Football News And Views

Arsenal became the first english club to win at the San Siro against AC Milan after a supurb 2-0 win. Arsenal continued where they left off from the first leg, in control. AC Milan have not had the best of seasons so far domestically and their poor form seemed to have continued against a fantastic Arsenal side. Throughout the whole game Arsenal dominated possession and were allowed to play their slick passing game. AC Milan had a couple of half chances in the first half, one coming after 18 minutes when a good long ball from Kaka found Pato who shot tamely at Almunia. Arsenal had by far the best chance of the first half when Cesc Fabregas shot from outside the area only to see his shot rebound on the crossbar.

Arsenal carried on where they left off in the second half and again had a couple of good chances. A Fabregas corner found it’s way to the feet of an unmarked Senderos who could only shoot straight at the Milan keeper, Kalac. Not long after Arsenal had another chance. Pirlo, who had a terrible night, gave the ball away to Adebayor on the edge of the Milan box and he picked out Eboue but his shot didn’t trouble the keeper. Pirlo almost made amends when his free kick forced a good save from Almunia in the Arsenal goal.

Arsenal bought Walcott on with 20 minutes to go and the young Englishman almost set up a goal when he was found well at the far post by Hleb but Kalac did well to block the shot with Senderos and Adebayor waiting for the tap in. Arsenal finally made the breakthrough when a low 30 yard shot from Cesc Fabregas found the Milan corner in the 84th minute. With the game beyond AC Milan, Arsenal doubled their lead when Walcott crossed low across the goal and Adebayor tapped in to get his first champion’s league goal for Arsenal.

Ivory Coast 5-0 Guinea

I wasn’t going to report on any of the matches from the African Cup of Nations because I have not really been watching many full matches. In fact this match was the first one I have watched the full 90 minutes of and I was rewarded with a treat as Ivory Coast cruised past Guinea. There was only one first half goal and it was a well taken goal from Abdelkader Keita who took on two defenders before firing home from a tight angle when it looked like he was going to cross. Questions will be asked of the goalkeepers positioning for Guinea as he was too far off his line. Not much else happened in the first half until the final few minutes when Kemoko Camara in the Guinea goal made up for his earlier mistake with a fine double save to deny Aruna Dindane and then Saloman Kalo and moment later he made an even better stop from a Didier Drogba effort.

Ivory Coast started brightly in the second half and picked up where they left off, in control. Guinea did have a chance when Daouda Jabi saw his free-kick go just wide of the post. As he dived low to save, Boubacar Barry (surely that’s the best name ever!) hit his head into the upright but was okay shortly after. Miss of the tournament came from Dindane who had done well to take the ball around Camara only to shoot wide with the net gaping. A minute later Ivory Coast made it 2-0 when Arthur Boka picked out Drogba who runs past two defenders and finished as well as you would expect from a world class striker.

This was game over. Guinea just fell flat after the second goal and it wasn’t long before Kalou made it three. Drogba found his Chelsea team mate who rounded Camara and just walked the ball in to the net. Kalou then added the 4th when he was picked out by Yaya Toure who had made a powerful run into the box. He then pulled it back to Kalou who couldn’t miss. The 5th was the best goal of the match and it came from Kone who smashed the ball in from 20 yards. It was a powerful strike and flew as straight as an arrow into the back of the net. This tournament just keeps on giving us great matches and great games.

Arsenal 3-0 Newcastle

Arsenal were once again on hand to pile on the misery for Kevin Keegan who just days ago was labeled ‘The Messiah’ by many in the media. Three games without a goal  now for Keegan’s Newcastle side who in all fairness have had to travel to The Emirates twice in a few days and it’s no easy place to go. Saturday’s game ended 3-0 to the Gunners and the league game was a repeat and it was just as easy for Arsenal as it was before. I didn’t expect Newcastle to win but I did expect them to learn from their mistakes from Saturday but they never really had any of the game and Arsenal were in control throughout.

