West Bromwich Albion 0-1 Arsenal. Match report Saturday 29th November 2014

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Danny Welbeck's match-winning header wasn't enough for some Arsenal fans who called for manager Arsene Wenger to go.

In the 60th minute, the English striker rose highest to head home a Santi Carzola cross to give under pressure Wenger a much needed boost after last week's defeat by Manchester United. 

But on the full-time whistle, the away fans brandished a banner stating: "Wenger, thanks for the memories but it's time to say goodbye."  Despite being pressed after the match the Frenchman refused to comment, saying, "I do not talk about such things."

Following the 2 - 0 midweek  win against Borussia Dortmund the Gunners took the game to West Brom and in a dominant first half, Carzola, Welbeck and Alexis Sanchez all had shots saved by Baggies' goalkeeper Ben Foster in the opening 12 minutes. The England 'keeper almost gifted the visitors a goal when he tried to dribble out of his box only to robbed by Olivier Giroud on the left but with an open goal, the Frenchman couldn’t convert from an acute angle on his first start after returning from injury.
 

Minutes into the second half the home team had a golden opportunity snatched away from them via an incorrect offside decision. Craig Gardner picked the ball up in the midfield and slotted a defence-cutting pass through the Arsenal back line to striker Saido Berahino who was one on one with Arsenal ‘keeper Emiliano Martinez but play was brought back because of the offside decision. Replays suggested that the England striker was clearly being played onside by defender Laurent Koscielny.

Both teams continued to play some fine football but Arsenal always looked the more likely to score and on the hour mark midfielder Carzola burst down the left hand side, leaving Andre Wisdom a mere spectator as he crossed from the byline. Welbeck soared into the air and headed home powerfully from 12 yards with Foster only able to palm the ball upwards into the roof of the net.

This finally seemed to spur the home team into life. Baggies manager Alan Irvine sent on Victor Anichebe for holding midfielder Youssuff Mulumbu which offered a new avenue for them to go down. Then with 15 minutes to go Irvine angered the Baggies faithful when he brought off Stephane Sessegnon, a stand out performer and brought on Giorgios Samaras, a player who has done very little since his move to the West Midlands in the summer. Chants of “you don’t know what you’re doing” rang loudly around The Hawthorns.

However both substitutes made an impact. On 80 minutes Cristian Gamboa crossed from the right hand side of the penalty area and Berahino rose highest to meet the ball but his effort rebounded painfully back off the crossbar and was cleared.

With 90 minutes on the clock, West Brom came even closer. Anichebe held up the ball in trademark style on the edge of the area and laid it back to Craig Gardner whose fierce strike was deflected only a whisker wide by the toe of Mathieu Flamini.

Despite the late rally, West Brom couldn’t find an opening and Arsenal took all three points.

At full time, Irvine criticised the off-side decision which was the second in recent weeks. “Two weeks and two big decisions against us. People make mistakes but we could do without them,” he said. The Scot also said the banner calling for Wenger to go was “ridiculous”.

Arsene Wenger said: “We were a touch lucky off the bar but we deserved to win.”

Aston Villa 1 -1 Southampton. Match report November 25 2014

Nathaniel Clyne snatched a late equaliser to keep Southampton second in the Premiership and leave Aston Villa still struggling for points.

The 23-year-old, fresh after his England senior call up, drilled home from 20 yards out to earn his side a deserved point against a Villa side who desperately needed all three. 

Despite earning their second successive draw, which brought an end to their run of six games without a win, the home  side found themselves just a point above relegation coming into the fixture against a Southampton side who started the day second in the Premier League table, eight points behind leaders Chelsea.

The Saints' were frustrated in the first half by the defensively minded Villans. The "tika taka" football around the edge of the box that has seen Southampton become the surprise package of the season was shepherded sensibly by the emergency centre back pairing of Jores Okore and Ciaran Clark. As a result chances were few and far between. 

But the deadlock was broken from an unlikely source with 29 minutes gone. Ciaran Clark's clearance was seized on by the supersonic Gabriel Agbonlahor who exerted enough pressure on Saints' defender Toby Alderweireld and England 'keeper Fraser Forster to cause a  miscommunication which left the Villa striker to fire home from a tight angle. The goal was Villa's first in seven matches and a huge relief for Paul Lambert and his men. 

Despite their lead Villa still found themselves pegged back by the passing prowess of their opponents. Dusan Tadić floated in a couple of good free kicks from 30 yards but to no avail. 

