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In the "Premier League" of England, eight matches of the 8th round took place on Saturday. After a tough battle, "Man Utd" secured a victory away against "Wigan", "Arsenal" crushed "Watford" at home, "Portsmouth" returned to the path of victories, "Middlesbrough" surprisingly defeated "Everton", "Liverpool" lost two crucial points, while "Aston Villa" and "Tottenham" shared a point each.
In the early Saturday matches, "Wigan" hosted visitors from Manchester - "Man Utd". The first opportunity was created in the second minute when "Red Devils" striker Ole Gunnar Solskjaer took a shot at goal, but the ball was easily caught by Chris Kirkland. A few moments later, the first goal fell into "Man Utd" - in the 4th minute Patrice Evra handled the ball, and the penalty kick taker for "Wigan" Paul Scharner passed the ball to his teammate Leighton Baines, who without hesitation sent a strong long-range shot from 25 meters into the far top corner of the goal, leaving no chance for "Man Utd" goalkeeper Edwin van der Sar.
After conceding the goal, the hosts continued to create opportunities. In the 5th minute, Nemanja Vidic fouled Emile Heskey, resulting in a penalty, which P. Scharner took, but he once again passed the ball - this time to Denny Landzaat, whose shot from about 22 yards flew above the crossbar. After ten minutes, "Wigan" had another chance, but after a pass from Gary Teale, Arjan De Zeeuw's header missed the target from just a few meters away.
Shortly after, "Man Utd" players created their first dangerous moment when the team's newcomer Michael Carrick's shot was inaccurate. A couple of minutes later, Louis Saha threatened the "Wigan" goalkeeper C. Kirkland, but his shot flew next to the post. After a few more minutes, Wayne Rooney took a shot from 3 meters, but the goalkeeper of "Wigan" grabbed the ball.
In the 23rd minute, the young W. Rooney shook the woodwork from 18 yards. After ten minutes, the goal-hungry W. Rooney once again tried his luck from a distance, but once again the ball flew wide. After a slightly longer break, the hosts made another attack when P. Scharner sent the ball over the crossbar from a few meters away. In the final minutes of the first half, "Red Devils" defender P. Evra took a long shot, but his shot was barely saved by C. Kirkland. The first half ended with a score of 1-0 in favor of "Wigan".
The second half started with the visitors taking the initiative when in the opening seconds O.G. Solskjaer had a chance, but his shot from 10 meters flew over the goal. After ten minutes, L. Saha took a shot from the left side, but missed the target. But after three minutes, the "Man Utd" players restored the lead when after Ryan Giggs' lifted corner, defender N. Vidic headed the ball into the left corner of the goal from 10 meters, scoring his first goal in "United" kit.
The guests intensified their attacks after five minutes when in the 65th minute after W. Rooney's pass to the upper left corner of the goal, L. Saha redirected the ball into the net. In the 74th minute, "Wigan" tried to equalize, but Lee McCulloch's shot was saved by E. van der Sar.
At the end of the match, English wonderkid W. Rooney took a shot from 16 meters over the crossbar. In stoppage time, a point in these matches was helped by veteran O.G. Solskjaer, who with his left foot sent the ball into the bottom corner of C. Kirkland's defended goal. This victory helped "Man Utd" to remain at the top of the "Premier League" table, while "Wigan" is nearing the relegation zone - just in the 17th position.
In another match after a poor start in the "Premier League", one of the favorites, "Arsenal" club, secured their fourth victory, defeating the newcomer "Watford" at home. The first chances were created by "Gunners" players, but Tomaš Rosický's shot towards the goal was well saved by "Watford" goalkeeper Ben Foster. The attacks continued, and Emmanuel Adebayor from just a few meters failed to score past B. Foster. In the 11th minute, the young Cesc Fabregas took a shot at the visitors' goal, but his shot was slightly off target.
After a few moments, the same C. Fabregas shot an unmarked ball wide. In the 17th minute, "Watford" striker Marlon King took a shot from about three meters, but the ball flew over the goal. In the 26th minute, T. Rosický played the ball into the penalty area, but it was caught by B. Foster. Four minutes later, the first goal of the match was scored when "Watford" defender Jordan Stewart directed the ball into his own goal after a C. Fabregas corner kick.
In the 41st minute, "Watford" player Tommy Smith had a good chance, but his shot went wide, and a minute later the "Gunners" doubled their lead when last season's top scorer in the "Premier League" Thierry Henry fired a shot into the left corner of the goal from 10 meters after a long pass from goalkeeper Jens Lehmann.
