With many thanks to Brian Judson, without whom this feature would not be possible
Wednesday 9 January 2002
Southampton v Liverpool 2-0
The Saints were always well in command as Liverpool looked to be
strangely nervous. It came as no surprise when Beattie finally put them
ahead with a 63rd minute penalty after Oakley had been brought down by
Hyypia. Riise's 71st minute own goal merely confirmed the inevitable.
Pahars made ground on the left and scooped over a centre that Riise could
only head behind Dudek.
Saturday 12 January 2002
Aston Villa v Derby County 2-1
Aston Villa won this match in unconvincing style. Vassell gave them a 12th
minute lead when Schmeichel's free-kick was headed on by Angel and Vassell
pivoted to thump the ball behind Poom. Powell equalised in the 23rd minute
when Schmeichel fatally hesitated over a clearance and lost possession of
the ball to Christie. His cross was deflected to Powell, who scored before
Villa could retrieve the situation. Angel gave Villa the points with a
26th minute strike. Granet was sent off just before this incident and
Derby were still re-organising the team when Angel outjumped everyone else
to head home a cross. The rest of the match was boring and many of the
crowd left early.
Blackburn Rovers v Charlton Athletic 4-1
Tugay latched on to a pass from Cole in the 5th minute to win some space
to put the home side ahead. Cole then scored his first League goal for
Blackburn in the 45th minute when he won space after Curtis and Dunn had
schemed an opening to make the score 2-0. Euell reduced the arrears in the
53rd minute when Bjornbye mis-hit a clearance. Charlton pressed for an
equaliser even after Parker had been sent off. Hignett ensured Blackburn
would keep the points in the 85th minute when he took advantage of some
sloppy defending to score. Jansen's 89th minute goal was merely the icing
on the cake for Blackburn as Charlton were thoroughly demoralised by the
turn of events as they had certainly not been as poor as the scoreline
would suggest.
Bolton Wanderers v Chelsea 2-2
Gudjohnsen put the Blues ahead in the 53rd minute when he latched on to a
pass from Stanic. But Ricketts equalised in the 56th minute when he
waltzed through a sleepy Chelsea defence without being challenged. Forsell
restored Chelsea's lead in the 65th minute with his first touch of the
ball after coming on as a substitute. Nolan equalised for Bolton in the
79th minute with a shot that took a deflection off Le Saux.
Everton v Sunderland 1-0
Blomqvist scored the only goal of the match in the 27th minute when he
headed the ball home. Gascoigne ran the midfield so well that Everton
could have had a hatful of goals but Campbell, playing his first match for
11 weeks, was clearly not match fit.
Fulham v Middlesbrough 2-1
Cooper gave the visitors an 8th minute lead when van der Sar failed to
catch a free-kick taken by Marinelli and Cooper swept the ball into the
net. Saha equalised for Fulham in the 40th minute when he headed home a
free-kick from Malbranque. Deep in first half injury time, Marlet scored
what proved to be the winner when Festa was caught in two minds between
Saha and Marlet and Saha slipped the ball to Marlet, who scored from close
range.
Ipswich Town v Tottenham Hotspur 2-1
Read the full report here.
Newcastle United v Leeds United 3-1
Smith put Leeds ahead in the 1st minute when Viduka headed the ball into
his path as the Toon defence went to sleep. The Toon equalised when
Duberry scored a 44th minute own goal when he was trying to head Solano's
centre to concede a corner. Dyer put Newcastle ahead in the 60th minute
when Bellamy provided the pass from which Dyer scored. Bellamy rounded off
a brilliant display of football by scoring in the 87th minute when he
latched on to Dyer's pass before slipping it behind Martyn.
West Ham United v Leicester City 1-0
Di Canio scored the only goal of the match in the 36th minute in which it
is generally regarded to be his final appearance for West Ham. The
Leicester defenders failed to spot Di Canio lurking and were slow to react
as he volleyed the ball home. The game, as a whole, was messy and
mediocre. Leicester looked a very poor side.
Sunday 13 January 2002
Arsenal v Liverpool 1-1
Ljungberg gave Arsenal the lead in the 62nd minute when Bergkamp sent
Pires racing into the box and laid the ball off for the Swede to score.
Riise equalised for Liverpool in the 68th minute when Gerrard swept the
ball forward with a peach of a pass. Riise latched on to the pass and
fired the ball home as Taylor fatally hesitated. Overall, neither side
deserved to win.
Southampton v Manchester United 1-3
Beattie put the Saints ahead in the 3rd minute when Blanc failed to cut
out the ball as Beattie headed the ball into Barthez's goal. In scoring
the equaliser, van Nistleroy set up a new record in the 9th minute. It was
his 7th goal in seven matches. He played a one-two with Scholes before
beating Jones from a very acute angle with a low shot. Midway through the
first half, Beattie was carried off with a serious ankle injury. Beckham
put the Champions ahead in the 45th minute when he scored from one of his
trade mark free-kicks. Solksjaer's 63rd minute goal ensured the Reds would
take home the points when he fired home a fierce drive.
Pos Pl. W. D. L. For- Ag Pts.
1 Man Utd 22 13 3 6 54 - 32 42
2 Newcastle 22 13 3 6 42 - 29 42
3 Leeds 22 11 8 3 34 - 20 41
4 Arsenal 21 11 7 3 42 - 25 40
5 Liverpool 22 11 6 5 31 - 23 39
6 Chelsea 22 8 10 4 35 - 22 34
7 A. Villa 22 8 8 6 29 - 27 32
8 Spurs 22 9 4 9 33 - 29 31
9 Fulham 21 7 9 5 22 - 21 30
10 Charlton 22 7 8 7 28 - 28 29
11 West Ham 22 7 7 8 26 - 33 28
12 S'derland 22 7 6 9 18 - 24 27
13 Everton 22 7 5 10 24 - 27 26
14 Blackburn 22 6 7 8 29 - 27 25
15 S'hampton 22 8 1 13 26 - 36 25
16 Bolton 22 5 9 8 26 - 34 24
17 M'brough 21 6 4 11 20 - 30 22
18 Ipswich 22 5 6 11 28 - 32 21
19 Derby 22 5 4 13 16 - 38 19
20 Leicester 21 3 7 11 14 - 37 16
