Stoke v Valencia: Match Report

Mehmet Topal's wonder strike broke Potters fans' hearts as the European new boys lost 1-0 at home to the mighty Valencia.

Stoke played with the fight and determination of Sir Walter Raleigh himself as they faced the Spanish Armada of Valencia in a titanic Europa League clash last night.

With the wind in their proverbial sails, the Potters got off to a rampant start as they tried to take the game straight to their opponents in their usual direct fashion.

Stoke and Valencia line-up before kick-off

Jon Walter's strike 60 seconds into the opening exchanges lit the fire in the home fans bellies before the Ireland international came inches from turning in a Rory Delap trademark throw, that somehow flew through a crowded penalty area untouched.

But City's early advances gave false hope to the 24,000 in attendance and soon it was the visitors who were dictating play.

Pablo Piatti, Jonas Goncalves De Oliveira and Sofiane Feghouli all looked lively both on and off the ball as they began to haunt Robert Huth and Ryan Shawcross, turning their Europa League dream into a nightmare.

Asmir Begovic's save to deny Jonas from close range signaled that the tide had finally turned in favor of the Champions League dropouts and it wasn't long before they had a deserved lead.

When Mehmet Topal collected the ball 35-yards from goal, Stoke's defenses sat back, expecting the threat to come from the masses on the edge of the area.

Topas though, had other ideas and unleashed an unstoppable strike that rocketed into the top corner of the Potters net.

The home side bravely battled on, woken up from their ball watching after falling behind.

Pennant found Peter Crouch at the top of the Valencia area but his scissor kick, a carbon copy of the one scored against Galatasary in his Liverpool days, curled up and over Vicente Guaita Panadero's goal.

Only a handful of Valencia fans made the trip to Stoke

The second half was far more a kin to the usual battles fought at the Brtiannia at weekends.

Puli's men pressed, harassed and sometimes kicked, their way through the Valencia ranks but only Huth and substitute Ryan Shotton were able to threaten the visitors goal.

The towering German defender managed to send Pennant’s corner just wide of the target, while Shotton saw his strike deflect neatly into Guaita's arms.

The game became scrappy as Shawcross, Wilkinson, Walters and sub Dean Whitehead all picked up bookings as their frustration boiled over.

Valencia though, gave as good as they got, and when Whitehead was clattered by Tino Costa at the end, calls for the red to be brandished came roaring from the stands and the Stoke dugout.

Fenghouli looked to double his sides away goal tally but Huth’s timely deflection steered the ball onto the post, while top scorer Roberto Soldado failed to shine under the floodlights, coming off the subs bench 13 minutes before time.

The Mestalla beckons Stoke in a weeks time, but going there a goal down leaves plenty for the visitors to do. But stranger things have happened and their showing tonight will have given them some confidence that they can compete with the elite on home soil at least.

Premier League Weekend Wrap Up

Another week has passed and it’s been a weekend of thrills, spills but no nil-nills in the Barclays Premier League.

Saturday’s action saw 31 goals rattle the back of goalkeeper’s nets across the country, with nearly a third of them coming in an eight goal thriller between Chelsea and Arsenal.

The Gunners, coming into this fixture, had been on a great run of from recently with 7 wins from their last 8 games. Chelsea on the other hand were looking to make headlines for their play and not the things they say, as allegations around John Terry’s racist remarks against QPR continue to fly around the papers.

Both sides got their wish although Chelsea will be making Monday’s back pages for all the wrong reasons. 

It started so well for the Blues when they took the lead after just 14 minutes. Juan Mata swept the ball into the box allowing Frank Lampard to nod the ball past Wojciech Szczesny.

Arsenal proved to be resilient though, and Robin van Persie pulled his side level 20 minutes later with a simple finish after Aaron Ramsey’s ball split the Chelsea defense, before Gervinho squared the ball to the Dutchman who tucked the ball into and empty net.

But Chelsea retook the lead minutes before the halftime break when John Terry popped up at a Lampard corner with a tap in from six yards out.

The Gunners came out firing from the interval, with Ramsey squandering a difficult chance from close range before Andre Santos scored his first Arsenal goal after the summer move to London. 

Theo Walcott then gave the visitors the lead when he found space on the edge of the area before smashing the ball past Peter Cech at his near post.

The game slowed down for 25 minutes but Juan Mata finally pulled Chelsea level ten minutes before time with a pile driver from 18-yards out.

Disaster struck for Chelsea just moments later when John Terry tripped receiving a back pass in the midfield. With no one behind him, Terry’s stumble allowed van Persie to break unchallenged, round a helpless Cech, and give Arsenal the lead once again.

The Dutch striker, who’s future at the Emirates still remains in the balance, wrapped up the points for the Gunners in injury time as he blasted home his third of the day, after stunning the Blues on the break.

