Hello and welcome to my latest blog installment of this year's English Premier League with 4 matches LIVE today including the crunch match between Manchester City and Chelsea for all you football fans to enjoy and dissect with analysis and descriptions.
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| First match in charge: Rafael Benitez's first test as Chelsea manager is a match against Manchester City today. |
Swansea City vs Liverpool - LIVE
60 minutes gone at the Liberty Stadium, where former manager Brendan Rodgers faces his old club Swansea for the first time since leaving his post to move to Liverpool.
Liverpool's 17-year-old winger Raheem Sterling has hit the crossbar in the first half with a stinging half volley along with full-back Jose Enrique who had a goal disallowed for offside.
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| Disallowed goal: Full-back Jose Enrique had a goal disallowed for offside inside the first half. |
It has been an end-to-end match, with both teams passing the ball well, but neither side being able to take their goal-scoring chances.
Southampton vs Newcastle - Team line-ups:
Southampton: Gazzinga, Clyne, Fonte, Shaw, Yoshida, Puncheon, Cork, Schneiderlin, Lallana, Ramirez, Lambert.
Subs: Kelvin Davis, Hooiveld, Steven Davis, Rodriguez, Do Prado, Ward-Prowse, Mayuka.
Newcastle: Krul, Simpson, Steven Taylor, Williamson, Santon, Tiote, Anita, Gutierrez, Feguson, Ba, Cisse.
Subs: Harper, Perch, Bigirimana, Marveaux, Sammy Ameobi, Ranger, Tavernier.
The match between Southampton and Newcastle has just kicked off, meanwhile Swansea winger Nathan Dyer and Liverpool goalkeeper Pepe Reina are involved in a nasty collison after Dyer skins Downing on the right flank.
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| Full-on collision: Dyer tries to keep possesion of the ball, while Reina comes out to collect inside the box. |
15:06:
Double substitution for Liverpool, with midfielder Jordan Henderson and winger Stewart Downing are replaced by young midfielder Jonjo Shelvey and forward Joe Cole.
15:09:
Team Line-ups for Chelsea vs Manchester City:
Chelsea: Cech, Azpilicueta, Luiz, Ivanovic, Cole, Mikel, Ramires, Mata, Oscar, Hazard, Torres.
Subs: Turnbull, Romeu, Moses, Ferreira, Marin, Cahill, Bertrand.
Manchester City: Hart, Zabaleta, Kompany, Nastasic, Kolarov, Barry, Yaya Toure, Barry, Silva, Milner, Dzeko, Aguero.
Subs: Pantilimon, Maicon, Nasri, Javi Garcia, Balotelli, Kolo Toure, Tevez.
15:23: FULL-TIME SCORE:
Swansea 0 Liverpool 0
A 0-0 draw at The Liberty Stadium, with goalkeeper Tremmel saving his side on numerous occasions from losing at home to Liverpool.
It seems from afar like it was a boring match but it was far from it.
It was entertaining, dramatic and was full of passes and 29 attempts on goal during the match, but neither side was able to take their chances in-front of goal.
Both teams won 1 point each, with Swansea moving up to 8th place and The Reds going up to 11th.
15:34:
GOAL UPDATE - Southampton 1 Newcastle 0
Midfielder Adam Lallana breaks the deadlock for The Saints after 34 minutes thanks to a failed clearance by Tim Krul and the Newcastle defence.
He cooly tapped in a shot after midfielder Jack Cork played the ball across goal.
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| Easy: Southampton midfielder Adam Lallana scores a tap-in after a good through pass from Ramirez. |
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| 2nd goal of the season: Lallana wheels away to celebrate his goal against Newcastle in the 34th minute. |
15:42: Newcastle need half-time soon, they are being dominated at Southampton.
Tottenham vs West Ham - Team Line-ups:
Tottenham: Lloris, Walker, Dawson, Caulker, Vertonghen, Huddlestone, Sandro, Lennon, Dempsey, Bale, Defoe.
Subs: Friedel, Gallas, Naughton, Dembele, Sigurdsson, Livermore, Carroll.
West Ham: Jaaskelainen, O'Brien, Tomkins, Reid, McCartney, Maiga, Diame, O'Neil,Noble, Nolan, Carroll.
Subs: Spiegel, Jarvis, Cole, Taylor, Collins, Demel, Moncur.
