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On Sunday, the last five matches of the fifth round of the highest "Premier" league in England took place. All attention was focused on the "Big Four" - London's "Chelsea" welcomed guests from Liverpool "Liverpool", while "Man Utd" fought against "Arsenal".
This year's season saw the first failure for Sir Alex Ferguson's coached "Man Utd", who lost in the last minutes of the match to London's "Arsenal" eleven, while "Chelsea" did not disappoint their fans in the presence of 42 thousand supporters and won by the same result 1-0. In another match, the first victory in the "Premier" league was won by "Blackburn", who beat the other Manchester team "Man City", "West Ham" lost to "Newcastle" 0-2, and the match between "Tottenham" and "Fulham" ended in a draw: 0 – 0.
On the early Sunday afternoon, viewers were attracted to the match between "Chelsea" and "Liverpool". In the previous round of the Liverpool city derby, the titled "Liverpool" was crushed by 3-0, while the champion "Chelsea" managed to beat the "Charlton" team without any issues.
In the first half, the players only stood out with mistakes and yellow cards. In the 15th minute, the best chance was for "Liverpool" forward Dirk Kuyt, who received the ball from team captain Steven Gerrard on the left and made a powerful shot that shook the crossbar of "Chelsea" goalkeeper Petr Cech.
Four minutes later, Frank Lampard responded with a dangerous penalty kick, but his strong shot hit Pepe Reina's hands directly. A minute later, a beautiful attack was created by the "Reds" - D. Kuyt received the ball from the left corner flag and passed it to another forward Craig Bellamy, but his shot was easily saved by P. Cech. In the 22nd minute, "Chelsea" forward from Ukraine Andrey Shevchenko tried to beat the "Liverpool" goalkeeper from about 17 meters, but once again he was easily caught by the Spanish legionnaire.
The game continued to develop in the middle of the field. But the crucial moment came in the 42nd minute. F. Lampard lifted the ball perfectly from the right to the penalty area, where Ivory Coast forward Didier Drogba stood with his back to the goal, and he immediately stopped the ball and turned around to score a beautiful goal, thus putting his team forward. At the end of the first half, "Reds" captain S. Gerrard tried to score from the corner, but his shot missed over the crossbar. Referee Mike Riley blew the whistle, signaling that the players would go into the break with a 1-0 lead for the "Blues".
The second half started with "Chelsea" defender Michael Ballack being sent off the field. In the 50th minute, the player just climbed on Mohammed Sissoko's shins, and the match referee immediately sent the German off the field.
"Liverpool" felt that they had a quantitative advantage and pressured the opponents, but they failed to create anything more dangerous. In the 60th minute, S. Gerrard shot from the left, but the danger was neutralized by the Czech Republic national team goalkeeper Petr Cech. Seven minutes later, the same S. Gerrard slashed the ball into the penalty area again, but his shot hit P. Cech.
In the 75th minute, D. Kuyt's header just missed the next to the goal, and a minute later, Fabio Aurelio broke through on the left and passed the ball to C. Bellamy, but his shot was blocked by P. Cech again. The last chance to equalize the score was had by Dutchman D. Kuyt, but after a header pass from P. Crouch, he did not hit the ball accurately and it flew over the crossbar. During the referee's added five minutes, "Liverpool" could not capitalize on their territorial advantage, and "Chelsea" celebrated their fourth victory in the competition.
Another thrilling match took place at Manchester's "Old Trafford" stadium, where the local "Man Utd" confronted their eternal rivals from London - "Arsenal". Sir Alex Ferguson's wards had not yet tasted defeat this season, while "Arsenal" was in an unusual 17th place in the league table.
The match was actively started as appropriate for the hosts, when in the 2nd minute Cristiano Ronaldo's shot went wide. Just three minutes later, the Portuguese dangerously converted a penalty kick, and in the 10th minute, referee Graham Poll awarded a penalty kick to "Man Utd" when Emmanuel Adebayor was fouled in the penalty area.
Temporary team captain Gilberto Silva stepped up to take the shot, but the player slipped, yet in today's match the goalkeeper for "Red Devils" Tomas Kuszczak guessed the direction of the ball and managed to deflect the shot.
Right away at the "United" goal, danger arose when Tomas Rosicky lifted the ball into the penalty area, and William Gallas headed it, but the shot was saved by the "Man Utd" goalkeeper, redirecting the ball to the post, and veteran Paul Scholes appeared in time and cleared it further from the goal.
Seven minutes later, Czech Republic's T. Rosicky, with a precise shot, hit the near corner of the goal, but there ruled this summer's new "Man Utd" acquisition T. Kuszczak. Just a couple of minutes later, the same Czech tried his luck from further away, but this time the shot was not as dangerous, and the ball was easily caught by T. Kuszczak.
