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Five Spices From Chairman Damon

Log on to this page after each round of games for the lowdown on how each team fared. He’s harsh, but fair and you won’t find anything quite like it elsewhere. Enjoy our Chairman’s pithy post match analysis of the overpaid heroes and goats that make up the “Happy Band” of the EPL. If you're in the prawn sandwich and skim latte club, or part of the "Dippy Darling" brigade this column is not for you!!

Who's hot? Who's not? Who's left their bottle at home? Watch this space carefully as the season unwinds.

Who was hot before?  Visit Damon's 2008/09 season archives to find out!

Previous Analysis:

Round Twenty-Two.... Round Twenty-One.... Round Twenty.... Round Nineteen.... Round Eighteen

Changes At The Top

 

Arsenal 4 - Bolton Wanderers 2

Arsenal come back from two goals down to see off Bolton and climb above Chelsea on goals scored. Wanderers started the better and went ahead on seven minutes after the Arsenal defence - not for the first or last time - failed to deal with Kevin Davies and the striker's nod down was crisply despatched by Gary Cahill. The visitors went two up on the half-hour after Denilson fouled Chung-Yong Lee in the area and Matt Taylor made up for his misses in the weekend's game by converting from the spot. The Gunners got back into the game just before the break when Thomas Rosicky hammered a shot into the net, though Jussi Jaaskelainen should probably have done better as he was beaten on his near post. Seven minutes into the second half, the Londoners equalised in controversial circumstances. William Gallas was guilty of an appalling over-the-ball challenge that looked to have broken midfielder Mark Davies's ankle but referee Alan Wiley was happy to see play continue and the enraged Bolton defence appeared to lose all composure. Eventually, a short passage of penalty-area pinball saw the ball break to Cesc Fabregas, who nutmegged Jaaskelainen, again at his near post, to put Arsenal back on level terms. Andrei Arshavin was to score the fourth after a similarly-fortuitous sequence of rebounds with five minutes left but Thomas Vermaelen had already put Arsene Wenger's side in front with a venomous half-volley five minutes after the hour and Bolton hadn't looked like recovering. It's been a remarkable turn-around in recent weeks for Arsenal.

 

Liverpool 2 - Tottenham Hotspur 0

A performance full of grit and endeavour sees Liverpool beat Tottenham to close to within a point of them. Dirk Kuyt's sixth-minute strike, sticking away a loose ball after Albert Aquilani had harried the Spurs defence, boosted the home side's confidence and they refused to let the visitors dwell on the ball at all for the rest of the match. The in-form Jermaine Defoe thought he'd pulled his side level early in the second half, picking up Sotirios Krgiakos's attempted back-pass, only for the linesman to pull him up for an earlier offside. The Reds remained the better side, though, and finally made the game safe in injury time. Sebastian Bassong stupidly obliged David Ngog, after the striker had punted the ball out of play and gone looking for the foul on the edge of the area and Kuyt eventually notched his second of the night from a twice-taken penalty. Rafael Benitez's luck hasn't quite run out, just yet.

 

Manchester United 4 - Hull City 0

United post a comfortable win against Hull to go to the top of the table. In a week where revelations of the club's mounting debt would have led to uncomfortable reading for many fans, the team underlined they still remain a force to be reckoned with on the pitch. Wayne Rooney opened the scoring in just the eighth minute when he latched onto the rebound after a Paul Scholes effort had been beaten out. Despite Hull not offering much of a threat, it took a long time for the Red Devils to make the game safe, Rooney bagging his second of the game with ten minutes left after City failed to clear a Nani fee-kick had come off the woodwork, with Kemal Ghilas coming close to netting an equaliser in the interim. The balance of the game was better reflected, however, when Rooney completed his hat-trick in nodding home Nani's cross and the final gloss was added to the performance when the England striker added his and his side's fourth deep into injury time, after being found by substitute Dimitar Berbatov. The defending champions go back to the top of the table but, having played a game more than Arsenal and two more than Chelsea, it remains to be seen whether they stay there.