EXTRA TIME

Premier League: Mind the Gap!

January 21, 2008 at 9:51 am Leave a comment

Das Wochenende brachte in England ausschließlich Favoritensiege. “Mind the gap!” ist man versucht auszurufen, denn der Abstand zwischen den drei Top Teams und den Verfolgern wird von Runde zu Runde größer!
Durchaus spannend ist aber vor dem Spiel heute Abend zwischen Liverpool und Aston Villa der Kampf um Platz 4. Ob es den “Reds” gelingt, wieder unter die “Top 4” vorzustoßen – womit die üblichen “Großen Vier” wieder an der Spitze vereint wären, ist durchaus zweifelhaft.

Seit einem Sieg gegen Tabellenschlusslicht Derby am 26. Dezember ist Liverpool in der Premier League sieglos (3 Unentschieden) und die Auseinandersetzung zwischen den Eigentümern Hicks/Gillett und dem Manager Rafa Benitez sowie die neuerlichen Angebote für einen Verkauf des Klubs nach Dubai sind nicht dazu angetan, an der Anfield Road Ruhe einkehren zu lassen. Und so können sich derzeit nicht nur Everton, sondern auch Manchester City und vielleicht sogar Aston Villa durchaus Chancen ausrechnen, heuer die Qualifikation für die Champions League zu schaffen.

Eine Enttäuschung war Keevin Keegans Rückkehr auf den Trainersessel: Nur 0:0 bei Newcastle gegen Bolton.

Barclays Premier League : Table
20 Jan 18:07

	Team	P	GD	PTS
1	Man Utd	23	35	54
2	Arsenal	23	29	54
3	Chelsea	23	20	50
4	Everton	23	17	42
5	Man City	23	6	40
6	Liverpool	21	21	39
7	Aston Villa	22	12	39
8	Portsmouth	23	11	37
9	Blackburn	23	1	37
10	West Ham	22	7	33
11	Tottenham	23	4	27
12	Newcastle	23	-12	27
13	Middlesbrough	23	-17	22
14	Reading	23	-19	22
15	Bolton	23	-10	21
16	Birmingham	23	-11	20
17	Wigan	23	-16	20
18	Sunderland	23	-20	20
19	Fulham	23	-19	15
20	Derby	23	-39	7

 Newcastle 0 Bolton 0. Kevin Keegan’s champagne return to Newcastle turned flat after a rapturous reception from 52,000 fans heralded the third coming of their ‘Messiah’. His first 90 minutes back illustrated why Newcastle are only mid-table in the Premier League and why owner Mike Ashley decided to sack Sam Allardyce. (Joe Berstein, Daily Mail)

“It wasn’t the start I was hoping for. To be honest we didn’t deserve to win and we didn’t deserve to lose so a draw was a fair result.”
Kevin Keegan analyses his first game back at Newcastle.

Reading 0 Man United 2. Wayne Rooney and Carlos Tevez admit they do not talk much in private because of a language barrier. But the Manchester United pair speak volumes when they are out on the pitch. United’s terrific twosome opened up a nice piece of dialogue at the Madejski Stadium to set up a victory which was not as easy as the scoreline suggests. Rooney’s 77th minute opener was a piece of poetry in any language.
(David Harrison, News of the World)

 Fulham 0 Arsenal 3. A brutal afternoon to be a Fulham defender, or one of their supporters – painful not just in the magnitude of defeat but the manner of it. Firmly ensconced in the relegation mire and now without a win in 12 matches, they will appreciate not seeing Arsenal or Emmanuel Adebayor again this season, though their chances of meeting either again next are steadily diminishing. Arsenal had most of the ball, almost all of the chances, and in Adebayor a player so dominant over his direct opponents it bordered on embarrassing. (Duncan Castles, Observer)

Birmingham 0 Chelsea 1. Claudio Pizarro, the striker who Chelsea supporters feared might never score in the Premier League again, confounded doubters yesterday to maintain the push towards the top of the table. He might find goals hard to come by against everyone else, but against Birmingham City he is deadly. The Peruvian striker struck with a header with 11 minutes to go to earn Chelsea their eighth away League success and to mirror the goal he also got against Birmingham on the first weekend of the season. Pity about the 20 other games when he found the net so elusive there were those who believed they had imagined the first. (Guy Hodgson, Independent on Sunday)

Wigan 1 Everton 2. Everton moved up to fourth place, but with a win against Aston Villa this evening Everton could be leapfrogged by Merseyside Rivals Liverpool FC again. The home side stays fourth from bottom of the top-flight. Manchester City 1 West Ham 1. Darius Vassell cancelled out Carlton Cole’s spectacular opener to extend Manchester City’s unbeaten league record at Eastlands this season. West Ham had taken the lead when Richard Dunne gave the ball away and Fredrik Ljungberg crossed for Cole to score with a superb acrobatic finish. City levelled when Vassell prodded home Martin Petrov’s vicious low cross. (Chris Bevan, BBC Online)

Entry filed under: English.