0 users online

Premier League Review ~ 3rd-4th March 2012

last updated Tuesday 06th March 2012, 3:09 PM


Premiership Games
Saturday 3rd March 2012
12:45 Liverpool 1-2 Arsenal Sky2
15:00 Blackburn 1-1 Aston Villa
15:00 Man City 2-0 Bolton
15:00 QPR 1-1 Everton  
15:00 Stoke 1-0 Norwich  
15:00 West Brom 1-0 Chelsea  
15:00 Wigan 0-2 Swansea  
Sunday 4th March 2012
12:00 Newcastle 1-1 Sunderland ESPN
14:05 Fulham 5-0 Wolves Sky1
16:10 Tottenham 1-3 Man Utd Sky1
Manchester City extended their perfect home record in the Premier League with a 2-0 victory over Bolton at the Etihad Stadium to retain top spot.

Manchester United claimed a crucial victory over Tottenham to boost their hopes of defending the Premier League title.

Arsenal took control of the race for fourth thanks to an inspired performance from Robin van Persie giving the Gunners victory at Anfield. Liverpool were left in 7th place 10 points behind 4th spot

Premiership table - 06:03:12
Pos Team Pld W D L F A W D L F A GD Pts
1 Man City 27 14 0 0 42 6 7 3 3 27 13 50 66
2 Man Utd 27 10 1 2 37 15 10 3 1 29 12 39 64
3 Tottenham 27 10 2 2 30 13 6 3 4 22 20 19 53
4 Arsenal 27 9 2 2 29 11 6 2 6 26 27 17 49
5 Chelsea 27 8 2 3 30 19 5 5 4 17 13 15 46
6 Newcastle 27 7 5 2 21 15 5 3 5 18 24 0 44
7 Liverpool 26 4 8 1 15 10 6 1 6 15 15 5 39
8 Fulham 27 7 4 3 29 19 2 5 6 8 17 1 36
9 Stoke 27 6 4 4 18 14 4 2 7 9 24 -11 36
10 West Brom 27 4 2 8 14 16 6 3 4 20 19 -1 35
11 Norwich 27 5 4 4 20 17 4 4 6 18 27 -6 35
12 Sunderland 27 5 4 4 20 13 4 3 7 15 18 4 34
13 Everton 26 5 3 5 14 13 4 4 5 13 15 -1 34
14 Swansea 27 5 6 2 18 10 3 3 8 12 24 -4 33
15 Aston Villa 27 3 4 6 14 17 3 8 3 16 18 -5 30
16 QPR 27 2 5 7 14 22 3 2 8 14 24 -18 22
17 Blackburn 27 4 1 9 20 27 1 6 6 18 33 -22 22
18 Wolves 27 3 2 8 17 28 2 5 7 13 28 -26 22
19 Bolton 27 2 2 9 15 27 4 0 10 14 29 -27 20
20 Wigan 27 1 6 7 11 24 3 2 8 12 28 -29 20


Andre Villas-Boas finally lost his job as Chelsea manager following a shock 1-0 defeat away to West Brom.

Newcastle inched a fifth point ahead of Liverpool after snatching a 1-1 draw with North East rivals Sunderland.

Fulham surged into 8th place following the distruction of a struggling Wolves side that dropped into the relegation zone.

Elsewhere QPR came from behind to draw 1-1 with Everton, with Blackburn doing the same in their home contest against Aston Villa, while Swansea held on to defeat Wigan despite being reduced to 10 men in the second period and Stoke overcame Norwich.

Premiership Games
Saturday 10th March 2012
12:45 Bolton v QPR Sky2
15:00 Aston Villa v Fulham
15:00 Chelsea v Stoke
15:00 Sunderland v Liverpool  
15:00 Wolves v Blackburn  
17:30 Everton v Tottenham ESPN
Sunday 11th March 2012
14:00 Man Utd v West Brom  
14:00 Swansea v Man City  
16:00 Norwich v Wigan Sky1
Monday 12th March 2012
20:00 Arsenal v Newcastle Sky1
Tuesday 13th March 2012
20:00 Liverpool v Everton Sky1
At the top Man City maintain their two point lead but Man Utd have the easier run in so could be heading for another title.

At the bottom there are five sides on 22 or 20 points and safety is moving away with 15th placed Aston Villa on 30 points.












Saturday  3rd March 2012


12:45 - Liverpool (1) 1 Arsenal (1) 2 ~ Sky2


Robin van Persie delivered what could prove to be a fatal blow to Liverpool's UEFA Champions League hopes as his stunning late winner secured a 2-1 success for Arsenal at Anfield.

