So Another weekend in the Premier League and again a sever lack of draws floating about. It seems teams are going for the 3 points with seconds left on the clock rather than hanging onto their single point which always makes for a much more exiting end to a match.

The one draw which we did get came between Blackburn and West Ham with a 0-0 at Ewood Park. I wont go into the details of that match for the benefit of everyone.

Saturdays early kick off came between Chelsea and giant slayers Burnley at the Bridge. Burnley were hoping to pull of an early Big 4 double and set about there duties excellently playing a nice brand of attacking and defensive football against a much superior team, and in all honestly should really have taken the lead. Lampard was caught on the ball in his own half and the ball got cut back to Patterson around 16 yards out. But he could only scramble his shot wide with only Cech to beat.
They were to be punished just before the half time interval when Drogba made a superb run down the right hand side of the box and timed his low cross for his striking partner Anelka to divert it in off the post. The 2nd half started at a much higher tempo and Chelsea began playing some very attractive football and the 2nd came courtesy of a Lampard cross after some nice play at the edge of the box, for Ballack to nod home. Ashley Cole wrapped up the points with a superb finish from a neat Lampard flick on. 3-0 Chelsea and the top of the league.

Stoke were playing hosts to Sunderland and there was only ever going to be a couple of goals in this one. Stoke won it 1-0 thanks to Kitson after dare I say it a long ball into the box.

Newly promoted Wolves were at home to Hull in the next fixture of the afternoon and Hull found themselves in the lead after inly 3 minutes of play through Giovanni. Wolves equalised after the break however and the spoils were shared at 1-1.

Tottenham who have had a perfect start in the premierleague thus far found themselves up against Birmingham who have only conceded 1 goal so far this season, and it took until the 2nd half for Tottenham to get on the scoresheet after Modric had to be replaced by Crouch after an injury. And it was Crouch who broke the deadlock after coming close a few times beforehand. Lee Bowyer made it 1-1 almost straight away and the game looked like ending in a draw until Aaron Lennon who has been in awesome form of late scored a superb solo effort on the 95th minute of play. Absolute heartache for Birmingham but Ecstasy for Spurs who remain on maximum points for the season so far.
After the game it was determined that Modric had actually broken his leg and should be out for some time which is a severe blow for Spurs challenge on the top 4 as he was pulling the strings for Tottenham.

Saturdays late kick off was a battle of the big guns, with Arsenal travelling to Manchester to face off against Manchester United. The 1st half was a scrappy affair but for a superb goal from Andrey Arshavin giving the gunners a 1-0 lead at halftime.
The 2nd half was more of the same but Rooney earned United a penalty and confidently tucked it away. 5 minutes later and United were ahead thanks to Abu Diaby, yes the Arsenal player decided to try test Almunia’s keeping skills with a header into his own net that no keeper could’ve saved. Robin Van Persie did equalise in the 94th minute but Gallas had strayed offside before he struck and it was chalked off. The Gunners deserved at least a point from this game, if not more and should feel very unlucky to walk away with nothing. Looking on the Brightside however with Fabregas, Nasri, Walcott & Rosicky all closing in on fitness theres a lot more in the tank from this Arsenal side.

The best game of the weekend came at the Reebok Stadium when Bolton took on Liverpool. Twice Liverpool came from a goal down to win this one with Gerrard hitting an abosulte screamer in the 84th minute.
Kevin Davies gave Bolton the lead after a free kick bounced around the area and fell at Davies feet with Torres and new signing Kyriagos standing still watching on. Glen Johnson got Liverpool back level with a superb left foot shot into the bottom corner from 20 yards out. Cohen gave Bolton the lead again after the break with a rocket of a finish from 12 yards. Gerrard started to play with a spring in his step from then onwards and rattled the bar after a corner was failed to be cleared properly. He then turned provider floating a ball into the path of Dirk Kuyt who chested the ball down for Torres who took a controlled touch and fired the ball into the far corner. 2-2 and with 10 minutes remaining a Glen Johnson freekick was headed clear to find Gerrard who clinically sent the ball into the top corner at about 200mph!! classic Gerrard goal.

