Premiership Midweek-United Shocked by Burnley
Premiership midweek fixtures saw three of the ‘Big-Four’ in action and it produced the first shock result of the season as Burnley upset the mighty Manchester United at Turf Moor.
Wednesday night football saw Manchester United travel to the Turf Moor to take on Burnley,a side which has not been in top flight football since 1976.Burnley were comfortably beaten in their first outing,going down 2-0 against Stock City and they were not expected to pose a serious challenge to Manchester United.But what resulted was the first major upset of the season.
Robbie Blake put the hosts in front with a superb near post volley in the 18th minute..What followed was a host of chances going United’s way,only to be denied by a brilliant Brian Jensen coupled with United’s inability to finish.They were also incorrectly denied a goal by Micheal Owen (an incorrect offside call on the striker) and most importantly missed a penalty just before the half.After Robbie Blake’s heroics at one end ,he was guilty of bringing down Evra inside his penalty box and the referee pointed to the spot,giving United the chance to even the scores at half time.
It was Micheal Carrick who took over the responsibility but was denied by Brian Jensen,making a fine stop.One wonders why Micheal Owen or Rooney didn’t take the penalty instead of Carrick but seems that it just wasn’t United’s day.In between all this and later,United had lots of chances and Burnley had a couple of chances as well.Until the end,United kept on pushing for the equalizer but Jensen was in control of his fort and Burnley completed an amazing upset.Alex Fergusson may say that Ronaldo will not be missed,but the performance of the team from the first two matches seem to suggest otherwise.Last season,Burnley had upset Chelsea and Arsenal in the Carling Cup.Watch out big teams!!!Burnley do love the challenge of the big teams.
Elsewhere Liverpool,who were beated in their first match bounced back with a resounding victory against Stoke City.Fernando Torres,Glen Johnson,Dirk Kuyt and David Ngog scored for the Merseysiders as they cliched a 4-0 victory at Anfield.
In another match,Tottenham proved that they are genuine contenders to a top four finish as they went top of the table with an emphatic 5-1 victory.Jermaine Defoe hit a hat-trick,while Robbie Keane and Palacious contributed a goal apiece as Tottenham sent down a serious message to the other teams that they are indeed a side to be wary off.In Wednesday’s other match,Birmingham secured a 1-0 victory at home against struggling Portsmouth in the dying moments of the game as James McFadden scored an injury time penalty.
Tuesday’s matches saw Chelsea in action against Sunderland and Wigan against Wolves.Striker Andy Keogh’s header in the 6th minute was enough for Wolves to earn their first win of the season after losing in their first match.Wigan has lost almost their entire midfield from last season and hence Robert Martinez will do a great job if he can help Wigan remain in the top flight.Next up for Wigan is a bruised Manchester United on Saturday.
Chelsea had made a lackluster start to their campaign against Hull City and they faced a tricky opponent in Sunderland away from home.Sunderland has been bolstered by the acquisition of Darren Bent and the striker’s second goal in as any matches saw Sunderland going into the second half 1-0 up,despite Chelsea creating a lot of chances and dominating the half.Second half also started with Chelsea dominating proceedings and the breakthrough came when Lampard’s corner was turned in by Ballack,seven minutes into the second half.Drogba’s tricks were enough to tempt Sunderland defender George McCartney into an untidy challenge and the resulting penalty was scored by Lampard to send Chelsea into the lead.The third goal came from Deco,who drilled in from the edge of the penalty box to complete the come back and give Anchelotti his second win in as many matches as Chelsea coach.Next up for Chelsea is Fulham on Sunday.
Arsenal were also in action on Tuesday but not in the EPL as they traveled to Celtic for their champions League play-offs and won 2-0.
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