Premier League Results 2nd October 2010

Stoke City 1-0 Blackburn Rovers
It took a while for Stoke to get started but they’re now unbeaten in four and up to seventh in the table.
Blackburn could have taken an early lead but Ryan Shawcross used his head literally and figuratively to make sure they didn’t. He and Danny Collins both played the full match for Stoke.

Sunderland 0-0 Manchester United
Arsenal’s midweek Champions’ League game began with a floodlight failure. This one began with a flood. But Sunderland’s plan to drown Manchester United’s better players came to nothing, partly because most of their better players weren’t there anyway.
Michael Owen finally got the start he should have had last week but he didn’t do so well with grabbing the opportunity. Well the poor boy’s been in a flood, how could he be at his best? As expected, Ryan Giggs was absent with a hamstring injury.

Tottenham Hotspur 2-1 Aston Villa
Villa took the lead after 16 minutes but Tottenham hit an equaliser in first-half stoppage time before going on to take all three points.
Gareth Bale could have got an assist but Roman Pavlyuchenko didn’t quite get it in.
James Collins was in defence for Villa.

West Bromwich Albion 1-1 Bolton Wanderers
I didn’t know who to support in this match. After West Brom dared to beat Arsenal last weekend, in some ways I wanted them to get a good thrashing. But it would have been rather embarrassing if Bolton had thrashed West Brom when Arsenal couldn’t even get a point. A draw was a reasonable compromise.
Boaz Myhill was on the bench for West Brom.
Sam Ricketts played well while Gary Cahill was suspended but now he was baxk, Sam was straight back on the bench again.

West Ham United 1-1 Fulham
It’s usually the clubs who are known for being draw specialists but this time I’ve got to be the manager. Fulham have drawn six times in seven games with Mark Hughes at their manager – not dissimilar to the results when he was at Manchester City early last season.
Danny Gabbidon played the full match for West Ham again so he should be nicely warmed up for Wales. Unless of course he’s overdone it.
Simon Davies kind of got the assist for Fulham’s goal. He hit it, it deflected off a player and went straight to Clint Dempsey, who scored.

Wigan Athletic 2-0 Wolverhampton Wanderers
Only a few short games ago, Wolves were in the top four and they looked like they’d be okay this season. But now even Wigan have realised the Wolves aren’t as scary as they pretend to be.
Dave Edwards started for Wolves in the league for only the second time this season. It was his foul which led to the opening goal but all players make fouls. David Jones was dropped to the bench – I was surprised at first but then I remembered he hasn’t signed a new contract. There are at least two other Welsh players in his situation and neither of them started either. Wayne Hennessey was on the bench.