10 conclusions from Saturday games

1. Rooney scored his 100th (and 101st) goal for the club and its unlikely that he'd stop.

2. Altidore made his debut for Hull with a great assist and two glorious chances to get a goal as well.

3. Gary Givet scored his first for the season and new club, Blackburn Rovers.

4. Cesc Fabregas is injured (again!)

5. Adebayor has bought some very expensive shoes with his inflated salary, scoring two goals in as many games of the season.

6. Arsenal have now scored 10 goals in two games of the season. They mauled Portsmouth 4-1 at the Emirates.

7. With Birmingham's scoreless (and boring!) draw at home versus Stoke City we have the first drawn game of the season.

8. Manchester United put five goals past Kirkland at the JJB with two from Rooney and a well taken free kick from Nani. It would be relieving to see for Sir Alex Ferguson and the fans to see Berbatov and Owen score.

9. Hull's victory ends their woeful home run in the premier league. They hadn't won a game at the KC Stadium since December 6 against Middlesbrough.

10. After 3 games played, Paul Hart's Portsmouth are bottom of the table with three losses. He looks likely to be the first to get the sack this season.

Chelsea 2-1 Hull City : Match Report

Chelsea v Hull City
Venue : Stamford Bridge
Lineups :

Chelsea -
Cech,Boswinga,Carvalho,Terry,Cole,Obi Mikel,Essien,Lampard,Malouda,Drogba,Anelka

Hull City - Myhill,Mendy,Turner,Gardner,Dawson,Marney,Olofinjana,Mouyokolo,Boateng,Hunt,Folan


The day millions of fans all over the globe were eagerly waiting for finally arrived. The first match of the season between Chelsea and Hull City at Stamford Bridge.

Things started to heat up as early as the first minute with a high foot challenge by Steven Hunt on Frank Lampard left the England midfielder unimpressed.

Chelsea could have gone up as early as the 2nd minute after a cross from the right flank by Michael Essien fell to Ivorian Didier Drogba who had all the space and time in the world to put it in the back of the net but his shot blazed high and wide.

Hull City get a chance of their own with a cross from Hunt which is a little too high for him. Chelsea's defence went to sleep!

First corner of the season goes to Hull and its a good one. A half cleared ball falls to Boateng whose shot from outside the box also becomes the first shot on target of the season. Denied by an outstretched leg of Peter Cech.

27th minute becomes the time for the first goal of the season and surprisingly it comes from the Tigers. Former Reading man, Steven Hunt taps into an open net with his left foot after a Boateng shot ricocheteds off Mikel's knee.

Chelsea 0 - 1 Hull City (Hunt 27')

Their lead however lasts for only 10minutes as Chelsea win a free kick which is expertly taken by Drogba. Commentators begin to compare his free kick with how Ronaldo used to bring the ball up and down leaving the keeper helpless.

Chelsea 1 - 1 Hull City (Drogba 37', Hunt 27')

As the half went on Drogba grew in confidence and got the most out of Hull's defence and stung Myhill's gloves on a couple of occasions.

Mendy becomes the first player to get yellow card of the season as his clumsy tackle on Malouda leaves the Frenchman clutching his ankle and into the advertising boards.

Chelsea pile on the pressure on Hull but can't find a gap with Hull's defence holding strong.

Chelsea 1 - 1 Hull City (HT)

Chelsea enter the second half brimming with confidence and better passing. Ballack comes on to replace John Obi Michel. Hull however seem to have switched off a little as they try to get out of their own half.

56th minute – A huge melee in the Hull half sees many misses by Chelsea players and finally a Lampard head on towards Drogba finds him in space but is denied fabulously by Myhill.

76th minute – Boswinga fights hard to keep possession of the ball and forces a great save from the Hull keeper.

79th minute – Kalou comes on for Chelsea and could have scored with his first touch in the game but his header is a tad high and its still one goal apiece at Stamford Bridge.

89th minute – Great block by Dawson denies Drogba and Chelsea the winner.

92nd minute – Pass by Deco into the path of Drogba whose run and accurate chip shot over Myhill gets Chelsea the goal and ends the agony for Ancelotti and fans. With this he also becomes Chelsea’s first booking of the season for taking off his shirt.

94th minute – Kalou’s curling shot is only inches wide to put this game to rest.

96th minute – Shot from Hull to equalise and salvage a point from Stamford Bridge proves useless as Cech seemed to have it covered.

