Saturday's Premier League Action (will include scores)

Lemlin

With all the fuss surrounding Keaneo's departure from Man UTd, I think alot of people have forgotten that the Premier League is back today after a two week absence for international fixtures. Today's games are:

12:45 Wigan v Arsenal
15:00 Charlton v Man Utd
15:00 Chelsea v Newcastle
15:00 Liverpool v Portsmouth
15:00 Man City v Blackburn
15:00 Sunderland v Aston Villa
17:15 West Brom v Everton

There's quite a few interesting games there IMO. Man Utd are aiming to send the rest of the Premiership a clear message that Keano is not needed against a Charlton team who will be keen to bounce back from their 4-1 drubbing against Blackburn two weeks ago, Jose Mourinho goes up against Graeme Souness' Newcastle in a tie where he will want to end talk of a 'blip' at Stamford Bridge and underachieving Arsenal face the season's surprise package Wigan.



My Predictions:

12:45 Wigan v Arsenal - Draw
15:00 Charlton v Man Utd - Charlton (to cause a major shock)
15:00 Chelsea v Newcastle - Chelsea
15:00 Liverpool v Portsmouth - Liverpool
15:00 Man City v Blackburn - Draw
15:00 Sunderland v Aston Villa - Draw
17:15 West Brom v Everton - Everton

My own beloved Blackburn face Man City today in what should be another interesting tie. Blackburn's away form has been fairly poor this season with only one win against Man United.
The team are on the up though and have had their best start to a PL season in years.

Man City are showing their potential under Stuart Pearce and pose a real threat. Blackburn are missing Lucas Neill and Brett Emerton due to the Australian international during the week but City have far more troubles with Claudio Reyna and Kiki Musampa set to sit the tie out through injury and Joey Barton definitely missing through suspension.

I think it'll end a draw, which I'd be very happy with. That said, I'd be even happier if Bellers continued his good form and knocked in the winner for a 1-0 win

Lemlin

Arsenal 3-1 up against Wigan before half-time. Looks like Wigan's run of hard games is starting as people expected.

Pacifico

3-2 now HT :rolleyes:

mike65

15:00 Charlton v Man Utd - Charlton (to cause a major shock)

Would'nt go that far.

12:45 Wigan v Arsenal - Draw
15:00 Charlton v Man Utd - Utd
15:00 Chelsea v Newcastle - Chelsea
15:00 Liverpool v Portsmouth - Pool
15:00 Man City v Blackburn - Blackburn
15:00 Sunderland v Aston Villa - Sunderland
17:15 West Brom v Everton - Draw

Come on Wigan!

Lemlin

mike65 wrote:

Would'nt go that far.

12:45 Wigan v Arsenal - Draw
15:00 Charlton v Man Utd - Utd
15:00 Chelsea v Newcastle - Chelsea
15:00 Liverpool v Portsmouth - Pool
15:00 Man City v Blackburn - Blackburn
15:00 Sunderland v Aston Villa - Sunderland
17:15 West Brom v Everton - Draw

Come on Wigan!

I think it would be a bit of a shock in that it would rock Old Trafford to the foundations. Everyone is waiting to see how the team perform today without Keane.

There's alot of pressure already on the players and a loss today would lead to even more.

Pleased to see you think Blackburn will win too

Aquos76

Wigan V Arsenal 2-3

Charlton v Man Utd

Chelsea v Newcastle

Liverpool v Portsmouth

Man City v Blackburn

Sunderland v Aston Villa

Brian017

Any streams for United?

Lemlin

Leonard wrote:

Wigan V Arsenal 2-3

Charlton v Man Utd

Chelsea v Newcastle

Liverpool v Portsmouth

Man City v Blackburn

Sunderland v Aston Villa

Already started a thread on this.

Aquos76

Lemlin wrote:

Already started a thread on this.

Sorry Lemlin, dont know how I missed that. Mods, please close or merge.

