Hello and welcome to my latest blog post, with 7 matches being played today in the English Premier League including Manchester City vs Fulham and Swansea vs Stoke City.
Here are the 7 matches being played today along with the team line-ups:
Liverpool vs Norwich City:
Liverpool: Jones, Wisdom, Johnson, Carragher, Agger, Lucas, Gerrard, Henderson, Downing, Suarez, Sturridge.
Brad Jones starts in goal for The Reds, with Jamie Carragher, Lucas and Henderson all starting for the home side.
Suarez and Sturridge both start in attack for Liverpool today.
Norwich: Bunn, R Martin, R Bennett, Turner, Garrido, E Bennett, Johnson, Tettey, Snodgrass, Howson, Holt.
4-5-1 formation for the visitors. Holt the lone strike with Snodgrass and Johnson both behind him in a defensive minded line-up by Chris Hughton as he looks for 3 points against 8th placed Liverpool.
West Ham vs QPR:
West Ham: Jaaskelainen, Reid, Tomkins, O'Brien, Demel, Noble, Diame, Nolan, Jarvis, J Cole, Chamakh.
Arsenal striker Marouane Chamakh starts his first match in his loan spell at West Ham, in a 4-5-1 formation with Jole Cole and Matthew Jarvis looking to feed him the ball inside the box with lots of crosses for him to get on the end of.
QPR: Cesar, Onuoha, Hill, Nelsen, Fabio, Mbia, Derry, Mackie, Taarabt, Wright-Phillips, Remy
Striker Loic Remy has been handed his debut for QPR following his £8million pound move earlier this week.
(I think he is going to score on his debut today...)
Manager Harry Redknapp has picked a 4-2-3-1 formation with M'Bia and Derry the two holding defensive midfield players as he looks to move Rangers into 19th place and off the bottom of the EPL.
Manchester City vs Fulham:
Man City: Hart, Zabaleta, Kompany, Nastasic, Clichy, Garcia, Barry, Milner, Tevez, Silva, Dzeko.
Dzeko and Tevez lead the line for City, as Aguero is still out injured.
Fulham: Schwarzer, Riether, Hughes, Hangeland, Richardson, Duff, Sidwell, Karagounis, Dejagah, Ruiz, Berbatov
Newcastle vs Reading:
Newcastle: Krul; Debuchy, Williamson, Coloccini, Santon, Anita, Cabaye, Shola Ameobi, Marveaux, Gutierrez, Cisse.
Reading: Federici, Harte, Kelly, Pearce, Mariappa, Leigertwood, Guthrie, McAnuff, McCleary, Kebe, Pogrebnyak.
Swansea vs Stoke City:
Swansea: Vorm, Rangel, Williams, Monk, Davies, De Guzman, Ki, Michu, Routledge, Hernandez, Shechter.
Stoke: Begovic; Whitehead, Shawcross, Huth, Cameron, Walters, Whelan, Nzonzi, Adam, Etherington, Crouch.
Wigan vs Sunderland:
Wigan: Al Habsi, Stam, Figueroa, Caldwell, Boyce, McCarthy, McArthur, Beausejour, Gomez, Maloney, Di Santo.
Sunderland: Mignolet, Gardner, Colback, O'Shea, Bramble, N'Diaye, Larsson, Vaughan, Johnson, Sessegnon, Fletcher.
15:00: The 7 3pm kick-off's have all started - despite the adverse weather conditions over the past few days in England and Wales.
 |
| On the job: Stewards at Newcastle try to shovel the snow off the pitch before the match. |
Something tells me that there will be a lot of goals this weekend...
15:03:
The Ethiad Stadium,
Manchester City vs Fulham:
The first goal of the weekend goes to Manchester City playmaker David Silva, who scores his 3rd goal of the season after taking advantage of the rebound after a great save by Mark Schwarzer to deny Dzeko his 11th of the season.
 |
| Opener: David Silva scores for Manchester City to give them a 1-0 lead against Fulham. |
GOAL UPDATE:
Wigan 1 Sunderland 0: 4 minutes played, and the hosts are 1-0 up thanks to an own goal by Sunderland midfielder David Vaughan who deflected Wigan midfielder Jean Beausejour's shot into his own net.
15:14:
Upton Park,
West Ham vs QPR:
Instant impact by the £8million striker Loic Remy, as he scores 15 minutes into his debut match for QPR after latching onto a through ball pass by Adel Taarabt to cooly slot the ball past Jussi Jaaskelainen into the net.
 |
| Impact: Loic Remy scores on his debut to give QPR a 1-0 lead against West Ham. |
15:16:
DW Stadium,
Wigan vs Sunderland:
Midfielder Craig Gardner has scored from the penalty spot to give the visitors an equaliser after Larsson's free-kick was handled inside the box. 1-1.
