Premier League Highlights 28/12/08
Premier League Round-Up 28/12/08
Liverpool go into the new year top of the English Premier League after an impressive 5-1 demolition of Newcastle at St James's Park.
Newcastle were lifted prior to the game with the news that owner Mike Ashley had decided against selling the club.
5-1 flattered Newcastle who could have lost by more had it not have been for poor finishing and a superb display by Shay Given in the Newcastle goal.
Liverpool took the lead in the 31st minute when Steven Gerrard smashed the ball in off of the post from just inside the penalty box after a good ball from Yossi Benayoun.
Just five minutes later Sami Hyypia headed Liverpool 2-0 infront from a Gerrard corner.
Newcastle pulled one back on the stroke of half time as David Edgar scored with a near post header, although the Geordies celebrations were short lived as five minutes after the break Ryan Babel poked the ball in the net after poor defending from the Newcastle defence.
Gerrard scored with a delicate chip over Given in the 66th minute after a great ball from Lucas, and the rout was complete in the 77th minute when Alonso slotted home a penalty after Edgar tripped David N'Gog in the penalty area.
Chelsea were held to a 2-2 draw at Craven Cottage by inform Fulham.
Fulham opened the scoring in the 10th minute after a Simon Davies free kick found Clint Dempsey at the far post. Dempsey controlled the ball off his chest and flicked the ball past Petr Cech.
Chelsea equalized early in the second half through Frank Lampard after Aaron Hughe's and Mark Schwarzer's defensive mix-up.
Lampard scored again in the 72nd minute with a 30 yard free kick that left Schwarzer helpless.
89 minutes on the clock and Simon Davies again set Dempsey up for Fulham, this time with an in swinging corner. With that goal Fulham extended their unbeaten run to 9 games.
A misjudgement from David James gave Arsenal a barely deserved win at the Emirates.
Pompey came close in the 1st half through Peter Crouch who saw his header bounce back off the post.
Arsenal took the lead in the 81st minute after Gallas beat James to a Denilson free kick to head into the back of an empty net.
Stoke took the lead against West Ham after just 4 minutes when Abdoulaye Faye headed the ball into the net from the far post.
West Ham scored early in the second half after Carlton Cole swivelled and curled his shot into the far corner of the net. That sparked a flair-up between team-mates Ricardo Fuller and Andy Griffin which resulted in Fuller being sent off for slapping his team-mate.
West Ham stole all 3 points with just a couple of minutes left on the clock after a Cole shot deflected in of fellow Hammer Diego Tristan.
Tottenham lost 2-0 at West Brom after going down to 10 men after 35 minutes when Benoit Assou-Ekotto was sent off after a dangerous challenge on Gianni Zuiverloon.
Tottenham held on until the 83 minute before Roman Bednar rose like a salmon to head the Baggies into the lead. Tottenham claimed Michael Dawson was pushed as he challenged Bednar for the header, but the goal stood.
Craig Beattie secured the win in injury time after being tee'd up by James Morrison.
Amr Zaki scored his second penalty of the festive period as Wigan won 1-0 at Wigan.
The penalty was awarded after a clumsy challenge by Andy O'Brien on Wigan sub Henri Camara.
New manager Ricky Sbragia saw his Sunderland side lose 3-0 away at Everton.
Mikel Arteta smashed in a free kick on 10 mins and scored again on 27 minutes with a deflected volley after his free kick came back off of the wall.
Dan Gosling scored his first goal on his first appearance at Goodison Park in the 83rd minute when he tapped in from 6 yards.
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Boxing Day Premier League Round Up 26/12/08
Robbie Keane ensured that Liverpool stayed 1 point clear at the top of the English Premier League on Boxing Day, despite Chelsea and Manchester Utd both winning their games.
Since his move from Tottenham, Keane has been highly critisized, but he went a long way to silencing his critics with a fine performance and two goals.
Albert Riera opened the scoring with a flick on from a Steven Gerrard corner in the first half.
Keane's first come after being released by Gerrard, he drilled the ball past Bolton keeper Jussi Jaaskelainen giving him no chance.
