Football news - Listing down the big gunners from weekend football
It was an exciting weekend of English football and as usual there were some winners and losers and here is a list of the biggest winners of this weekend’s football.
Michael Oliver
Had it not been for an operation on his ankle, he would have become the youngest referee in the Premier League at the age of 24 years but it was not to be and Oliver had to wait and finally made his refereeing debut at St Andrews on Saturday.
It was a weekend where Oliver’s elder peers were betrayed by a loss of nerve of a blinding linesman as a partner; Oliver was brave and gave a performance of note, not putting a foot wrong in the mach. It was a week where Chris Foy missed Stoke’s second equalizer and Mike Dean missed John Terry’s malicious foul on N’Zogbia but it was refreshing to see a boy doing a man’s job and age certainly don’t matter when a boy is good and brave enough for the job.
Gareth Bale
Capello left the man out of his squad to South Africa and in the presence of Ashley Cole; Capello may be forgiven for doing so but since the start of the Premier League Gareth Bale has set the competition alight. He has been solid in defence and tormenting when he embarks on those searing runs of his and after he capped a magnificent performance with two goals; he surely has to be one of the biggest winners of the week.
Chelsea
For the second week in a row Chelsea delivered a tennis score on a football pitch and Carlo Ancelotti’s squad is becoming great scorers in the Premier League this season. In the last 10 of their Premier League fixtures, they have scored six or more goals in 6 of those matches. Chelsea have now scored 30 goals since the time they last conceded a goal. And since the final day of the last season their score-line stands at 20-0.
Chelsea are the team to beat this season and they are no flat track bullies as last season they beat Liverpool, Arsenal and Manchester United both home and away. But this season they are already playing in a league of their own but their fist acid test will come in September, when they will travel to the city of Manchester Stadium to take on Man City, a week before taking on Arsenal at Stamford Bridge. But before then with the trips by Stoke and Blackpool to Stamford Bridge and an away game against Stoke, their goal difference may look like a cricket score. And you thought a tennis score was humiliating.
Andy Carroll
The Three lions have long been short of big and powerful striker (Crouch doesn’t really count as big) and a hat-trick by Andy Carroll in only just his second match of the season will surely help him get the international call. Had England’s next match been a friendly, a call up would have been a certain.
Birmingham City
Birmingham played another game at their own den without a defeat and it’s a remarkable feat. Their unbeaten run at home now stretches to 16 games.
Theo Walcott
His critics may say he lacks a football brain but his instincts are good enough to pull apart any defence in the league, and he demonstrated this to a mesmeric effect at the weekend against Blackpool. BBC’s Alan Hanson perhaps has something against the young gunner as he always crucified the winger in his columns on their website but that boy has got pace to burn and whenever he is in a good position he doesn’t think twice in side-footing the ball past the goalie.
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