With many thanks to Brian Judson, without whom this feature would not be possible
Tuesday 1 January 2002
Charlton Athletic v Ipswich Town 3-2
Marcus Bent scored twice in the first five minutes for Ipswich. There were
only 54 seconds on the clock when Hreidarsson knocked down Mark Venus'
free-kick for Bent to slam the ball behind Kiely. Four minutes later,
Kiely unwisely came off his goal-line in an attempt to beat Bent to the
ball but he was stranded in no-man's land when Bent lobbed the ball over
him into his goal. But a long throw-in by Luke Young in the 16th minute
led to Charlton reducing the arrears. Fish won the ball and it broke to
Robinson, whose shot went through a ruck of players into Sereni's goal.
Parker equalised for Charlton in the 32nd minute when Fish knocked down a
Young free-kick. The ball seemed to take a deflection off Venus before it
flew into Sereni's goal. Just after the hour, Euell snatched the winner
for Charlton when Robinson's centre was parried by Sereni and Euell
pounced to fire the ball home.
Chelsea v Southampton 2-4
The game was only seven minutes old when Pahars was fouled some 30 yards
from goal. Beattie spotted a chink in the Chelsea defensive wall and aimed
the free-kick through it. Ten minutes later, Le Saux provided a cross for
Hasselbaink, whose header was clawed off the line by Jones into Eidur
Gudjohnsen's path, for the latter to score the equaliser. Just before
half-time, Gudjohnsen returned the compliment by providing the pass from
which Hasselbaink fired the Blues ahead. Ten minutes after the break,
Pahars equalised when he strode past Terry to score from close range. In
the 64th minute, Marsden nodded them ahead from a corner on the left.
Beattie ensured the points would be owned by the Saints when he
half-volleyed a shot past Cudicini with less than a quarter of an hour
left to play.
Leeds United v West Ham United 3-0
Viduka fired Leeds ahead in the 4th minute when Mills and Fowler swapped
passes to send Smith racing down the wing. Smith's crisp centre was
diverted behind James before the goalkeeper could even react to the
threat. Viduka added a second goal in the 7th minute when Mills tore past
the ageing Winterburn before crossing the ball for Viduka to head the ball
behind James. Fowler wrapped the game up for Leeds in the 50th minute when
Fowler chipped the ball over James.
Leicester City v Arsenal P-P
This match was postponed due to a frozen pitch. Leicester are the only
club without undersoil heating.
Liverpool v Bolton Wanderers 1-1
Although Liverpool were the better side for much of the game, they were
fortunate to draw this match. It took two brilliant saves by Dudek to
ensure Liverpool salvaged something from this match. Gerrard put Liverpool
ahead four minutes after the break when Owen centred a speculative ball
into the penalty area and Gerrard reacted faster than the Bolton defenders
to side-foot the ball behind Jaaskelainen. But thirteen minutes from time,
Nolan punished some sloppy Liverpool defending when he swooped to force
Farrelly's throw-in behind Dudek.
Middlesbrough v Everton 1-0
This game was surprisingly allowed to start by the referee as the pitch
looked unfit to play on. But referee Rob Styles was confident it would be
a playable pitch. Everton never looked at ease on the pitch with Ferguson
making his first appearance for four months and Cadamarteri his first for
nearly a year. Everton looked the better of two poor sides early on as
Alexandersson and Ferguson both came close to scoring. In the 50th minute,
Middlesbrough won a corner that Marinelli took. Festa reacted fastest on
his first appearance of the season to drive the ball into the roof of the
net.
Sunderland v Aston Villa 1-1
The mystery is how the Black Cats failed to win this match. It was only
the heroics of Peter Schmeichel that kept them in the game. He even saved
a 14th minute penalty taken by Kevin Phillips. Taylor put the visitors
ahead in the 59th minute when Stone swapped passes with Vassell whose
cross was headed home by Taylor. There were only four minutes left when
Arca took a free-kick and Thome burst through to head the ball home.
Tottenham Hotspur v Blackburn Rovers 1-0
Full report available here
Wednesday 2 January 2002
Derby County v Fulham 0-1
The only goal of a very disappointing match was scored by Carbonari when
he put through his own goal in the 72nd minute. Davis put Finnan free on
the right for Fulham. Finnan's cross was intended for Saha but Carbonari
diverted the ball into his own goal. Marlet made his first appearance for
Fulham since sustaining an injury in October and did not look to be fit.
Manchester United v Newcastle United 3-1
The Champions are now second in the table, two points behind Leeds. Van
Nistleroy put them ahead in the 24th minute when Butt, Keane and Veron
swapped passes before the ball ran to Solksjaer. He released Silvestre
whose cross was headed home by Van Nistleroy. Scholes extended their lead
in the 50th minute when Solksjaer provided the pass from which Scholes
scored with a low shot. Scholes added a third goal in the 62nd minute when
Keane provided the cross from which the ginger-haired Scholes scored.
Shearer achieved a personal landmark in the 67th minute when his
consolation goal provided him with his first ever goal at Old Trafford. He
headed home a cross from Robbie Elliott.
Pos Pl. W. D. L. For-Ag Pts.
1 Leeds 21 11 8 2 33-17 41
2 Man Utd 21 12 3 6 51-31 39
3 Arsenal 20 11 6 3 41-24 39
4 Newcastle 21 12 3 6 39-28 39
5 Liverpool 20 11 5 4 30-20 38
6 Chelsea 21 8 9 4 33-20 33
7 Spurs 21 9 4 8 32-27 31
8 Charlton 21 7 8 6 27-24 29
9 A. Villa 21 7 8 6 27-26 29
10 Fulham 20 6 9 5 20-20 27
11 S'derland 21 7 6 8 18-23 27
12 West Ham 21 6 7 8 25-33 25
13 Everton 21 6 5 10 23-27 23
14 Bolton 21 5 8 8 24-32 23
15 Blackburn 21 5 7 8 25-26 22
16 M'brough 20 6 4 10 19-28 22
17 S'hampton 20 7 1 12 23-33 22
18 Derby 21 5 4 12 15-36 19
19 Ipswich 21 4 6 11 26-31 18
20 Leicester 20 3 7 10 14-36 16
