With many thanks to Brian Judson, without whom this feature would not be possible
Saturday 23 March 2002
Arsenal v West Ham United P-P
Blackburn Rovers v Newcastle United P-P
The above two matches were postponed because of the Arsenal v Newcastle
United FA Cup 6th Round replay, which Arsenal won, 3-0.
Charlton Athletic v Bolton Wanderers 1-2
Two first half goals by Djorkaeff rocked the Addicks only days after they
had beaten Spurs. His first goal came when he stole into space when Bobic
set him up with a simple chance to score. Charlton won a penalty in the
22nd minute when Warhurst sent Parker flying in the penalty area but Euell
dragged his kick wide. In the 39th minute, Bolton went two up when they
won a free-kick after Costa had barged Frandsen off the ball. Djorkaeff
took the free-kick aiming to curl the ball into goal but the ball clipped
a defender and sent Kiely the wrong way. Johansson reduced the arrears in
the 52nd minute when Euell crossed the ball as Jaaskelainen came out to
challenge for the ball. Euell lobbed the ball to Johansson, who only had
to tap the ball into the net.
Derby County v Everton 3-4
The Rams lost this match simply because they chose this day to have their
worst performance since John Gregory replaced Colin Todd as manager.
Unsworth gave Everton the lead in the 38th minute when he cracked home a
shot from the edge of the penalty area. Stubbs increased Everton's lead in
the 52nd minute when he cracked home a free-kick following a hand-ball by
Zavagno. Alexandersson added another two minutes later when Ferguson
sliced a shot which Alexandersson steered home. Strupar then came on as a
substitute for Branko. In the 57th minute, Strupar volleyed the ball home.
But Ferguson extended Everton's lead in the 71st minute when Ferguson was
allowed time to shoot from the edge of the penalty area. Morris reduced
the arrears five minutes later when he hooked home Riggott's downward
header. Strupar further reduced the arrears with nine minutes left when he
throw himself at a Rob Lee cross to head home.
Ipswich Town v Aston Villa 0-0
The fact that Ipswich failed to beat Aston Villa was not a surprise as
they had not beaten them for 10 years. Luc Nilis was the guest of honour
as his career had been ended by a broken leg in the corresponding fixture
last season. Ipswich plans were disrupted when a late Vassall tackle
forced Makin off because of a damaged ankle. Both sides had chances to
score but lacked the conviction.
Leicester City v Leeds United 0-2
Two first half goals were enough to secure the points for Leeds. Viduka
put Leeds ahead after 18 minutes when Kewell took a corner, Fowler saw his
spectacular volley blocked by Walker but Viduka headed the rebound home.
Fowler added the second after 31 minutes when Viduka latched on to a pass
from Kewell. Laursen could not prevent Viduka getting a shot in which
Walker did well to turn on to the bar. But the ball came back for Fowler
to head home. Debutant Ashton almost reduced the arrears in first half
injury time when he saw a lob hit the Leeds crossbar.
Manchester United v Middlesbrough 0-1
A 9th minute goal by Boksic was enough to seal the points for the
visitors. It was a terrible error of judgement on the part of Veron.
Barthez rolled the ball to Veron, who was caught day dreaming in
possession of the ball by Carbone. The result cross was deflected home by
Boksic. Manchester United then proceeded to show their nasty side by
trying to bully the match officials. Beckham was rightly booked for that
and Ferguson was lucky he was not booked or sent off when he persisted in
browbeating the match officials within earshot. Manchester United wasted
most of their chances by rank bad shooting. Forlan was easily the worst
offender in that respect. Boksic should have added to Manchester United's
woes when again put through by Carbone but this time he put the ball well
wide of the goal. On the touchline, Ferguson's face was a lovely sight to
behold as his charges failed to equalise. Indeed, it has to be said they
rarely put Schwarzer to the test.
Sunderland v Southampton 1-1
Both the goals came in the second half. McAteer put Sunderland ahead in
the 62nd minute when McCann knocked the ball down for him to volley home
from 20 yards. Tessem equalised for the Saints with two minutes to go when
he rose to head a Svensson free-kick home. Sunderland are now teetering on
the edge of a relegation battle simply because they are finding it
difficult to score goals with Phillips woefully out of form.
Sunday 24 March 2002
Fulham v Tottenham Hotspur 0-2
Read the report here. Spurs could beat Fulham in this season!
Liverpool v Chelsea 1-0
An injury time strike was sufficient to ensure Liverpool took advantage of
Manchester United's unexpected defeat to go top of the table. The Reds did
not play at all well and looked out of sorts for long spells. Chelsea
played well but could not get past Dudek. Chelsea were wasting time over
taking a free-kick deep in injury time at the end of the match. Litmanen
was far too quick for Chelsea as he sent Heskey pounding towards the
Chelsea goal. Heskey flew by Melchiot and cut the ball back to Smicer, who
sidefooted a sublime volley from 12 yards behind Cudicini. Afterwards,
Phil Thompson described Heskey's 40 yard cross-field pass to Smicer as the
pass of the season.
Pos Pl. W. D. L. For- Ag Pts.
1 Liverpool 32 19 8 5 53- 26 65
2 Man Utd 32 20 4 8 78- 41 64
3 Arsenal 30 18 9 3 60- 32 63
4 Newcastle 30 17 5 8 54- 40 56
5 Leeds 31 14 12 5 44- 30 54
6 Chelsea 31 14 11 6 58- 31 53
7 A. Villa 31 10 12 9 35- 36 42
8 Charlton 31 10 11 10 35- 36 41
9 Spurs 31 12 5 14 41- 45 41
10 M'brough 31 10 8 13 30- 38 38
11 West Ham 30 10 7 13 35- 48 37
12 S'hampton 31 10 7 14 38- 46 37
13 Everton 31 9 9 13 33- 39 36
14 Fulham 31 8 11 12 30- 38 35
15 S'derland 31 9 8 13 24- 38 35
16 Bolton 31 7 12 12 34- 48 33
17 Blackburn 30 8 8 14 39- 41 32
18 Ipswich 31 8 8 15 38- 49 32
19 Derby 31 8 5 18 29- 51 29
20 Leicester 31 3 10 18 21- 55 19
