With many thanks to Brian Judson, without whom this feature would not be possible.
Saturday, January 18th, 2003
Aston Villa v Tottenham Hotspur 0-1
Read the full report here!
Blackburn Rovers v Birmingham City 1-1
The hosts made a brilliant start to the game, scoring with an exquisite
movement. Thompson centred the ball for Yorke to put Duff through in the
19th minute seconds after Cole had completely missed his kick in front of
an open goal. The game's most controversial moment came when Dugarry and
Todd clashed in an off the ball incident and Todd blatantly kicked
Dugarry. The TV replays seemed to suggest Dugarry was not completely
innocent but the referee missed his part in the incident and dismissed
Todd. John equalised for Birmingham in the 83rd minute when John finally
found a gap in Friedel's well-organised defence.
Charlton Athletic v Bolton Wanderers 1-1
Alan Curbishley was annoyed that Charlton dropped two points from this
match. Fish put the Addicks ahead in the 47th minute when he scored with a
shot that went in off the post. Djorkaeff snatched an unexpected equaliser
in the 85th minute when Frandsen chipped a ball into the area and the
Frenchman produced a wonderful overhead kick to send the ball beyond Kiely
into the goal.
Everton v Sunderland 2-1
Kilbane scored his first goal of the season for Sunderland in the 34th
minute when Phillips sent Kilbane down the wing. The Irishman then took a
long punt which deceived Wright in the Everton goal. McBride equalised in
the 51st minute when Gemmill caught the ball on the byeline and McBride's
header was deflected by Thirlwell into his own goal. Everton then snatched
the winner when McBride scored in the 57th minute after Radzinski put him
clear. McBride stumbled but recovered quickly to hammer the ball beyond
Sorensen.
Leeds United v West Bromwich Albion 0-0
The Baggies achieved what they set out to do and snatched a priceless
point in their battle against relegation. They frustrated Leeds
completely. In the closing stages, Leeds had Fowler, Kewell, Viduka, Smith
and Milner were all on the pitch yet they could not break the Baggies
down. This was mostly due to the fine form of Russell Hoult in the Baggies
goal. Even after Johnson had been sent off for two bookable offences,
Leeds never looked like making the breakthrough against the 10-men
Baggies.
Manchester United v Chelsea 2-1
The Blues have the best record of visitors to Old Trafford. The Old
Trafford pitch was almost as bad as that of Stamford Bridge last weekend.
Hasselbaink limped off after only 15 minutes following a tangle with Phil
Neville. Gudjohnsen put the Blues ahead in the 30th minute when Petit put
Gudjohnsen through with sufficient time to lob the ball over the advancing
Barthez. Scholes equalised in the 39th minute when Cudicini made a hash of
clearing the ball and Beckham centred the ball for Scholes to head home.
It was deep in injury time at the end of the match when Forlan scored the
90th minute winner. Veron spotted a chink in the Chelsea wall and sent
Forlan scurrying through the gap. Cudicini had no chance of blocking
Forlan's volley.
Newcastle United v Manchester City 2-0
Shearer put the Magpies ahead in 10.4 seconds. Manchester City kicked off
and Howey passed the ball back to Carlo Nash. Shearer blocked Nash's
downfield clearance and put the ball into the unguarded net. But Ledley
King's 10 second goal against Bradford City a couple of years ago is still
the record. Bellamy added a second goal in the 64th minute when Jenas sent
Robert away with a brilliant pass and Bellamy slid in at the far post to
score. Manchester City squandered chances created for Anelka and Goater to
score, leaving Keegan with a headache.
Southampton v Liverpool 0-1
On a night of torrential rain, Heskey scored the only goal of the game in
the 14th minute to end Liverpool's depressing run that stretched back to
last November. Southampton conceded a free-kick. Riise took it and Heskey
outjumped everyone else to head the ball behind Niemi. Southampton rarely
threatened. Indeed, Liverpool should have gone further ahead but were
frustrated by poor shooting from Murphy, Heskey and Owen. Liverpool were
able to contain everything the Saints threw at them with ease. Kirkland
looks set to be the Liverpool goalkeeper for a long time to come in the
same way that Tommy Lawrence, Ray Clemence and Bruce Grobbelaar dominated
the goal area.