Sundays games saw Manchester City maintain there perfect start to the season winning 1-0 again against Portsmouth with Adebayor again scoring for City.

Aston Villa continued there renewed form beating Fulham 2-0 at Villa Park.

And Finally Everton finally getting some points on the board thanks to a last minute Baines Penalty. Maybe this is the kick start and slice of luck Everton needed to get there season underway.

There are no Games this weekend due to the World Cup Qualifiers which im sure everyone has some interests in.

Arsenal continued their impressive early season form with another fine demolition job. This time it was Portsmouth who were on the receiving end of a 4-1 score line. 2 goals coming from Diaby on his 100^th appearance for the gunners, a comical Gallas goal & Ramsey sealing the 3 points to give the gunners a lot of confidence before they play host to Celtic then travel to Manchester to take on United on Saturday evening.

 Kabouls header for Portsmouth was a mere consolation in the end and with them firmly routed to the bottom of the table they will hope to take something from the big spenders Manchester City in next weeks encounter or will find themselves in real trouble early doors.

 Birmingham gained another point in the chase to stay up; or dropped two depending how you look at it. Not much action to report in that particular encounter as the game ended 0-0.

 Hull Grabbed there 1^st victory of the campaign against a struggling Bolton squad who are still to pick up any points. A goal from Ghilas was enough to secure the points, if your not familiar with the name Ghilas then your not alone. He was the £1.7 million striker from Celta Vigo and has a decent scoring record to his name. So if you want a cheap fantasy football forward he is definitely worth a little look in.

 Over at the City of Money….Manchester stadium City were hosting Wolves where many suspected a huge score line. If you were one of those then you would certainly be in for an anti-climax. An ex-gunner Adebayor scoring the solitary goal on the 17 minute mark was enough to give City the 3 points they deserved.

 Next up was Sunderland vs Blackburn and the only good thing about the game was that there was 3 goals. 2 predictably coming from the huge Kenwyn Jones for Sunderland and a reply by Givet giving the hosts a 2-1 victory.  Blackburn another team yet to get off the mark this season.

 The final game on Saturday was contested between Wigan; who had impressively beaten Villa 2-0 on opening day only to be beaten by Wolves the very next week, and Manchester United who had looked very laboured in the opening 2 fixtures.

With the Score line 0-0 at halftime you would’ve been forgiven for expecting more of the same 2^nd half. But a famous rollicking from Sir Alex Ferguson at halftime spurred his team on, namely his strikers to go out and get the job done. And they done that in emphatic fashion with 2 goals from Rooney; making his total United goals come to over a century, a goal a piece from fellow strikers Owen & Berbatov with Nani rounding the evening off with a free kick giving United a 5-0 win and building up to next weeks game against Arsenal very nicely.

Sundays action seen 3 games of which I got to see 2. West Ham vs Tottenham was the earliest kick off and seen the Hammers take the lead in the 2^nd half from a SUPERB goal from England international Carlton Cole. A nice turn n volley from around 25 yards was unstoppable and definitely a goal you have to see. Tottenham came back though and goals through the unstoppable Jermaine Defoe and the ultra paced Aaron Lennon gave spurs another 3 points and sent them sailing to the top of the Barclays Premier League.

Next up was the un-televised Burnley vs Everton and from what im told from my sources at the ground. The goal from Elliot was exquisite! I will be the judge of that when I see it though. 1-0 to the home side and Burnley look more than capable of staying up on this form, where-as Everton look very vulnerable.

 Last but not least on Sunday was the Fulham vs Chelsea match which usually brings some very entertaining football. It was Chelsea who were to take the spoils in this one though. Anelka & Drogba combining like good strikers should and setting each other up for there goals. Fulham never really came close apart from when Dempsey had a very good opportunity after a fantastic touch inside the box, but he could only blaze that one over. 2-0 Chelsea and 3 out of 3 as far as there concerned.