Both sides could have had seven or eight goals apiece at the Bridge. Neither defended well and both were punished for their inability to hold off their opponents attack.

John Terry’s slip will do little to win his critics over, while van Persie has now scored seven goals in Arsenal’s last four games.

The weekends other early fixture on Saturday was at Goodison Park where Manchester United and Everton played out a much more low-key affair.

Javier Hernandez gave the reigning champions the lead inside the opening 20 minutes when Patrice Evra crossed into the six-yard box. Hernandez found Evra’s cross hitting a controlled volley past Tim Howard.

Sir Alex Ferguson left Rio Ferdinand on the bench for this fixture and Everton tried to take advantage of United’s missing experience at the back. David de Gea was forced to save from Leon Osman’s snatched strike, while Leighton Baines’ free kick struck the frame of the Spanish keepers goal.

Jack Rodwell’s second half strike had United’s keeper diving to his right to keep it out while Danny Welbeck kept Howard on his toes at the other end with a thundering effort.

Magaye Gueye was knocked over in the final minutes of the game, but the Everton striker’s penalty appeals were waved away as United held on to take all three points away from the Toffees.

United’s cross town rival Manchester City faced, what was thought to be, an easy tie at home to Wolves.  The two sides met in midweek in the Carling Cup, during which City’s reserves smashed Wolves’ reserves 5-2.

Both Roberto Mancini and Mick McCarthy played their full strength sides on the weekend and Wolves looked much stronger then their Carling Cup second side.

The visitors managed to weather the worst of City’s storm in the first half as Sergio Aguero and Edin Dzeko forced some magnificent saves from Wayne Hennessey in the Wolves goal.

But McCarthy’s side couldn’t hold on for long after the interval.

City’s first came when Hennessey was caught in possession by Aguero on the edge of his box. The loose ball rolled neatly into the path of Dzeko who tucked it away into an empty net.

Their second came from another Hennessey mistake. This time Wayne palmed David Silva’s strike straight to Aleksander Kolarov who finished from six yards out and seemingly wrapped up things for the league leaders.

But when Vincent Kompany pulled down Kevin Doyle in the box, as they battled to reach a loose ball after Joe Hart fumbled a long-range effort, referee Stuart Attwell gave Wolves a penalty, and sent Kompany off the pitch.

Stephen Hunt finished from the spot kick, leaving the visitord a goal behind but a man ahead for the final quarter of an hour.

Adam Johnson killed off Wolves’ late advances as City caught their opponents on the break. The English winger had plenty to do, but his strike from 30 yards curled neatly into the bottom corner, giving City the win and maintaining their five point lead at the top of the table.

Down in the Premier Leagues bottom three Blackburn squandered a 3-1 one second half lead away at Norwich. The Canaries fired twice in the final ten minutes through Bradley Johnson and Grant Holt to the dismay of the few Rovers fans at Carrow Road.  Blackburn still have only one win in the league this season and pressure is mounting on Steve Kean to start getting results, or move to pastures new.

Bolton, who are also struggling this year, faced a Swansea City side who hadn’t lost or even conceded a goal at home so far this season.

Ricardo Gardner was sent off early in the second half for a second bookable offence and from then on Bolton were struggling.

Swansea went one up from the resulting free kick as Joe Allen scored a beautiful goal from the edge of the box, before Scott Sinclair doubled his side’s lead from the penalty spot after Darren Pratley needlessly fouled Angel Rangel.

Ten man Bolton pulled one back when Danny Graham put the ball in his own net, but the Swansea striker hit Bolton on the break in the 93^rd minute to see of Wanderers and continue the Welsh sides impressive home form.

Fellow strugglers Wigan entertained Fulham at the DW Stadium. With some fans calling for Martinez head already this season, Wigan were desperate to show that they believed in their manager with a win over the visiting Londoners. Clint Dempsey and Mussa Dembele had other ideas as their goals earned Fulham a 2-0 win despite the tireless efforts of Hugo Rodallega and co.

Aston Villa made the trip north to Sunderland to try and get back to winning ways after losing their last two games against Man City and West Brom.

Silvan Petrov’s exquisite strike gave Villa the lead, but Connor Wickham scored his first goal for the Black Cats to make things level before the half.

Richard Dunne’s late header seemingly granted the visitors a win but, with a minute to play, Stephan Sessegnon scored his second goal in as many games to see that all things finished square at the Stadium of Light.

Saturday’s late kick-off was at The Hawthorns, where Kenny Dalglish’s Liverpool  arrived to take on Roy Hodgson’s West Brom.

Luis Suarez has been in fine form this season and the Baggies struggled to contain the shifty Uruguayan.