Aquos76

After 15 mins Man U are playing quite well. RVN and Rooney both had good chances. We are playing 4-4-2 and scholes is seeing losts of the ball. Their are an awlful lot of "keano keano" chants from the travelling Man U supporters

fade2black

United are playing pretty well, stringing some good passes together.

Aquos76

Liverpool 0ne up thanks to Zenden's follow up from Crouch's penalty miss

Lemlin

No Owen or Shearer up front for Newcastle. Steven Reid keeps his place in midfield for Blackburn after impressing against Charlton. He's moved to the right wing though.

mike65

Today FM switched to anfield for the peno and I had to turn the volume down - I knew he'd miss!

Mike.

whiskeyman

Leonard wrote:

Liverpool 0ne up thanks to Zenden's follow up from Crouch's penalty miss

Jebus!!
Crouchy better redeem himself sooner rather than later now!
Hopefully he finally gets one today...

Pepe LeFrits

Lemlin wrote:

No Owen or Shearer up front for Newcastle.

3 points for Chelsea so.

Wigan - Arsenal was a cracking match. Arsenal are quietly rising up the table!

fade2black

Super Goal from Alan Smith

United up 1-0

Lemlin

kaids wrote:

3 points for Chelsea so.

Wigan - Arsenal was a cracking match. Arsenal are quietly rising up the table!

Not sure why but Gallas is on the bench. Glen Johnson started with Carvalho and Terry in the centre.

It'll be interesting to see how Crespo takes the chance he has to prove himself today with Drogba suspended.

Lemlin

Cisse grabs a second for 'Pool.

mike65

Newcastle holding thier own. Thank Gawd Zenden was handy.

Mike.

Chong

Delighted to see Alan Smith on the score sheet for Man United.

Ponster

Brian017 wrote:

Any streams for United?

It's all in the 'streams' thread.

Lemlin

mike65 wrote:

Newcastle holding thier own. Thank Gawd Zenden was handy.

Mike.

Newcastle were holding their own...

2-0 Chelsea in the space of five minutes. Joe Cole and Crespo.

Lemlin

Disaster strikes for Man Utd with a Darren Ambrose leveller. And Kevin Phillips takes some pressure off Dave O'Leary to put Villa ahead 1-0.

fade2black

united 2-1 up....awesome goal from Van and Rooney.

Lemlin

Looks like wins for Liverpool, Man Utd, Arsenal and Chelsea ahead of their midweek European exploits.

Anyone know how Blackburn are faring at City? I can't get into the usual text commentary I use because its down and all I know is that its still 0-0.

Tusky

The united match is on sentana sports on tv. Morientes just netted a third for Liverpool.

ctrl-alt-delete

is that the first van n has scored outside the box for united?

Lemlin

Villa 3-0 up now. Baros and Barry. Liverpool 3-0 up too. Morientes breaks his duck.

Brian017

ctrl-alt-delete wrote:

is that the first van n has scored outside the box for united?

Yes. But he scored against Antrewp in a preseason friendly, if you want to count that.

mike65

Villa score 3 goals????????? Sunderland must be very bad.

Duff scores.

Mike.

Lemlin

mike65 wrote:

Villa score 3 goals????????? Sunderland must be very bad.

Duff scores.

Mike.

Dean Whitehead just pulled one back fair play to him, he's in my fantasy team

ctrl-alt-delete

Brian017 wrote:

Yes. But he scored against Antrewp in a preseason friendly, if you want to count that.

nope his first was a great finish

mike65

Good to see Morientes score (will have to watch Premiership tonight), thats 11 goals scored and none conceeded in the last 4 games.

As an aside some game in the Championship - Soton 3 - 4 Leeds having been 3-0 at half time! Wolves were the last club to turn over such a deficit in 45 mins I think.

Mike.

Chong

Delighted for Man United today and I am glad Ruud got two.

Lemlin

Just when it looked like Everton were bouncing back, along come West Brom and thump them 4-0.

Spider_Baby!