15:19:
DW Stadium,
Wigan vs Sunderland:
Striker Steven Fletcher has put Sunderland ahead now with a powerful rebound into the bottom corner of the net after his initial header was parried by goalkeeper Ali Al Habsi!
2-1, and Sunderland have pulled off a minor comeback.
15:25:
Anfield,
Liverpool vs Norwich:
Amazing goal by young midfielder Jordan Henderson who unleashes a strike from 20 yards out straight into the net after a great run by Suarez. 1-0 to The Reds.
 |
| Power strike: Liverpool midfielder Jordan Henderson breaks the deadlock from 20 yards out. |
 |
| Nicely done: Jordan Henderson wheels away to celebrate his goal with captain Steven Gerrard. |
15:29:
Upton Park,
West Ham vs QPR:
Penalty appeal by the hosts, after striker Chamakh goes down inside the box after a challenge by QPR winger Shaun Wright-Phillips.
Referee Howard Webb waves play on though, and it is still 1-0 to QPR with Wright-Phillips and Harry Redknapp both breathing a huge sigh of relief.
15:35:
Sports Direct Arena,
Newcastle vs Reading:
French midfielder Yohan Cabaye has given the hosts the lead against Reading, with a superbly lofted free-kick from 20 yards out beating Adam Federici before hitting the back of the net.
 |
| Clinical: Newcastle midfielder Yohan Cabaye scores from 20 yards out to make it 1-0 against Reading. |
GOAL UPDATE - Liverpool 2 Norwich 0:
Striker Luis Suarez scores his 16th EPL goal of the season after a clever dummy from Sturridge following Lucas' through ball sees Suarez finish the move off in style.
 |
| 2-0: Liverpool striker Luis Suarez caps off a nice move with his 16th EPL goal of the season. |
 |
| One of the world's best: Suarez has scored 20 goals in all competitions this season. |
15:41:
DW Stadium,
Wigan vs Sunderland:
Striker Steven Fletcher has made it 3-1 to Sunderland after a curling shot to score his 2nd of the match and 10th EPL goal of the season.
 |
| Curler: Sunderland striker Steven Fletcher doubles his tally with a curling shot beyond Al Habsi |
15:50 - HALF-TIME SCORES:
Liverpool 2 Norwich 0
Goals from Suarez and Henderson have given the hosts a 2-0 lead.
Wigan 1 Sunderland 3
Steven Fletcher double and a Craig Gardner penalty has seen Wigan lose their 1-0 lead, and now they trail by 3 goals to 1.
Manchester City 1 Fulham 0
David Silva scored the only goal of the match so far in the 3rd minute.
Newcastle 1 Reading 0
Yohan Cabaye has capped off his return to injury with style by breaking the deadlock before half-time.
Swansea 0 Stoke City 0
The only match today in the EPL without goals so far is in Wales, where Swansea are being held by Stoke. Not for long though....
West Ham 0 QPR 1
£8million striker Loic Remy has scored on his debut to give QPR a 1-0 lead away from home.
16:07 - Second half has started.
16:08:
The Liberty Stadium,
Swansea vs Stoke City:
What did I say? Swansea break the deadlock at home, and for once it is not talisman and forward Michu with the goal.
Instead, it is a first senior goal for left-back Ben Davies who beats Jonathan Walters before finishing like a striker with a lovely composed finish into the bottom corner of the net.
 |
| Record-breaker: Ben Davies has become the youngest player to score for Swansea in the EPL. |
16:11:
Upton Park,
West Ham vs QPR:
Loanee striker Marouane Chamakh has missed one of the sitters of the season!
He will be kicking himself for not burying the chance from 4 yards out to score for West Ham on his debut.
16:16: GOAL UPDATE -
Liverpool 3 Norwich 0 - Daniel Sturridge has put this match to bed, by scoring the 3rd goal for The Reds and his 3rd goal in a Liverpool shirt.
 |
| 3 in 3: Liverpool's £12million signing celebrates his 3rd goal in 3 matches for The Reds. |
Swansea 2 Stoke City 0 - Midfielder Jonathan de Guzman has killed off Stoke's hopes of getting back into the match with a great free-kick.
 |
| Swansea midfielder Jonathan De Guzman scores from a free-kick to give the hosts a 2-0 lead. |
16:24:
Anfield,
Liverpool vs Norwich:
Norwich are being dominated and humiliated now. It is 4-0.
