Premiership round-up (Week 3)

By: Martini Extra Dry | August 30th, 2008

The third week of the Premiership is now under way and the results and league table will now slowly start to actually mean something. The first few weeks don’t really tell you much tablewise but now it will slowly start to take shape. All three promoted teams played today but none of them tasted any success, for them I fear this isn’t a one-off.

Arsenal 3-0 Newcastle
Fabio Capello’s game choice of the day wasn’t exactly a showcase of English talent, so presumably he was there to watch little Mikey Owen. Not too much came of that. Arsenal took the game to the northerners though and fully deserved the win. Robin Van Persie tucked away the penalty and then followed it up with a sweet ’striker’s instinct’ second and then showed that Bergkamp and Van Basten aren’t the only Dutchmen who aren’t afraid to shoot from any angle. Only the crossbar and an early hobble to the changing rooms denied him his hatrick

Bolton 0-0 Baggies
It was the Black Country boys who showed the most guile in this clash but despite many close calls, no-one managed to break the deadlock. The theme of the day seemed to be the crossbar and this game featured a third ‘did it cross the line’ debate of the day. Nil-nil doesn’t tell the truth of this game though, it was an entertaining watch.

Everton 0-3 Portsmouth
Everton’s home form still looks dodgy as they fall to a second defeat in two at Goodison, unlike the Blackburn game though, this time it wasn’t even close. Pompey romped home to a 3-0 win with some real promising play. Defoe showed a characteristic that he isn’t usually accredited for; strength. His goal, to open the scoring, was pure ’strong centre forward’ magic, making a goal out of what should’ve been nothing. Glen Johnson and Defoe then linked up excellently to double their lead and finally Crouch pounced on the rebound off the crossbar of Defoe’s strike, to secure the points.

Hull 0-5 Wigan
Hull must fear these kind of results becoming commonplace for them this season and this game showed that the chances of that are fairly high. The ‘Promotion Confidence High’ seems to have faded a little too early for them. Steve Bruce’s side have had a rocky start to the season but this game is more likely to be a true reflection of the season they have to come. The finishing was precise from Wigan, although a little easy at times. Fair play to Wigan, three well deserved points and also a deserved goal difference boost.

Boro 2-1 Smelly Stoke
OK, I won’t deny it, I called them smelly because I’m bitter about last week. Boro were first off the mark with an awesome free-kick from Alves that Sorensen caught his first glimpse off as it rippled the back of his net. Old Tommy then showed the kind of form that made him such a hit at Sunderland and Villa in years gone by, keeping stoke in the game and hoping for his team to repay his efforts with keenness at the opposite end. Dave Kitson (or was it an own goal) produced the desired result and equalised but a poor attempt at the offside trap gave Boro the win in the dying minutes.

West Ham 4-1 Blackburn
Both these sides seem to have inconsistency written all over them this year and it is already proving true. A good game for a neutral, involving some very silly mistakes; Carlton Cole’s handball, Blackburn’s penalty miss and the linesman not allowing Derbyshire’s equaliser plus some decent goals to boot. Vile old Craig Bellamy’s finish (unfortunately) couldn’t be denied as brilliant and although the result wasn’t quite a true reflection of the game, fair play to West Ham for their persistance that gave them their fourth goal.