Premier 10 Minute by Minute Review – April 12, 13 & 14
This was a great weekend for Manchester United as they now have one hand on the Premier League trophy following their comeback against title rivals Arsenal. They’re now 5 points clear at the top of the table after Chelsea were stunned by a 1-1 home draw with strugglers Wigan. Both the title and the Champions League places now look assured so it’s the chase for Uefa Cup places and relegation that will go to the wire. This weekend’s Premier 10 fixtures offered the usual thrills and spills though most of the drama unfolded in the second half of games as 20 of the 25 goals scored this weekend came in the second period. Here’s your minute by minute guide to when the goals went in and how it affected your Premier 10 predictions.
FIRST HALF GOALS
24 MINS - Brian McBride
READING 0-1 FULHAM
25 MINS - Ashley Young
DERBY 0-1 ASTON VILLA
26 MINS - John Carew
DERBY 0-2 ASTON VILLA
27 MINS - Jonathan Grounds
TOTTENHAM 1-1 MIDDLESBROUGH
36 MINS - Stilian Petrov
DERBY 0-3 ASTON VILLA
SECOND HALF GOALS
47 MINS - Kevin Davies
BOLTON 1-0 WEST HAM
48 MINS - Emmanuel Adebayor
MANCHESTER UTD 0-1 ARSENAL
54 MINS - Cristiano Ronaldo (penalty)
MANCHESTER UTD 1-1 ARSENAL
55 MINS - Michael Essien
CHELSEA 1-0 WIGAN
58 MINS - Gareth Barry
DERBY 0-4 ASTON VILLA
60 MINS - Steven Gerrard
LIVERPOOL 1-0 BLACKBURN
69 MINS - Stewart Downing
TOTTENHAM 1-1 MIDDLESBROUGH
72 MINS - Owen Hargreaves
MANCHESTER UTD 2-1 ARSENAL
76 MINS - Gabriel Agbonlahor
DERBY 0-5 ASTON VILLA
78 MINS - Joleon Lescott
BIRMINGHAM 0-1 EVERTON
79 MINS - Elano (penalty)
SUNDERLAND 0-1 MANCHESTER CITY
82 MINS - Dean Whitehead
SUNDERLAND 1-1 MANCHESTER CITY
82 MINS - Fernando Torres
LIVERPOOL 2-0 BLACKBURN
83 MINS - Mauro Zarate
BIRMINGHAM 1-1 EVERTON
85 MINS - Marlon Harewood
DERBY 0-6 ASTON VILLA
87 MINS - Darius Vassell
SUNDERLAND 1-2 MANCHESTER CITY
90 MINS - Andriy Voronin
LIVERPOOL 3-0 BLACKBURN
90 MINS - Roque Santa Cruz
LIVERPOOL 3-1 BLACKBURN
90 MINS - Erik Nevland
READING 0-2 FULHAM
90 MINS - Emile Heskey
CHELSEA 1-1 WIGAN
Everton travelled to Birmingham on Saturday with just 3 points between them and 4th spot rivals Liverpool. However the Toffees hopes of catching their more illustrious neighbours are slowly dwindling and a 1-1 draw did nothing to improve matters. In fact it only pleased 29% of Premier 10 players as the majority 53% plumped for a Toffees away win. Once prolific defender Joleon Lescott had given them the lead it looked as though David Moyes’ men could pick up their umpteenth 1-0 win of the season but the Blues little loan Argentinian striker Mauro Zarate had other ideas. The substitute grabbed his 4th goal in 4 games to bring back memories of a certain Carlos Tevez for West Ham last season.
Premier 10 players were completely split on the Bolton v West Ham match with only 30% backing Bolton to end their 8-match winless run. However, the Hammers are a side with little to play for and with the Trotters survival hopes hanging by a thread they came out fighting. Old fashioned target man Kevin Davies finally broke the deadlock in the early minutes of the second half with his 100th career goal. Alan Curbishley’s disappointing injury hit season continued with yet another casualty, this time it was Anton Ferdinand who limped off in a matter of minutes. Perhaps Curbs should sign players like hardman Davies who played on after having his dislocated finger snapped back into place, they don’t make them like that anymore.
