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Premier League Review.

10 Games, 2 local Derby’s and 34 Goals. Stock values in goal net’s went through the roof as another Premier league weekend got under way with some teams in a rampant mood. Here, in no particular order, is my pick of the best action from the weekend …

Fulham 6 – 0 QPR.

No good strikers. No goals. No chance of anything special. This was the general opinion surrounding Martin Jol’s goal shy and uninspiring Fulham side who, without a win so far, had scored just 4 goals in their first six games. It’s easy to see why smashing 6 past poor QPR came as a surprise.

A fuming Neil Warnock will be scratching his head as his QPR side forge a reputation as an unknown quantity, heroic one week; hopeless the next, this display was definitely the latter.

Cottagers striker Andy Johnson was the standout man scoring a fine hat-trick which included the fastest goal so far this season after just 78 seconds. Murphy, Dempsey and Zamora were the other names to complete the rout as Fulham dominated every aspect of the game.

Such an emphatic display will inspire hope amongst Fulham fans that they can ignite a so far flat season, but, as for QPR… Well, 6-0 says it all.

Chelsea 5 – 1 Bolton

Frank Lampard is back? Chelsea talisman bagged a hat-trick to answer his critics and prove that Chelsea’s old guard have still got a bit of magic about them.

It took 90 seconds for The Blues to take the lead against bottom side Bolton before Lampard, the premier league’s all-time top scoring midfielder, slotted home the second.

What came next was a calamitous 3 minutes for Bolton Keeper Bogdan on his first league start. Firstly, a limp wristed attempt to save Sturridge’s fierce shot put the blues 3 – 0 up before he haplessly palmed the ball into Lampard’s path to gift Chelsea their 4th just minutes later.

Bolton pretended, for a few minutes, to pull themselves together scoring through Boyata’s header 60 seconds into the second period. However, a comeback was never going to materialise and Lampard claimed the match ball just before the hour mark.

Only three points from top, Chelsea look to be picking up some momentum and could upset the Manchester monopoly if they maintain this sort of form. Meanwhile Bolton, lying bottom of the league, look to be in for a long season unless they start picking up points fairly soon.

Arsenal 1 – 2 Tottenham.

Not only in my pick of the week because of the fact it’s the North London derby or because it was a good match, this game came to us as confirmation that Arsenal have handed their trousers over to Tottenham who seem quite happy to wear them.

Arsenal arrived at white heart lane with a confidence their recent form couldn’t afford, setting a high tempo as they took the game to Spurs, their best opportunity to take the lead falling to Gerviniho who shot wastefully wide from 10 yards.

The breakthrough came shortly before half time courtesy of Van de Vaart who, with a hint of hand ball, collected a pass from Adebayor and drove his shot across goal.

Aaron Ramsey pulled Arsenal level after the break heading in at the far post but any hope of a moral boosting result faded when Kyle Walker powered an effort towards Szczesny who, despite making a number of good saves throughout the game, should have done more to prevent Tottenham’s winner.

Both sides have suffered a difficult start to the season, the difference being that Tottenham sit 6th whilst their neighbours languish in a very unfamiliar 15th place. Arsenal need to pull it together fast and, for many gunners fans, success this season would be to finish anywhere above Tottenham let alone the top four.

Everton 0 – 2 Liverpool.

The Merseyside derby: a highly tense, physical and passionate affair. A standout fixture for any football fan… Ruined by the referee.

Everton were shaping up fairly well against city rivals Liverpool until referee Martin Atkinson decided to show Jack Rodwell a red card in the 23rd minute. It wasn’t even close to being a red card but, as Luis Suarez writhed round in apparent agony, Rodwell was dismissed.

Everton Did an excellent job of holding on with 10 men, Tim Howard saved Dirk Kuyt’s penalty late in the first half allowing Everton to reach half time all square.

But it was only a matter of time before the resistance was broken. Andy Carroll’s first goal of the season after 70 mins put Liverpool ahead before Suarez slotted in their second to condemn Everton.

With Everton doing such a good job of containing Liverpool when a man down it really seems that we missed out on what could have been a classic game.

Cheers Martin Atkinson.

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