Category — Premiership

Arsenal vs West Ham United
English Premier League
Saturday, March 20, 2010
17.30 local time at the Emirates Stadium, London

A week after beating Hull City in their own backyard, Arsenal will be looking to pick up their sixth straight win in all competitions when they host local rivals West Ham United at the Emirates on Saturday evening.

The Gunners were made to work hard for their victory on Humberside last Saturday, with Danish striker Nicklas Bendtner netting an injury time winner.

Russian playmaker Andrei Arshavin gave Arsenal the lead in the 14th minute at the KC Stadium after being set up by Bendtner. It was Arsenal’s 100th goal of the 2009-10 season, but Hull were back on level terms when referee Andre Marriner gave the Tigers a penalty for Campbell’s foul on Jan Vennegoor of Hesselink. Jimmy Bullard sent Almunia the wrong way to equalise for Hull.

Arsenal have made it a habit of sorts to score injury time winners in recent times and last week was no different. Denilson’s long range effort was parried away by Hull keeper Boaz Myhill, but unfortunately for Hull, Bendtner was first to the ball and he converted from close range. [Read more →]

James Milner’s 63rd minute effort helped Aston Villa secure three crucial points in the race for fourth place in the Premier League. The result was an important one as it came just a week after Wigan had upset Villa’s rivals for fourth place, Liverpool, 1-0.

James McCarthy’s comical own goal gave Villa the lead at the DW Stadium, but the Irish international atoned for his mistake when he earnt the free kick that allowed the Latics to equalise. N’Zogbia sent in the free kick and former Celtic defender Gary Caldwell took advantage of some poor marking from Villa to nod home. [Read more →]

Chilean club Rangers has dropped a court case that threatened the national team's participation at next year's World Cup. FIFA, the governing body of world soccer, had said it could kick Chile out of the World Cup unless Rangers withdrew the court case, which contested the club's demotion to the second division of the national league.

UEFA wants to coach football players on how to avoid associating with criminals in the wake of Europe’s biggest match-fixing scandal. The European football authority said on Friday that the German-based investigation was a wake-up call to focus on players’ entourages. UEFA said it shared responsibility with national federations to inform players and clubs about the risks they had.

Chelsea beat Liverpool 2-0 to regain their lead at the top of the Premiership after Manchester United drew with Sunderland yesterday.

Chelsea 2-0 Liverpool ( Anelka 60′, Malouda 90+1′)

Chelsea 1-0 Liverpool ( Nicolas Anelka 60′ goal)

Javier Mascherano gets caught in possession, and Didier Drogba crosses for Anelka to poke home from close range.

[Read more →]

Bolton Wanderers have completed the double signing of defenders Sam Ricketts and Zat Knight from Hull City and Aston Villa respectively.  The duo are Trotters boss Gary Megson’s third and fourth signing of the summer transfer window after Pompey’s Sean Davis and WBA’s Paul Robinson.

Welsh international Ricketts started in 27 of Hull’s Premier League games last season. Knight was a less regular starter for Villa, as he had competition in the now retired Martin Laursen, Carlos Cuellar and Curtis Davies.

Both the defenders have put pen to paper three year deals at the Reebok.

Liverpool centre back Daniel Agger has admitted that he has “no idea” whether the club want him to sign a new deal. The Danish defender’s contract expires next summer but the club are yet to tie him down to a long term deal.

Agger has attracted attention from both AC Milan and Real Madrid, but manager Rafa Benitez insists that he has a long term future at Anfield. Agger moved to Liverpool in January 2006 on a four and a half year contract from Brondby for £5.8m. Benitez has also hit out at his bosses for their failure to give Agger a new contract.

Agger has also had limited starts at Anfield since the arrival of Slovakian centre half Martin Skrtel. Benitez has four central defenders to choose from- Agger, Jamie Carragher, Sami Hyypia and Skrtel. Injuries have not helped Agger’s cause either. The Dane also reportedly wants a higher salary than what the Reds are prepared to offer him.

[Read more →]

Manchester City’s Brazilian midfielder Elano is likely to be out of action for up to 2 weeks after injuring his groin in City’s goalless 0-0 draw with Paris St.Germain in the UEFA Cup on Wednesday night.

Elano started against PSG, but lasted only forty nine minutes before limping off and being replaced by Zimbabwean Benjani Mwaruwari. He had a forgettable night, with his passes unable to find their intended recipients.

City play Fulham in the Premiership on Saturday.

I’m quite sure many of you guys play Premiership fantasy football. So how did you fare last week ? Did you have the right men in your team ? Balancing a team with tight budgets and substitution restrictions is precisely what makes fantasy football so challenging.

Here are some players who would have taken you to the top of the table last week, if you had chosen them in your squads.

Robin Van Persie- The Arsenal forward struck twice in three minutes against Chelsea to allow the Gunners to come out of Stamford Bridge with a victory. The fact that the first goal was clearly offside is irrelevant in fantasy football :p

Johan Elmander- The former Toulouse hitman delivered as Bolton stunned Sunderland 4-1 at the Stadum of Light.

[Read more →]

The Football Association has said that it will look into the comments made by Chelsea’s Brazilian coach Luiz Felipe Scolari after the Chelsea- Arsenal game on Sunday. Scolari reportedly said that the referee ” killed ” his team and that games at Stamford Bridge needed referees ” who could referee for both teams, and not just one.”

Chelsea slipped up at home against Arsenal on Sunday, losing 1-2 as Robin Van Persie struck twice in the space of three second half minutes. Van Persie’s first goal was clearly offside, but Dean allowed it to stay, and the decision ended up rattling Chelsea, who conceded another a few minutes later and ended up losing the game.

I want an apology- Luiz Felipe Scolari

Scolari also demanded that Dean apologise for making a mistake. Had Chelsea won, it would have effectively ended any chances that the Gunners had of winning the Premiership.

[Read more →]