In the second half, the visitors took the initiative right away when Darius Henderson's shot was narrowly wide. In the 51st minute, "Arsenal's" young star Theo Walcott also had the opportunity to score, but hit over the crossbar. Two minutes later, "Watford" striker Damien Francis also shot wide.
In the 64th minute, "Arsenal" pressed opponents near their own goal. T. Rosický's shot from 16 meters was directed into the corner by B. Foster. T. Henry lifted a corner towards the near post, and there the ball found Kolo Toure's head, which flew wide. Despite the pressure, the goal was eventually scored when after T. Henry's pass from the right corner, "Watford" goalkeeper B. Foster was beaten by E.Adebayor.
After the third goal, the eager "Gunners" did not stop defending but rather threatened the opponent's goal even more. In the 71st minute, T. Rosický once again tried his luck from a distance, but was again inaccurate. A minute later, the Czech attacked "Watford's" goal from just a few meters, but B. Foster continued to play perfectly. In the 76th minute, the hosts could have softened the result a bit, but J. Lehmann resisted D. Francis's head shot after a pass from M. King.
In the 86th minute of the match, both teams exchanged dangerous attacks: J. Stewart tried to make up for his mistake, but shot straight at J. Lehmann. Meanwhile, a few moments later Robin van Persie's long-range shot flew over the crossbar. After the final referee's whistle, it was revealed that "Arsenal" climbed to 4th place with 14 points, and "Watford" remained in penultimate position.
Another interesting match took place at the "Anfield" stadium, where the local "Liverpool" hosted "Blackburn". The hosts started the match quite actively and the towering forward Peter Crouch had several excellent chances to score - first his header was cleared off the goal line by defender Zurab Khizanishvili, and then his resulting shot was saved brilliantly by goalkeeper Brad Friedel. And then once again an unwritten rule of football was confirmed - "if you don't score, they score against you".
After playing just over a quarter of the match, a cross from David Bentley from the right started messrs Steve Finnan and Jamie Carragher, and slipped to the completely unmarked Benni McCarthy, who without much difficulty sent it into the net of the troubled Pepe Reina's goal. After conceding the goal, "Liverpool" crumbled and was unable to threaten the opponent's goal more seriously in the first half.
In the second half, the picture changed - the "Reds" took the initiative and aimed to equalize the score. The goal was achieved soon enough - in the 64th minute. Initially, the guests managed to defend well against several high crosses into the penalty area, but after a corner, defenders left Craig Bellamy unmarked, and he headed the ball into the corner from five meters.
Inspired by the scored goal, the 2005 European champions continued to attack, but created virtually no 100% chances for a goal. On the contrary - the real chance to snatch a sensational victory as the match approached the end belonged to D. Bentley, but after a referee Sami Hyypia's error, the attacker failed to beat P. Reina.
No more goals were scored. After seven rounds, "Blackburn" with 11 points is in 9th place, and with one point less, "Liverpool" remains in a modest 10th position.
The match between "Sheffield" and "Man City" ended goalless. In the beginning, the Manchester team's striker Bernardo Corradi had a few good chances to score, but his shots didn't find the target. Meanwhile, the Sheffield opponents scared the visitors with a technical strike by forward Rob Hulse, after which the ball rebounded off the goal frame.
In the second half, "Man City" began to press the opponents, but both Ishmael Miller and Sylvain Distina's headers missed the goal. Eventually, the Sheffield representatives, who managed to clinch their first point away from home and their sixth in eight games, climbed to 16th position, while "Man City" with nine points occupies 11th place.
Saturday's match statistics:
Wigan 1 - 3 Man Utd
Aston Villa 1 - 1 Liverpool
Arsenal 3 - 0 Watford
Middlesbrough 1 - 1 Everton
Portsmouth 2 - 0 West Ham
Chelsea 0 - 1 Reading
Tottenham 1 - 1 Aston Villa
Sheffield 0 - 0 Man City
The most prolific players:
1-2. Nwankwo Kanu - ("Portsmouth"), Andrew Johnson ("Everton") - with 6 goals each
3-4. Bobby Zamora ("West Ham"), Didier Drogba ("Chelsea") - with 5 goals each
5-9. Ole Gunnar Solskjaer ("Man Utd"), Benni McCarthy ("Blackburn"), Tim Cahill ("Everton"), Darren Bent ("Charlton"), Frank Lampard ("Chelsea") - with 4 goals each
League Table:
1. Man Utd - 17 points
2. Chelsea - 14 points
3. Portsmouth - 16 points
4. Arsenal - 14 points
5. Bolton Wanderers - 12 points
6. Everton - 13 points
7. Liverpool - 11 points
8. Blackburn Rovers - 11 points
(...)