Crouch just cant find the net, can he??? Just watchin MOTD, and its just cringeworthy....i wonder how long it'll take him!

evad_lhorg

its hilarious more like it. i had seen the scores before i watched match of the day and i knew he didnt score. then i saw him stepping up for a penalty and i couldnt help but laugh.

oh and cisses goal.....

and Henry is just pure magic. that free kick. and hes a funny fella too.

Spider_Baby!

evad_lhorg wrote:

oh and cisses goal.....

Reminds me of a goal shevchenko scored against juventus a few seasons ago. Totally meant as a cross, though sheva never admitted it was meant to be a cross!

Lemlin

Spider_Baby! wrote:

Crouch just cant find the net, can he??? Just watchin MOTD, and its just cringeworthy....i wonder how long it'll take him!

Maybe he did a 'Fowler' and felt guilty because it never should of been a penalty

mike65

Crouchy is waiting for the Chelsea Liverpool CL decider when he knocks the Chavski out in the last minute!

Mike.

redspider

Liverpool cruised to an easy victory over Portsmouth, who, lets be honest, are relegation material and in this instance didnt put up a fight. The goals came, but mainly due to try-and-try again style of tactics rather than any brilliances of skill.

Was it a penalty? The ref was right beside it. It was a foul, but a penalty was a bit harsh. If the ref was further away, if the defender used an open hand, if he went down "as much" as Zemden did, then probably at worst it shoud have been an indirect free kick for obstruction. A foul that many refs seem to forget these days. A penalty was harsh, but not unjust or wrong.

Crouch was given the opportunity, but not a surprise to see his poorly placed shot saved. Luckily Zenden was following up and made a great effort to get onto the rebound to head it into the net. Luckilly for Crouch.

With Garcia going off injured, early, Benitez went for a 4-4-2 but with Cisee playing out wide right. Soon, as he tried to learn crossing, one of his crosses drifted long and into the back of the net from all of 35 yards. Very much shades of fortune in that one.

Crouch had more chances, but as has always been the case, not onlyh this season, butr every season, was not able to finish them off with panache, with skill. Folks, for anybody that is still thinking that Crouch will come good, wake up and smell the coffee please !!!! He wont. A goal from a header from 6 yards will not make him into a world beater, nor worthy of a place in any team that should be challenging for top honours ie: Liverpool

Towards the end of the match, a pin-ball stuation in the penalty box found the ball bouncing off Croch, Hyypia and eventually falling to Morientes on the 6-yard area who managed to finish it, for once.

So am easy 3-0 win for Liverpool, but not much could be taken from it.

The Liverpool defence were not tested and Portsmouth had very few chances. Gerrard had a quiter game than usual but didnt need to step up a gear, as Liverpool fell into an easy victory position with little fight from Portsmouth, who probably are waiting for their manager to be sacked. Gerrard and most of the dependables did what they were supposed to do. Warnock, Carra, Hyypia, Finnan, Hamann were all fine. So, the back was solid and the forwards took Portsmouth "asunder" ..... ;-)

One interesting aspect from a Liverpool perspective during the week was the good performance seemingly by Kewell for the Socceroos. Whether that will mean Kewell seeing more pitch time and being better on the pitch remains to be seen, but no doubt we will see more of Kewell this season as he is still in Benitez's good books.

redspider

yom 1

redspider are you still doin the ladder table

just wondering how it looks

redspider

Hi yom1,

I only take the time to update it at "quarterly" points during the season, so at 10-games, 20-games, 30-games and 38-games, rather than updating it after every result. Its not too hard to do though to convert the current points table to a current points ladder.

The ladder view though is something which the media should take-up as it is the best way to actually view whats going on. Additionally, during the season as the clubs play an unequal number of matches, a "normalised ladder" could be used to give a more accurate view. For example, a plain pts table that is currently used might show that a club is in 12th place and 6 pts behind the team in 2nd place, but with 2 games in hand. 12th sounds terrible but the position is not all that bad.

Managers know the ladder view, but players and fans and media seem to be stuck on league position. ie: we're in 3rd, we're 6th from the bottom, we're in mid-table, etc.

Redspider