Saturday’s EPL Round-Up aka Icepick To An Arsenal Fan’s Brain

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Saturday was a day of goals galore & a couple of bizarro, shocking results including Arsenal blowing a 4-0 lead, though they drew, & massive Man U dropping all three points against bottom of the table Wolves.  There were also further 8-goal & 7-goal matches on the day & even “low”-scoring 3-goal affairs between Spurs-Bolton & Man City-West Brom.

Aston Villa 2-2 Fulham
Visiting side Fulham came back from goal deficits twice to rescue a point against Aston Villa.  Villa were helped into the lead by a John Paintsil own goal before Andrew Johnson scored only his second goal following a long layoff from injury.  Spurs loanee, Kyle Walker, then put Villa into the lead again with a low, long-range effort before American Clint Dempsey nodded home from close range on a corner to earn the Cottagers a draw at Villa Park.

Everton 5-3 Blackpool
Everton blew two leads (1-0 & 3-2) before scoring 3 goals inside the last quarter of an hour to win an 8-goal thriller over Blackpool who once again put in a good performance but came away with nothing to show for it.  Louis Saha netted 4 times for the Toffees including 3 in the second half.  Blackpool’s naïveté in closing several, recent games out may come back to haunt them come the end of the season

Manchester City 3-0 West Bromwich Albion
Carlos Tevez scored a hat-trick on his birthday to lead Man City to an easy 3-0 stroll over a West Brom side that continues to struggle.  No word yet, however, if anyone crashed the proceedings with orange crêpe paper & plastic cups.  Subsequent reports have been negative…

Newcastle United 4-4 Arsenal
Newcastle United’s Joey Barton molests collies & Alan Pardew films it then sells the escapades on the interwebs for $19.99 a pop.  Funny how a post-game write-up doesn’t mention at all it was a tackle just like Barton’s “rugged” one in this game that broke Abou Diaby’s ankle a few years ago that caused him to miss over a year out of the lineup that may have led to him “going mad” & getting sent off today.  Nah, must not be a pertinent occurrence to report by the media.  Must be just me.  Arsenal also “threw itself out of the title race” despite GAINING on Man U in the standings today… Bitter much?  On days like today, yes, you bet I am!

Stoke City 3-2 Sunderland
Stoke City used their narrow home pitch to their advantage & beat Sunderland with their set piece prowess as defender Robert Huth scored a brace inside the last ten minutes to down a Sunderland side who put in a good performance but came away with nothing which will no doubt be disappointing for Steve Bruce & the Black Cats.

Tottenham Hotspur 2-1 Bolton Wanderers
Niko Kranjčar’s stoppage-time screamer gave Spurs a valuable win as they gained ground the 4 teams above them.  Bolton nearly had themselves a draw & their Chelsea loanee, Daniel Sturridge scored his second goal in as many appearances since his loan move.

Wigan Athletic 4-3 Blackburn Rovers
Wigan defeated Blackburn in a 4-goal outburst but had to hold on late to bag all three points to acquire three valuable points in the relegation dog fight especially as Wolves also won unexpectedly over Man U (see below).  1st half goals here, 2nd half goals here.

Wolves 2-1 Manchester United
Let’s see if I can write this wrap-up like an English journalist… Man U put on a losing display that shows why they are 9-time EPL champion.  Despite losing, Arsenal drawing & Spurs winning but needing a late goal & of course, without Chelsea & Liverpool playing today, Man U’s loss sees them top of the table still.  If the season were to end today.  Man U would be crowned champions of England!  Wolves scored goals by some dark magic, obviously, as a side like Wolves could never beat the pre-eminent, gargantuan club that is Man United by fair means.  Well, they are from the Black Country, after all, so perhaps they worked some druidic hoodoo on Alec Ferguson’s charges. /sarcasm  Arsenal Invincibles’ unbeaten EPL record remains intact for another year & that is the silver lining to my day! 🙂

Don’t forget, Chad & I will be here tomorrow morning at 10:15 EST, gametime is 11 AM EST for the Chelsea-Liverpool LiveBlog!