With many thanks to Brian Judson, without whom this feature would not be possible
Wednesday 26 December 2001
Arsenal v Chelsea 2-1
Chelsea were outstanding in the first half and it came as no surprise when
Lampard scored in the 31st minute. Melchiot took a throw-in, Hasselbaink
centred the ball and Lampard was hovering to drill the ball home past the
luckless Taylor. Ashley Cole later cleared a Hasselbaink shot off the line
just before the break. Campbell scored his first goal for the Gunners in
the 49th minute. Pires took a corner which Campbell headed him. Recalling
his modest, almost shy celebrations when he scored at Tottenham, it was
nauseating to see how over the top Campbell celebrated his goal for the
Gooners so I switched off my TV. I thus missed the usual punch-up, five
minutes later, that occurs when these two clubs meet. The trigger this
time was a tackle by Le Saux on Vieira. Surprisingly, he was only booked
by the referee (Graham Barber). When everyone was pacified, the game
resumed. Wiltord scored the winner for Arsenal in the 71st minute when he
pounced on Melchiot's clearance of van Bronckhorst's free kick to score
from 18 yards.
Aston Villa v Liverpool 1-2
The first goal came as the result of the referee! Schmeichel tried to
throw the ball to a team mate but the ball hit referee Andy D'Urso and
rebounded to Litmanen in the 9th minute. With Schmeichel stranded on the
edge of his goal area, Litmanen had the easiest of chances to score. But
it was not long before Hendrie equalised for Villa in the 21st minute.
Angel put a volley in which Dudek could only parry and Hendrie scored from
the rebound. Litmanen then missed a penalty after Gerrard was brought down
by Boateng. Around this time, Gregory, who had been volubly complaining
about some decisions by the match officials, was ordered off from the
touchline by the referee and can expect a ban when hauled before the FA.
Smicer then scored the winning goal for Liverpool in the 73rd minute when
Berger's long ball dropped nicely for Smicer to volley behind Schmeichel.
Blackburn Rovers v Sunderland 0-3
The home side have now picked up only two points from their last five home
games and are sliding to the wrong end of the table. Quinn put the
visitors ahead in the 17th minute when he turned in a pass from Reyna.
Quinn added a second in the 32nd minute when he headed home a free-kick
taken by Arca. Kilbane completed the rout in the 90th minute when he
scored from a Phillips cross.
Bolton Wanderers v Leeds United 0-3
Fowler opened the scoring for Leeds in the 2nd minute when Diawara failed
to clear the ball, Batty centred the ball again and Fowler broke through
the home side's offside trap to score. Fowler added a second goal in the
16th minute when Viduka hooked a ball into Fowler's path who pushed the
ball into the net. Fowler missed a penalty, kicking the ball wide. But
towards the end of the match, Fowler struck again in the 89th minute when
Smith provided the pass that enabled him to elude Diawara and tuck a
rebound off Jaaskelainen into the net.
Everton v Manchester United 0-2
The surprise was that it took Manchester United so long to score! They
were sluggish for much of the match but Everton really did not have a
clue. They should have scored early on but Unsworth, Gemmill and Moore all
spurned chances. Giggs finally broke the deadlock in the 78th minute when
Beckham, coming on as a substitute, provided a peach of a pass that Giggs
had only to touch to score. The second goal was scored by van Nistleroy in
the 85th minute when Beckham again provided a peach of a pass for the
Dutchman to score. Everton also survived an appeal for a penalty after
Xavier clearly handled the ball to prevent a Veron cross from reaching van
Nistleroy.
Fulham v Charlton Athletic 0-0
Yet another fruitless afternoon for Fulham, who must be hoping for a rapid
return to fitness of Marlet, who has only made five appearances since
signing in September. He is now back in training and should return to the
Fulham side soon. Saha missed the easiest chance of the lot when put
through by Hayles only to see the ball spin off his boot with an empty
goal at his mercy. Of the two goalkeepers, Van der Sar was the busiest and
Euell was frustrated on a number of occasions.
Ipswich Town v Leicester City 2-0
The Tractor Boys climbed off the bottom of the table with this win. Bent
put them ahead in the 48th minute when he headed home a cross from Reuser.
Peralta added a second in the 55th minute when he was put through by
Reuser and scored with a low, angled drive.
Newcastle United v Middlesbrough 3-0
Shearer put the Toon ahead in the 29th minute when Speed's deep
cross-field pass was missed by Queudrue and Shearer took advantage of the
Frenchman's indecision to stab the ball home at the second attempt. Speed
added a second goal in the 58th minute when Solano took a corner and Speed
ghosted in to head home whilst Middlesbrough were still sorting out who
they were supposed to be marking. Bernard completed the rout in the 83rd
minute when Bellamy put Bernard through to score. Newcastle dominated the
match to such an extent there would have been no surprise had they
attained double figures.
Southampton v Tottenham Hotspur 1-0
The full report can be found here
West Ham United v Derby County 4-0
Derby never looked remotely like adding to the single point they have so
far gleaned on their travels. Their chance disappeared when Carbone was
sent off for a second bookable offence in the 54th minute. No one argued
with the second booking but there was doubts expressed by the earlier
booking when referee Graham Poll booked him for diving after Winterburn
had clattered into him. Schemmel put West Ham ahead in the 5th minute when
Derby conceded a free-kick. The Derby wall took the sting out of
Hutchison's free-kick but the ball ran loose to Schemmel, who scored. Di
Canio added a second in the 73rd minute when Grenet found to deal with a
cross from Hutchison and Di Canio rifled home a left footed shot. The
third goal was the best of the lot! Sinclair was the scorer in the 86th
minute. Di Canio took a corner, prodding the ball to Joe Cole, and Cole
flicked it on to Sinclair without the ball touching the ground. Sinclair
scissor-kicked the ball behind Poom from 8 yards. Defoe completed the rout
in the 90th minute.
Pos Pl. W. D. L. For-Ag Pts.
1 Newcastle 19 12 3 4 37-23 39
2 Arsenal 19 10 6 3 39-23 36
3 Liverpool 18 11 3 4 28-18 36
4 Leeds 19 9 8 2 29-17 35
5 Man United 19 10 3 6 45-28 33
6 Chelsea 19 7 9 3 29-15 30
7 Spurs 19 8 3 8 30-26 27
8 A. Villa 19 7 6 6 25-24 27
9 S'derland 19 7 5 7 17-17 26
10 West Ham 19 6 6 7 24-29 24
11 Fulham 18 5 9 4 17-17 24
12 Charlton 19 5 8 6 21-22 23
13 Everton 19 6 5 8 23-25 23
14 Blackburn 19 5 7 6 25-24 22
15 Bolton 19 5 6 8 21-29 21
16 M'brough 18 5 4 9 17-26 19
17 Southampton 18 6 1 11 19-30 19
18 Derby 19 4 4 11 14-35 16
19 Ipswich 19 3 6 10 19-28 15
20 Leicester 19 3 6 10 12-34 15