15:46: HALF-TIME:
Southampton 1 Newcastle United 0
Chelsea vs Manchester City - LIVE Match Commentary:
0: The match has started at Stamford Bridge between Chelsea and Manchester City aswell as Tottenham vs West Ham in the EPL.
2: Chelsea winger Ramires is down after colliding with Manchester City defensive midfielder James Milner. He is now recieving treament on the field.
3: While Ramires recieves treatment, the cameras show Chelsea fans with banners including 'OnlyoneDiMatteo' which shows that Di Matteo has left Chelsea with some dignity after being ruthlessly sacked in midweek after losing to Juventus 3-0.
5: Manchester City are holding the ball well in the midfield in the early stages, after a corner by Kolarov came of nothing.
6: A lot is riding on this match today for both sides. Chelsea will move back into 3rd place if they win today while Manchester City will leapfrog local rivals Manchester United back into 1st place with an away win.
12: Chelsea are starting to find their passing game, but their end product is not good enough in the final third.
14: Manchester City starting to press Chelsea's defence now, especially targeting shaky defender David Luiz as the ball goes out for a City corner.
15: City's corner comes of nothing, and Chelsea are given a quick rest.
16: Chelsea's supporters applaud Roberto Di Matteo throughout this minute, probably in thanks because of his nservices to the club, while many fans have banners saying 'In Roberto we trusted and loved, in Rafa we will never trust! Fact!'
GOAL UPDATE - Southampton 2 Newcastle 0
Forward Gaston Ramirez doubles the lead for The Saints!
Another failure to clear by Tim Krul from Jason Puncheon's cross allows Ramirez to capitalize on his mistake and hit the ball into the net easily to make it 2-0.
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| Record signing: Gaston Ramirez celebrates his 1st goal in a Southampton shirt transfer after a move from Bologna. |
31: Chelsea had the chance to counter attack with Cole on the wing, but a misplaced pass lets the ball go out for a City goal-kick.
45: The referee blows the whistle to end the first half at Stamford Bridge. Chelsea are holding Manchester City to a 0-0 draw at the moment, but it doesn't look as though it will stay like this throughout the second half.
GOAL UPDATE - Tottenham 1 West Ham 0
Striker Jermain Defoe has broken the deadlock just before half-time with his 6th goal of the season after cutting inside and shooting from just outside the 18-yard box.
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| 6th goal of the season: Tottenham striker Jermain Defoe hits a powerful strike to make it 1-0 against West Ham. |
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| Defoe is mobbed by his team-mates after his goal just before half-time gave Spurs the lead going into the break. |
16:50:
HALF-TIME:
Chelsea 0 Manchester City 0
Tottenham 1 West Ham 0
FULL-TIME - Southampton 2 Newcastle 0
That result moves Southampton out of the relegation zone into 17th place while pushing Aston Villa back into the 'drop zone', after goals from Lallana and Ramirez.
It is their 2nd home win of the season, while Newcastle fail to move up into as high as 9th place after securing a place in the Last 32 of the Europa League on Thursday night.
This time of year will be vital to Newcastle's chase of another UEFA Europa League spot next season, especially as key players Ryan Taylor and Hatem Ben Arfa are both out injured.
17:04: The 4pm kick-offs have both restarted with Chelsea vs Manchester City and Tottenham vs West Ham both in the second half now.
55: The match is looking more interesting at Stamford Bridge, with both sides starting counter attacks quickly.
Manchester City defensive midfielder Yaya Toure tries to find Sergio Aguero with a through ball into the box, but Aguero's run is too early and the ball goes out.
57: Chelsea have a corner with Juan Mata whipping the ball into the box. David Luiz towers above centre-back Nastasic before unleashing a header towards goal.... OVER THE BAR!!!
The header was too high to even trouble England no.1 goalkeeper Joe Hart.
60: Chelsea have another corner.... the ball is whipped into the box, but Manchester City defender and captain Vincent Kompany heading the ball away to safety.
61: Chelsea winger Eden Hazard gets past three Manchester City defenders before weaving inside and out towards the box.
He eventually loses the ball, but City's clearance finds Torres who has an ambitious shot from 20 yards out.... OVER THE BAR!!!
At least Torres is having a go... Chelsea are starting to fire up in this match suddenly...