Newcastle held out for a while and it took Arsenal nearly 40 minutes to find the break through. Flamini sent in a delightful cross from the right hand side for Adebayor to easily header past Shay Given. Adebayor had a shot over the bar just minutes before the opening goal and that was about as far as first half chances went. Newcastle started the first few minutes of the second half looking brighter but couldn’t do anything with the ball. Michael Owen found himself offside on so many occasions as the Newcaslte midfield tried to find him and this did not help Newcastle’ cause.

After 72 minutes the goal of the match came and it had looked like Arsenal were going to get anotehr one and they did in some style. Cesc passed the ball from the left to Flamini who struck the ball from 20 yards and it floated into the top corner. Just as it was on Saturday 2-0 was game over but again it wasn’t enough for Arsenal who got the third from Cesc Fabregas who couldn’t miss after being played the ball square in the box from Bendtner. It was a typical Arsenal move.

So where does this leave The Messiah and his new recruit, Dennis Wise? I think the next few days are critical for Newcastle United. They need to bring in a few faces. They clearly need a centre back and a defensive midfielder. They are missing Martins and playing Owen up front or with Alan Smith behind him does not appear to bring much joy. A winger should also be on their shopping list as they never really looked threatening out on their wide positions. A lot of people will be looking at Keegan and wondering if he is the man for the job but only time will tell. Losing at The Emirates is not a problem but his side need to bounce back. They have a local Derby with Boro at home next, a tie which is very much winnable and if Keegan wants to live up to his Messiah tag then 3 points is critical.

Fulham 2-2 Blackburn

An entertaining second half is the story of this match as Fulham hosted Blackburn at Craven Cottage. The only major incident in the first half was an injury to Benni McCarthy who had to go off with a gashed leg. He was replaced by Jason Roberts. The injury produced 4 minutes of first half injury time and these 4 minutes were more entertaining than the first 45 minutes. Morten Gamst Pederson had a shot blocked as Blackburn looked to take the lead and moments later Kamara also came clsoe with a long range effort.

The second half was like a different game and it was Fulham who took the league through a Danny Murphy penalty who went Brad Friedel the wrong way. Kamara was brought down on the edge of the box by Ryan Nelsen and the referee didn’t hesitate and pointed straight to the spot. Blackburn responded 5 minutes later when Brett Emerton turned well to fire in from a Jason Roberts cross. It looked as if Blackburn would go on and get a second but after another 5 minutes Fulham scored again when a slick move was rounded off by Kamara who was picked out by Simon Davies who had earlier been released on the right hand side. Blackburn again had most of the play and Niemi was force to make a great double save after 75 minutes from Emerton and Pederson shots. But Blackburn did get their equaliser when Jason Roberts again provided a good cross and Warnock made no mistake from close range.

The final few minutes provided great end to end football but neither team could make themselves any clear cut chances. Fulham fans will be glad they didn’t conceed in the final moments like they usually do but they will be disappointed they let the lead go twice but credit to Blackburn who looked the better side throughout most of the match.

Arsenal 2 - 0 Wigan

With Manchester United losing 1-0 to Bolton, Arsenal had the chance to move 3 points clear with a game in hand and they left it late against a resilient Wigan side who had new manager, Steve Bruce watching in the stands. Bruce will be impressed that his Wigan side managed to keep Arsenal at bay for 80 minutes before Gallas and Rosicky got the goals for The Gunners.

There were few chances in the first half. Adebayor had his shot well saved by Pollitt who was called up die to Chris Kirkland’s illness. Adebayor found space in the box after being found by Theo Walcott but he couldn’t direct it past the Wigan goalkeeper who dived to his left to produce a fine save. Marcus Bent came close for Wigan when he saw his header go over the bar but that’s as close as Wigan got all match. Eboue also could have scored for Arsenal in the first half but he mistimed his shot and missed the ball completely from Theo Walcott’s low cross.

Wigan kept Arsenal out for most of the second half and there were not many Arsenal chances. Their passing was not like it has been in recent weeks and Wigan managed to break down a few attacks throughout the game. Pollitt did make another good save after Denilson’s free kick was floated into the area and it looked to have been flicked on by a Wigan player at close range but Pollitt was equal to it. Adebayor also had a chance when he was put through but Boyce managed to tackle him and knock the ball away just as Adebayor was going to pull the trigger.

