Premier League Review – Saturday 28th/Sunday 29th August

As the Premier League welcomes its first International break, it is Chelsea who lead the way and remain the only team in the topflight to boast a 100% record. Carlo Ancelotti’s men continued winning ways with a 2-0 win over Stoke City at Stamford Bridge, although their latest victory wasn’t as impressive as their previous which had seen them reach six goals in their opening two games of the season. Nevertheless, another vital set of three points have been banked and the Blues already find themselves baring the brunt of favouritism with bookmakers to back up their 2009/2010 Premiership triumph by clinching this seasons trophy and are closing in on an odds-on status, with Chelsea currently available at 2.25 with SkyBet and BlueSquare to win finish the 2010/2011 season as top dogs.

Didier Drogba will be hoping he is once again top Drog, although, despite opening with a bang, Drogba’s odds have stabilised after scoring just one in his last two starts, this after an opening day hat-trick against the Baggies. The Ivorian is, however, the overwhelming favourite to clinch back-to-back Premier League Golden Boot’s and is a best priced 3.25 with WilliamHill. Drogba is followed by Wayne Rooney (9.00 Ladbrokes) and Fernando Torres (10.00 VCBet) who both opened their account for the season at the weekend but trail the Chelsea powerhouse by three goals.

It is a familiar chasing pack which begins their relentless pursuit of Chelsea’s top spot, with Arsenal and Manchester United still going undefeatedbut the pair have both dropped points already this season, unlike a flawless Chelsea. The chasing duo both have seven points, after the pair both had a successful weekend with Arsenal battling their way to a hard-fought 2-1 win at Ewood Park over Blackburn Rovers courtesy of goals from Theo Walcott – His fourth of the season – and Andrey Arshavin. United cruised past West Ham United at Old Trafford; Wayne Rooney scoring his first goals since March as Nani and Berbatov completed a comfortable win over the hapless Hammers.

One of the shocks of the weekend came at the Stadium of Light on Sunday as mega-rich Man City made the trip to Wearside to take on Steve Bruce’s Sunderland, one of City’s bogey teams. And it was City who got a little sticky and found out up north as Darren Bent scored the only goal of the game in injury time when converting his spot-kick. Earlier, Carlos Tevez and Yaya Toure had both spurned chances to put the visitors ahead, with the Argentine missing an open goal during the first half which would have changed the entire complex of the game.

On the same day, Liverpool struggled to overcome a resilient West Brom at Anfield and needed a moment of sheer brilliance from their Spaniard in order to seal their first league win of the season. Fernando Torres with a sublime volley to send the Liverpool fans into raptures and ensure the hosts were in celebratory mood that evening. The same, however, could not be said for Liverpool’s Merseyside rivals as Everton crashed to a 1-0 defeat at Aston Villa, meaning the Toffee’s will spend the next two weeks inside the relegation zone. David Moyes‘ side were much the better side though, creating clearer openings and often dominating with possession, but they couldn’t convert their opportunities into goals, while the critics are now out for summer signing Jermaine Beckford, who has yet to score his first goal for the club despite being handed ample opportunities at this early stage, even keeping Louis Saha on the bench.

The game of the day, though, was at The Reebok, as Bolton came from two goals down and a man down to register a surprise point at home to Birmingham City. The travellers went ahead when Roger Johnson prodded home his first for the club early in the first half, a half which later produced a rare red card for Bolton keeper Jussi Jasskalainen, who now missed the next three league games for the Trotters, for slapping Johnson in the face. The Blues then doubled their lead when Craig Gardner slotted home his third for the season, but Bolton produced a stunning comeback through set-plays. Kevin Davies first slotting home a penalty, more like fired home to be honest, after being trampled to the ground by earlier goalscorer Roger Johnson, before Robbie Blake levelled with a well-placed free-kick to open his account for the Trotters – Honours even although Alex Mcleish will be livid with his Birmingham players.

The weekend’s opening fixture had seen Arsenal pitted against a feared foe of theirs in the form of Blackburn Rovers, but Arsenal displayed some rare resilience to oust Blackburn at Ewood Park. Theo Walcott continued his rich vein of form by scoring the game’s opening goal and his fourth for the campaign, although his well taken goal was cancelled out within minutes as the two Diouf’s combined for Blackburn’s first. However, it was Andrey Arshavin’s goal which sealed the win for the Gunners, as the Russian’s drilled effort was the last of the game as Rovers failed to find a equaliser.

Out of the 3 O’Clock games, Blackpools first ever home Premier League fixture was the highlight, although they couldn’t match the hype with a sought after win. The home fans were quickly stunned though as Bobby Zamora headed Fulham into a first half lead, his first of the season, but the Tangerines’ motto has always been ‘we’ll score more than the opponent’ and went about putting this into affect when first enticing John Pantsil to slice into his own net to level proceedings, before on loan Luke Varney thought he scored Pool’s winner 14 minutes from time. However, it was Fulham, generally poor travellers, who had the last laugh as the rangy Etuhu fired home with just minutes left to play as the two sides played out a thoroughly entertaining score draw in Bloomfield Road’s Premier League début.

Elsewhere, Newcastle had to defy some hard-fitting tackles to etch out a point at Wolves – Sylvain Ebanks-Blake scoring first for Wolves immediately before the break before the in form Andy Carroll, who missed out on a first England call from Fabio Capello, scored his fourth of the season with a thunderous header midway through the second period. The talking point, though, was of the treatment controversial Joey Barton received during the game, although, to Barton’s credit, he handled matters remarkably well and was one of the stars on show for his positive and professional attitude, something I never thought I would ever say about a person best described as a ‘thug’ outside of football.

However, we couldn’t disregard the days biggest turn up for the books when Wigan Athletic, a team which had conceded a staggering ten goals in their first two games, had little alternative but to make the trip down to London to face a team which slammed NINE past them last season. Spurs were overwhelming favourites coming into this game off the back of a 4-0 Champions League qualifier triumph when beating Young Boys to make the Champions League proper. But any anticipated celebrations were soon dashed as Tottenham’s players failed to make the party and instead it was the Latics which created all the decent openings, fluffing their lines on occasions where it was harder to miss. And as the game appeared as though it was dwelling out into a stalemate, in a game Wigan deserved to be leading in, Hugo Rodellega popped up in the 80th minute to drill home the game’s only goal, leaving Spurs fans both shocked and disgusted with the performance of their players; with the final whistle greeted by echoes of boos from the home fans, this despite the same bunch of players working their socks off to make the Champions League earlier in the week – That’s gratitude for ya’.

So a weekend which had a little bit of everything really, although it was Wigan’s humbling of Tottenham Hotspur which undoubtedly caught our eye and impressed us the most.

The Premier League will now enter an international break as the likes of England, Wales and Scotland all try to enhance their claims for a place in the 2012 European Championships by beginning qualifying with a positive result. We shall hopefully see you folk back in two weeks time when the Premiership resumes it business on September 11th.

Results:

Saturday, 28th August

Blackburn Rovers 1-2 Arsenal
Blackpool 2-2 Fulham
Chelsea 2-0 Stoke City
Manchester United 3-0 West Ham United
Tottenham Hotspur 0-1 Wigan Athletic
Wolves 1-1 Newcastle United

Sunday, 29th August

Bolton Wanderers 2-2 Birmingham City
Liverpool 1-0 West Brom
Sunderland 1-0 Manchester City
Aston Villa 1-0 Everton

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