Southampton enjoyed 64% of possession in the game but couldn't find an opening. The link up between striker Graziano Pelle and former West Bromwich Albion man Shane Long was lacking and subsequently their play broke down on the edge of the box. 

With 10 minutes to go, Villa broke from a corner but Andreas Weimann lifted Agbonlahor's cross from the right hand side, high over the crossbar. A chance he would come to regret not taking moments later.

With time running out, Southampton  finally got their equaliser. Ryan Bertrand, who spent the last half of the previous season on loan in the West Midlands, easily skipped past his man on the left hand side of the penalty area and cut the ball back to the edge of the box where the on-rushing Clyne fired home into the bottom corner to level the match and create was in the end a fair result for both teams.

The result saw Villa climb a place to 16th in the table. Okore and Clarke defended well when called upon despite being an untested central pairing and they took their only chance of the game in a determined nature.

Southampton are still overachieving in terms of their league position but not face a tough winter with games against the top teams. But for now manager Ronald Koeman said he was happy with his team's start to the season. 

West Bromwich Albion 0-2 Newcastle United match report Sunday 9th October

Newcastle continued their revival with a comfortable 2-0 win over a West Brom side which were completely overran by Alan Pardew's new revitalised men.

 

Two assists from right back Daryl Janmaat, providing goals for Ayozé Perez and Fabricio Coloccini were enough to see off a Baggies side which seems to have stalled after going four games unbeaten. 

 After an awful start to the season, the Magpies have now won their last five matches to completely transform the fortune of their season.  

 Going into the game, it was Saido Berahino who was grabbing the headlines. The top English goal scorer in the Premier League saw his impressive start to this season rewarded with his first call up for the England senior team. However today he failed to impress under the spotlight. It reflected in his team's performance as none of his team mates could carry their recent run of form into the game. Berahino was left isolated and chances were few and far between.

The real star of the encounter was Ayoze Perez. The Spaniard, purched for £1.5 million in the summer from tenerife was the scorer of a subline first goal and displayed incredible work ethic throughout.

 The match was played at an incredibly high intensity. Free flowing football and minimum fouls meant that it was an entertaining spectacle to watch from the neutral perspective. Both fans were respective of one another, Newcastle fans carrying out the minutes applause for the ‘justice for Jeff’ campaign and the West Brom home fans participating in the minutes applause in memory of Liam Sweeney and John Alder, the two victims of the Malaysian airline tragedy in the summer. During the ninth minute round of applause for Jeff Astle, the away side nearly took the lead. The ball bounced up to Sammy Ameobi on the right hand side of the penalty area and his looping left footed shot bounced off the top of the crossbar.

The Baggies responded with their best and potentially only clear cut chance of the match with 16 minutes gone. The ball was played into Victor Anichebe, who used his body well to hold off his marker and lay the ball off to Berahino on the right hand side of the penalty area. Unfortunately his shot was taken off balance and was easily saved by Tim Krul.

 In the old football cliché, the team from the North East scored on the perfect time with 45 minutes on the clock. A first time cross was fizzed along the floor towards six yard box from the right hand side of the penalty area by Janmaat, where Perez flashed across the front post and ingeniously flicked the ball with his back foot into the far post to net his third goal in as many matches.

 The clubs were essentially cancelling each other out in the first half. The middle of the pitch was bombarded as both opted to play five men in the middle of the pitch meant that an opening was hard to find.

 Perez’s goal opened up the game but in the favour of Newcastle. They continued with their relentless pressure meaning it was hard for West Brom to find an opening.

 With 62 minutes gone the team from Tyneside doubled their lead. Janmaat again the provider from the right. This time he easily skipped past Youssuff Mulumbu on the touch line and whipping a cross in to a completely unmarked Coloccini who had the simple task of nodding home from close range to deplete West Brom.

 The second goal knocked the stuffing out of the home team. Despite threatening to score they could never get through the wall of blue and green shirts. The victory was nearly made all so sweeter when Perez had the chance to double his tally for the game but his volley from a cross by Ryan Taylor was saved by ‘keeper Ben Foster.

West Brom manager Alan Irvine said his Baggies side “lacked intensity” but admitted “the goal right on half time was a boost for them (Newcastle)”. The Scot also described his star striker’s performance as “his poorest game but everyone has bad games”.

 Newcastle boss Alan Pardew, despite fearing his job was lost a few weeks ago, was buoyed by the victory today describing it as a “disciplined and strong performance”.

