Yesterday, after 93 days of waiting for it, the 2012-13 EPL season started with a bang.
- 5 star Fulham beat Norwich by 5 goals to nil
- Swansea thrashed QPR 5-0
- Reading drew 1-1 with Stoke
- Arsenal started life without RVP with a 0- draw against Sunderland
- Newcastle beat Tottenham 2-1
- West Brom shocked Liverpool, winning 3-0 at home
- West Ham beat Aston Villa 1-0.
Yesterday's Evening Match:
Newcastle United 2 Tottenham Hotspur 1
This match was played at The Sports Direct Arena, as Newcastle went head-to-head with Tottenham.
This was new Tottenham manager Andre Villas Boas' first match in charge and he wanted to start it off with a win.
Tottenham dominated the first half, with Bale and Defoe both hitting the post and the bar.
In the second half, Newcastle started to play better, and not let Tottenham have the ball.
Striker Demba Ba scored his first goal for the club since February with a lovely curling swerving finesse shot from 22 yards out which curled over goalkeeper Brad Friedel into the net in the 56th minute.
Today, there are two matches with Wigan vs Chelsea and Manchester City vs Southampton both in action.
Team Line-Ups:
Wigan Athletic v Chelsea:
Wigan: Al Habsi, Alcaraz, Caldwell, Ramis, Boyce, McCarthy, McArthur, Figueroa, Maloney, Di Santo, Moses.
Subs: Pollitt, Kone, Jones, Crusat, Ben Watson, Gomez, Boselli.
3-4-3 formation for Wigan, with Victor Moses starting in attack along with Franco Di Santo and Shaun Maloney despite all the transfer attention from Chelsea over the past few weeks.
Chelsea: Cech, Ivanovic, Luiz, Terry, Cole, Lampard, Mikel, Eden Hazard, Mata, Bertrand, Torres.
Subs: Turnbull, Essien, Oscar, Ferreira, Meireles, Sturridge, Cahill.
4-2-3-1 formation for The Blues with Fernando Torres the lone man up-front with Mata, Eden Hazard and Ryan Bertrand behind him.
13:30: Wigan have kicked us off here at The DW Stadium.
1: Nice play by Chelsea before winger Eden Hazard turnes past a defender and plays a through ball towards defender Branislav Ivanovic.
Ivanovic runs into the box before keeping his head down and blasting the ball low in the corner of the net away from goalkeeeper Ali Al Habsi.
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| 1 minute, 1 goal: Defender Branislav Ivanovic finishes off a nice Chelsea move to give them the lead against Wigan. |
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| Mobbed: Ivanovic is mobbed by his team-mates as he scores Chelsea's first goal of the new 2012-13 season. |
GOAL!!!
What a goal from Chelsea, nice build-up play with Ivanovic finishing the move off in style. 1 minute gone, 1 goal scored for Chelsea.
5: Eden Hazard weaves in and out of two Wigan defenders before getting bodychecked by Evan Ramis inside the box... PENALTY!
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| Trouble: Chelsea new boy Hazard weaves past two defenders before being brought down by Ramis. |
Chelsea midfielder Frank Lampard steps up to take the penalty.... He shoots low and hard towards goal and SCORES! 2-0 to Chelsea, and Lampard scores yet another penalty for The Blues.
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| 39 for Chelsea: Chelsea midfielder Frank Lampard has now scored 39 penalties for Chelsea in the EPL. |
A litle bit lucky because the keeper guessed the right way but it was too powerful a shot for him to save it.
10: Chelsea free-kick awarded after a late challenge on Eden Hazard by Wigan defender Gary Caldwell.
Yellow card after a poor challenge, in which he did not win the ball and had his studs showing.
12: Wigan pressing Chelsea, trying to get back into the match with Figueroa looking dangerous down the right wing.
Goalkeeper Petr Cech is equal to his cross and comfortably catches the ball.
15: Wigan corner, taken by Shaun Maloney into the box, but cleared away by Chelsea defensive midfielder John Obi Mikel.
16: Nice link-up play by Juan Mata and Eden Hazard down the wing before Mata gets taken out by McArthur. Chelsea free-kick taken quickly.
17: Good penalty shout by Chelsea, with striker Fernando Torres getting taken out just inside the box by defender Alcaraz.
Referee says it was a shoulder barge, and play on.
19: Wigan cross into the box by Victor Moses, for striker Franco Di Santo who heads towards goal..... OVER THE BAR!!
19: Moses with his quick feet sidesteps Chelsea defenders John Terry and Ashley Cole before getting taken out by Frank Lampard who sticks a leg out.
22: Chelsea on the ball, with Cole passing the ball to Lampard who finds Mata on the wing.
Mata passes the ball into the box for Torres, but goalkeeper Ali Al Habsi comfortably saves the ball and makes sure Torres does not have a chance to get a shot on goal.
24: Another Wigan corner comes of nothing, thanks to a block by Eden Hazard who has impressed for Chelsea so far in this match.
26: Mata finds Torres with a nice through ball but Torres takes to long to sort out whether he was going to take a shot or not, and gets swarmed by 4 Wigan defenders before losing the ball.
28: Nice patient build-up play by Wigan, but Chelsea's defence clear.
Captain John Terry looks to have a knock, and is limping uncomfortably here.
31: Eden Hazard goes down again, after getting tackled by Wigan midfielder James McCarthy. No card though for McCarthy.
34: Chelsea defender David Luiz goes in late on Wigan forward Shaun Maloney.
The referee pulls Luiz back for the foul before showing the yellow card.
He is a bit unlucky as he looked to play the ball but was late to it.
36: McCarthur is penalised for accidentally htting Hazard in the face with his arm while trying to balance with the ball.
Chelsea free-kick taken quickly by Mata to Torres, but the flag is up for offside.
