Premier League Review - Week 2 : 2008 / 9

You are here: Football England > Premier League > Week 2: 2008-9 Season

It's going to be tough at the bottom this season...

The second week of fixtures brought a few unexpected results and gives us all a bit of food for thought when considering who's going to go down this year.

Tottenham, West Ham, West Brom & Wigan all remain without a point at the same time as Hull are unbeaten, Fulham are bouncing back with a victory over Arsenal and Stoke are celebrating their first win in this Premier League Season.

At the top, Chelsea look to have hit the ground running under big Phil Scolari and Man Utd are going about their business as usual, even if they are relying on Darren Fletcher to fill Ronaldo's scoring boots. Liverpool fans will no doubt be excited by their team's 100% record after another late winner.

Saturday 23rd Aug
Blackburn Rovers 1 Hull City 1
Hull came back from a goal down to rescue a point at Ewood thanks to Richard Garcia's looping header equalized Jason Roberts' opener for Rovers.

Rovers dominated the early possession in this game, but could not find the finishing touch until Roberts powered through to notch his first of the season.

Hopefully this will give the big striker a bit of confidence to provide a few more goals in what is surely a last chance in his career to gain regular first team football at this level.
He's always shown ability in patches, but never seems to produce it all of the time.
A sort of poor man's Emile Heskey.
A label that's not likely to help anyones career.

Hull did settle well after Garcia's equalizer, and finished the second half as the better team, going close three times and bringing decent saves out of Paul Robinson in the Rovers net.

Fulham 1 Arsenal 0
This must be classed as points dropped for a lethargic looking Arsenal.
The tried and tested tactic of harrying Arsenal at every opportunity paid dividends for Roy Hodgson's men and several robust challenges in the middle of the park reduced the visitors momentum from early in the game.
I'm sure a few other managers will be taking note.

The game was scrappy throughout and was personified by the only goal of the game, by Hangeland who toepoked home in a crowded penalty box.

Congratulations to Fulham for the three points, but this was an ugly game to watch.

Liverpool 2 Middlesboro 1
I'm sure the Koppites will be shouting about 6 points from 6, but surely on this performance they are not good enough to challenge for the title this year.

Outplayed for long periods by Boro, for whom Tuncay was again magnificent, Liverpool were more than a little fortunate to take anything from this game.

Fat substitute Mido deservedly put Boro ahead with a blistering low strike on 70 minutes, and the visitors comfortably held their lead until the death.

A huge deflection from a Jamie Carragher punt brought 'Pool level with just three minutes remaining, and deep into injury time a long ball fell invitingly for Gerrard's trusty right boot to apply an undeserved winner.
Liverpool have full points from 2 games, but will need to perform better soon, or they'll be on the receiving end.
More of the same please from Southgate's impressive footballing side.

Newcastle 1 Bolton 0
Gary Megson must have been livid with his defence for allowing little Michael Owen to head home the only goal of this fairly entertaining game.

Bolton performed well throughout the afternoon and were denied several times by the excellent Seamus Given in the Necastle sticks. The little Irishman capped a fine performance by saving Kevin Nolan's penalty which helped immensely in giving Toon all the points.

A bit of early season euphoria for King Kev should hopefully bring a bumper crowd for the next home game???
I know Bolton aren't the biggest draw around, but the ground was half empty!
Big club, my arse.

Stoke City 3 Aston Villa 2
The Potters must have read my Premier League Review last week, when I wondered if they are capable of outscoring any other Premiership team in a game this year.

I was suitably put in my place by a riproaring performance from the home team that included a quite sublime finish from Ricardo Fuller, who may take up my challenge single handedly, after notching his second in 2 games.

Stoke were perhaps predictably not pretty at times, and a salvo of long balls and long Delap throws caused all sorts of turmoil in the Villa box, including the winner from Sidibe's head.

Villa will want to forget this one quickly and move on, but Stoke fans will be reliving Fuller's deft touch, turn and finish for many a day.

