Friday, March 29, 2024

Premier League round-up: Saturday

Spanish midfielder Mikel Arteta scored the winner in Arsenal’s 1-0 victory over QPR on Saturday

With a number of Premier League games taking place on Sunday there was still a number of Premier League games taking place on Saturday.

In the early kick-off Aston Villa and Norwich drew 1-1 at Villa Park.

The home side were in the lead on 27 minutes, Christian Benteke curling home an effort from Joe Bennett’s cross.

The home side was reduced to ten men in the 52th minute as Bennett was dismissed for a second bookable offence.

The Canaries then made the extra man count. However, it wasn’t until the 79th minute that they levelled the scores.

Centre-back Michael Turner rose the highest to head home Wes Hoolahan’s cross.  Norwich then went searching for an equaliser but the Villa defence held out. The draw keeps both teams entrenched in the bottom half of the table.

Arsenal scraped a 1-0 victory over London rivals QPR at the Emirates Stadium. The visitors were reduced to ten men with ten minutes remaining when Stephane Mbia kicked-out at Gunners defender Thomas Vermaelen.

Midfielder Mikel Arteta headed against the cross bar after a scramble, only to tap-in the rebound. QPR missed a chance for an unlikely point late on in the game as Jamie Mackie’s effort was saved by Julio Cesar. The victory moved Arsenal up to fourth place in Premier League table.

Manchester City also claimed a 1-0 victory against Swansea at the Etihad Stadium. It was a poor performance from the champions, but Carlos Tevez fired City into the lead just after the hour mark.

There was 12 minutes injury-time after City’s Micah Richards and Michel Vorm collided and had to be stretchered off. There is no doubt that many fans didn’t appreciate the added-on time.

Wigan got their first home victory of the season with a 2-1 defeat of West Ham at the DW Stadium. The Latics took the lead on eight minutes, as defender Ivan Ramis scored a superb volley from Jean Beausejour’s corner.

Wigan doubled their lead in the 47th minute. Midfielder James McArthur volleyed the ball past Jussi Jaaskelainen from the edge of the box. The Irons got a consolation goal back late on in the game through centre-back James Tomkins, but couldn’t find an equaliser.

Reading and Fulham played out an enthralling 3-3 draw at the Madejski Stadium. The Royals took the lead in the 26th minute through an excellent effort from defender Mikele Leigertwood.

The Cottagers were back on level terms in the 61st minute, substitute Bryan Ruiz found a superb swerving effort beyond Reading keeper Alex McCarthy. Ruiz then turned creator as he found defender Chris Baird, who headed the visitors into the lead in the 77th minute.

Reading were back on level terms in the 82nd minute as former-Nottingham Forest striker Gareth McCleary fired home from six yards. With just two minutes remaining the Cottagers were back into the lead, Bulgarian striker Dimitar Berbatov finding the top corner after a good team move.

Reading wasn’t finished yet and in the final minute Welsh international Hal Robson-Kanu bundling home an equaliser after the Fulham defence struggled to cope with a Nicky Shorey free-kick.

Stoke and Sunderland played out a dull 0-0 draw at the Britannia Stadium. The biggest talking point of the game was an injury to Stoke defender Marc Wilson, who had to go to hospital with a suspected broken fibula.

Can Arsenal realistically challenge for the Premier League title?

ABOUT THE AUTHOR

David Nugent


David is a freelance football writer with nearly a decade of experience writing about the beautiful game. The experienced writer has written for over a dozen websites and also an international soccer magazine offline.
Arguably his best work has come as an editorial writer for Soccernews, sharing his good, bad and ugly opinions on the world’s favourite sport. During David’s writing career he has written editorials, betting previews, match previews, banter, news and opinion pieces.

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