Monday nights game saw Aston Villa travel to Anfield which is usually a fortress, but the home fans were to be in for a treacherous night. Aston Villa were 2-0 before half time. Albeit one of them coming in the 47th minute when there was only to be 1 minute additional time in the half. Torres grabbed one back for the home side but they always looked vulnerable on the counter attack and the captain Gerrard conceded a penalty late on. Ashley Young stepped up to slide it past the keeper at the game ended 3-1 to Villa. Davies and an own goal from a Young free kick made up the other numbers.

The 2nd fixture in the Premiership calender came round ultra quick this year for most of the clubs who don’t have other duties, and it all began on Tuesday night with two fixtures including the impressive Wigan, and the slightly lucky Chelsea.

It was the slightly lucky Chelsea that found themselves slightly unlucky in the opening half against Sunderland. With new Boy Darren Bent getting his 2nd goal in 2 games. The mans a goal machine and I’m sure Sunderland fans are delighted he was brought to the club. Chelsea’s still have that never-say-die attitude though and 2nd half goals from 3 midfielders seen them take the 3 points. Starting with a goal from the penalty spot from one Frank Lampard. Ballack & Deco sealing the win.

In the other Tuesday night fixture Wigan played host to Wolves. Wigan were the clear favourites after trounching Villa away at the weekend but it was Wolves who took the points thanks to a 50th career goal from Andy Keogh.

Wednesday nights action seen another 4 games come our way with Burnley playing at home to the champions Manchester United. No-one expected a point (apart from the Burnley season ticket holders) but an absolute bullet bulley from Blake midway through the 1st half seen off Alex Ferguson’s side who just don’t look the same team as last year at all.

Birmingham also played their 1st home game of the season, and as Alex McLeish said prior to kick off, the home games are vital if teams want to stay in the premiership and so it was on that note they took all 3 points thanks to Scotland international James McFadden sliding home a penalty kick against Portsmouth ( who are my favourites for relegation ).

After Hulls promising opening day game against Chelsea they had high hope coming in to face Tottenham, but any1 who seen there opening day fixture might not have been so confident. Spurs are playing some really good football at the moment and could definitely see themselves in Europe next year. 3 goals from Defoe and a goal each from Palacios and Keane gave Spurs a 5-1 win away from home.

Last but not least were Liverpool, playing at Anfield to the notoriously difficult to break down Stoke City. Not tonight though As Gerrard pulled the strings to give Liverpool a terrific 4-0 win. Goals in that game coming from Torres, Kuyt, new signing Johnson and Ngog.

On a side note, there was an all British encounter in the last qualifying round for the champions league between Celtic and Arsenal. Celtics home form in Europe is up there with the best of them and it took 2 “lucky” goals to see them off, but Arsenal dominated the game from start to finish and fully deserved thier win. Celtic have it all to do at the Emirates.

Righto then folks. After a very long summer without any decent football, most of us had been forced into watching the World Swimming Championships. Or maybe that was just me and my need for competitive sport action, because lets be honest, cricket wasnt an option.

But thank the heavens, the best league in the world finally kicks off. The start of the English Premier League.

First to step up to the plate where title contenders Chelsea FC, who were up against Hull at the Bridge. Last year Hull blasted out of the blocks like Usain Bolt and were occupying a Champions League spot for quite a while. They didn’t take long to get back to that type of start either, with new signing Hunt from Reading giving them the lead after only 28 minutes. Were they going to get off to a flyer for the 2nd consecutive season!? Drogba wasn’t about to let that happen though and a brace from him with the latter coming in the 92nd minute!!
Chelsea 2-1 Hull

So Chelsea got off to the start they needed, and with none of the other BIG 4 playing till the evening or the following day, we were left with the new big gun…Manchester City.

Blackburn played host to the billionaires. They got off to the worst possible start however with new signing Adebayor getting a goal after only 3 minutes. Ireland rapped up the win with another stoppage time goal but Blackburn had little to offer and never looked like scoring throughout the game.
Blackburn 0-2 Manchester City

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