Premier League Results 16th October 2010 Part 1

Arsenal 2-1 Birmingham City
It wasn’t Arsenal’s best or most beautiful performance but they got the three points against a team whom they’ve often struggled to deal with. True, Arsenal’s penalty was debatable, not a dive as such, it seemed like a genuine but premeditated trip, if that makes sense. And there was a bit of simulation with the rolling over and over and over but other than that, Marouane Chamakh is a great buy and I wish he was Welsh.
Aaron Ramsey didn’t play for Arsenal – but it won’t be long now.

Aston Villa 0-0 Chelsea
Chelsea have only won once at Villa Park in the last twelve years – and considering the last twelve years include three title wins for Chelsea, and no seasons where Aston Villa finished above Chelsea (the last instance of this was in the 1996-97 season), maybe some Chelsea fans will consider this a pretty good point.
James Collins was Man of the Match, at least according to Sky Sports (and you won’t find me disagreeing). James was strong in defence and was just one Villa player who came very close to winning the match.

Bolton Wanderers 2-1 Stoke City
As stoppage time began, the score was 1-1 and that would have been a fair result. Bolton’s supersub Ivan Klasnic popped up in the 92nd minute to take all three points. But that wasn’t the end, at least not quite yet. There was still time for Klasnic to receive not one but two yellow cards before the match ended.
Sam Ricketts was on the bench for Bolton.
Danny Collins came close to a debut goal for Stoke. He and captain Ryan Shawcross didn’t deserve to be on the losing side.

Fulham 1-2 Tottenham Hotspur
There was more than a hint of offside about one of Tottenham’s goals and even the referee saw it. But after consultation with his linesman, who agreed with him, the referee changed his mind.
The rules are inconclusive but William Gallas did attempt to play the ball. He didn’t touch it but it looks as though he meant to and you could say he was attempting to interfere in active play. If you attempt to hit another player and fail, you receive the same punishment as you do when you actually make the connection. Gallas was attempting to commit an offence.
However, the definition of ‘interfering with play’ means playing or touching the ball. It doesn’t say anything about unsuccessful attempts to play the ball.
Alternatively, Gallas’ move towards the ball could be seen as interfering with an opponent (Fulham goalkeeper Mark Schwarzer). Interfering with an opponent includes making a movement that deceives or distracts the opponent – and Gallas’ movement almost certainly did deceive Schwarzer in the sense of making him think he was going to play the ball (Schwarzer can’t rely on the officials’ seeing the offence and disallowing the goal) and it did distract him from Tom Huddlestone’s shot in the sense that he kept an eye on the offside player instead of moving towards the path of the ball.
Gallas was probably seeking to gain an advantage because he is well-positioned if a shot rebounds off the bar or posts or is parried by Schwarzer – although this only becomes an offence if there is a rebound and he does touch the ball and it’s possible Gallas moved towards the ball, realised he was offside and decided not to touch it.
As for active and inactive play, Gallas was undeniably active but these phrases are not mentioned in the Offside section of the Laws of the Game.
I would be on the side of disallowing the goal but that is only one possible interpretation of the rule. Even if I was 100% sure I was right, I wouldn’t blame the referee. I would blame the person who wrote the rules!
Gareth Bale was originally credited with an assist but a slight deflection caused the powers that be to change their minds. The BBC commentator thought his cross was poor but I think he meant it just as much as Tom Huddlestone meant his goal. Gareth also seemed to play a part in persuading the referee to allow the goal to stand. Maybe Mike Dean is a secret Wales fan.
Simon Davies could have got an assist – and a draw – for Fulham in his 300th league start.