The Reds dominated the opening stages and took the lead through Laurent Koscielny's comical own goal, only to squander a host of chances with Wojciech Szczesny in inspired form, particularly to deny Dirk Kuyt from the penalty spot.

Van Persie made them pay a heavy price when he headed Arsene Wenger's men level shortly after the half-hour mark and, with the game deep into stoppage-time following a worrying injury for Mikel Arteta after he collided with Jordan Henderson, the in-form Dutchman volleyed home.

Liverpool Reina, Kelly, Skrtel, Carragher, Jose Enrique, Spearing (Carroll 90), Kuyt, Henderson, Adam, Downing (Bellamy 88), Suarez.
Subs Not Used: Doni, Maxi, Coates, Shelvey, Flanagan.

Goals: Koscielny og 23 .

Arsenal Szczesny, Sagna, Koscielny, Vermaelen, Gibbs, Arteta (Diaby 53), Song, Walcott, Rosicky, Benayoun (Gervinho 74), van Persie, Diaby (Oxlade-Chamberlain 80).
Subs Not Used: Fabianski, Jenkinson, Chamakh, Miquel.

Booked: Vermaelen.

Goals: van Persie 31, van Persie 90.

Att: 44, 922

Ref: Mark Halsey (Lancashire)

15:00 - Blackburn (0) 1 Aston Villa (1) 1


The continuing protests from Blackburn supporters against owners Venky's and manager Steve Kean do not seem to have quelled the spirit of Rovers, who remain only in the drop zone on goal difference after battling back to draw 1-1 with Aston Villa.

Charles N'Zogbia put the visitors in front midway through the first period and Alex McLeish must have felt he was on course for a victory which would have quietened the dissenting voices from the Villa faithful, only for David Dunn to head home Bradley Orr's cross with just five minutes left on the clock.

Blackburn Robinson, Orr, Dann, Hanley, Martin Olsson, Petrovic (Marcus Olsson 46), Nzonzi, Pedersen, Formica (Dunn 46), Hoilett, Yakubu.
Subs Not Used: Bunn, Modeste, Goodwillie, Vukcevic, Henley.

Booked: Pedersen.

Goals: Dunn 85.

Aston Villa Given, Hutton, Collins, Cuellar, Warnock, Petrov, Herd (Gardner 75), Albrighton (Weimann 90), Ireland, N'Zogbia (Bannan 75), Agbonlahor.
Subs Not Used: Guzan, Heskey, Lichaj, Baker.

Goals: N'Zogbia 24.

Att: 20, 717

Ref: Howard Webb (S Yorkshire).

15:00 - Man City (1) 2 Bolton (0) 0


Manchester City's perfect home form in the Premier League continued as they recorded their 14th successive triumph at the Etihad Stadium, brushing aside struggling Bolton to move further clear of Manchester United, who face a testing trip to Tottenham on Sunday.

Roberto Mancini's men, who dominated throughout but failed to make the most of a host of chances, forged ahead in the 23rd minute when Gael Clichy's ambitious left-foot effort with the angle against him took a crucial deflection off Gretar Steinsson and left the unfortunate Adam Bogdan with no chance.

Darren Pratley came close to scoring a spectacular own goal when his challenge on Edin Dzeko some 25 yards from goal ended up with the ball striking his own bar, before Mario Balotelli again proved his on-field abilities are worth any off-field antics as he made it 2-0 in the 69th minute after good work from Adam Johnson.

Man City Hart, Zabaleta (Toure 19), Kompany, Lescott, Clichy, Toure Yaya, Barry, Johnson, Pizarro (Dzeko 61), Nasri (Milner 84), Balotelli.
Subs Not Used: Pantilimon, Kolarov, Aguero, Silva.

Goals: Steinsson og 23 , Balotelli 69.

Bolton Bogdan, Steinsson, Knight, Wheater, Ricketts, Mark Davies, Reo-Coker, Ream, Pratley (Muamba 87), Miyaichi, Ngog.
Subs Not Used: Jaaskelainen, Robinson, Eagles, Petrov, Klasnic, Sordell.

Att: 47, 219

Ref: Mark Clattenburg (Tyne & Wear).


15:00 - QPR (1) 1 Everton (1) 1  


QPR snapped a run of three successive top-flight defeats as they came from behind to take a point against Everton at Loftus Road.

Royston Drenthe put the Toffees ahead in the 31st minute with a precision low shot from outside the box, only for Bobby Zamora to level soon after as he headed home at the near post with Tim Howard only able to divert it into his own net.

The Rs, who managed to keep 11 men on the field after their recent spate of red cards, then witnessed an astonishing miss from Akos Buzsaky as he hit the post from close range with only Howard to beat, seconds after Adel Taarabt had struck the opposite upright.