First Suarez won Liverpool a penalty after Jerome Thomas bundled him over unnecessarily in the box.

Then, after Adam converted the resulting spot kick, Suarez set Andy Carroll through to double Liverpool’s lead as the Baggies back four fell asleep.

Somen Tchoyi gave the visitors a slight scare, but his strike was saved by Pepe Reina in goal, while Liverpool continued to pressure their hosts.

Ben Foster made a great save to deny Carroll his second of the game, while Stuart Downing struck the post late on as he looked for his first goal in a Liverpool shirt.

Sunday Evening saw QPR venture to Tottenham in their second London derby in a week.

Gareth Bale took advantage of some shoddy defending to find space on the edge of the box and blast Spurs ahead, before Rafael van der Vaart brought Ledley King’s wild strike under control and tucked the ball past Patrick Kenny to extend his side’s advantage and continue his scoring run to five games.

Jay Bothroyd’s header halved the deficit 15 minutes into the second half, but Gareth Bale nullified Bothroyd’s strike when he and Aaron Lennon exchanged passes, before the Welshman curled his effort into Kenny’s top corner.

Stoke City complete the weekend’s action on Monday night when they welcome Newcastle to the Britannia stadium.

Stoke v Arsenal: Match Report

Tony Pulis may well have been thinking three points away at Arsenal was a feasible outcome from Sunday’s game in London.

The Gunners have had a torrid start to the season while Stoke have already managed draws at home with Chelsea and Manchester United.

But the Gunners, heading into Sunday’s game, had won five of their last six games in all competitions and Stoke hadn’t won away at Arsenal in 30 years.

Well now its 31.

Despite starting from the bench for the first time in the League this season, Robin van Persie’s two strikes were enough to edge the Gunners past Pulis’ men at the Emirates.

Arsenal had taken the lead after 27 minutes when number 27, Gervinho, got behind the Stoke back four and brought down an exquisite chip from Aaron Ramsey, before firing past a helpless Asmir Begovic in the Stoke goal.

Pulis made six change to the side that won in Europe on Thursday night and the fresh legs on the pitch helped Stoke grab an almost immediate reply.

Glenn Whelan lofted a freekick down to Ryan Shawcross on the bye-line. Shawcross headed across goal causing all kinds of problems for Arsenal in their six-yard box as they struggled to clear from danger. The ball eventually landed at the foot of Peter Crouch who tucked the ball home from close range to pull Stoke level.

Wenger had started the game with Moroccan Marouane Chamank up front but his uninspiring performance, that included a miss from a free header just six yards from goal, forced Weneger to bring Arsenal’s talisman off the bench for the final 20 minutes.

Stoke had looked resolute at the back before van Persie’s introduction, but the crafty movement and play of the Dutch striker helped provide space for Gervinho and Andre Arshavin on the wings, while Mikel Arteta and Ramsey kept providing service form the middle of the park. 

Minutes after van Persie’s introduction Arsenal took the lead.  Gervinho ran at Jon Walters on the Arsenal right before cutting the ball back from the bye-line. Van Persie, at the near post, just opened his body and tucked the ball past a sprawling Begovic who’s hand to the ball couldn’t prevent it crossing the line.

The Gunners third was a mirror image of their second.  Gervinho, this time on the left, broke past Andy Wilkinson and Matthew Upson before pulling the ball back to find van Persie again on the edge of the six-yard box.

“We held them out until the main man comes on up front, he’s on a bit of form now at the minute and he’s put in two goals.” Said Glenn Whelan after the game.

“We’d done really well up until 60 - 70 minutes,” continued the Ireland international.

“But then we’ve dropped off a little bit, doing what we didn’t want them to do, letting them in behind us and then they’ve dragged two back from the by-line and scored two goals which he’s [Tony Pulis] disappointed in and it’s something we need to work on.”

Stoke did seem to lose some gas in their tank after the hour mark but Whelan wasn’t going to let Thursday nights Europa League clash be used as an excuse.

“I think because we’ve got beaten in a few games afterwards it’s easy for everyone to say that and it gives us an excuse, but the managers made changes he knows what the lads are like and what they’ve got in their legs to play in these games,” continued the Potters midfielder.

“If he’s picking the team to go out on a Thursday and then to go out on a Sunday, he knows that he’s got a team going out to win a game so it would be easier for us to say that it’s an excuse but we wont.”

Arsenal’s win sees them jump past Stoke up into seventh place in the Premiership while Stoke’s thoughts must now turn to their Carling Cup tie with Liverpool on Wednesday night.

“We’ve got a tough draw against Liverpool but we fancy ourselves against anybody at home in the Britannia,” an eager Whelan commented.

“We’ll be going out to win the game and get into the next round.”