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On Wednesday, five more 15th round matches were played in the English Premier League. "Arsenal", who suffered a defeat to "Bolton" over the weekend, experienced their second consecutive loss and lost in the London derby against "Fulham", while "Aston Villa" suffered their first home defeat of the season and allowed "Man City" to win their first away victory. "Bolton" had to admit a minimal advantage to "Chelsea" at their home stadium, "Liverpool" lost two points at home, and the leader "Man Utd" crushed "Everton". In the first day's matches, the well-playing "Aston Villa" and the fluctuating "Man City" clashed. The first chance was created by the visitors from Manchester when Georgios Samaras' 6th-minute attempt was deflected by "Aston Villa" goalkeeper Stuart Taylor, who replaced the injured Thomas Sorensen in this match. Shortly after, S. Taylor had to save his team again after a shot from former "Villa" player Darius Vassell. In the 18th minute, "Man City" scored the first goal when D. Vassell scored after a pass from Bernardo Corradi. The visitors continued to press the "Aston Villa" team, and five minutes later, after a pass from Hatem Trabelsi, D. Vassell missed the target from a few meters away. In the 32nd minute, the visitors managed to double their lead when Joey Barton defeated S. Taylor with a shot after a pass from G. Samaras, his fourth goal this season. At the end of the first half, the visitors missed two more good opportunities. J. Barton scored a goal against Olof Melberg, firing a shot just wide, and shortly after a quick free-kick, G. Samaras' header flew straight into the hands of S. Taylor. In the 45th minute, the only real chance to score was for "Aston Villa" defender Stilian Petrov, whose powerful penalty shot shook the "Man City" goalpost. The second half started off vigorously. First, a shot by S. Petrov was deflected by the visitors' goalkeeper Nicky Weaver, then his colleague on the other end of the field, S. Taylor, had to save attempts from B. Corradi and D. Vassell. However, the hosts managed to soften the result in the 65th minute when Gavinas McCann placed the ball in the bottom corner of the "Aston Villa" goal with a powerful long-range shot. Just over ten minutes later, the third goal was scored by the "Man City" team, securing their victory, with defender Sylvain Distin firing past S. Taylor after a play with G. Samaras. This was the first away victory for the "Man City" team this season, allowing Stuart Pearce's pupils to rise to the 12th position, while "Aston Villa" remains 5th. In other matches, "Fulham" hosted "Arsenal" at home. The goal came as early as the 6th minute, when after a corner kick by "Fulham" defender Claus Jensen, former US National Team forward Brian McBride headed accurately into the near corner of the goal. Just a few minutes later, the visitors could have equalized, but Thierry Henry, free from defender Moritz Volz, missed over the goal. In the 19th minute, "Arsenal" had to withdraw the ball from their net for the second time - Luis Boa Morte passed the ball to Tomasz Radzinski, who increased his team's lead with a precise shot into the far corner of the goal. Shortly after, L. Boa Morte found himself one-on-one with goalkeeper J. Lehmann but failed to outsmart the experienced German, who saved the "Gunners" from further trouble. However, in the 36th minute, after a precise penalty kick from Robin van Persie, "Arsenal" softened the scoreline. At the start of the second half, T. Henry managed to equalize for the visitors, but the referee flagged for offside. The "Gunners" were left with ten men in the 66th minute, as Swiss player Philippe Senderos was sent off the field after receiving a second yellow card. Right after this, L. Boa Morte missed a penalty shot, hitting the crossbar, and moments later, the young "Arsenal" star Theo Walcott hindered "Fulham" from scoring. In the 71st minute, L. Boa Morte, who had been very active in the match, scored a goal, but the referee again ruled for offside. After five minutes, it was the turn of the opponents to attack, but after a pass from Gilberto Silva, T. Henry did not defeat "Fulham" goalkeeper Antti Niemi. The last chance came for T. Walcott, but his strong penalty shot did not get past A. Niemi. After this victory, "Fulham" occupies 10th place, while "Arsenal" moves up to 6th. At the "Bolton" stadium, the home team hosted visitors from London, "Chelsea". In this match, the initiative belonged to the English champions, "Chelsea". The main hero of the match was "Bolton" goalkeeper Jussi Jaaskelainen, whose excellent performance prevented the "Blues" from overwhelming their opponents. Right at the start of the meeting, the Finn deflected a powerful penalty shot from Ivory Coast national team forward Didier Drogba. Shortly after, he had to save his team from a goal and parried Frank Lampard's attempt. Ukrainian player Andriy Shevchenko also had his chance, but his threat was neutralized by J. Jaaskelainen. However, once he failed to save his team, as at the end of the first half, after a corner kick by F. Lampard, former Bayern Munich defender Michael Ballack defeated the goalkeeper. Meanwhile, the hosts posed a greater threat in El Hadji Diouf and Tal Ben Haim's shots. Despite the defeat, "Bolton" remains in the top four teams, while "Chelsea" moves up to second place. At the "Old Trafford" stadium in Manchester, league leaders "Man Utd" met with Liverpool's "Everton" club. The first warning signal came near the goal of "Man Utd" goalkeeper Edwin van der Sar - after a pass from Leon Osman, the "Everton" forward James McFadden struck just wide of the goal. Later, after a penalty shot from "Red Devils" defender Kieran Richardson, the ball hit the crossbar. However, in this match, the hosts opened the scoring when, after blocking a shot from Michael Carrick, the first to the ball, Portuguese player Cristiano Ronaldo, struck a powerful shot from outside the penalty area past "Everton" goalkeeper Richard Wright. After halftime, "United" players managed to score two more goals. In the 63rd minute, after a pass from Wayne Rooney, French defender Patrice Evra outmaneuvered the defenders and sent a powerful shot past goalkeeper R. Wright into the net. "Everton" could have restored intrigue when, after a corner kick from Mikel Arteta, J. Yobo's header went just wide. The decisive point in the match was made by Irish player John O'Shea, who scored a goal after a pass from P. Evra from close range. After this victory, "Man Utd" remains the leader with 38 points, while "Everton" drops to 9th place. Meanwhile, "Liverpool", despite a huge advantage in gameplay, could not beat "Portsmouth" - the match ended in a goalless draw. "Liverpool", starting the season with blanks, is in 7th place, but only 2 points behind the unexpectedly third-placed "Portsmouth" club. Results of Wednesday's English Premier League matches: "Aston Villa" 1 - 3 "Man City" 18' [0 - 1] Darius Vassell 32' [0 - 2] Joey Barton 65' [1 - 2] Gavin McCann 75' [1 - 3] Sylvain Distin "Fulham" 2 - 1 "Arsenal" 6' [1 - 0] Brian McBride 19' [2 - 0] Tomasz Radzinski 36' [2 - 1] Robin van Persie 66' Philippe Senderos ("Arsenal") sent off "Bolton" 0 - 1 "Chelsea" 45' [0 - 1] Michael Ballack "Liverpool" 0 - 0 "Portsmouth" "Man Utd" 3 - 0 "Everton" 39' [1 - 0] Cristiano Ronaldo 63' [2 - 0] Patrice Evra 89' [3 - 0] John O'Shea