There was a bit of handbags after Marcus Bent fouled Denilson and Gallas and Heskey found themselves booked. As Arsenal kept pressing Heskey bought down Theo Walcott and the young Englishman had to be stretchered off but it has been confirmed by Arsene Wenger that he is okay. Then the goals finally came for Arsenal. The first was a near post header from Gallas who met a superb cross from Sagna who had played well. A typical Arsenal break saw Bendtner feed the ball to Rosicky who had plenty of space to knock it from an advancing Pollitt from 16 yards. So that leaves Arsenal in a very good position coming into December and they have some tricky matches coming up.

Reading 1 - 3 Arsenal

Arsenal took their chance to go back above Manchester United in the Premiership to retain top spot with a 3-1 win over Reading on a cold Monday night. Reading went into the game with a defensive approach and managed to frustrate Arsenal for most of the first half. There were little clear cut chances with Adebayor coming the closest when his shot hit the post. Gunnarsson had a 30 yard effort saved by Almunia  as the Royals created little else. The breakthrough did come right before the stroke of half time when a neat bit of play was rounded of with great movement by Hleb who picked out Flamini who opened the scoring despite Stephen Hunt’s best efforts to prevent it.

Arsenal made it 2 shortly after the second half began when typical Arsenal passing between Hleb and Cesc found the ball fall to Adebayor who cooly slotted the ball past Hahnemann in the Reading goal. This was Arsenals 1000th goal in the Premiership. Adebayor should have got a second but was wrongly ruled offside by the linesman who didn’t have the best angle to judge. Hleb then made it 3-0 and he deserved to get his name on the scoresheet. Hleb broke free into the Reading area and took the ball round Hehnemann and made it goal 1001.

Reading never gave up and kept pushing Arsenal until the end and got a goal which they would feel they deserved. The goal was scored in an almost scrappy fashion as Shorey hit the post with his header and the ball fell straight to Stephen Hunt who couldn’t miss from 3 yards. So Arsenal are back on top for a couple of weeks and on this form they will be very hard to dislodge.

Norwich City 1 - 3 Bristol City

There has certainly been mixed fortunes for Norwich City and Bristol City this season. Norwich City had struggled under Peter Grant who has now left the club and this was the first game for caretaker manager Jim Duffy and new loan signing John Hartson. Bristol City on the other hand were expected to go straight back down by most people but have found themselves amongst the big boys in the top of the table. Norwich City had hoped that their league places count for nothing before the game and Norwich City were by far the better team in the first half and created many chances in the first ten minutes alone. Norwich came close after just 3 minutes when some nice play between Otsemobor and Huckerby on the right saw the ball played into the feet of Russell on the edge of the area, his clever back-heel found Strihavka, whose touch fell into the path of Hartson 15 yards out. The 32-year-old’s first touch got the ball out of his feet, and he sent in a low right foot shot which ‘keeper Adriano Basso got down well to push away for a corner. Two minutes later Hartson had a shot from 25 yards that Basso saved well. And from the resulting corner the striker made it a hat-trick of near-misses, powering a header from Lappin’s kick just inches wide. The Canaries were piling on the pressure inside the Bristol box, and on eight minutes another chance went begging. Again Hartson was at the centre of things, chesting a cross from Lappin down into the stride of Drury who had stayed up from a previous attack but he blasted over from 8 yards. Bristol City only came close once in the first half when a shot from McAllister looked to be creeping in but Marshall saved well.

The Canaries tested Basso again on 19 minutes, Russell unleashing a left-foot shot from the edge of the box which the ‘keeper again looked less than comfortable with as he palmed it down in front of him. Fortunately for him, his defence were alert to the danger before Hartson could reach the rebound. There was a moment of concern for City fans on 24 minutes when Drury hit the deck clutching his right knee in pain after coming off worse in a 50-50 challenge on the halfway line. Drury couldn’t continue and had to be replaced by Michael Spillane with Murray going to left back. In the 35th minute Marshall comfortably collected a deep cross from the right before throwing the ball to Huckerby in space on the right. There were many occasions when Huckerby has plenty of space on the right but this one of the few occasions he was picked up and it almost paid off when he darted over the halfway line and found Otsemobor on the overlap. He pinged in a first time cross to the near post where Strihavka was sliding in. But visiting captain Louis Carey had read the danger, jumping in to block on the right corner of the six-yard box. Norwich later won a free kick about 45 yards out and Simon Lappin produced a trademark dipping free kick to the far post, but Hartson could not make a strong enough connection, with the ball finishing behind for a goal kick and the striker dropping to his knees in disappointment.