Sunday, January 19th, 2003
Arsenal v West Ham United 3-1
On this performance, West Ham might just as well accept relegation is an
accomplished fact and begin to plan for next season. Arsenal were at their
imperious best at times, often stroking the ball around the pitch. West
Ham shot themselves in the foot when Lomas conceded a penalty when he
pulled Pires off the ball as he threatened to score. The referee had no
hesitation in dismissing Lomas. Henry then converted the penalty kick in
the 14th minute. Defoe equalised when Cole forced Edu into making a
suicidal back pass in the 40th minute and Defoe latched on to the ball to
fire it past Seaman. Henry restored Arsenal's lead in the 71st minute when
Bergkamp beat Bowyer to the ball and swung the ball over for Henry to
score. The last goal sealed the victory for Arsenal when Bergkamp and
Pires set up Henry, who sidefooted the ball behind James in the 86th
minute. After the match, some West Ham players thought Bergkamp should
have been sent off for elbowing Bowyer in the face.
Fulham v Middlesbrough 1-0
A poor performance by Middlesbrough allowed Fulham to nick the points.
Neither side really applied much pressure and both sides were extremely
poor to say the least. Davis grabbed the vital goal for Fulham in the 39th
minute when Legwinski put Davis through with a pass that split
Middlesbrough's creaking defence. Southgate attempted to block Davis but
could do nothing to prevent Davis from side-footing the ball behind
Schwarzer. The closest Middlesbrough came to scoring was when Whelan was
slow to react just before half-time when Maik Taylor completely misjudged
the bounce of a long clearance by Southgate but Djetou conceded a corner.
Wednesday, January 22nd, 2003
Charlton Athletic v West Ham United 4-2
The Hammers looked doomed to relegation after losing this match. Their
recent signings could do nothing to lift West Ham. Rufus conceded an own
goal in the 19th minute after Cisse had put him under pressure. Jensen
equalised for Charlton in the 42nd minute when Dailly conceded a free kick
for leaning on Parker. The ball then flew into James' goal from the
resulting free-kick. Parker put the Addicks ahead in the 45th minute when
Euell sent him dancing through a static Hammers defence to score. Charlton
went further ahead when Parker scored again in the 52nd minute. Breen
failed to clear a free-kick and Parker whipped the ball into West Ham's
goal. Fish then gave Hammers brief hope when he conceded an own goal in
the 62th minute when he put the ball into his own goal under pressure from
Sinclair. Kishishev ensured the Addicks won the points in the 90th minute
when Svensson fed the ball to Kishishev to tap the ball in for his first
ever goal for the Addicks.
Newcastle United v Bolton Wanderers 1-0
Jenas grabbed the only goal of the game in the 18th minute when Bellamy
carved a path through the Bolton defence before slipping the ball beyond
N'Gotty to Jenas for the latter to score. Bolton fought hard but rarely
looked like scoring. Newcastle could have had other goals but found Bolton
very difficult to break down. The closest Bolton came to equalising was
when Caldwell sliced a clearance that Given had to push behind for a
corner to prevent an own goal.
FA Barclaycard Premiership
Pos. Pl. W. D. L. F-A. GD Pts
1 Arsenal 24 16 4 4 52-25 27 52
2 Man Utd 24 14 5 5 40-24 16 47
3 Newcastle 24 14 3 7 40-31 9 45
4 Chelsea 24 11 8 5 41-23 18 41
5 Everton 24 11 6 7 30-29 1 39
6 Liverpool 24 10 8 6 32-23 9 38
7 Spurs 24 11 5 8 35-34 1 38
8 So'pton 24 9 9 6 27-24 3 36
9 Blackburn 24 8 10 6 30-26 4 34
10 Man City 24 10 4 10 32-34 -2 34
11 Charlton 24 9 6 9 30-32 -2 33
12 Leeds 24 9 4 11 31-29 2 31
13 M'brough 24 8 6 10 27-24 3 30
14 A. Villa 24 8 5 11 22-25 -3 29
15 Fulham 23 7 6 10 24-27 -3 27
16 B'mingham 24 6 8 10 21-32 -11 26
17 Bolton 24 4 9 11 24-39 -15 21
18 S'derland 24 4 7 13 16-34 -18 19
19 West Brom 23 4 5 14 17-35 -18 17
20 West Ham 24 3 8 13 26-47 -21 17
