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Liverpool lose again, as Man Utd edge closer to Arsenal
By Jacob Olsen 16/12/02
What a week of football! This week we saw Leeds slip further into disarray as they were knocked out of the Uefa Cup by Spanish lowlights Malaga, Arsenal had two lackluster draws, Liverpool went five consecutive games without a win in the Premier League and child prodigy Wayne Rooney again saved Everton. Arsenal succumbed to a 0-0 draw at home to Valencia in the Champions
League and were lucky to salvage a point at White Hart Lane to Tottenham when goalkeeper Kasey Keller gifted Arsenal an equaliser. The giant American keeper inexplicably raced off his line on the stroke of half time and pulled down Thierry Henry in the area; Frenchman Pires put his penalty kick in the back of the net and it ended 1-1.
The resurgence of English giants, Manchester United, has come as a surprise to many as they lack stars such as England’s god child David Beckham, Nicky Butt, Laurent Blanc and Rio Ferdinand. Man Utd. followed on from last weeks win over Arsenal with victories over Spanish heavyweights Deportivo La Coruna mid-week, and then punishing hapless West Ham with a 3-0 win on Saturday in the Premier League. Now only one point
behind the inconsistent Gunners, I wouldn’t be surprised if we see Manchester top the table by the end of next week.
At the present time we see the top five teams in the Premiership, Arsenal, Chelsea, Everton and Liverpool (with the exception of Man Utd) being in very patchy form, one week they are unstoppable then the next we see them lose to the likes of Sunderland. Chelsea missed their chance to go top of the Premiership, even though it would have only been for one day, after missing several chances to put away Middelsborough. In
the first half we saw Chelsea miss many opportunities to take the lead, but then a questionable decision by the referee saw Boro’ given a free kick from 20 yards. Cameroon international Geremi put a delightful curling free kick over the wall and past Cudicini to see Middelsborough 1-0 up at home after 20 minutes. But then a few minutes before half-time Chelsea equalized from a corner through stand-in captain John Terry. The game ended 1-1
and left Chelsea third on the premiership table.
In other games this week we saw Wayne Rooney again save Everton with a crucial goal in the first half to see them win 2-1 against Blackburn. Sunderland upset the shameful Liverpool at present with a surprise 2-1 victory at the Stadium of Light to help the club move out of the relegation zone. If Liverpool don’t move out of this form slump soon we could see them move down the path of Terry Venable’s Leeds. Nathan
Giles’ favourite team Aston Villa finally found from with a 2-1 win when German U/21 International Hitzlsperger scored a vital goal in injury time to see them fall over the line. Birmingham City moved further away from the relegation zone with a 1-0 victory over Fulham despite having Darren Purse being sent off after 70 minutes. Meanwhile Newcastle and Southampton played out a 1-1 draw and Charlton and Manchester City had an exciting game as they each picked up a single point in their 2-2 stalemate.
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