Liverpool captain and midfielder Steven Gerrard is not closed down quickly enough by the Norwich defence, and fires a shot towards goal from 25 yards out before beating Bunn and scoring.
 |
| Salt to the wounds: Gerrard celebrates his goal to make it 4-0 to the hosts at Anfield. |
16:26:
Upton Park,
West Ham vs QPR:
Winger Matthew Jarvis whips a ball into the box, and substitute striker Carlton Cole's header is saved by Julio Cesar, before Joe Cole taps in the rebound to equalise for the hosts.
 |
| Tap-in the net: West Ham winger Joe Cole scored to give QPR the lead. |
16:27:
The Ethiad Stadium,
Manchester City vs Fulham:
Spanish playmaker David Silva scores his 2nd of the day after a lovely dink over the goalkeeper's head puts the ball in off the post after a lovely pass by Tevez. Great finish.
 |
| At the double: David Silva celebrates his 2nd goal against Fulham. |
FACT: That is Silva's first double for Manchester City. He is used to setting up the goals, not scoring them!
16:29 - GOAL UPDATE: Newcastle 1 Reading 1
There is a goalmouth scramble inside the box, and "super sub" Adam Le Fondre taps the ball into the net from close range to equalise for Reading.
16:32:
Anfield,
Liverpool vs Norwich:
Norwich are going to be very desperate for the full-time whistle now.
It is 5-0, after young winger Raheem Sterling gets behind the Norwich defence with a turn of pace before having a shot deflected off Norwich defender Ryan Bennett into the net.
It will count as an own goal, and Liverpool are now thrashing Norwich at home.
16:35:
Sports Direct Arena,
Newcastle vs Reading:
What an impact by the substitute Adam Le Fondre! He scores his 2nd of the match to put Reading ahead in the match for the first time today with his 2nd goal in 6 minutes for the striker.
 |
| Super sub: Reading striker Adam Le Fondre came off the bench to score twice in 6 minutes. |
Fondre curled the ball into the top corner of the net past Netherlands goalkeeper Tim Krul with a great finish.
16:38:
DW Stadium,
Wigan vs Sunderland:
A lifeline for the hosts, with Manchester United's young striker Angelo Henriquez scoring a header in the 79th minute to make things interesting for the last 10 minutes of the game. 3-2 to Sunderland.
 |
| Consolation: Young striker Angelo Henriquez scored a header to give Wigan hope. |
16:49:
The Liberty Stadium,
Swansea vs Stoke:
Striker Michael Owen has scored his 150th EPL goal to give Stoke a goal, but it is no more than a consolation with the full-time whistle about to be blown.
17:00:
FULL-TIME SCORES:
Liverpool 5 Norwich 0
The Reds thrashed Norwich 5-0 at home, with Henderson, Suarez and Sturridge among the goalscorers.
Swansea 3 Stoke 1
Jonathan de Guzman scored twice at home for The Swans, as they proved that they could win without Michu having to score all the time, against a stubborn Stoke side who would not give up throughout the match but only had a consolation goal to show for it.
Manchester City 2 Fulham 0
The EPL defending champions moved within 4 points of EPL leaders Manchester United with a convincing 2-0 win over Fulham at The Ethiad Stadium.
Playmaker David Silva scored both goals today for the hosts.
Wigan Athletic 2 Sunderland 3
Sunderland came back from 1-0 down in the first 5 minutes to win away from home at Wigan. Craig Gardner and Stephen Fletcher's double gave the away side the 3 points, despite Wigan's new loanee striker Angelo Henriquez making the last 10 minutes tense with a consolation header in the 79th minute.
Newcastle United 1 Reading 2
Alan Pardew is seemingly under more and more pressure, after another poor result at home today. Midfielder Yohan Cabaye gave the hosts the lead with a fantastic free-kick, but "super sub" striker Adam Le Fondre's double in 6 minutes gave Reading all 3 points.
West Ham United 1 QPR 1
New £8million pound signing Loic Remy scored on his debut in English football for QPR today.
However, Joe Cole ensured that the teams both shared the spoils with a tap-in goal after a shot was saved by Julio Cesar.
Thank you for reading my EPL Blog, and I will be back tomorrow for two very interesting crunch matches as Chelsea host Arsenal at Stamford Bridge and the EPL leaders Manchester United look to move back into their 7-point lead with a win over Tottenham at White Hart Lane.
