With many thanks to Brian Judson, without whom this feature would not be possible.
Wednesday, January 1st, 2003
Arsenal v Chelsea 3-2
Desailly conceded an own goal in the 9th minute when Cole broke down the
left wing and centred the ball. Bergkamp was the last Arsenal player to
touch the ball but Desailly's heel deflected the ball away from Cudicini.
That's how things stayed until the last 10 minutes. Arsenal then extended
their lead when van Bronckhorst added a second goal in the 81st minute. He
dispossessed Lampard, swapped passes with Henry and slashed a low shot
underneath Cudicini. Henry struck immediately afterwards in the 82nd
minute when Henry swapped passes with Gilberto before deceiving Cudicini
with the flight of the ball. It looked all over for the Blues. Stanic
reduced the arrears in the 85th minute when Petit took a corner,
Hasselbaink headed the ball on and Stanic forced the ball home. Petit gave
the Blues hope in the 86th minute when Hasselbaink hindered Seaman (most
referees would have awarded a free-kick to Arsenal), forcing Seaman to
drop the ball and Petit forced the ball into the unguarded goal.
Aston Villa v Bolton Wanderers 2-0
Dublin put Villa ahead in the 8th minute when Wright centred the ball,
Hendrie stepped over it to allow the ball to run on to Dublin. Dublin then
sidefooted the ball home for the 201st goal of his career. Sam Allardyce,
the Bolton manager, was incensed with the referee over his refusal to
award a penalty to Bolton after it was obvious to everyone that Villa
defender Edwards had yanked Ricketts off the ball. Just after this
incident, Vassell added a second for Villa in the 80th minute when he
caught Bergsson in possession of the ball and scored from an acute angle.
Blackburn Rovers v Middlesbrough 1-0
The visitors lost Ehiogu after only 8 minutes when he was carried off with
fractured ribs and a punctured lung. Neither side looked to show any form
and the visitors were anonymous for most of the match. Yorke scored the
only goal of the game in the 57th minute when Gillespie drove in a low
pass from the right, the ball was hooked on by Cole and Southgate
deflected the ball down for Yorke to sweep the ball into the Middlesbrough
goal.
Charlton Athletic v West Ham United P-P
This match was postponed because of a waterlogged pitch.
Everton v Manchester City 2-2
Watson put Everton ahead in the 6th minute when he was put through by
Rooney to score a rare goal on a rare appearance for Everton. Anelka
equalised in the 33rd minute when a centre by Benarbia was crucially
misread by Wright in the Everton goal, leaving Anelka with a relatively
simple chance to score. Foe put the visitors ahead in the 82nd minute when
he rose to head a cross from Sun Jihal into the Everton goal. Radzinski
snatched an improbable equaliser in the 90th minute when Li Tie put him
through to score.
Fulham v West Bromwich Albion P-P
This match was postponed because of a waterlogged pitch.
Leeds United v Birmingham City 2-0
The Yorkshire club won again to move further away from trouble. Bakke gave
them a 6th minute lead when Kelly slung over a cross, Viduka headed the
ball back to Bakke, who headed the ball home. Viduka ensured that Leeds
would take the points home in the 67th minute when he headed home yet
another Kelly cross.
Manchester United v Sunderland 2-1
The Reds survived an early scare to win this match. Veron conceded an own
goal in the 5th minute when McCann sent in an optimistic centre that was
deflected by Roy Keane. Veron and Ferdinand got in each other's way and
Veron poked the ball into his own goal. Beckham finally equalised in the
81st minute when Ferdinand intercepted a goal-kick taken by Macho. He
volleyed the ball forward and Beckham timed his run perfectly to spring
the Sunderland offside trap to steer the ball beyond Macho. Scholes
grabbed the 90th minute winner when Brown centred the ball to Forlan,
whose header was saved but not properly cleared. Silvestre headed the ball
back and Scholes forced the ball home.
Newcastle United v Liverpool 1-0
The only goal of the game was scored by Robert in the 13th minute. Shearer
was brought down by Riise on the edge of the penalty area. From the
resulting free-kick, Robert fired in a shot that took a deflection off
Baros, leaving Kirkland stranded, as the ball flew into his goal.
Liverpool never looked like getting back on to level terms. Diao was sent
off after a late tackle on Griffin. Gerrard was fortunate he did not
accompany him because he had already been booked for a tackle on Bernard
in the 3rd minute and he should have been sent off for a foul on Acuna.
Southampton v Tottenham Hotspur 1-0
Read the full report here
FA Barclaycard Premiership
Pos. Pl. W. D. L. F-A. GD Pts
1 Arsenal 22 14 4 4 45-24 21 46
2 Man Utd 22 12 5 5 35-22 13 41
3 Chelsea 22 10 8 4 36-20 16 38
4 Newcastle 21 12 2 7 35-29 6 38
5 Everton 22 10 6 6 25-24 1 36
6 So'pton 22 9 8 5 25-21 4 35
7 Liverpool 22 9 7 6 30-22 8 34
8 Blackburn 22 8 8 6 29-25 4 32
9 Spurs 22 9 5 8 30-31 -1 32
10 Man City 22 9 4 9 30-31 -1 31
11 Leeds 22 9 3 10 30-27 3 30
12 M'brough 22 8 5 9 25-21 4 29
13 Charlton 21 8 5 8 24-25 -1 29
14 A. Villa 22 8 4 10 21-23 -2 28
15 B'mingham 22 6 7 9 20-27 -7 25
16 Fulham 21 6 5 10 23-27 -4 23
17 Bolton 21 4 7 10 23-37 -14 19
18 S'derland 22 4 6 12 15-32 -17 18
19 West Brom 21 4 4 13 16-32 -16 16
20 West Ham 21 3 7 11 21-38 -17 16