The worst team ever to play in the Premier League endured yet another defeat and yet another thrashing this weekend. The relegated Rams were soundly thrashed by a Villa side who’ve now burst back to form with 10 goals in their last 2 games. This was not a shock result by any means as 85% of you backed the away side. Surprisingly 5% predicted a Derby home win, have you not seen the Rams this season?
Two of the form sides of the Premier League met at Fratton Park this weekend, we expected attacking football, goals, excitement, what we actually got was a 0-0 draw. You can’t have everything can you? Well at least 33% of you won’t care one bit as you backed the draw.
Most Premier 10 players hopes of a jackpot win this weekend were ruined due to the result at the Madejski Stadium. It’s been 19 months since Fulham last recorded an away Premier League win at Newcastle in September 2006. So it’s no surprise only 7% of you backed them here. However, Roy Hodgson’s team finally did it and have given themselves an outside chance of survival with 4 games to go. Reading aren’t safe themselves yet and this defeat could see them dragged back into the relegation scrap despite 75% of you backing them to win this basement battle.
There was another Premier 10 shock at the Stadium of Light as Man City beat in form Sunderland with two of the flukiest goals this season. Not only did City sub Daniel Sturridge dive dramatically to win an ill-deserved penalty but to add insult to injury Darius Vassell manages to scuff a winner just 3 minutes from time. Just 18% predicted the win and I hope they also put a bet on the horses as their luck was in! The majority 55% backed the Black Cats to win their 4th Premier League match in a row but with luck like this, they had no chance.
Tottenham threw away yet another lead this weekend in their home match with Boro much to the disappointment of 67% of you who expected Juande Ramos to motivate his lacklustre troops. However, Spurs players have already slipped their Speedo’s on in their heads as their season ends in mediocrity. To add insult to injury it was former Spurs target Stewart Downing who scored a fortunate deflected equaliser to the delight of the 24% who expected a stalemate.
Liverpool followed up their impressive midweek Champions League win over Arsenal with another awesome showing at Anfield. The last Champions League slot looks as good as theirs now as the cream has well and truly risen to the top. Their big names Steven Gerrard and Fernando Torres have come to the fore and 85% of you backed this win.
United didn’t impress in the win over Arsenal but Sir Alex Ferguson and 64% of you won’t give a damn. This match summed up the Gunners season, they played pretty attractive football outplaying the League leaders for long periods but they didn’t deliver a win. Just as in midweek they took the lead but were penned back by the award of a penalty. This time it was big mouth captain William Gallas who gave United a lifeline, for someone so sure of himself he has sure made a lot of mistakes lately. However, you know the title chase is up when Canadian, erm I mean Englishman Owen Hargreaves scores a Beckham-esque free-kick. Come in Arsenal, your time is up.
Chelsea were overwhelming favourites amongst 96% of Premier 10 players for their Monday evening match with Wigan. However, Avram Grant was guilty of underestimating Steve Bruce’s side as he made a number of changes to his usual line-up. Although once Michael Essien had given them a second-half lead you wouldn’t of expected the Latics to come back. However, cometh the hour, cometh Emile Heskey. The lumbering England international equalised in injury time to leave Chelsea 6 points behind United and only 3% of Premier 10 players with a correct prediction.
This weekend both Chelsea and Arsenal threw away the chance to seriously challenge United for the Premier League title. The major shocks of the Premier 10 weekend came at Stamford Bridge, the Madejski Stadium and White Hart Lane. Few would have predicted Chelsea to slip up and Fulham to end their away jinx so next week we will see a Premier 10 jackpot rollover for an estimated £12,500, good luck!
Tags: Premier 10 review, Premier League