QPR Kenny, Onuoha, Ferdinand, Hill, Traore, Derry, Barton, Wright-Phillips, Buzsaky, Taarabt (Mackie 80), Zamora.
Subs Not Used: Cerny, Gabbidon, Bothroyd, Young, Smith, Taiwo.

Booked: Derry.

Goals: Zamora 36.

Everton Howard, Hibbert, Heitinga, Distin, Baines, Drenthe (Osman 63), Fellaini, Neville, Pienaar, Cahill (Jelavic 63), Stracqualursi (Coleman 88).
Subs Not Used: Mucha, Jagielka, Gueye, Barkley.

Booked: Drenthe, Pienaar.

Goals: Drenthe 31.

Att: 18, 033

Ref: Kevin Friend (Leicestershire).


15:00 - Stoke (0) 1 Norwich (0) 0


Stoke clambered up the standings to eighth in the table courtesy of their 1-0 home success over Norwich City at the Britannia Stadium.

Matt Etherington scored the only goal of the game 18 minutes from time after being found by substitute Cameron Jerome's header, with a finish which Canaries keeper John Ruddy may feel he should have done better with.

Stoke Begovic, Wilkinson (Pennant 25), Shawcross, Huth, Wilson, Shotton, Whelan, Whitehead, Etherington, Walters (Jerome 69), Crouch (Jones 69).
Subs Not Used: Sorensen, Fuller, Diao, Upson.

Goals: Etherington 72.

Norwich Ruddy, Martin, Ward, Whitbread, Naughton, Pilkington (Jackson 46), Howson (Wilbraham 75), Johnson (Fox 79), Elliott Bennett, Surman, Holt.
Subs Not Used: Steer, Morison, Hoolahan, Ryan Bennett.

Booked: Howson, Elliott Bennett.

Att: 27, 483

Ref: Michael Oliver (Northumberland).


15:00 - West Brom (0) 1 Chelsea (0) 0


The spotlight will remain firmly fixed on under-fire Chelsea boss Villas-Boas in the coming days as his lacklustre Blues side slipped to a 1-0 defeat away to West Brom, leaving them three points adrift of fourth place.

The Portuguese has had to fend off constant questions over his future in recent weeks and can expect the interrogation to continue after some limp defending from the West London giants allowed Gareth McAuley to poke home eight minutes from time as the Baggies claimed a third successive victory.

Frank Lampard, whose relationship with the former Porto boss is less than rosy, had the chance to snatch a point in the closing moments, but the Blues captain could only divert Ashley Cole's whipped low cross wide of Ben Foster's far post.

West Brom Foster, Reid (Tamas 57), McAuley, Olsson, Ridgewell, Andrews, Mulumbu, Morrison, Odemwingie, Fortune (Long 84), Thomas (Brunt 64).
Subs Not Used: Fulop, Dorrans, Shorey, Cox.

Booked: Ridgewell, Andrews, Brunt.

Goals: McAuley 82.

Chelsea Cech, Ivanovic (Meireles 84), Luiz, Cahill, Cole, Ramires, Essien (Torres 76), Lampard, Sturridge (Malouda 63), Drogba, Mata.
Subs Not Used: Turnbull, Romeu, Mikel, Hutchinson.

Booked: Cole.

Att: 24, 838

Ref: Phil Dowd (Staffordshire).


15:00 - Wigan (0) 0 Swansea (1) 2


Wigan remain at the foot of the Premier League table as Roberto Martinez saw his former club Swansea leave the DW Stadium with all three points, despite playing almost a third of the contest with 10 men.

Gylfi Sigurdsson broke the deadlock in added time at the end of the first half as he fired the ball into the top corner from the edge of the box after being found by Steven Caulker.

And the Iceland midfielder doubled their advantage early in the second period when he curled a peach of a free-kick around the Wigan wall and beyond the helpless Ali Al Habsi.

The Swans were a man down when Andre Marriner very harshly dismissed Nathan Dyer with the diminutive winger accidentally catching Jordi Gomez as the Wigan man beat him to the ball by a fraction of a second, but the Latics could not find a way back into the contest.

Wigan Al Habsi, Alcaraz, Boyce, Caldwell, Figueroa (Rodallega 67), Gomez, McArthur (Moses 46), McCarthy, Beausejour, Sammon (Diame 46), Di Santo.
Subs Not Used: Kirkland, Crusat, Ben Watson, Stam.

Booked: Gomez, Diame.

Swansea Vorm, Taylor, Williams, Caulker, Rangel, Britton, Allen, Sigurdsson (Tate 63), Dyer, Sinclair, Graham (Moore 75).
Subs Not Used: Tremmel, Routledge, Monk, McEachran, Gower.

