With many thanks to Brian Judson, without whom this feature would not be possible.
Saturday, 20th September 2003
Aston Villa v Charlton Athletic 2-1
Alpay put the hosts ahead in the 37th minute after Lee Hendrie had taken a
corner. The Turkish international shot through a forest of legs. Samuel
extended their lead in the 55th minute when he lobbed the ball into the
goal from some distance. Lisbie scored a consolation goal for the Addicks
in the 86th minute after Alpay had failed to clear the ball.
Fulham v Manchester City 2-2
Anelka put Manchester City ahead in the 46th minute with a shot that took
a deflection. Malbranque equalised in the 73rd minute when Seaman made a
terrible mistake and was caught in two minds of how to deal with Boa
Morte, who bypassed Seaman by stroking the ball to Malbranque, who was
left with a simple tap-in. Saha put Fulham ahead in the 79th minute when
Saha broke clear. Seaman came out but Saha side-stepped him to score.
Wanchope grabbed a late equaliser in the 90th minute when he headed home a
cross from Sun Jihai.
Leeds United v Birmingham City 0-2
Any hope that Leeds would win this match were lost when Roque Junior was
dismissed after a foul on Forssell in the penalty area. Savage converted
the penalty in the 79th minute. Forssell ensured the Blues grabbed the
points in the 84th minute when he beat the offside trap set by Leeds and
ran on to Dunn's pass to slip the ball under Robinson.
Liverpool v Leicester City 2-1
It took yet another Michael Owen penalty to put Liverpool ahead in the
20th minute after Thatcher had upended Smicer. Heskey added a second in
the 75th minute when Diouf crossed from the right and Heskey headed the
ball behind Walker. Bent scored Leicester's consolation goal in the 90th
minute after Deane had flicked on Walker's goal-kick.
Newcastle United v Bolton Wanderers 0-0
Sam Allardyce won the tactical battle by flooding the midfield, thereby
preventing Newcastle from deploying their midfield. There were very few
chances. One wonders why Robson persisted with a flat back four when it
was obvious that Bolton had come intent on settling for a point. The only
statistic to emerge from this match was that it was the Toon's first 0-0
draw in 57 matches.
Portsmouth v Blackburn Rovers 1-2
Neill put the visitors ahead in the 35th minute when Tugay took a quick
free kick, Cole blocked the clearance and Neill forced the ball home. Cole
added a second goal in the 43rd minute when he broke between Sherwood and
De Zeeuw to fire the visitors further in front. De Zeeuw scored a
consolation goal in the 57th minute when he headed the ball beyond
Friedel.
/p>
Tottenham Hotspur v Southampton 1-3
Normally, I don't comment but it's getting harder not to do so. It's going
to be a long, long season. Success for us will be in finish 17th - IF we
cam achieve that. At least Hoddle has gone! (Ed: Brian's comment - not mine!) The full report of Glenn Hoddle's last game in charge can be read here
Wolverhampton Wanderers v Chelsea 0-5
It looks grim for the Wolves, once the mighty Kings of Europe in the 1950s
when they played the Russian and Hungarian teams in the days before the
European Cup was conceived. Lampard put Chelsea ahead in the 17th minute
when he took advantage of poor marking to score. Hasselbaink increased the
lead for Chelsea in the 36th minute, again as a result of poor marking.
Duff put the game beyond salvation in the 52nd minute. Crespo's goals in
the 57th and 90th minute just completed the rout.
Sunday, 21st September, 2003
Manchester United v Arsenal 0-0
Until Vieira was sent off for aiming a kick at van Nistlerooy, this match
had been played in very good humour. Past vendettas seemed to have been
forgotten. But a few minutes before the spat, Vieira had a long argument
with the referee which had led to his being booked. So the second yellow
card for aiming a kick at van Nistlerooy (which didn't connect though the
intent was clearly there) led to his dismissal. Later on, Arsenal conceded
a penalty deep in injury time but van Nistelrooy's kick almost broke the
crossbar.
Seconds later the game was over and van Nistelrooy was surrounded by at
least FIVE Arsenal players. Keown seemed to hit the Dutchman as they
gloated in his face. I have heard that Vieira refused to go to the
dressing room and was involved in a further altercation with van
Nistelrooy in the tunnel, which the referee saw. (Ed: Note that a number of misconduct charges have followed this game. 6 against Arsenal and 2 against Man Utd - none to Van Nistelrooy)
Middlesbrough v Everton 1-0
Job grabbed the only goal of the match in the 6th minute. He managed to
get on the end of a centre from Boateng to force the ball into the Everton
goal. Queudrue had a goal disallowed, The ball definitely crossed the line
before it was hacked clear by Hibbert. Thereafter Everton called the tune
but just could not score, partly because Schwarzer made a welcome return
to form.
FA Barclaycard Premiership
Pos. Pl. W. D. L. F-A. GD Pts
1 Arsenal 6 4 2 0 11-3 8 14
2 Chelsea 5 4 1 0 15-6 9 13
3 Man Utd 6 4 1 1 9-2 7 13
4 So'pton 6 3 3 0 8-3 5 12
5 Man City 6 3 2 1 14-8 6 11
6 Liverpool 6 3 2 1 9-4 5 11
7 B'mingham 5 3 2 0 6-2 4 11
8 P'tsmouth 6 2 3 1 9-5 4 9
9 Blackburn 6 2 2 2 14-12 2 8
10 Fulham 5 2 2 1 11-9 2 8
11 A. Villa 6 2 1 3 7-10 -3 7
12 Bolton 6 1 3 2 4-10 -6 6
13 L'cester 6 1 2 3 9-9 0 5
14 Charlton 6 1 2 3 7-9 -2 5
15 Everton 6 1 2 3 8-11 -3 5
16 Leeds 6 1 2 3 6-12 -6 5
17 M'brough 6 1 1 4 5-12 -7 4
18 Spurs 6 1 1 4 5-12 -7 4
19 Newcastle 5 0 3 2 5-7 -2 3
20 Wolves 6 0 1 5 1-17 -16 1
