Chelsea FC 0:0 Manchester City
Rafael Benitez received a quite hostile reception from the 41,000 Chelsea’s supporters at his first game at Stamford Bridge. The angry response by the fans mainly came from the old rivalry with Benitez during his time at Liverpool. City started the game much better and Silva and Aguero straight away started to create chances for his team. Silva had the first big opportunity, but headed a Zabaleta cross off target. Sergio Aguero, however, had the best chance of the first half and headed a Dzeko set-up straight at Cech – the best opportunity for City in the first half. Chelsea started to play better in the second half. However, they operated mainly with long balls to Torres – an easy target for City captain Kompany. Chelsea was lucky in the final minutes when Cech had to make a huge save against Milner cross and the final whistle was blown – 0:0. Chelsea disappointed in the majority of the game and Manchini said after the game: “We had the better chances; I think that we lost two points. We dominated the first half, but the second half was not quite like that.” Benitez’s main priority is to sort out the striking situation at Chelsea as Torres doesn’t score.
Tottenham 3:1 West Ham
The Spurs entered this game after losing 3 games in a row in the Premier League, but knew that it will be tough against the Hammers, who conceded the third fewest goals in the Premier League. However, a victory for the Spurs was compulsory and that’s how Tottenham started the game. Defoe and Gareth Bale straight away put huge pressure on West Ham. In the 44th minute, it was Defoe who scored the lead for the Spurs. Defoe beat Winston Reid and George McCartney on the right and scored a great finish – Jaaskelainen without a chance – 1:0 Tottenham. Tottenham played much better than West Ham even in the second half. Dempsey, who replaced Adebayor became more and more the main focus. Dempsey found Bale in the box and Bale beat Jaaskelainen once more in the 58th minute – 2:0. 8 minutes later- a great run by Lennon and found Defoe in the middle and scores his second of the night – 3:0 in the 64th minute. Carroll headed the 3:1 in the 82nd minute. With the victory climbed the Spurs above the Hammers in the table. Andre Villas-Boas: “It was a good 90-minute performance, very solid, and we kept creating. It’s difficult to defend long balls and crosses into box, but the boys did extremely well to handle the situation.
Manchester United 3:1 Queens Park Rangers
Queens Park Rangers who just sacked Mark Hughes on Friday announced the appointment of Harry Redknapp on Saturday. There is huge pressure on Redknapp as QPR is bottom of the table and hasn’t won a game in 13 matches. Jamie Mackie put QPR in front in the 52nd minute when he scored from close range. However, ManUnited started playing in the 60th minute and finished the game in only 12 minutes. First, it was Evans to score the equalizer in the 64th minute before Darren Fletcher scored the 2:1 in the 68th after a Rooney corner. Hernandez sealed victory in the 72nd minute. Sir Alex Ferguson: “We only played for 10 minutes and those 10 minutes were brilliant. The crowd got up and I thought Anderson changed the game for us.
Sunderland 2:4 West Brom
West Brom is the surprise team of the Premier League this season. However, they are weak on the road where they have only won 2 out of 11 games. Sunderland, on the other side needed to win to move up in the table. However, Gera opened the scoring in the 30th minute after he received a fine pass from Odemwingie. Gera left Mignolet no chance – 0:1 West Brom. Long scored the second one just before half-time. A deflected Gardner free-kick brought Sunderland back into the game – 1:2 in the 73rd minute before Lukaku scored from the spot the 1:3 for West Brom. Sessegnon, again reduced the lead to 2:3 and Fortune scored the 2:4 in the 90th minute. West Brom is now third in the Premier League after four successive wins for the first time since 1980.
