Premiership Weekend Roundup: March 4-5

Liverpool 0 - 0 Charlton
I'm automatically skeptical about any Liverpool lineup that features Djimi Traore and no Xabi Alonso. But in spite of that, I thought they played really well -- except for Traore, obviously, who probably would have been hauled off at halftime if Hyypia hadn't got hurt. The Liverpool strikers still couldn't buy a goal if they had Roman Abramovich's Russian mafia money, but at least they were creating lots of chances -- they showed the attempts on goal stats in the second half, and they were something like 15-2 in favour of Liverpool. Unlike some of the other games where they have all the possession in the middle of the field but can't seem to penetrate into the other team's box (dirty!). Robbie Fowler's goal being called offside in the 90th minute pretty much summed up the game.

West Brom 1 - 2 Chelsea
The first half was unbelievably boring. West Brom seemed like they would have been happy to come away with a point, and Chelsea were treating the game like a training exercise to warm up for getting thumped by Barcelona on Tuesday. But then Drogba scored (and much as I hate to admit it, that was a nice goal), and Arjen Robben got sent off for being a pissy little bitch as usual, and Jose Mourinho lost his mind on the touchline. I think my favourite moment was the slow-mo replay, after one of the West Brom players had been fouled, of Bryan Robson swearing like a trucker. It was awesome.

Fulham 0 - 4 Arsenal
It's kind of interesting to see which Arsenal team will turn up on any given day. Last week it was a mediocre performance against Blackburn; this week they could have beaten Fulham (admittedly, a weaker team, but they're not this bad) with one metaphorical hand tied behind their metaphorical back. I think the main difference was that Fulham sat back and gave Arsenal space to play -- much like Real Madrid -- and if you do that, they will make you pay for it.

Other results
Aston Villa 1 - 0 Portsmouth
Middlesbrough 1 - 0 Birmingham
Newcastle 3 - 1 Bolton
West Ham 2 - 2 Everton
Manchester City 2 - 1 Sunderland
Tottenham 3 - 2 Blackburn

And this afternoon, Manchester United face off against Plucky Little Wigan^TM, whom they've beat 8-0 on aggregate so far this season. Watch them implode now, just to fuck with me.