RESULT: Chelsea 1 West Ham 1 14th December 2008
Gianfranco ZOla's return to Samford Bridge West Ham was successful with a vital point against his old club.
The home team started brightly but West Ham managed to deny Anelka any space in dangerous areas.
Scott Parker worked hard in midfield to break up the rhythm of Deco and Lampard. The Hammers kept deep and defended well, with Matthew Upson continuing to show good central defensive judgement. Then in the 32nd minute West Ham got to the byline with Noble and passed in to Craig Bellamy who in turn controlled and volleyed in emphatic style past Cech to open the scoring very much against the run of play.
In the second half the home team statred more aggressively with Drogba coming on to join Nicolas Anelka upfront. It was the in form frenchman Anelka however that got the equaliser, volleying home a delicate chip in the box from Frank Lampard to net his 14th goal of the season.
More pressure followed from Chelsea as the had most of the possession, camping in West Ham's half forcing them to sit on the 18 yard line with little rest. West Ham 'keeper Robert Green commanded his area well, and in the last 5 minutes West Ham slightly came into the game possesssion wise. Frank Lampard had a well struck free kick that he steered straight towards Green, apart from that West Ham were good for a point on this frustrating day for the Premiership leaders.
Premiership result: Portsmouth 0 Newcastle 3 14th December 2008
Newcastle move into 14th position ahead of Tottenham on goal difference after their first away win of the season at Fratton Park against Tony Adam's Portsmouth. Portsmouth dominated in the first half but Defoe and Crouch were a bit wasteful of possession in the final third of the pitch. Newcastle hit the post with a fantastic twenty yard swerving drive from forward Obafemi Martins.
In the second half Portsmouth squandered more chances, then Newcastle took advantage of some inaccurate passing and put Michael Owen through in on goal. Owen took a heavy first touch but then more than made up for it with a delicate chip over Portsmouth keeper David James to open the scoring at 0-1.
Newcastle started to gain more possession and confidence after the first goal and it was Martins that scored the second goal in the 76th minute after some bad defending and a premature dive from James.
It was Guthrie who completed a great win for the visitors with the third goal after a through ball fell nicely into his path and he smashed it past David James who perhaps could have done more to prevent this goal as well as the second.
Spurs 0 Manchester United 0
Dimitar Berbatov's return to White Hart Lane was frustrating for him and Sir Alex Ferguson's Red Devils as Tottenham Hotspur managed to keep a clean sheet against the Premier League champions.
In the first half, this match was quite tight, Modric went close with a header from a David Bentley cross and then towards the end of the first 45 mins Manchester United began to dominate possession but with no end result. David Bentley also had a spectacular volley saved by Van der Sar. Christiano Ronaldo netted from a corner in the penalty box but it was judged to have been handled by the Portuguese international.
In the second half, Manchester United continued to pass the ball fluently but Spurs were resolute in defence with great performances fom Michael Dawson and Didier Zokora. Ryan Giggs and Paul Scholes were brought on towards the end of the match to attempt to break the Spurs defence down but the home team managed to keep things under control and had a good chance from Modric going just over the crossbar. Overall, Tottenham were good for a point and moved Harry Redknapp's Spurs up to 14th position. However this result made things difficult for Man Utd as the gap between them and Chelsea increased to 6 points.