 

 

Leicester 0-1 West Bromwich Albion match report Saturday 1st November

A fluke own goal from Esteban Cambiasso was enough to separate West Bromwich Albion and Leicester in a closely fought encounter at the King Power stadium. 

It was a case of wrong place, wrong time for the Argentine two minutes after half time as Saido Berahino's cross from the left was headed clear by Foxes defender Wes Morgan straight onto the thigh of the backrushing Cambiasso who was left helpless as the ball rolled agonisingly over the line past the outstretched ‘keeper Kasper Schmeichel.

 The first half was a complete stalemate with both sides cancelling each other out in midfield meaning there was little goal mouth action. Baggies ‘keeper Ben Foster almost gifted the game to the home side with barely eight minutes gone as an attempted throw-out saw him step out of his area.  The Leicester players appealed for a free-kick but referee Stuart Atwell judged that the England keeper was still in his area providing him with a lucky escape. 

 West Brom’s best chance came from a corner from the right by Chris Brunt which was headed towards the far post by Craig Dawson but was cleared off the line by Cambiasso. The Foxes replied with arguably the best chance of the half. The ball bounced up high into the air and striker Jamie Vardy found himself in a lot of space on the six yard line but fluffed his overhead kick effort straight into the arms of Foster.

 The deadlock was finally broken on 47 minutes when in-form striker Berahino burst down the left hand side of the box before cutting the ball back only for the clearance by Morgan to ricochet onto Cambiasso and into the net.

 The Foxes pressed for an equaliser but the Baggies backline stood strong. Jamie Vardy forced a good save from Foster with 62 minutes on the clock, latching onto a long ball from defender Paul Konchesky then Andy King headed into the goalkeeper’s hands when he should have scored.

 Substitute Nick Powell had the final chance to snatch a point but screwed his shot so wide that the ball actually hit the corner flag, much to the annoyance of the home fans.

 The Baggies held out and earned a much needed three points after a run of draws in the league and their disappointing exit from the Capital One Cup on Tuesday night against Bournemouth. As for Leicester, it was another defeat for a side struggling to find consistency in the Premiership after their emphatic 5-3 win over Manchester United a month ago.

 Manager Nigel Pearson admitted his side were ‘unlucky’ but refused to be downhearted despite his side’s poor showing in the Premiership table.

 Meanwhile, Baggies boss Alan Irvine was delighted with another win despite the nature of the goal.

 “I’ll take goals like that anytime if it means three points,” he said.

 

Aston Villa 1-2 Tottenham Hotspurs match report Sunday 2nd November

Christian Benteke saw red as his team lost 2-1 to a battling Tottenham Hotspurs side in a fiery encounter at Villa Park. 

After a much improved first half performance by the Belgian returning from injury, he raised his hand to the face of midfielder Ryan Mason in a coming together between the two right under the nose of fourth official. Referee Neil Swarbrick had no other choice to send off the striker, leaving Villa to defend a one goal lead for 27 minutes with 10 men. 

The game was a well fought, open contest between two sides struggling to find form. The tempers were stirred up by Jan Vertonghen in the second half. A two footed lunge by the Belgian on Ashley Westwood, which the home side thought merited a straight red card. Referee Swarbrick presented a yellow which incensed the Villa team, giving them a sense of injustice.

The away side took full advantage. With Benteke battling to hold off the ball from Mason, he wasn’t happy with the tackle that the young Englishman applied and the two squared up to each other on the half way line with Benteke raising his right hand into the face of Mason which was enough to see him earn the second red card of his Villa career.

After this it was a back’s to the walls time for the Villans. Spurs continually attacked and it seemed only a matter of time before they got back into the game. Despite their resilience Villa gifted their opponent’s the equaliser.

With 83 minutes gone, substitute Erik Lamela whipped in a corner from the right hand side and it was met completely unmarked at the far post who tapped home from six yards to finally break the Villa spirits.

One minute from time their hearts were broken too as Spurs completed the turn around. A cynical free kick was conceded by Carlos Sanchez 27 yards out from goal just to the right of the edge of the box. Up stepped Harry Kane. His free kick took a deflection off the wall which took it away from ‘keeper Brad Guzan to score his seventh goal in seven matches and send his team into euphoria.

A much improved Villa performance but still they came away with zero points from the game.

Manager Paul Lambert said his side were “unlucky” and “I didn’t think we deserved the result. We played excellent”  

Spurs manager said his side “deserved to win” and that his striker Harry Kane is definitely in contention for a starting spot after his performance today.