Chelsea 2 – 1 Hull City (Hunt 27’, Drogba 37’, Drogba 92’) (FT)

Chelsea survive a scare on the first day of the season and continue their record of 8 wins in 8 seasons on the first day. Drogba could surpass Ronaldo's record of 26 last season if he continues this form and does not get temperamental as usual. Chelsea survive a scare on the first day of the season. There would be plenty for Ancelotti to analyse and address.

Hull City did their best to get a point from Chelsea and would have deserved it as well with their impressive defending but couldn't do the same with their attacking options.

Tuesday's Transfer Gossip

Not everything in the paper can be believed,right? So why not try to distinguish the "Oh yeah that might be true!" from "What crap!".


Lescott himself asks for a transfer to Manchester City (Daily Star)

What we Think? : With Swiss FA agreeing that Philippe Senderos looks likely to join Everton this could pave way for his move to Eastlands after all. Everton have turned down bids for £15million and £18million but can they hold up a player who wants to leave and with City's next offer likely to be around £25million. City on the other hand can look for their backup options of Bassong (Newcastle) and Alex (Chelsea) if they fail to get the Englishman.

Liverpool deal with Roma's Alberto Aquilani almost done (The Sun)

What we think? : This deal wouldn't happen until and unless Alonso moves to Madrid. The holdup there being on the Spaniards valuation which as per Liverpool is £30million but Real Madrid wouldn't want to pay more than £25million. Liverpool would most likely budge and get something rather than nothing and still be in a profit.

Arsenal offer £6million for Kalou (The Sun)

What we think? : AC Milan's Pirlo looks likely to follow the Italian to Chelsea which would put Kalou's place in a place of bother but Arsenal offering that much money along with raise in salary is highly unlikely. Its also difficult to see two London rivals trading players.

Bent deal expected to be finalised soon, Huntelaar for Spurs? (Daily Express)

What we think? : After Bent's outburst on Twitter and his imminent transfer to Sunderland where he passed the medical yesterday this has made way for Spurs now to use that money to buy Real Madrid want away Klaas Huntelaar. Huntelaar has already turned down the option of going to Stuttgart and a number of Premier league clubs have shown interest in him but none more than Harry Redknapp.

Number of clubs after Standard Liege's Steven Defour (Daily Mirror , Daily Mail)

What we think? : Real Madrid, Everton and Liverpool all are reported to be interested in bringing the Belgian to their sides. Real Madrid would most definitely pull out of the running if they get Xabi Alonso from Liverpool. Liverpool are in the running for Roma's Alberto and that's where their spending is diverted. That leaves Everton in the frame and they don't seem that interested in spending that much cash. Overall, too much hype , no real substance.

Chimbonda to be Hull's backup for Beye (The Sun)

What we think? : Hull and Newcastle haven't been able to decide on Habib Beye's valuation which has held up the move. However, if Hull does turn to Chimbonda then its expected that Spurs would be happy to let go of Chimbonda who has had very little playing time with the Londoners.

Do you disagree with us on any of the transfers or did we miss out any? Comment away!

Fabregas cleared of allegations of spitting

Arsenal's Cesc Fabregas has been cleared of charges of spitting at Hull assistant manager,Brian Horton during their FA Cup meet in March.

The player who at that time was not part of the playing team as he was out due to an injury. The FA has now cleared him due to lack of concrete evidence highlighting the players' improper conduct.

He had maintained his innocence throughout whereas Hull City were sure the Spaniard was a mischief maker on that evening.

The two allegations which Fabregas was reported for were his coming down on the pitch after the final whistle and second for his spitting at Hull assistant manager.

Fabregas has been cleared of both and even the match report submitted by referee Mike Riley didn't mention anything like that taking place.

Aston Villa 1 - 0 Hull City

Aston Villa confirmed their place in Europe next season while Hull City's task of avoiding the drop continues.

John Carew scored the only goal of the game in the 34th minute after getting a very close offside decision in his favour courtesy an Ashley Young cross.

The deftest of touches by the Norwegian proved decisive for the Villans who claimed their first win in 13 games.

The result means Villa would definitely end in the top six and are for now above Everton.

On the other hand,Hull are three points above the drop zone and have only one win in the last 19 games.

Hull City officially report Fabregas

Hull City have handed over the full details of events that took place at the Emirates Stadium in Arsenal's 2-1 win.

It has been alleged that Arsenal captain Cesc Fabregas spat at Brian Horton,assistant manager of the Tigers.

Cesc Fabregas has been sidelined due to an injury came on to the pitch to celebrate with his team mates over their quarter final victory.

