Premiership Weekend Roundup: November 26-27

Manchester City 0 - 1 Liverpool
Liverpool had better hope that Xabi Alonso recovers from his knee injury soon, because they are a vastly inferior team without him. With Luis Garcia only coming on as a sub as well, there was just no spark in midfield. Steven Gerrard did his best, but there's only so much he can do when he's stuck out on the right. And Peter Crouch still can't find the net -- I thought he was quite good in the Champions League match earlier in the week, probably the first time I've really been impressed with his play, but he was sadly ineffective here.

Portsmouth 0 - 2 Chelsea
Boring, boring Chelsea. There are plenty of games that I can enjoy watching as a neutral supporter, or even disliking the winning team, but this wasn't one of them. Portsmouth just couldn't seem to do anything, aside from repeatedly fouling Joe Cole (I think he's a dick, but that penalty was definitely a foul). Chelsea put it into cruise control and did more than enough to win -- and give Jose Mourinho another reason to be smug.

Arsenal 3 - 0 Blackburn
Blackburn were unlucky not to get at least one goal, I thought, although Arsenal fully deserved all three of theirs. Arsenal's defence looked shaky at times, but their attack was deadly enough to more than make up for it. Most annoying thing about the match: the anchormoron at the Fox Soccer Channel who persisted in referring to the stadium as "Highberry" until I wanted to reach through my TV and punch him in the face.

West Ham 1 - 2 Manchester United
Let's get this out of the way first: Do I think that Rio Ferdinand is an overpaid fuckwit? Yes. Do I think he was responsible for the West Ham goal? No. It was three on two, and there's no way he can mark two men at once when the rest of the defence is caught too far up the pitch.

The biggest surprise of the match, really, was that it took United so long to equalise. If Roy Carroll had played like this last year, he might still be with the club. But Wayne Rooney was fantastic as usual, Park Ji-Sung was dangerous on the wing, and the rest of the midfield was more than adequate. The second biggest surprise of the match? The winning goal coming from John O'Shea, with a textbook header (I still think his passing is abysmal, though).

Other results
Everton 1 - 0 Newcastle
Fulham 2 - 1 Bolton
Middlesbrough 2 - 2 West Bromwich Albion
Wigan 1 - 2 Tottenham
Sunderland 0 - 1 Birmingham
Aston Villa 1 - 0 Charlton