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Tuesday April 8, 2009

United Stay Top In OT Thriller

Blackburn Rovers 2 Tottenham Hotspur 1

Andre Ooijer stepped off the bench to score a dramatic late winner for Blackburn Rovers at Ewood Park and ease their fears of relegation.
The Dutch defender took advantage three minutes from time when goalkeeper Heurelho Gomes failed to deal with a corner from El-Hadji Diouf.
That capped a superb fight back after Robbie Keane had put Spurs ahead in the first half from the penalty spot.
But the game turned when Wilson Palacios was sent off and Benni McCarthy grabbed the equaliser to set up a rousing finale.

Arsenal 2 Manchester City 0

Emmanuel Adebayor struck twice as Arsenal beat Manchester City 2-0 at Emirates Stadium.
The Togo striker - who had been out since February, but scored for his country while on World Cup qualifying duty - nodded in a free-kick from fit-again captain Cesc Fabregas after seven minutes.
Adebayor added another at the start of the second half as City - who were forced into a couple of changes by injury - never really got going.

Bolton Wanderers 4 Middlesbrough 1

Middlesbrough's relegation woes increased as they were beaten 4-1 by Bolton Wanderers at the Reebok Stadium to leave them five points adrift of safety.
Kevin Davies put the hosts ahead with his 12th league goal of the season in only the eighth minute, only for Gary O'Neil to equalise seven minutes before half-time.
However, Gary Cahill fired home close to the interval before Matt Taylor and Ricardo Gardner added late goals and with Blackburn Rovers and Stoke City both winning the Teessiders face a daunting task if they are to survive with seven matches remaining.

Hull City 0 Portsmouth 0

Hull City and 10-man Portsmouth both earned a valuable point in their fight against relegation at the KC Stadium.
Portsmouth defender Glen Johnson may have felt aggrieved to have been dismissed late on after an innocuous collision with Dean Marney, but could already have been sent off after a number of earlier indiscretions.
The right-back also gifted Hull City their best opportunity but David James saved brilliantly from Craig Fagan's powerful header.

Newcastle United 0 Chelsea 2

Alan Shearer's managerial debut was ruined by Chelsea as Newcastle United slipped deeper into relegation trouble.
Second-half goals from Frank Lampard and Florent Malouda eased the visitors past a spirited Magpies side to leave them three points from safety with just seven matches to play.
Michael Owen thought he had pulled one back with 17 minutes remaining when his deflected shot was hooked off the line by Ashley Cole, and television replays suggested he had a case.

West Bromwich Albion 0 Stoke City 2

Ricardo Fuller and James Beattie earned Stoke City their first away win of the season and pushed West Brom closer to the relegation trapdoor.
A Scott Carson error handed Fuller the opening goal after just two minutes and then defensive hesitancy allowed Beattie to add the decisive second early in the second half.
Bottom-placed Albion now look doomed to the drop after a run of 11 matches without a win and they seldom looked like scoring apart from a Chris Brunt shot which hit the crossbar.
Stoke had the worst away record in the four divisions ahead of this fixture - just four points from a possible 45 - but this victory has done much to ease their fears of making a quickfire return to the Championship.

West Ham United 2 Sunderland 0

Junior Stanislas scored on his first start for West Ham United as Gianfranco Zola's homegrown youngsters stayed in the hunt for European qualification.
Stanislas, 19, broke the deadlock against Sunderland just before the break, then 20-year-old James Tomkins doubled the advantage after the restart at Upton Park.
Victory moved the Hammers back up to seventh in the table - which should be enough for continental football - and it leaves Ricky Sbragia's men in deep relegation trouble.

Fulham 0 Liverpool 1

Four minutes into injury time Rafael Benitez looked like becoming the latest Big Four manager to experience the curse of the Cottage.
Then up popped substitute Yossi Benayoun to smash a right-foot shot past Fulham goalkeeper Mark Schwarzer to send Liverpool the top of the League.
The dramatic last-gasp winner put the Merseysiders two points clear of Manchester United, at least for 24 hours.

Everton 4 Wigan Athletic 0

Marouane Fellaini's familiar bushy hair was back as he cut Wigan Athletic down to size with a fine personal display in Everton's biggest win of the season.
Gone was the braided hair-style for the Belgian midfielder as he turned on an outstanding performance, scoring one - his seventh for the club - and having a hand in the other three.
Wigan must have been relieved to see the back of him when he was taken off with 19 minutes to go, having never at any stage come to grips with Everton's lanky record signing.
His determined run set up Jo for the first, he scored the second himself and then saw two further shots palmed out by a shaky Chris Kirkland for Jo and Leon Osman to score from rebounds.
It was Everton's biggest win of the season and further cemented them in sixth place, while Wigan's European aspirations took a bad hit. Everton, in sixth and with an FA Cup semi-final later this month, still harbour hopes of Champions League, or at least catching Aston Villa in fifth.

Manchester United 3 Aston Villa 2

Federico Macheda enjoyed a truly remarkable introduction to English football as he curled home an injury-time winner that sent Manchester United back to the top of the Premier League.
It seemed the Red Devils would have to settle for a point after Cristiano Ronaldo's brace had only proved enough to keep United level against a Villa side that thoroughly deserved a lead provided by John Carew and Gabriel Agbonlahor.
But Macheda, a former member of the Lazio academy who arrived at Old Trafford in 2007, was to have the last word.
At exactly the same moment as Yossi Benayoun struck for Liverpool at Fulham last night, Macheda turned onto Ryan Giggs' low pass before unleashing a stunning shot that curled past Brad Friedel and sent Old Trafford into ecstasy.