Premiership Weekend Roundup: March 11-12

Arsenal 2 - 1 Liverpool
Steven Gerrard: One of the best players in the world! Set up two goals in this game! If only they'd both been for his own team.

Actually, although I wasn't happy with the way it happened, I have to admit that this was a fair result, based on the way both teams played. Liverpool, unlike Real Madrid in midweek, weren't about to sit back and let Arsenal have time and space to play. But Arsenal managed to find the space anyway, and the Liverpool players just couldn't keep up with the speed of their passing. Rafa had packed the midfield, but it didn't work. Jan Kromkamp, especially, had a horrible game on the right wing before he got hauled off at halftime -- he looked out of position a lot, and I know he's more of a fullback than a midfielder, but he wasn't much good defensively either.

And that second yellow card on Xabi Alonso? An absolutely horrible call. I did think it was a foul when I initially saw it, but if I was the referee, I would've been damned sure before I sent someone off when I didn't even see the play properly. That's why you have linesmen, for fuck's sake. It probably didn't help that both times Xabi got booked, Senderos was there yelling at the ref to card him -- despite not actually being involved in the play, or having any idea what he was talking about, really. Aren't the Swiss supposed to be neutral?

Manchester United 2 - 0 Newcastle
It may sound funny, but a 2-0 scoreline actually makes Newcastle look good. It could have been two or three times that many in favour of United, if Louis Saha hadn't been busy doing his best impression of a Liverpool striker. Ruud Van Nistelrooy must have been bitter, watching that from the sidelines, but he didn't do much better when he finally came on. And Wayne Rooney managed to hit the post with an open net --although you can't really criticize a player who's scored twice in the first 15 minutes.

Normally this would be where I'd bitch about United's defence and/or midfield. But I don't think they actually had anything to do this week, so I'll save it for the next game.

Chelsea 2 - 1 Tottenham
Once again, not the best game from Chelsea, and once again, they pulled out a win. Bastards. It was horrible defending from Tottenham at the end of the game, though -- they didn't clear their lines and let Chelsea steal the points.

Shawn Wright-Phillips finally got a start, with Arjen Robben suspended for four games (ha, karma!), and certainly proved that he deserved it, terrorizing the Tottenham defence and setting up Chelsea's first goal. Jermain Jenas, in contrast, may have scored for Spurs but was otherwise invisible, and I still can't figure out how he gets in the England squad.

Bolton 4 - 1 West Ham
So Alan Pardew thinks that Premiership teams should have a quota of English players, eh? I'm sure that doesn't have anything to do with keeping his mostly English West Ham from getting thumped by teams like Bolton, who kept them pinned back in their own half for almost the whole game. It probably didn't help that Pardew had a touch of Sven-itis and stuck Anton Ferdinand in midfield for the first half.

Also: Who decided that all-white uniforms were a good idea? Seriously, people. Your laundry staff hate you now.

Other results
Charlton 2 - 1 Middlesbrough
Birmingham 1 - 1 West Brom
Blackburn 2 - 0 Aston Villa
Everton 3 - 1 Fulham
Portsmouth 2 - 1 Manchester City
Sunderland 0 - 1 Wigan