Norwich were forced to pay for not taking their chances in the second half when within minutes Bristol City took the lead. Ivan Sproule took on Murray and sent in a good ball from the left which McIndoe headed passed Marshall who looked to have got fingers too it. Bristol City almost made it 2-0 when David Noble pulled a chance horribly wide of the far post when unmarked less than 10 yards out. Duffy changed things around after 68 minutes with Croft replacing Murray. This saw Lappin move to left-back, with Huckerby going wide left and Croft taking up his usual position on the right flank. On 70 minutes the change almost led to the equaliser. Croft picked up the ball wide right before playing a ball into Otsemobor’s path who was overlapping. He got to the by-line and fizzed a cross across the six-yard box. Strihavka came diving in, but Carey read the danger, just managing to flick the ball away from the Czech forward. Three minutes later and Hartson produced a smart turn from Otsemobor’s cross, but his low shot was straight at Basso from 10 yards out. He did well to create the chance for himself but he really should have done better with the finish. Hartson again had a chance when he headed wide from a Lappin corner but that was to be the end of his chances as he was taken off and replaced for Chris Martin.

A goal finally came for Norwich City when Darren Huckery made a great run from the left and into the box to blast the ball past Basso to make it 1-1. But it was only 5 minutes until Bristol City were back in the lead. Murray took a pot shot from about 30 yards which Marshall didn’t expect. It hit his left hand post before trickling across and finally over the line. It was a soft goal and very harsh on Norwich who had tried so hard to get the match back level. Bristol City were not finished though. In the final minute Lee Trundle found himself through on the right and smartly finished to make it 3-1.

So Bristol City are now second and Norwich are second from bottom. A new manager is needed fast for Norwich who need to take positives from the game. Overall they were the better team but they need to take their chances. If they had done it might have been a different story altogether.

England 3 - 0 Estonia

The winning streak continues for England in their European qualifying group ahead of the big game away to Russia on Wednesday. It was important that England keep the pace by beating the Estonians and they did just that. It only took 11 minutes for England to take the lead when great play down the right between Shaun Wright-Phillips and Micah Richards saw Richards release Wright-Phillips into space in the box which he ran into and fired a shot between Mart Pooms legs.  Michael Owen later found himself one on one with Poom only for the flag to go up wrongfully but Poom saved well anyway.

The scoreline was doubled when Joe Cole found Rooney from the left and Rooney made a yard for himself just outside the box to fire a shot and hard past Poom and replays show that the shot took the tiniest of deflections on the way in. The score was 3-0 moments later from a bizarre own goal by Rahm. Ashley Cole whipped in the ball from the left and Rahm powered a header off his own post and in from about 18 yards. There were very few other chances in the first half. The only close one was a lob from Rooney that was just over the bar.

At half time Jolean Lescott made his England debut when he came on for Rio Ferdinand who was saved for Wednesday match as he was only one yellow away from a suspension. Ashley Cole who was in the same situation also came off but that was because of an ankle injury which hopefully won’t see him miss Wednesdays match with Russia. Lescott was moved to the left hand side of defence which is where he may find himself playing against Russia if Ashley Cole isn’t fit.

Michael Owen again had another close offside call which Poom also managed to save well from. Frank Lampard found himself back in the England frame when he came on as a sub for Michael Owen. The last 20 minutes of the game didn’t see much in terms of chances. England were happy to just keep the ball while Estonia had a couple of half chances but really didn’t do much at all. England could have made it four in the last minute when Gerrard and Joe Cole found themselves breaking away against the last defender but Gerrard unselfishly passed to Cole when he should have took the shot on himself and nothing came of the move. Joe Cole also had a chance himself but his shot went across the goal and wide.