62: GOAL UPDATE - Tottenham 2 West Ham 0
Tottenham winger Gareth Bale doubles Spurs' lead.
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| Good header: Tottenham winger Gareth Bale heads Spurs into a 2-0 lead in the 58th minute. |
63: Manchester City full-back Pablo Zabaleta is given a yellow card after tripping Chelsea defender Branislav Ivanovic on a dangerous counter attack.
65: GOAL UPDATE - Tottenham 3 West Ham 0
Easy street now for Spurs, as Defoe scores his second goal of the match to make it 3-0 to the home side, and to almost certainly secure all three points. A win for Tottenham will see them move above West Ham into 7th, 1 place behind local rivals Arsenal.
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| Make that 7 goals: Defoe celebrates scoring his double against West Ham in the 64th minute. |
68: Manchester City suddenly increasing the intensity of the match, by camping in Chelsea's half and taking shots.
69: Manchester City SUB:
Carlos Tevez ON
James Milner OFF
Roberto Mancini looks for a more attacking option as he looks for his team to score the first goal in this match. 20 minutes to go.
71: Chelsea SUB:
Eden Hazard OFF
Victor Moses ON
An injection of pace for Benitez to try and push for the winning goal with less than 20 minutes to go.
Hazard has played okay today, but nothing special despite glimpses of genius.
75: 15 minutes left of the match plus stoppages with a Manchester City coming up.
The ball is cleared away by Torres.
76: Manchester City free-kick after a handball by Victor Moses.
77: Kolarov is given a yellow card after a challenge from behind on Moses. Free-kick to Chelsea.
78: Rain is starting to fall heavily on West London now, which will make the last 10 minutes interesting to watch.
79: Chelsea SUB:
Oriol Romeu ON
John Obi Mikel OFF
It looks as though Benitez would rather take the 1 point than lose all three, so is strengthening the defence for the last 10 minutes.
FACT: If the scoreline stays the same, it will be Chelsea's 3rd draw in 4 matches in the Premier League.
82: Cameras show striker Mario Balotelli is changing and getting ready to come on for Manchester City.
84: GOAL UPDATE - Tottenham 3 West Ham 1
Andy Carroll has given the visitors a late consolation by scoring his first goal for West Ham after moving on a loan transfer from Liverpool in the summer transfer window.
85: These last few minutes are going to be tense as both teams are looking for the winner.
Full-back Ashley Cole has a shot from 20 yards out over the bar. Goal-kick to City.
86: Manchester City SUB:
Sergio Aguero OFF
Mario Balotelli ON
Last-ditch attempt for a winner for Mancini. Balotelli comes on.
87: Chelsea supporters are screaming for a red card to Vincent Kompany after he tackles Fernando Torres just outside the box and he is the last man. No foul, and Torres gets up quickly.
90: The fourth official signals for 2 minutes of stoppage time to be added on as Romeu concedes a Manchester City corner.
90+1: Manchester City defender Natasic has a header towards goal.... comfortably SAVED by Petr Cech!
90+2: Mario Balotelli is given a yellow card for a controversial dive, where there was contact between him and David Luiz.
The referee blows the whistle to end the match at Stamford Bridge.
FULL-TIME SCORE::
Chelsea 0 Manchester City 0
New interim manager Rafael Benitez keeps a clean sheet on his first match in charge of Chelsea, but is not able to win the match against the defending EPL champions, or move back into 3rd place.
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| Negative: Chelsea fans show their lack of support to Benitez, after the sacking of RDM this week. |
My Man Of The Match: Vincent Kompany
He worked hard throughout, and dominated the defence.
He made sure that Oscar, Mata and Torres did not give Hart much trouble and stopped them in their tracks.
He lead the back line well and kept a clean sheet.
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| Not going anywhere: Vincent Kompany contains the threat of Chelsea winger Juan Mata. |
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| Neither are you: Torres tries to get past Kompany in the centre of the defence, but it was not enough. |
Analysis:
- Chelsea stay in 4th place
- Manchester City fail to move back into 1st
- Tottenham move up to the after a 3-1 win over West Ham
- Liverpool and Swansea ends 0-0
- Southampton move out of the relegation zone with a 2-0 win over Newcastle
Thank you for reading my EPL Blog. I will speak to you all next week, where there are many matches during midweek in the EPL.
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