After this moment, the "Gunners" seemed to fall asleep, and the initiative gradually shifted to the "Man Utd" club. In the 22nd minute, after receiving a pass from C. Ronaldo from the depth of the field, Wayne Rooney broke through on the left and shot towards the far corner of the goal, but missed.
Six minutes later, C. Ronaldo threatened Jens Lehmann's goal, and the goalkeeper struggled to deal with the powerful shot from the Portuguese star. Towards the end of the first half, W. Rooney's long-range shot sailed over the crossbar. In the 40th minute, C. Ronaldo skillfully dribbled around experienced "Arsenal" Brazilian Gilberto Silva, but unfortunately, his shot from 22 meters flew past the post of the "Arsenal" goalkeeper.
Two minutes later, from the right, team captain Gary Neville lifted the ball into the penalty area, but C. Ronaldo's powerful shot hit J. Lehmann right in the face, which immediately put him to the ground as if after a heavy punch. The goalkeeper could obviously continue the match, but after this incident, the teams did not create dangerous opportunities and went to rest with the scoreboard showing 0-0.
In the beginning of the second half, Cesc Fabregas tried his luck from further away, but his shot flew wide of the post. In the 58th minute, "United" players almost scored a goal when winger Darren Fletcher managed the ball well on the right sideline and lifted it perfectly for his teammate Louis Saha, but his header missed just beside the post.
Just a minute later, home team players almost scored a goal when after a pass from T. Rosicky lifted into the right corner of the penalty area, the ball found W. Gallas's head, but he failed to beat T. Kuszczak. In the 63rd minute, E. Adebayor went alone against goalkeeper T. Kuszczak, but his shot was not strong enough and the Polish caught the ball.
After thirteen minutes, another chance arose for the "Red Devils" when Brazilian Julio Baptista appeared after a substitution and after dribbling past a few defenders, his shot towards the far corner missed the target. However, the decisive 86th minute determined the outcome of the match - with C. Ronaldo losing the ball in the middle of the field, C. Fabregas made a jewel of a pass to E. Adebayor, who only needed to send the ball into the net guarded by T. Kuszczak.
The situation was tried to be saved by the "super substitute" Ole Gunnar Solskjaer, but his shot from the left was deflected well by the German J. Lehmann. In the 91st minute, after a header pass from Rio Ferdinand, another defender Wes Brown took a shot from an uncomfortable position, but once again, he failed to hit the target. The final whistle declared the first victory for "Arsenal" in this competition, while the "Man Utd" players had to leave the field with their heads down for the first time.
In another match, the somewhat less intriguing but with the most goals this season, the poorly performing "Blackburn" faced the fluctuating "Man City". The first goal was scored in the 18th minute, when Trevor Sinclair scored an own goal to equalize, and the second goal in the championship was scored by Joey Barton. At the end of the first half, "Blackburn" defender Morten Gamst Pedersen defeated "Man City" goalkeeper Nicky Weaver. But a minute later, "Blackburn" goalkeeper Brad Friedel had to withdraw the ball from his own goal, and the goal was scored by Andre Ooijer.
In the second half, in the 66th minute, the "Blackburn" team was brought forward by South African Benny McCarthy. "Manchester" players tried to equalize the score towards the end of the match but missed another goal - in the 89th minute Paul Gallagher made his mark.
In another match, London's "West Ham" faced "Newcastle". This time, Alan Pardew's pupils failed to delight their fans - the team lost by a 2-0 result, with goals scored by the team's newcomers Damien Duff and Obafemi Martins. The another match between "Tottenham" and "Fulham" ended in a peaceful 0-0 draw.
Results of the Sunday England "Premier" league 5th round matches:
"Chelsea" 1 – 0 "Liverpool"
42‘ [1 - 0] Didier Drogba
"Man Utd" 0 – 1 "Arsenal"
86‘ [0 – 1] Emmanuel Adebayor
"Blackburn" 4 -2 "Man City"
18‘ [1 – 0] Trevor Sinclair (own goal)
39‘ [1 – 1] Joy Barton
44‘ [2 – 1] Morten Gamst Pedersen
45‘ [2 – 2] Andre Ooijer (own goal)
66‘ [3 – 2] Benny McCarthy
89‘ [4 – 2] Paul Gallagher
"West Ham" 0 – 2 "Newcastle"
50‘ [0 – 1] Damien Duff
75‘ [0 – 2] Obafemi Martins
"Tottenham" 0 – 0 "Fulham"
Top goal scorers:
1-2. Andrew Johnson – 5 goals ("Everton")
1-2. Bobby Zamora – 5 ("West Ham")
3-4. Didier Drogba – 4 ("Chelsea")
3-4. Nwankwo Kanu – 4 ("Portsmouth")
5. Darren Bent – 3 ("Charlton")
League table:
[table=7][/table]
