This Weekend In Summary

Record-breaking day for goals
November 28, 2010


Dimitar Berbatov bagged a marvellous quintet as Manchester United soared to the top of the Premier League table with a rampant 7-1 victory over Blackburn at Old Trafford on Saturday. With Chelsea preparing for a trip to Newcastle, Sir Alex Ferguson's men had the chance to turn up the pressure on the champions, and the result was never in doubt from the second minute onwards as they contributed to a record 36 goals.



Fielding Wayne Rooney and Berbatov in his strikeforce for the visit of Blackburn,
Ferguson wore a wide grin when the pair combined after less than 120 seconds. Nani delivered the cross for Rooney to flick on, with Berbatov waiting gleefully to score his first league goal since the hat-trick against Liverpool on September 19. Rovers no doubt will contest the goal, after Paul Robinson appeared to be fouled in the build-up.


Rooney was looking sharp, buoyed by his penalty at Rangers in midweek, and he played a sublime role in United's second. Receiving the ball from Park Ji-Sung, he returned it to the South Korean with a lovely weighted pass as the midfielder tucked home for 2-0.


By half-time it was three, and this time the assist belonged firmly to Blackburn defender Pascal Chimbonda. Lazily turning towards his own goal, Chimbonda blindly played the ball towards Robinson, only to find Berbatov waiting for the pass. Coolness personified, the Bulgarian took one touch before dispatching arguably his easiest goal of the season.


There was more agony for Blackburn in the second period as Berbatov started and finished a contender for goal of the season, pulling the strings in a sweeping 80-yard move. Then Nani, always a threat out wide, got in on the act with another clinical strike before Berbatov added two more as United produced arguably their finest display of the season, only dented by a late consolation for Chris Samba.
Arsenal avoided a potential repeat of their North London derby capitulation, beating Aston Villa 4-2 in Saturday's early kick-off at Villa Park.


The major talking point prior to kick-off was the news that Robert Pires would make his first Villa start against his former club. Pires won two Premier League titles and three FA Cups with the Gunners, and greeted Arsene Wenger warmly ahead of the first whistle. The France international was forced to play the role of bystander once the game got underway, with Arsenal completely dominant in the first half - just as they were a week ago against Spurs. Arshavin finally converted that supremacy into goals five minutes before half-time, capitalising on a defensive mix-up to cut inside and find Brad Friedel's far corner.


Friedel's defensive cover was non-existent as Samir Nasri then nipped in to round the American, only to send his effort wide of an open goal. And then Friedel had to be at his best to deny a Chamakh header from point-blank range. He could do nothing on the stroke of the interval though, as Nasri arrived at the edge of the box to drill home a deflected volley for 2-0.



Pires was replaced at the break as Villa looked for a Tottenham-like reply, and the comeback looked well-and-truly on when Clark made the most of Gael Clichy's decision to back off, chesting down and volleying excellently past Lukasz Fabianski. Replays did show Arsenal had plenty of cause for complaint, with the offside John Carew blatantly blocking the view of Fabianski as Clark fired goalwards.
It mattered little as Chamakh settled Arsenal nerves within four minutes, beating


Friedel to Tomas Rosicky's through-ball for 3-1. Still Arsenal's brittle defence was not done though, with Clark heading home his second of the match to set up a nervy final 20 minutes, but on this occasion the Gunners found the late goal as Wilshere settled matters in injury time.
Manchester City missed their chance to move level with Chelsea on 28 points, taking away a 1-1 draw from their trip to Stoke. City are left five points adrift of their


Manchester neighbours as a result. Roberto Mancini fielded an attacking line-up featuring Carlos Tevez, Mario Balotelli, David Silva and James Milner, but Stoke enjoyed the majority of the territorial advantage and should have made it pay when Milner cleared off the line. However, Micah Richards appeared to have won it when he popped up with ten minutes remaining, only to see Matthew Etherington deny City the points in injury time.


At the bottom of the table, West Ham breathed fresh life into their relegation battle, beating Wigan 3-1 at Upton Park. The fixture had been dubbed the 'save our season' clash as Hammers chiefs lowered ticket prices, and their players duly responded. Valon Behrami grabbed the all-important breakthrough, capitalising on defensive mix-up to punctuate an opening 35 minutes of poor quality football. It could have been two before half-time, but Ali Al-Habsi produced an outstanding save to deny Frederic Piquionne from a corner. However, it mattered little as Victor Obinna and Scott Parker found the net against an extremely weak Wigan side. To rub salt into the Latics' wounds, Mauro Boselli saw a second-half penalty saved by Rob


Green, who was eventually beaten by Tom Cleverley.
Wolves grabbed an 89th-minute winner to keep themselves off the bottom of the table with a 3-2 victory over Sunderland at Molineux. Mick McCarthy's side had won just twice all season, but they are now just two points adrift of safety after a dramatic encounter.


Kevin Foley handed Wolves a second-half lead when finding the net from 12 yards, but Darren Bent ensured the hosts' wait for a first clean sheet of the season continued with a 67th-minute equaliser. Danny Welbeck then thought he had won it for the Black Cats with a close-range header, but Stephen Hunt and Sylvan Ebanks-Blake turned the game on its head for Wolves.


Bolton began the day in fifth place in the Premier League table but they were left to battle for a last-ditch 2-2 draw with Blackpool at the Reebok Stadium. Owen Coyle's men had lost just twice all season, but after shaking off their own 'functional' tag, they initially succumbed to two set-pieces. Ian Evatt was the man to get his head to a corner to open the scoring and then Luke Varney netted a carbon copy second.


However, Martin Petrov set up a tense final 15 minutes, before Mark Davies finished one of the moves of the season in the 89th minute.
Everton continue to frustrate in the lower half of the table, losing 4-1 to West Brom at Goodison Park. The Baggies had not won in their previous five matches, but Chris Brunt inspired a change of fortunes on Merseyside. First the former Sheffield Wednesday winger crossed beautifully for Paul Scharner to head home his fifth goal in nine games against Everton. And then Brunt curled a sublime free-kick over Tim Howard's wall to double the advantage.


Tim Cahill, so often Everton's saviour, rose highest at Leighton Baines' corner to half the deficit, but the Toffees then had Mikel Arteta sent off for a stamp. The ten men of Everton wasted a glorious chance to level through Jermaine Beckford, and he was punished by late strikes from Somen Tchoyi and an own goal from Sylvain Distin, before Youssuf Mulumbu also saw red at the death.
In the day's other game, Fulham earned their ninth league draw of the season under Mark Hughes, sharing the points after a 1-1 tie with Birmingham at Craven Cottage. Hughes' side played the better football for most of the first half, but succumbed to a Sebastian Larsson strike after some excellent build-up work by Alexander Hleb. However, Clint Dempsey registered his sixth of the season to rescue a point.