Premier League Schedule for April 25-26

Saturday, April 25

Bolton vs. Aston Villa – 4:30 p.m. ET/Fox Soccer Channel (Delayed)
Everton vs. Manchester City
Fulham vs. Stoke City
Hull vs. Liverpool
West Brom vs. Sunderland
West Ham vs. Chelsea – 10 a.m. ET/Fox Soccer Channel (Live)
Manchester United vs. Tottenham – 12:30 p.m. ET/Fox Soccer Channel (Live)

Sunday, April 26

Arsenal vs. Middlesbrough
Blackburn vs. Wigan – 11 a.m. ET/Fox Soccer Channel (Live)

Liverpool 4, Arsenal 4…Sigh

The second 4-4 draw in a row for Liverpool – what happened to their defense?  Andrei Arshavin scored Arsenal’s four goals on their only four shots on goal in the game.  That is not so good.  Fernando Torres and Yossi Benayoun both found the net twice for Liverpool with Benayoun scoring the tying goal in the dying seconds. (Benayoun has played quite well as of late – good thing too, they’ve needed him to step up.)  This was definitely a game that Liverpool should have won.

Liverpool now moves to the top of the table based on goal difference, but Manchester United has two games in hand and plays Portsmouth tomorrow.

Premier League & FA Cup Results – April 17 and 18

Tim Howard saves Rio Ferdinand's penalty in the FA Cup semifinal.

FA Cup

Everton ended Manchester United’s chance for a quintuple* with a 4-2 shootout victory in the FA Cup semifinal today.  Tim Howard was the hero for Everton, saving penalties from Dimitar Berbatov and Rio Ferdinand.  Everton will face Chelsea in the final after the Blues defeated Arsenal 2-1 on Saturday, thanks to an 84th minute Didier Drogba goal.

Premier League

Middlesbrough 0
Fulham 0

Portsmouth 1 (Kanu 76)
Bolton 0

Stoke 1 (Lawrence 75)
Blackburn 0

Sunderland 1 (Cisse 45)
Hull City 0

Aston Villa 1 (Heskey 11)
West Ham 1 (Tristan 85)

Tottenham 1 (Bent 24)
Newcastle 0

Manchester City 4 (Robinho 8, Onuoha 21, Elano 56 – pen, Sturridge 90)
West Brom 2 (Brunt 37, 54)

*Everyone was referring to the Manchester United bid to win the Club World Cup, Premier League, Champions League, FA Cup and the Carling Cup.  They’ve already won the Club World Cup and the Carling Cup.  HOWEVER, I refuse to recognize ManU as “world champions” because the best teams in the world did not participate in the Club World Cup.  Not that it really matters anymore since they lost in the FA Cup semis.  There is no more chance at the so-called “quintuple”.  The thought of Manchester United winning all that makes me want to barf.

Manchester United, Arsenal move on to Champions League semis

Manchester United only needed a goal in the 6th minute from Cristiano Ronaldo to hold off Porto, 1-0.  Manchester United advances 3-2 on aggregate.  Arsenal made it three English teams in the semis with a 3-0 victory over Villarreal.  The Gunners won 4-0 on aggregate.

Semifinals

Chelsea vs. Barcelona

Manchester United vs. Arsenal

Remember the 96

Remember Hillsborough.  Remember the fallen.