Once again, Spurs Odyssey is pleased to be able to offer you this match by match review of the entire Premiership season, together with league tables, updated as the weeks go by. Don't forget to check out the Archives section at Spurs Odyssey, where there are similar reports from the last two seasons, plus five years' worth of Spurs Odyssey reports and features.
Many thanks, as always to Brian Judson for writing these summaries.
Saturday, 16th August, 2003
Arsenal v Everton 2-1
Campbell had already been dismissed for an early bath by the time Henry
scored from the penalty spot in the 35th minute. Stubbs had used his arm
to block a shot. Pires increased Arsenal's lead in the 58th minute when
Wright blocked shots from Henry and Vieira only to find Pires rushing in
to sweep the ball home. Radzinski took advantage of some slack marking in
the 84th minute to reduce the arrears. Li Tie was sent off after two
bookings in the dying moments of the game.
Birmingham City v Tottenham Hotspur 1-0
Full report available here
Blackburn Rovers v Wolverhampton Wanderers 5-1
Amoruso opened the scoring in the 17th minute when he met a centre from
Gresko with his head. Thompson added a second in the 29th minute when the
ball broke loose from a tackle by Butler and Thompson swept the ball into
Wolves' goal. Emerton added a third goal in the 52nd minute when Tugay
centred the ball, Yorke let it roll past him and Emerton struck the ball
wide of Murray, the Wolves' 'keeper. Iversen reduced the arrears in the
71st minute when he smashed home the rebound off the crossbar from his own
header. Cole extended Blackburn's lead in the 79th minute when he beat
Murray with a stinging left foot shot from 10 yards. Cole completed the
rout in the 87th minute when he chipped the ball over Murray from 20 yards
out.
Fulham v Middlesbrough 3-2
Marinelli opened the scoring for the visitors in the 10th minute, after
Van Der Sar had allowed himself to become stranded off his goal line,
Marlet equalised in the 18th minute when slid in to deflect a Saha centre
behind Schwarzer. Inamoto put Fulham ahead in the 56th minute when
Malbranque flighted a ball that Saha deflected into the Japanese
international's path. Saha extended Fulham's lead in the 70th minute when
Saha volleyed the ball home after a Malbranque shot-cum-centre. Nemeth
scored a late consolation in the 81st minute after Van Der Sar had made
another huge mistake.
Leicester City v Southampton 2-2
Dickov put Leicester ahead from the penalty spot in the 5th minute after
Svensson was ruled to have pulled down Ferdinand. Ferdinand added a second
in the 10th minute when hesitation by Lundekvam allowed Ferdinand the time
to pick his spot. Phillips reduced the arrears in the 76th minute when he
ghosted past Elliott to hammer a shot beyond Walker from 25 yards. Beattie
grabbed an equaliser in the 80th minute when a shot from Phillips came
back off the crossbar for Beattie to hammer home from close range.
Manchester United v Bolton Wanderers 4-0
Following a foul on van Nistelrooy, Giggs took a free-kick from 22 yards
out, which curled into the near post in the 35th minute. Giggs added a
second goal in the 74th minute. just after van Nistelrooy had missed a
penalty kick, when Giggs swept the ball home after Jaaskelainen had saved
a shot from van Nistlerooy. Scholes extended the Champions' lead in the 77
th minute when he took advantage of some slack Bolton defending to score
one of his trademark goals. Making up for his earlier failures, van
Nistelrooy rounded off the scoring in the 87th minute.
Portsmouth v Aston Villa 2-1
Sheringham put Portsmouth ahead in the 42nd minute when Sorensen parried a
shot by Yakubu and Sheringham pounced to force the bal home. Berger
extended the home team's lead in the 63rd minute when he rode off two poor
tackles to whip the bal beyond Sorensen. Barry, who had blood pouring from
his head following a first half collision, scored from the penalty spot in
the 84th minute after being upended by Zivkovic. Just as Villa looked like
forcing an equaliser, Barry managed to get himself sent off, after
swearing at a linesman, to complete a disappointing afternoon for the
Villa fans.
Sunday 17th August 2003
Charlton Athletic v Manchester City 0-3
Anelka scored from the penalty spot in the 13th minute after Fish had been
sent off. Sibierski increased their lead in the 23rd minute when
Wright-Phillips fed the ball to Anelka whose centre was forced home by
Sibierski. JihaI rounded off the victory for the Mancunians in the 83rd
minute when Royce parried Anelka's shot for JihaI to score from an acute
angle. Seaman was scarcely troubled on his debut for the Sky Blues.
Leeds United v Newcastle United 2-2
Shearer put the Toon ahead from the penalty spot in the 20th minute.
Viduka equalised in the 24th minute when Speed made a rare mistake in
clearing the ball. Smith put Leeds ahead in the 57th minute when he
capitalised on a poor back header from Bernard to force the ball beyond
Given. Shearer grabbed an improbable equaliser in the 88th minute when he
toe-poked a cross from Solano into the Leeds goal,
Liverpool v Chelsea 1-2
Veron put Chelsea ahead in the 25th minute when Lampard pulled Hyypia out
of position, allowing Gronkjaer to dash down the right wing unchallenged.
His centre caught Henchoz in two minds and he slipped. No one was there to
pick up Veron, who was able to pick his spot before scoring. Diouf earned
a penalty when he was brought down by Bridge in the second half. Owen
missed his first penalty kick in the 79th minute but was successful with
the retake. Hasselbaink ensured the points were Chelsea's in the 87th
minute when he managed to fire the ball behind Dudek after being released
by Veron.
Cheers. Brian
Pos. Pl. W. D. L. For-Ag Pts
1 Blackburn 1 1 0 0 5- 1 3
2 Man Utd 1 1 0 0 4- 0 3
3 Fulham 1 1 0 0 3- 2 3
4 Arsenal 1 1 0 0 2- 1 3
5 Man City 1 1 0 0 3- 0 3
6 Chelsea 1 1 0 0 2- 1 3
7 Portsmouth 1 1 0 0 2- 1 3
8 Birmingham 1 1 0 0 1- 0 3
9 Leeds 1 0 1 0 2- 2 1
10 Leicester 1 0 1 0 2- 2 1
11 Newcastle 1 0 1 0 2- 2 1
12 S'hampton 1 0 1 0 2- 2 1
13 M'brough 1 0 0 1 2- 3 0
14 Aston Villa 1 0 0 1 1- 2 0
15 Everton 1 0 0 1 1- 2 0
16 Liverpool 1 0 0 1 1- 2 0
17 Spurs 1 0 0 1 0- 1 0
18 Charlton 1 0 0 1 0- 3 0
19 Bolton 1 0 0 1 0- 4 0
20 Wolves 1 0 0 1 1- 5 0
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