Sent Off: Dyer (61).

Booked: Rangel, Williams.

Goals: Sigurdsson 45, Sigurdsson 54.

Att: 19, 001

Ref: Andre Marriner (W Midlands)


Sunday 4th March 2012


12:00 - Newcastle (0) 1 Sunderland (1) 1 ~ ESPN


Newcastle inched a fifth point ahead of Liverpool after snatching a 1-1 draw with North East rivals Sunderland in a predictably fiery derby at St James' Park.

Nicklas Bendtner tucked away a first-half penalty to give the Black Cats the edge, only for Stephane Sessegnon to be sent off for violent conduct just before the hour mark.

It looked as though Sunderland would withstand a late onslaught, especially when Simon Mignolet saved Demba Ba's spot-kick, but substitute Shola Ameobi had the last laugh with a 90th-minute equaliser.

Newcastle Krul, Simpson, Williamson, Coloccini, Santon (Ben Arfa 46), Ryan Taylor (Lovenkrands 88), Cabaye, Tiote, Gutierrez, Ba, Cisse (Shola Ameobi 72).
Subs Not Used: Elliot, Guthrie, Perch, Obertan.

Booked: Cabaye, Simpson, Ba, Williamson, Tiote.

Goals: Shola Ameobi 90.

Sunderland Mignolet, Bardsley, O'Shea, Turner, Richardson (Bridge 85), Larsson (Colback 73), Cattermole, Gardner, McClean, Sessegnon, Bendtner (Campbell 71).
Subs Not Used: Gordon, Kilgallon, Vaughan, Meyler.

Sent Off: Sessegnon (58).

Booked: Cattermole, McClean, Gardner.

Goals: Bendtner pen 24 .

Att: 52, 388

Ref: Mike Dean (Wirral)


14:05 - Fulham (2) 5 Wolverhampton (0) 0 ~ Sky 1


Rampant Fulham slaughtered struggling Wolves, who slipped behind a couple of their fellow strugglers 5-0 at a happy Craven Cottage.

Pavel Pogrebnyak has proved to be one of the most astute signings of the January transfer window and he netted a 'perfect' hat-trick by scoring with his head, right foot and left foot to send the Cottagers on their way to eighth in the table.

Clint Dempsey also carried on his rich vein of form with two goals, including a stunning second which came at the end of a glorious passing move.

Fulham Schwarzer, Hughes, Senderos, Hangeland, John Arne Riise, Duff (Davies 80), Murphy (Diarra 69), Dembele, Dempsey, Johnson, Pogrebnyak (Frei 85).
Subs Not Used: Stockdale, Orlando Sa, Etuhu, Halliche.

Booked: Hangeland.

Goals: Pogrebnyak 36, Pogrebnyak 44, Dempsey 56, Pogrebnyak 61, Dempsey 83.

Wolverhampton Hennessey, Zubar, Stearman, Berra, Ward, Kightly (Fletcher 61), Foley (Hunt 84), Henry (Milijas 19), O'Hara, Jarvis, Doyle.
Subs Not Used: De Vries, Johnson, Bassong, Jonsson.

Booked: Zubar, Berra.

Att: 24, 034

Ref: Mike Jones (Cheshire).


16:10 - Tottenham (0) 1 Man Utd (1) 3 ~ Sky1


The battle between second and third at White Hart Lane was seen by many as a final opportunity for Tottenham to keep alive their hopes of becoming champions, but they were taught a lesson about ruthlessness as they lost 3-1 to Manchester United.

Wayne Rooney headed the Red Devils in front against the run of play on the stroke of half-time and Ashley Young netted two excellent goals in the second period to knock the stuffing out of Spurs.

Jermain Defoe belatedly reduced their arrears but Harry Redknapp's men were left with their focus firmly on securing UEFA Champions League football.

Tottenham Friedel, Walker, King, Kaboul, Assou-Ekotto, Lennon (Rose 84), Livermore, Sandro (Kranjcar 80), Modric, Adebayor, Saha (Defoe 80).
Subs Not Used: Cudicini, Giovani, Dawson, Nelsen.

Booked: Sandro.

Goals: Defoe 87.

Man Utd De Gea, Jones, Evans, Ferdinand, Evra, Nani (Park 79), Carrick, Scholes (Giggs 61), Young, Rooney, Welbeck.
Subs Not Used: Amos, Anderson, Hernandez, Fabio Da Silva, Rafael Da Silva.

Booked: Jones, Evans.

Goals: Rooney 45, Young 60, Young 69.

Att: 36, 034

Ref: Martin Atkinson (W Yorkshire).



























Source Sporting Life/SkySports
Since 1998
"It's been updated!"