So the 5^th 3-0 win a row for England sees them in a great position to qualify for Euro 2008.

Lyon 0 - 3 Rangers

Well I have said a few times that Rangers are in the group of death yet here we are after 2 of the 6 games and Rangers are joint top after winning them both and if I had put a few quid on them beating Lyon 3-0 away from home I would have got a very good return indeed. I am still not 100% convinced that they will get out of this group but 3rd place and a Uefa Cup spot seems almost certain already. Rangers went in at half time 1-0 when Lee McCulloch thundered in a header from DaMarcus Beasley’s corner after 23 minutes. Just before the break Lyon won a free kick which Juninho smashed against the crossbar.

Juninho nearly scored again just after the break but his shot was just wide of the mark. Rangers then doubled their advantage with a breakaway with Hutton who picked out Cousin after a great run. Cousin then turned his marker and fired his shot past the Lyon goalkeeper, Remy Vercoutre. Moments later it was 3-0 when DaMarcus Beasley ran onto a long ball from Cousin and then calmly slotted in his shot.

Lyon kept on pressing but couldn’t find a breakthrough and in the last 20 minutes they hit the woodword twice when Juninho hit the post from his long range effort and Beraldo had a header hit the crossbar. This win leaves Rangers in a good position to qualify and they ideally need about 4 more points from 4 games which I think they can get but half of them games are against Barcelona and even on this form rangers will find them very hard to match.

Portsmouth 7 - 4 Reading

I have not mispelt the scoreline nor is this a match report for a womans match. The score at Fratton Park really was 7-4 in what is currently the highest scoring Premier League match of all time. Portsmouth, who started with one striker up front, Benjani who last season ‘couldn’t hit a barn door with a banjo’ opened the scoring when Utaka beat the offside trap and floated the ball to the back post for Benjani to hit home from close range. Benjani then picked up the ball outside the box and produced some good footwork and an equally good finish to put Portsmouth 2-0 up. Before half time Reading pulled one back when Stephen Hunt headed in from close range after Roseniors shot bounced off the line.

The second half was where things got a bit silly. Reading came out looking the equaliser and found it when David James made a trademark error. The ball traveled at pace looking for Kitson outside the Portsmouth box and David James rushed out to scramble it away but Kitson beat him to and he took it past James to slot the ball into the empty net from 20 yards. Portsmouth had the ball in the back of the net again when Diop was left unmarked in the box and headed it in but he was offside so it didn’t count. It was long after that Portsmouth did find a 3rd, this time Hreidarsson scored with a header from Distins cross.

Portsmouth nearly gifted Reading another equaliser when Diop handled in the area to give away a spot kick. This James went from villain to hero to save Shorey’s penalty kick. Portsmouth then ran riot starting with Banjani completing his hattrick when he took the ball around Hahnemann and slid the ball into the empty net. Reading defender Gunnarsson who had a howler of a match tried to clear the ball from the Reading area only to kick it straight to Davis who crossed to Kranjcar who got between two Reading defenders and their keeper to header home from 2 yards to make it 5-2. I hope you’re keeping up.

Reading then got another one back when James Harper fired a shot which deflected off Shane Long to make it 5-3 but Portsmouth responded with a deflected shot of their own when Davis shot from long range and his shot deflected off the head of Ingimarsson to make it 6-3. By this time Sky Sports News reporter Chris Kamara was looking like he might take off he was loving it. Nico Kranjcar was then fouled in the Reading area and Muntari made no mistake from the resulting penalty kick by blasting it into the roof of the net. In the dying moments of the game Reading scored a 4th when Shorey scored the third deflected goal of the match when he picked up Shane Long’s cross outside the area and blasted it in off Sol Campbell to cap an incredible match which must ask some defensive questions. Reading will look at it and wonder how they can score 4 goals away from home and walk away with nothing and Portsmouth will need to address letting in 4 goals at home (which I think is mainly down to me putting Glen Johnson into my fantasy football team. Typical).