Keane's second come from a lightening break that was started by Liverpool goalkeeper Pepe Reina. Keane's double secured a 3-0 win to send the Anfield crowd home happy.
Manchester United returned to Premiership action after winning the Club World Cup last week with a game against Stoke.
It was an even game for the most part, with United playing below par and Stoke showing once again their battling qualities.
The game changed with 18 minutes left on the clock after Andy Wilkinson's late challenge on Cristiano Ronaldo was punished with a yellow card, his second of the game.
Stoke stood firm with ten men and deserved at least a draw, but the Premier League Champions who have made a habit of scoring late goals in recent years, scored late again through Carlos Tevez after good play down the right from Gary Neville and Dimitar Berbatov.
That win still keeps United in the title race as they have two games in hand on the rest of the teams.
Chelsea won their first Premier League game at Stamford Bridge since November 1st, with a comfortable win against bottom side West Brom.
Chelsea took the lead after just three minutes after good work from Joe Cole, who crossed the ball straight on to Drogba's head for an easy finish.
Lampard doubled Chelsea's lead in first half injury time.
Chelsea could have won by more if it wasn't for West Brom goalkeeper Scott Carson
Aston Villa hit the woodwork 3 times in the first half as they took the game to Arsenal, but still went in at half time 1-0 down after Denilson scored with Arsenal's only shot of the first half.
It got worse for Villa just after the break as Diaby calmly finished thanks to good play from Eboue.
Aston Villa couldn't believe that they were dominating the match, and had restricted Arsenal to just two shots but found themselves 2-0 down.
Gareth Barry pulled one back with a penalty after Gallas brought down Gabby Agbonlahor with a wreckless challenge.
The fourth official showed 4 minutes of injury time on the board. In the 3rd of the 4 minutes Zat Knight lashed home after poor defending from the Arsenal defence.
Manchester City hammered high flying Hull with four goals in 36 first half minutes.
Hull boss Brown was so disgusted with his sides first half display, he held his half time talk on the pitch right infront of the Hull City fans.
Brown felt that the players were letting down the fans who had made the effort to go to Manchester to support the team over the festive period.
Stephen Ireland was instrumental in the match, setting up two goals for Caciedo and one for Robinho, who went on to get his second of the match after a low cross from Wright Phillips.
Craig Fagan pulled one back for Hull, but Man of the Match Stephen Ireland crowned a stunning performance with a goal to make the final score 5-1.
Craig Bellamy's asking price will have shot up. With the transfer window just around the corner, Bellamy scored a brace and set up Carlton Cole against Tony Adams struggling Pompey side.
It started well for Portsmouth who took the lead through Belhadj, but young Jack Collison equalised for the Hammers.
The game changed after ex Hammer Jermain Defoe missed a penalty with the scores tied at 1-1.
Zola's West Ham went on to win the match 4-1.
Tottenham were left frustrated at White Hart Lane after a fine defensive display by Fulham, who extend their unbeaten run to eight games.
Arron Lennon came closest for Spurs in the first half but was denied by a superb save from Aussie keeper Mark Schwarzer.
Fulham had chances to win the game late on but two fine saves from Heurelho Gomes had the White Hart Lane faithful singing his name.
Neither team really fully deserved 3 points so 0-0 was a fair result.
Ryan Taylor continued his scoring form against ten man Newcastle as Wigan beat Newcastle 2-1.
Taylor who scored with an excellent free kick has now scored four goals against Newcastle in the last two seasons.
Bassong was sent off for bringing Heskey down in the box. Amr Zaki calmly converted from the penalty spot.
The Magpies pulled one back after Chris Kirkland was penlised for a challenge on Geordie Andy Carroll.
Newcastle felt they should have had another penalty in the final seconds but their protests were waved away by the ref.
Middlesbrough suffered a home defeat to Everton as emergency striker Tim Cahill scored the only goal of the game.
Middlesbrough are now in the bottom three after a poor run of form.
Blackburn and Sunderland drew 0-0 in a poor game at The Stadium of Light.
Jason Roberts had a chance to win the match for Blackburn with practically the last kick of the game, but somehow managed to miss an open goal, leaving Roberts and Sam Allardyce with their head in their hands.
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