penalty spot in the 77th minute to earn Birmingham another come-from-behind point, something they are making a habit of in recent matches.
Blackburn Rovers 0-1 Tottenham Hotspur
The footballing, giraffe-like wonder that is Peter Crouch scored the only goal of the match for a Spurs’ side that is beset by injuries at the moment. Spurs needed several good saves from their Brazilian keeper Heurelho Gomes to earn their win, but earn it they did for an invaluable three points over an improved Blackburn side who had been in pretty decent form lately.
Blackpool 1-3 West Ham United
A brace from an in-form Victor Obinna & a goal from on-loan debutee, Roy Keane, led a struggling West Ham side over the ever-adventurous Blackpool Tangerine Army. Blackpool’s captain & recent Liverpool target, Charlie Adam, scored the Tangerines lone goal, a feat which will no doubt cause Ian Holloway to raise his valuation of him to the £50 million & Torres-like price range.
Bolton Wanderers 1-0 Wolverhampton Wanderers
Chelsea’sloanee, Daniel Sturridge, struck the winner deep into stoppage time on his debut to give Bolton a win over a Wolves side that now find themselves at the foot of the table. Sturridge’s goal was scored on a gift by Wolves’ defender Ronald Zubar who played one of the laziest backpasses you’ll ever see in a top flight match which Sturridge pounced on to put it past Wayne Hennessey in Wolves’ goal, ruining a top performance by the ‘keeper & throwing away a valuable road point for Wolves.
Fulham 1-0 Newcastle United
Former Geordie, Damien Duff, scored on a long ball over the top midway through the second half to lead Fulham over a now Andy Carroll-less Newcastle club. The win sees Fulham give themselves some breathing room in the relegation fight which is becoming pretty tight in the bottom half of the EPL table.
Liverpool 2-0 Stoke City
Despite not being able to play club record-signing, Andy Carroll, because of a recurring thigh injury, Liverpool downed Stoke, 2-0, on goals by Raul Meireles & Luis Suarez. Meireles scored his goal only moments into the second half when he “stole” the ball from his own teammate with a fierce shot from close range that gave Asmir Begović no chance in Stoke’s net. Begović had already made a couple of fantastic saves but could do nothing about the opening goal. Suarez scored “his” goal when he slotted underneath Begović after coming on as a substitute in the second half. The way the defender makes contact, it looks like it should’ve been credited as an own goal but Suarez has initially gotten credit for the goal which clinched victory over the newly-buoyant Reds.
Here’s how the table looks like after Tuesday’s & Wednesday’s matches:
Clipped from: www.skysports.com (share this clip)
Finally, for Gunners supporters, here’s a clip of Arsenal manager, Arsène Wenger, calling Everton manager, David Moyes, a big, fat liar over the Cesc Fàbregas calling the match referee, Lee Mason, “exactly-no-one-knows-what” incident.
Wenger attempts to spin some things here but as he said the FA isn’t charging Cesc with anything, so, what’s the use of continuing to try to make something out of it? Albeit, journalists will always prod & poke & try to get someone to slip up & say something juicy so they can have a story.
Moyes yesterday evening just sounded like he was trying to deflect attention from either: 1. dropping a point & 2. the highly beneficial interpretation of the offsides rule that led to their goal. Perhaps, woman linesman, Sian Massey, would’ve gotten it right? Feminists of the world! Burn your bras, become a linesm… errr, linesperson!