Footballupdates.org

Football news that matters.

Liverpool led Arsenal 1-0 after a Dirk Kuyt goal at Half-time.

Watch the goal here.

Arsenal didn’t look like themselves, they were passing the ball too well in the first half. However, during break Arsene Wenger surely let his mind out. The Gunners looked better and created more chances in the first 10 minutes of the second half.

First it was Johnson’s own goal that  allowed Arsenal a foot into the door and then Arshavin took a beautiful volley to wrap the game up for the visitors.

After another loss for the Reds, Benitez and the fans must have surely lost confidence about the team’s chances of giving a fight for a  position in the top four.

Portsmouth 2-0 Burnley

Bottom placed Portsmouth played well to earn a victory over Burnley. It was the first match for Avram Grant as Portsmouth manager, and it was a delightful welcome for him.

Brunley squandered quite a few opportunities to go ahead and will surely regret the missed chances.

Portsmouth didn’t give up and kept pushing forward. Portsmouth had a great chance to go one-up from a penalty but Dindane managed to miss it. However, later in the game he scored adding to the lead given to the home team through Hermann Hreidarsson’s brilliant left-footer.

Portsmouth are now temporarily off the bottom place.

Blackburn 0-0 Liverpool

Liverpool earn another frustrating draw. The first half had nothing interesting happening. Both teams evenly matched up until the break.

At the start of the second half Blackburn had some great opportunities, through Chelesa’s loan signing- Di Santo. The youngster played well.

Liverpool also had decent opportunites, the most tlling one being a terrific run by Glenn Johnson to put N’gog on goal, but N’gog somehow skewed the shot on the top-bar. The rebound was hit off target.

Liverpool surely looked like they were missing Torres, The Reds were just unable to put the ball in the back of the net.

Wonder why Benitez wasn’t looking to bring Aquiliani on as a substitute, Nabil El Zhar was brought in as a late substitute.

Blackburn were also suffering from some kind of jitters in front of goal, like their counterparts. They also had numerous opportunities to seal the deal, but were unsuccessful.

Although Blackburn will be happy to gain a point after a rigorous mid-week game.

West Ham 0-4 Manchester United

It was a thumping win for the defending champions. Scholes opened the score just before half-time.

Wonder kid- Darron Gibbson scored another glorious strike just over the hour mark and added to the lead.

The Hammers had decent chances as well but couldn’t convert. Diamanti had an awesome shot on goal, but Kuzczak pulled an even better save.

Two quick goals were scored by Valencia and Rooney which took the match away from the home team.

Arsenal 2-0 Stoke City

Prior to the match Arshavin had stated that Arsenal were missing Van Persie upfront and also some tall statured players(Arshavin himself being around 5′ 8″).

Arshavin looked lively on the field and managed to win a penalty after forcing an error from Delap. Skipper Fabregas came up to take the spot-kick but Sorensen saved it.

Arshavin scored another brilliant goal from a Fabregas cross.

Ramsey scored the second to give Arsenal a 2-0 victory over Stoke City.

Wigan 2-3 Birmingham

Wigan took the lead in the first half through N’Zogbia’s 33rd minute strike.

Sebastian Larsson equalized for the visitors in the 61st minute and five minutes later Christian Benitez gave Birmingham the lead. Later Larsson extended the lead by scoring his second goal in the game.

Jordi Gomez pulled one back late in the match, but it was just too late for the homeside.

Until today’s loss, Wigan were undefeated at home after leading 1-0.

Aston Villa 3-0 Hull

Villa scored early in the game through Richard Dunne from a Milner assist. 15 minutes later Milner celebrated his own strike and also Villa’s 2-0 lead.

Aston Villa kept attacking Hull City, they won a penalty which was taken by Carew.

Wolves 2-1 Bolton

The fastest goal of the day was scored by Wolverhampton’s Jody Carddock in the 3rd minute.

Nenad Milijas added to the lead. Bolton struck a late goal through Johan Elmander.

Both sides looked to attack but the game ended 2-1 to Wolves.

Manchester City 2-1 Chelsea

The final match of the day was the most exhilirating encounter. Both sides were looking to attack from kick-off.

Chelsea took the lead when Anelka’s shot could have been saved by Given, but unfortunately the ball bounced into the net off Adebayor back. Adebayor took revenge later in the half, scoring from a corner.

The second half got into a high-tempo mode. Both sides were driving players forward and referee came into action many-a-times producing yellow cards and giving free-kicks. Chelsea and Man City had good chances, Chelsea didn’t manage to capitilize. City were awarded a free-kick just outside the box, which was wonderfully converted by Tevez to give City the lead.

Drogba won a penalty for Chelsea after drawing a foul from Onuoha, late in the game. Given came to City’s rescue by saving Lampard’s penalty and thus ensuring a win for Man City.

Shay Given saves Lampard's penalty

Shay Given saves Lampard's penalty

City’s Micah Richards and Wayne Bridge both seemed to be injured, Bridge was carried off on a stretcher after a sliding tackle from Belletti. Chelsea’s Terry also limped off late in the second half.

More involvement by international parties looking to buy a stake or own Premier League clubs.

Newcastle – Tyneside businessman Barry Moat will find out this week whether his £80 million bid to buy Newcastle has finally succeeded.

West Ham United – An  American consortium look to come up with a £100m takeover at troubled Hammers.

Birmingham - Carson Yeung, the new owner of Birmingham stated his intentions to make the Premier League as popular as the NBA in the Far East.

Liverpool – Rumours are rife that Prince Faisal bin Fahd bin Abdullah’s F6 company is in talks with The Reds’ co-owner George Gillett, to purchase his stake in the club.