Tottenham 1 Sunderland 2
Spurs fans must be livid with the shenanagins from Berbatov in the last couple of weeks, and I get a sense that a lot of them would like to see the back of him as soon as possible. It's quite possible, however, that he could be warming his arse on the bench for some time as One Day Ramos seems hell bent on proving a point.
What that point is, I'm not sure, but you can't help siding with him in whatever punishment he decides to unleash on the unruly sulking Bulgar.

Undoubtably this has unsettled the Spurs camp to the point where it is affecting the team's performance on the pitch, but this should not detract from a magnificent away win for Roy Keane's men. Goals from Kieran Richardson and Djibril Cisse outweighed Jenas's effort for Tottenham.

The Spurs back four cannot be happy with the marking for Sunderland's winner though, as three of them watched Cisse rise unmarked to nod home in stoppage time.
A testing time for the Spurs.

West Brom 1 Everton 2
A huge sigh of relief from Moysie surely here with 3 points away at West Brom.

Everton's understrength side, including 16 year old Jose Barker & 17 year old Jack Rodwell squeaked a win after being outplayed at times by Tony Mowbray's Albion.

The finishing was the difference between the sides, and Leon Osman's surging run from midfield was the pick of the goals.

Mowbray will be unhappy at the defending that allowed Yakubu to latch onto Lescott's upfield punt for the winner though.

Sunday 24th Aug
Man City 3 West Ham 0
On the face of it, a good win for City, but in reality the absolute rubbish played by West Ham handed them this game on a plate.

Mark Noble picked up the first Premier League red card of the season after 37 minutes for two stupid offences, and City never looked back. An emphatic finish by Sturridge and two goals in quick succession from Elano handed City all three points in a second half spell of about 20 minutes, where the home side looked as though they could score at will.

Also, a tale of three defenders emerged from this game.
1 Micah Richards proved that Ben Haim's head must be equally as tough as Sol Campbell's teak nugget by headbutting Haim and coming off distinctly second best. Richards was unconscious for several minutes and may miss several games as a result.
2 West Ham are cashing in on Anton Ferdinand and selling him for 8 million quid. Why? And why sell him to Sunderland, who could potentially stay up at your expense? This may prove one sale too far for the struggling Hammers.
3 Corluka's forays from full back are becoming increasingly more pleasing to the eye, and it looks as though City have at last brought in a player of genuine quality.

Wigan 0 Chelsea 1
Chelsea emerged from this testing fixture with their 100% record intact, and are no doubt highly delighted with the result on the day.

An early bit of class from Deco, with a well placed free kick after just 4 minutes was enough to take all 3 points, but the response from Wigan was determined, and at times frantic.

Wigan at times laid siege to the Chelsea goal, and only an inspired performance by 'keeper Peter Cech kept them in front.

Steve Bruce's side tried & tried, but could not break down the stubborn Chelsea resistance.

Monday 25th Aug
Portsmouth 0 Man Utd 1
A tough away trip for the Champions was negotiated without too much drama, in what was a convincingly dominant display at Fratton Park.

A threadbare looking United midfield did more than enough to cope with Pompey's battlers, and chances for the home side were kept to a minimum by a solid back four.

Ferdinand & moreso Vidic again played blinders, keeping Crouch & Defoe totally devoid of chances. Crouch seemed to be favouring a tactic of fouling any United player he challenged, whilst appealing to the ref that he was being fouled at every opportunity. He truly is crap.

Vidic may be making a bid for Dave Hickson's unnoficial crown as "the maddest footballer ever who can't play unless he's gushing blood from headwounds", as again he trotted off to the sidelines to receive a couple of stitches.

Tevez had an outstanding game as a willing frontrunner, and Darren Fletcher's first half goal was the product of some vintage United build up play.

United look determined to hold on to their title if this performance is an indicator.

You are here:
Football England > Premiership Football > Week 2, August: 2008 (back to top)