The sea air is supposed to be a bracing and refreshing experience when inhaled. That very air could well be filled with some sort of halucenogenic around Fratton Park for whatever Reading were breathing severely addled their defensive brain. The Premiership record for goals scored in one game fell on Saturday and that is despite a missed Reading penalty, David James restoring some of his reputation by saving Nicky Shorey’s effort. That would have made it 3 – 3 and arguably changed the face of the game.
When Benjani opened the scoring on seven minutes, there was little indication of what was to followed. Benjani made it two with eight minutes to go but the activity levels soared. Hunt and Kitson retrieved the two goal deficit within three minutes of each other before Hreidarsson restored the hosts lead. With twenty minutes to go, Shorey should have equalised; instead within a minute Benjani strode away from a static Reading defence to complete his hattrick, not bad for a man who could not hit a barn door last season. Thereafter it was a procession of lax defending and good finishing that undid Steve Coppell’s side. Kranjcar outjumped the defence to nod home the fifth from a Sean Davis cross.
It seemed as if a Great Escape may occur when Shane Long pulled on back for Reading but a thirty yard erffort from Sean Davis put paid to that; the deflection en route from Ingimarsson summed Reading’s afternoon up nicely. The rout was complete when a last minute Muntari penalty was stroked home. But it was not the end of the scoring as Nicky Shorey atoned for his miss from the spot with an injury time effort from the edge of the area. Nothing though could dampen the Pompey Chimes.
Stamford Bridge is not a happy place to be at the minute. September finished with the sum total of zero Premiership Goals scored by Chelsea. On Saturday, they entertained Fulham defending a home record of sixty six unbeaten games. How they got to sixty seven I doubt even they know. Three times in the closing stages Fulham could quite easily have stolen the points with Konchesky and Camara wasting glorious opportunities to seal the deal. To rub salt into the wounds, John Terry left the fray at half time with a depressed cheekbone but even that was more inflated than the atmosphere at the final whistle.
A populist move by Roman Abramovich to sit amongst the home support backfired with the constant chanting for the recently departed Jose Mourinho would have made uncomfortable listening. That Chelsea are having problems scoring will be emphasised during the one match ban that is coming Didier Drogba’s way; he was lucky to see red for two yellows after his raised boot caught Chris Baird in the face, an attempt to win the ball that should have been a straight dismissal.
Across London at Upton Park, Arsenal won again to maintain their two point lead over Manchester United. The GUnners won the game rather more comfortably than the 1 – 0 scoreline reflects. A counter-attack with pace was set up by a pinpoint pass from Kolo Toure to Emmanuel Adebayor, who held the ball up well before releasing Alex Hleb whose cross was met by Robin van Persie whose header found the back of the net. West Ham will no doubt feel aggrieved with Freddie Ljungberg being called offside when apparently on to have a goal chalked off but despite Dean Ashton having a couple of good chances, it was Robert Green and the woodwork that kept them in the game. Mark Noble is the centre of renewed calls from Arsene Wenger to have retrospective action taken against players, his brutal challenge on Alexander Hleb receiving a yellow card when a red was surely merited.
At St Andrews, Manchester United continued their about turn in form with a Cristiano Ronaldo goal being the final difference between the two sides. Despite not managing to score more than one goal a game on average, United have recovered from their shocking start to move into second place, albeit having played a game more. Liverpool in turn replicated their Lancastrian rivals with a single goal from Yossi Benayounn being enough to gain victory at Wigan. The hosts had a perfectly good Marcus Bent goal chalked off but Liverpool did enough in the ninety minutes to suggest victory was merited.
Sandwiched between the two ‘Giants’ are Sven Goran Eriksson’s Manchester City who recovered from a Obefami Martins goal to cruise to a 3 – 1 win over Newcastle. Martin Petrov equalised for City three minutes after the visitors took the lead and once Emile Mpenza put City ahead two minutes into the second half, there was but one outcome. Despite spurning numerous chances, City continually picked holes in The Magpies defence, although it took a special freekick from Elano three minutes from time to seal the victory.
Blackburn shook off their indifferent form of recent weeks to claim victory at The Stadium of Light. Two quickfire second half goals from David Bentley and Roque Santa Cruz in as many minutes took advantage of Sunderland’s defensive generosity to seal the win although a Grant Leadbitter goal on the stroke of full time made the last few minutes more nervy than they should have been. Everton had Mikel Arteta to thank for their 2 – 0 win over Middlesbrough. He thoroughly deserved the plaudits for his display. Joleon Lescott and Steven Pienaar both benefitted from his passing abilities to score the goals that made the visitors pay for their profligacy in front of goal.
The bottom three remain unchanged with Derby and Bolton sharing the points at Pride Park and Tottenham recovering from a 1 – 4 deficit to draw level by the full time whistle. Kenny Miller scored another cracking effort for Derby in his second successive home game but the lead lasted less than a quarter of an hour before Nicolas Anelka pegged them back. Both sides had good opportunities to sneak the points, Diouf was wayward with a clear header whilst Anelka rattled the bar late on. At the death, only a superb save by Jaaskelainen prevented the hosts from taking maximum points.
Martin Jol has been entertaining everyone this past week with his claims to be as good a manager as Mourinho despite the total absence of any trophies from the Tottenham cabinet. His claims that the Tottenham squad were every bit as good as Arsenal brought more incredulous looks in his direction but his side showed tremendous character to earn a point at home to Aston Villa. Whether that is good enough to keep him his job remains to be seen.
Dimitar Berbatov guided Tottenham into an early lead but this was pegged by a brace of goals from Martin Laursen. Gabriel Agbonlahor made it three with racing onto a route one clearance from ‘keeper Scott Carson before the match seemed dead and buried when Craig Gardner squeezed a freekick past Paul Robinson just before the hour mark. Cue the theme from The Great Escape for the second time this weekend. Ten minutes later, Pascal Chimbonda turned in a rebound after Jermaine Defoe had struck the post. Eight minutes from time, Defoe was brought down in the area and Robbie Keane duly despatched the spot kick before in the last minute, Villa failed to clear a corner and Younes Kaboul made up for his defensive deficiencies by ramming home the equaliser. Not good for the supporters heart rates, not good for the managers either but ultimately a point which is better than nothing at all.