Hull boss,Phil Brown maintains the Spaniard spat at Horton in the tunnel as the Hull players left the field.

"My evidence has gone in, Brian Horton's evidence has gone in and Sean Rush's(fitness conditioner) evidence has as well. That is all that has been necessary as regards to us up to now,"

Brown told the Hull Daily Mail.

While Fabregas has maintained his innocence, not much has come out of the Arsenal camp.

Will this be a turn of events if he indeed is found guilty?Fabregas has been sidelined for a long time now and is expected to make a return on the weekend against Manchester City.Also with Champions League tie with Villareal,they don't want him to be without match practice!

Premiership roundup : 21-09

The weekend offered a lot of skill and style with Manchester City mauling Pompey at City of Manchester Stadium,Everton had to stage a comeback to win over Hull,Villa won the Midlands derby over West Brom,Spurs are still winless in the Premiership and in the battle of the heavyweights,Kalou came to Chelsea's rescue.


Chelsea 1 - 1 Manchester United
Park 18'
Kalou 80'

Deco had pulled out before kick off during the warm up and things didn't get any better for Chelsea when in the 13th minute Carvalho hobbled off the pitch.

5minutes later,Manchester United opened their account when a low drive from Berbatov was spilled by Cech and Park was the first to react to lash the ball home.

A shaky Van der Sar was then replaced with Kuszczak following a challenge from Malouda which left the Chelsea man demanding a penalty.

Chelsea had glorious chances to score and possibly win the game although Cole and Anelka couldn't make the most of the opportunities.

Chelsea were getting impatient and piled on attack after attack and the attacking paid dividend in the 80th minute when Rooney conceded a free kick which was headed in the back of the net by Salomon Kalou.

Manchester United are placed 14th in the table with a game in hand and Arsenal stay top.

West Brom 1 - 2 Aston Villa
J.Carew 27'
Agbanlahor 29'
J.Morrison 33'

The faithfuls at Hawthorns had to bear some miserable defending from West Brom with many chances falling to Villa in the Midlands derby.

Villa took the lead courtesy John Carew who was left totally unmarked off an Ashley Young freekick.The Norwegian big man headed the ball beyond Scott Carson to make it 1-0 to the visitors.

Within a minute Villa capitalised on West Brom's awful defending by angling the ball in the back of the net and beyond Carson.Villa were up 2-0.

In the 33rd minute,Brad Friedel made a hash of Robert Koren's shot to spill in the path of James Morisson who snapped the rebound from close range.

In the second period,Villa could have increased their goal difference only to be disallowed by the goal post and a glorious chance lost by Luke Moore.

Manchester City 6 - 0 Portsmouth
Jo 13'
R.Dunne 20'
Robinho 57'
Wright Philips 68'
Evans 78'
Fernandes 83'

David James returned to his former club but only to go back home with head bowed and a game to forget.

Brazilian striker,Jo rounded off James in the 13th minute courtesy Robinho's slide-rule pass.Citeh were off to a flyer!

James then made a blunder by misjudging Elano's corner to allow Richard Dunne to head the ball in the back of the net.

Things got worse for Pompey in the second half.Steven Ireland who had a fabulous afternoon chipped a ball pass for Jo to control fabulously and his second touch landed on the feet of Robinho who put it past James.

The best of the lot came in the 68th minute from SWP who bulleted a ball past James with a very tight angle after another neat ball from Ireland.

Portsmouth's horrible defending and misery didn't stop there.Evans capitalised on a ball from SWP's clever flick for a number 5.Five Star Performace!

The afternoon was rounded off by substitute Fernandes capitalised on further dodgy goalkeeping by England's number one.

Manchester City 6 Portsmouth 0!!

Hull City 2 - 2 Everton
M.Turner 18'
P.Neville(o.g.) 50'
Cahill 73'
Osman 78'

Hull have come a far way to be disappointed with a draw against Everton.And indeed they will,after the squandered a two goal margin only to be getting a single point at the final whislte.

Michael Turner's header from a Dean Marney's corner and Neville's own goal from a similar set piece set the tone for a Hull win.

However Everton staged their comeback after a goal scrap which Cahill converted from made the final 17 minutes very interesting.

Although Everton were level after 5 minutes through a cross by Louis Saha which was converted to by Leon Osman.

Spurs 0 - 0 Wigan Athletic

Spurs continued to hold on to their not so wanted spot of the bottom of the table after a goal less draw with Wigan.

Clearly Spurs' new side is still in a transition phase but Ramos' needs to act quickly before they end up fighting for survival.

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