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On Saturday, all ten matches of the 19th round of the English Premier League were played, which were characterized by plenty of goals and the fact that all top six teams won. Leader "Man Utd" managed to bounce back after the previous round by defeating "Aston Villa", "Chelsea" narrowly beat "Wigan" in a dramatic battle, "Arsenal" had fun against "Blackburn", "Portsmouth" and "Newcastle" both won their opponents with a 3-1 scoreline, while "Liverpool" won away.
In early matches of the day, in the London derby, "Fulham" and "West Ham" clashed. The first opportunity fell to the visitors when after a mistake by "Fulham" goalkeeper Antti Niemi, Matthew Etherington headed the ball into the net, but it was cleared by the "Fulham" defender Carlos Bocanegra. Then "West Ham" striker Bobby Zamora failed to take advantage of a great chance.
At the end of the first half, "Fulham" dominated the game, but failed to score with good opportunities. Subsequently, an penalty kick from Brian McBride was saved by "West Ham" goalkeeper Robert Green.
At the start of the second half, B.McBride missed another great chance after receiving a perfect pass from Tomasz Radzinski. As the match progressed, the visitors attacked more frequently. First, A.Niemi saved a shot from "West Ham" captain Nigel Reo-Coker, and then Marlon Harewood's attempt. Substitute Yossi Benayoun also had his chance, but his shot was saved by "Fulham" goalkeeper A.Niemi.
With five minutes left to play, "West Ham" defender Paul Konchesky saw a red card for a rough foul on Wayne Routledge. However, it did not affect the result, and the match ended in a draw. After this game, "West Ham" managed by Alan Curbishley remains in 18th position, while "Fulham" moved up to 12th position.
In other matches, in Birmingham, local team "Aston Villa" battled against "Man Utd". The visitors from Manchester started the game more aggressively, but in the 12th minute, the most dangerous moment in the first half occurred when Gabriel Agbonlahor hit the post after a penalty kick taken by "Aston Villa" captain Gareth Barry.
After ten minutes, "Man Utd" club defender Gary Neville missed a comfortable opportunity to score from a good position. In the 27th minute, after a good pass from Cristiano Ronaldo, Patrice Evra's shot was saved by "Aston Villa" goalkeeper Gabor Kiraly. Minutes later, Kirkland saved a corner kick by Ryan Giggs. At the end of the first half, C.Ronaldo received the ball, deceived the "Villa" defender, but missed the target.
In the 53rd minute of the second half, a shot from the distance was attempted by the home team's midfielder Stilian Petrov, but the powerful shot did not pose a danger to E.van der Sar. In the 58th minute, the first goal of this match was scored when C.Ronaldo escaped with the ball, first hitting the opposing player and then scoring the goal.
After a few more minutes, "Man Utd" scored another goal - a fantastic shot from a distance sent the ball into the top corner by P.Scholes. With fifteen minutes left, Wayne Rooney appeared on the field and passed the ball to C.Ronaldo, but the goalkeeper G.Kiraly guessed the direction of his shot. In the 80th minute, C.Ronaldo scored another goal with this duet, but it was not counted as the linesman flagged for offside.
Four minutes later, W.Rooney passed the ball to G.Neville, who then passed it to C.Ronaldo, who scored another goal from close range and thus gave a very important win to his team. After this victory, the "Man Utd" team continues to lead the championship, while "Aston Villa" drops to tenth position.
In another match, London's "Arsenal" examined the "Blackburn" club. In this game, a total of eight goals were scored, starting with a goal from "Blackburn" striker Shabani Nonda, who converted a penalty kick earned by David Bentley. However, the visitors did not hold the lead for long, as just seven minutes later, Brazilian Gilberto Silva scored a goal with a header after a corner kick from Robin van Persie.
At the halfway point of the first half, the "Gunners" took the lead - after a pass from Emmanuel Adebayor, the attack was finished off perfectly by Belarusian Alexander Hleb. Just four minutes later, R.van Persie was illegally stopped in the penalty area by "Blackburn" captain Lucas Neill, and E.Adebayor himself doubled the score from the penalty spot.
In the second half, in the 69th minute, the "Blackburn" striker Shabani Nonda scored his second goal of the match, reducing the deficit and adding intrigue to the game. But just five minutes later, all hopes of "Blackburn" to equalize were dashed - R.van Persie scored in the 85th and 88th minutes, while the result was sealed by Frenchman Mathieu Flamini after coming on as a substitute. After this win, "Arsenal" maintains fourth place, while "Blackburn" drops to 17th position after a dramatic battle.
Continuing their resurgence, "Newcastle" defeated the struggling "Tottenham" after scoring three goals in the first half. The hosts took the lead in the third minute with a great shot from Kieron Dyer, followed by a header from Obafemi Martins, but Danny Murphy scored for the visitors. Newcastle restored the lead and secured the victory with another goal from Scott Parker.
Three matches ended with the same scoreline of 2-0: two goals from Frenchman Nicolas Anelka sealed "Bolton's" victory against former "Man City" club in Manchester, while the same margin of victory was achieved by Liverpool's "Everton" team away against "Reading", with goals from Andrew Johnson and James McFadden. Meanwhile, "Middlesbrough" won the match against "Charlton" and moved up to 14th position - the goals were scored by Nigerian Yakubu and Argentine Julio Arca.
Saturday's English Premier League results:
"Fulham" 0 – 0 "West Ham"
"Aston Villa" 0 – 3 "Man Utd"
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Rezaulyards forwards:
1. Didier Drogba ("Chelsea") – 10 goals
2. Nwankwo Kanu ("Portsmouth") – 9
3-4. Louis Saha
Wayne Rooney
Cristiano Ronaldo (all "Man Utd")
Kevin Doyle ("Reading") – 8
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