    Premier League

  • Manchester United and Liverpool are tracking Real Sociedad’s young left winger Antoine Griezmann. Griezmann has been playing at Real Sociedad since he
    was 13.
  • Bayern Munich’s Luca Toni was asked to play for the reserves, but refused to do so and is looking to move during the next transfer window. Premier League’s West Ham United have shown interest in signing the Italian.
  • Problems soar within bottom-placed Porstmouth as players didn’t receive their wages. New owner Sulaiman Al Fahim is struggling to raise funds for his new club and is believed to be £2million short of meeting the wage bill.
  • Rafael Benítez has never before erupted as he did at the Stadio Artemio Franchi after Liverpool suffered a defeat against Fiorentina in the mid-week Champions League clash. He kept his nerve even during the 2005 Champions League final versus AC Milan, when the Reds trailed by 3 goals, but couldn’t hide his anger on Tuesday after a lackluster performance by his team.
  • Michael Owen, Manchester United’s hero against their rivals Manchester City, has suffered an injury to his groin in the Champions League win over Wolfsburg and could be out for up to three weeks. The injury has also dampened his hopes of being selected for the World Cup Group 6 qualifier in Ukraine on 10 October.
  • Manchester City’s Emmanuel Adebayor has been fined £25,000 and given an additional two-match ban following his goal celebration against Arsenal.
  • Blackburn Rovers player Pascal Chimbonda was caught speeding in Nottinghamshire and has been given a six month driving ban after being found guilty.
  • Bolton’s Gary Cahill has been in the limelight after being selected in the England squad.
  • Daniel Agger made a comeback from a back injury, he played for the reserves on Tuesday. Benitez might consider him for the upcoming fixtures.

    Serie A

  • Juventus captain Alessandro Del Piero will be out for at least a month with a thigh injury.
  • League leaders Sampdoria are brimming with confidence heading into this weekend’s game against Parma. They defeated the defending champions Inter Milan last week, a victory that pushed them one point clear of Juventus.
  • AC Milan has shown a poor string of form lately winning just twice and scoring one goal in their last five league games, play against Atalanta this week.
  • Former Juventus general manager Luciano Moggi was banned from football for five years. Due to his leading role in a 2006 match-fixing scandal and could face a three-year jail sentence in a separate case.

    Bundesliga

  • Arjen Robben’s injury is not as severe as it was feared to be.Earlier, the Dutchman had limped out of Bayern’s 0-0 draw with Juventus. However, an examination of his right knee has revealed minor damage and will undergo surgery for it. He could be ruled out for up to 4 weeks.
  • Maniche has received a three-match ban following his red card against Bayer 04 Leverkusen on Saturday. The Portuguese player was dismissed after a stamp on Leverkusen’s Arturo Vidal’s mid rift and will miss Köln’s crucial upcoming fixtures against FC Bayern München, Mainz 05 and Borussia Mönchengladbach.
  • The Financial Times Deutschland reported that three out of four accounts from which Schalke service their debts were empty. Schalke made a statement denying any financial problems and stated that all the accounts mentioned in the article were in credit, and that all instalments had so far been paid on time.
  • Bayern Munich failed to score in another match, despite this coach Louis van Gaal has remained upbeat.

    Primera Liga( La Liga)

  • Real Madrid face third placed Sevilla this week. Sevilla have shown great form, winning six consecutive games despite losing to Valencia in the season’s opening match. Madrid will be without their key player – Ronaldo, who picked up an ankle knock during the win over Marseille.
  • Xavi has expressed his ambition to play with Cesc Fabregas and claims that the Spaniard has “Barcelona DNA”
  • “I’d like to play with him. I’ve always said that in the national team I link up with Cesc very well, despite the fact that many say we can’t play together. We demonstrated in the final of the European Championship that isn’t true. I especially hope that Cesc comes. He is a football player with Barca DNA and he is showing at Arsenal that he is on another level. I would love him to sign and that we could play together at Barca. Clearly, a lot of his career is ahead of him and I think that in the future will be at Barca.”

Possible starting Line-ups:


Man City: Shay Given, Micah Richards, Kolo Toure, Lescott, Bridge, Gareth Barry, De Jong, Zabaleta, Craig Bellamy, Carlos Tevez, Santa Cruz.

West Ham: Green, Faubert, Upson, Tomkins, Ilunga, Parker, Noble, Hines, Diamanti, Franco, Cole.

Manchester City team news

Stephen Ireland will not start the match due to a sickness bug, he was anyway expected to miss out when he was hospitalised midweek after complaining of dizziness. Gareth Barry was almost missed this match, thought to have caught the same bug. Micah Ricards hopefully has recovered from a shoulder niggle to start this game. Emmanuel Adebayor completes his three-match ban after this match, but could face more time punishment because of his celebrations after scoring against former club, Arsenal. However, Santa Cruz has recovered but Robinho is still out injured. Other injured players include Nedum Onuoha, Vincent Kompany, Michael Johnson and Benjani Mwaruwari.

Hammers team news

Matthew Upson will probably be available after he limped off against Liverpool with a calf injury. Forward Luis Jimenez looks to have recovered from a groin injury. Although midfielder Jack Collison’s appearance may be doubtful due to a calf problem. Guillermo Franco could start this one, Valon Behrami who also limped off against Liverpool is lacking full match fitness.Other injuries members include Dean Ashton (ankle) and Luis Boa Morte (cruciate ligaments).

Something to be noted is Hammers will be up against their former club members Carlos Tevez and Craig Bellamy.

VIDEO

TAG CLOUD

© Copyright Footballupdates.org

Twitter