With many thanks to Brian Judson, without whom this feature would not be possible
Saturday 25 August 2001
Arsenal v Leicester City 4-0
Poor Leicester remain rooted to the foot of the table after Arsenal took
them apart at Highbury. Bergkamp had already given a warning of what to
come when he fired the ball wide of Leicester's goal in the second minute.
In the 17th minute, Pires and Wiltord swapped passes before Ljungberg
scored from six yards out. Nine minutes later, Bergkamp backheeled the
ball to Pires and Wiltord diverted Pires' centre into Leicester's goal. On
the hour, Vieira and Wise were dismissed for two bookings after both had
squared up to each other. Henry added a third in the 77th minute, after
coming on as a substitute, when a pot at the Leicester goal took a
deflection off Lewis, leaving Flowers stranded. Kanu added the fourth in
injury team when he was quick to react when Leicester failed to clear the
ball. Leicester have now lost 11 of their last 12 away games.
Blackburn Rovers v Tottenham Hotspur 2-1
Full report available here
Everton v Middlesbrough 2-0
The Toffees went to the top of the table after beating Middlesbrough, 2-0.
The North Eastern side rarely looked likely to score. Campbell gave
Everton a 17th minute lead when he outjumped everyone else to head home
Pembridge's corner. Gemmill extended Everton's lead in the 52nd minute
when he blasted home a shot from 25 yards after Ince had failed to clear
the ball. Everton should have added to Middlesbrough's problems when
Southgate robbed Campbell as he shaped to shoot late on and Campbell then
mis-kicked when it looked easier to score.
Fulham v Derby County 0-0
Injury-hit Derby produced a magnificent defensive display to blunt Saha
and Hayles' attempts to score. Ravenelli was declared injured which left
the Rams short of options. Christie limped off just before half-time,
leaving the Rams with the target of playing for a point with an hour still
to play. However, Burley very nearly caught van der Sar off-guard near the
end when the goalkeeper was fortunate to block Burley's free-kick.
Ipswich Town v Charlton Athletic 0-1
Lisbie scored the only goal of the game with five minutes left to play
when, having come on as a replacement for Salako, the 23-year-old player
volleyed the ball home from the edge of the penalty area. Ipswich however
felt they should have had a penalty when Stewart's shot was blocked by
Fish. They appealed for a penalty, claiming that Fish had handled the ball
but referee Steve Dunn waved play on.
Southampton v Chelsea 0-2
The Saints lost their first home game at their new St Mary's Stadium
because it is more spacious and less cramped than the Dell. Chelsea
revelled in the wider playing area and stretched Southampton. It looks
like being a long hard and unpleasant winter for the Saints. Hasselbaink
gave the Blues a 33rd minute lead when Le Saux provided a cross for him to
head the ball home. Stanic snatched the winner deep in injury time at the
end of the match when Lampard's shot came off the crossbar and Stanic was
on hand to force the rebound home.
West Ham United v Leeds United 0-0
Dacourt and Batty won the battle of the midfield but could not carve out
the chances for Viduka and Keane to score. When Viduka did manage to lose
the attention of his marker, he tended to fluff his shot by shooting
rather hastily. Di Canio and Cole tried hard but Mills and Ferdinand
superbly marshalled the Leeds back four. West Ham did get the ball in the
net but the goal was disallowed because Todorov had impeded Martyn.
Winterburn almost scored with a low drive with twenty minutes left after
being put through by Di Canio.
Sunday 26 August 2001
Aston Villa v Manchester United 1-1
A draw was a fair result for this match. Schmeichel defied Villa for most
of the 90 minutes but could not prevent the equaliser. Vassall had fired
Villa ahead in the 4th minute. Hendrie seized on a loose ball in the
middle and Kachloul took advantage of a huge gap left by Gary Neville.
Kachloul's centre was turned into Roy Carroll's goal by Vassall. Barthez
was injured having damaged a hamstring in training. The equaliser came
deep in injury time at the end of the match. Keane flicked on a corner
taken by Giggs and Alpay could only help the ball into his own goal, much
to the disgust of the big Danish 'keeper.
Newcastle United v Sunderland 1-1
Kevin Phillips put Sunderland ahead in the 34th minute. Schwarz centred
the ball and Phillips headed the ball behind Given. But Newcastle
equalised just before half-time. A terrific through ball from Robert
released Bellamy, who used his pace to beat the Sunderland defence and
hammer the ball behind Sorensen. Newcastle were much the better side in
the second half but could not convert their chances. Alan Shearer came on
in the 75th minute for his first appearance for five months.
Monday 27 August 2001
Bolton Wanderers v Liverpool 2-1
The Reds were shocked when Bolton scored an injury time winner to return
to the top of the table. Ricketts put them ahead in the 27th minute when
Gardner and Hansen took a short corner before the ball flew to the far
post for Warhurst to head back across the goal. Henchoz and Hyypia
dithered and Ricketts had the ball in the net in a flash. Liverpool pushed
forward but could not find a way through until Heskey replaced Fowler in
the 63rd minute. Three minutes later, Liverpool were level. McAlister
threaded the ball through a packed goal area to Heskey, who slipped the
ball low and hard past Jaaskelainen, the Bolton 'keeper. Then, deep in
injury time, Holdsworth stuck to put Bolton ahead. He slipped past Hyypia
and Hamann and let fly. Westerveld somehow managed to catch the ball and
then let it drop over his goalline. It could have been even worse for
Liverpool as Henchoz later cleared a shot off the line from Hansen.
Pos Pl. W. D. L. For-Ag Pts.
1 Bolton 3 3 0 0 8- 1 9
2 Everton 3 2 1 0 5- 2 7
3 Leeds 3 2 1 0 4- 1 7
4 Arsenal 3 2 0 1 9- 2 6
5 Man Utd 3 1 2 0 6- 5 5
6 Chelsea 2 1 1 0 3- 1 4
7 Fulham 3 1 1 1 4- 3 4
8 Blackburn 3 1 1 1 5- 5 4
9 Derby 3 1 1 1 3- 4 4
10 S'derland 3 1 1 1 2- 3 4
11 Ipswich 3 1 0 2 3- 3 3
12 Liverpool 2 1 0 1 3- 3 3
13 Charlton 2 1 0 1 2- 2 3
14 Newcastle 2 0 2 0 2- 2 2
15 A. Villa 2 0 2 0 1- 1 2
16 Spurs 3 0 2 1 2- 3 2
17 West Ham 2 0 1 1 1- 2 1
18 S'hampton 2 0 0 2 0- 4 0
19 Mid'brough 3 0 0 3 0- 7 0
20 Leicester 2 0 0 2 0- 9 0