37: Wigan forward Victor Moses zooms past Ashley Cole before letting a shot fly from 20 yards out towards goal... Chelsea goalkeeper Petr Cech gets a hand to the shot and now Wigan have a corner.
Moses has been a constant threat for Wigan oday to the Chelsea defenders. Unlucky not to score then.
39: Nothing comes of the resulting corner for Wigan again.
42: Victor Moses skills up Ashley Cole before crossing the ball into the box from the wing.. The cross is too powerful for any Wigan player to latch onto, and the ball goes out for a throw-in.
45: YET ANOTHER CORNER for Wigan, (and you know what I am going to say next don't you!)
Nothing comes of it.
The fourth official has signalled for two minutes of added time to play at the end of the first half.
46: Nice through ball straight to Franco Di Santo, he only has Cech to beat!!!
He takes a first touch before chipping the ball over Cech.... Defender David Luiz clears the ball away.
Di Santo should have scored there but his first touch was too much.
45+2: The referee has blown the whistle to signal the end of the first half of play at The DW Stadium.
Chelsea lead by 2 goals to nil against a Wigan side who have been threatening to score, but have not really trouble Cech apart from Moses.
Chelsea have only had to play very well for the first ten minutes of the match, and the rest were in second gear.
14:30: The second half has started at the DW.
47: John Terry has been fouled by Franco Di Santo with his studs up into his ankle as he went to clear the ball away. Chelsea free-kick, but Santo is left with a warning.
48: Wigan SUB:
Shaun Maloney OFF
Jordi Gomez ON
Maloney seems to be struggling with a thigh injury, and comes off for striker Gomez.
56: Chelsea free-kick awarded after Wigan midfielder James McArthur catches Frank Lampard's leg dangerously, and it was nowhere near the ball.
59: Wigan find space with captain Gary Caldwell finding striker Di Santo with a long ball towards the wing.
He moves past Luiz inside the box before taking a shot towards goal... WIDE!
A weak, off target shot, and to be honest, Wigan should have equalised by now with the amount of chances that Di Santo has had.
62: Manager Roberto Di Matteo is seen talking to £25million signing Oscar on the touchline. He should becoming on the pitch soon.
63: Nice skill by Bertrand before finding Torres inside the box.... he is fighting to keep his balance before he taps the ball past Al Habsi.
The ball trickles towards goal but defender Evan Ramis runs towards the ball... AND CLEARS THE BALL OFF THE LINE!!!
65: Chelsea SUB:
Eden Hazard OFF
Oscar ON
Hazard has been impressive today, and has been one to watch for Chelsea. Well played, and now we look at £25million signing Oscar from Internacional.
66: Wigan SUB:
Franco Di Santo OFF
Arouna Kone ON
Debut for new Wigan signing Arouna Kone.
68: Oscar on the ball... takes a shot from outside the box.... JUST PAST THE POST!!!
Close by Oscar, and he looks promising aswell...
74: Wigan free-kick, taken by Jordi Gomez towards goal.... SAVED by Petr Cech!
A good save by Cech, because the ball was swerving away from him, and he had to get his body behind the ball.
80: Wigan SUB:
James McArthur OFF
Ben Watson ON
82: Chelsea SUB:
Juan Mata OFF
Raul Meireles ON
Mata has played very well for Chelsea today, and along with Hazard my man of the match today.
83: This time, a Wigan corner is taken by Jordi Gomez into the box... for Aroune Kone who heads the ball towards goal... WIDE!
From that angle and the distance from the goal... he should have scored.
85: Gomez takes a spectacular overhead kick from 12 yards out... MISS!!
Just missed the target, unlucky.
87: A Chelsea free-kick just outside the box taken by Raul Meireles towards goal before Luiz heads the ball towards goal.. SAVED and held well by Ali Al Habsi.
90: The fourth official has signal for three minutes of stoppage time to be added on.
Team Line-ups from Manchester City vs Southampton:
Manchester City: Hart, Zabaleta, Kompany, Lescott, Clichy, Silva, Rodwell, Toure, Nasri, Aguero, Tevez.
Subs: Pantilimon, Milner, Dzeko, Kolarov, Savic, De Jong, Balotelli.
Strong Manchester City squad, with £15million signing Jack Rodwell starting on his debut for the club.
BREAKING NEWS: Winger Adam Johnson has been left out of the City squad, and now surely he will leave the club?!
Southampton: Kelvin Davis, Clyne, Fonte, Hooiveld, Fox, Ward-Prowse, Lallana, Schneiderlin, Puncheon, Rodriguez, Do Prado.
Subs: Gazzaniga, Lambert, Steven Davis, Sharp, Richardson, Shaw, Seaborne.
14:02: Tevez and Aguero kick City off at The Ethiad Stadium.
2: Southampton break before City new boy Jack Rodwell clears the danger for a corner. Corner comes off nothing though.
7: Clyne tackles Aguero on the run. He has gone down injured, and he is clutching his knee in pain.
He looks to have twisted his knee badly...
10: He is limping off the pitch, while strikers Mario Balotelli and Edin Dzeko are both warming up on the touchline.
11: Aguero is being stretchered off now.
Southampton midfielder Schneiderlin has a shot missed wide from close range...
14: Southampton have been taming the EPL Champions now, giving them trouble and dominating possession in City's own half.
Manchester City SUB:
Sergio Aguero OFF (injury)
Edin Dzeko ON
Dzeko has a chance now... will he take it?
15: Manchester City are starting to get into the match, with David Silva and Samir Nasri linking up together to make good build-up player.
16: Tevez gets the ball from Nasri, before getting tripped by Jos Hooiveld..
David Silva steps up to take the penalty.... SAVE! by Kelvin Davis.
A weak and low shot from Silva is easily saved.
