Premier League Week 4-As it Happens (Saturday)

Yellow Card!Sebastian Larsson picks up Sunderland's first yellow card after fouling Raheem Sterling.


Goal!
Luis Suarez manages to get a goal to add to his yellow card and Liverpool look like the most likely team to take home 3 points now.


Sunderland 1-1 Liverpool
Fletcher (29)
Suarez (71)

Yellow Card 
Martin Skrtel picks up Liverpool's second yellow card of the game.

...and we are back off for the second half at the Stadium of Light

Half time
Sunderland 1-0 Liverpool

Yellow Card!
The ever controversial Luis Suarez looks for a penalty and gets booked.


Goal! 
Steven Fletcher grabs his 3rd goal for Sunderland in just his second game. What a signing this man may end up being!

Sunderland 1-0 Liverpool
Fletcher (29)

We are currently 25 minutes into the Sunderland v Liverpool game and it's still 0-0. Liverpool have looked the better team so far though.

Full Time
Arsenal 6-1 Southampton
Manchester United 4-0 Wigan
Fulham 3-0 West Brom
Aston Villa 2-0 Swansea
Stoke 1-1 Manchester City
QPR 0-0 Chelsea

Goal! 
Fulham finish off West Brom as Steve Sidwell nets the 3rd goal of the game.

Fulham 3-0 West Brom
Berbatov (32, 45-pen)

Sidwell (89)

Goal! 
Theo Walcott surely finishes the scoring at the Emirates as Arsenal go 6-1 up.

Arsenal 6-1 Southampton
Hooiveld (11) O.G
Podolski (31)
Gervinho (35,71)
Clyne (38) OG
Fox (45)
Walcott (88)

Goal! 
Christian Benteke secures Aston Villa's first win of the season as he double's his teams lead over Swansea
 
Aston Villa 2-0 Swansea
Lowton (16)
Benteke (88)

Goal!
Nick Powell has just said hello to the Premier League with an amazing strike to extend Manchester Uniteds lead to 4-0. An excellent second half performance by Manchster United.

Manchester United 4-0 Wigan
Scholes (51)

Hernandez (63)
Buttner (66)
Powell (82)

Yellow Card!
Eric Lichaj becomes the third Aston Villa player into the referees book

Goal! 
Arsenal aren't done yet as Gervinho grabs his second and Arsenal's 5th!


Arsenal 5-1 Southampton
Hooiveld (11) O.G
Podolski (31)
Gervinho (35,71)
Clyne (38) OG
Fox (45)

Goal! 
Alexander Buttner manages to cap off an excellent performance by bagging his first Manchester United goal. This is a man with a point to prove today. Brilliant.

Manchester United 3-0 Wigan
Scholes (51)

Hernandez (63)
Buttner (66)

Goal!
Javier Hernandez makes a mends for his penalty miss earlier as he doubles the lead for Manchester United pouncing on a mis hit shot by Alexander Buttner.

Manchester United 2-0 Wigan
Scholes (51)

Hernandez (63)

Yellow Card! 
Javi Garcia gets to add a yellow card to his goal.

Yellow Card!
The game at Old Trafford is coming alive and after a series of crunching tackles James McArthur gets shown a yellow.

Goal! 
Paul Scholes put's Manchester United in to the lead against Wigan 

Manchester United 1-0 Wigan
Scholes (51)


Yellow Card
Emerson Boyce becomes Wigan's first booking

We are now underway for the second half in all of the 3PM kick offs.

Half Times
Arsenal 4-1 Southampton
Fulham 2-0 West Brom
Stoke 1-1 Manchester City
Aston Villa 1-0 Swansea
QPR 0-0 Chelsea
Manchester United 0-0 Wigan

Goal!
Dimitar Berbatov doubles his Fulham account by netting a penalty.

Fulham 2-0 West Brom
Berbatov (32, 45-pen)


Yellow CardAlexander Büttner picks up the first yellow card at Old Trafford.

Goal! 
Southampton put the ball in the net for the 3rd time today, this time in the right end as Danny Fox gets a goal back.

Arsenal 4-1 Southampton
Hooiveld (11) O.G
Podolski (31)
Gervinho (35)
Clyne (38) OG
Fox (45)

Yellow Card! 
Michu picks up Swansea's first yellow card.


RED CARD 
Peter Odemwingie picks up the first sending off of the weekend as West Brom's day gets harder.

Goal!
Arsenal have sealed the points here thanks to a Nathan Clyne own goal. Game over! The only question now is just how many will Arsenal get?

Arsenal 4-0 Southampton
Hooiveld (11) O.G
Podolski (31)
Gervinho (35)
Clyne (38) OG


Yellow Card!
 Goal scorer Matthew Lowton picks up Villa's second booking of the afternoon.

Goal! 
Javier Garcia picks up his first Manchester City goal as City draw equal with Stoke.

Stoke 1-1 Manchester City
Crouch (15)
Garcia (35)

Goal! 
Gervinho puts Arsenal 3-0 up and this is pretty much game over at the Emirates.


Arsenal 3-0 Southampton
Hooiveld (11) O.G
Podolski (31)
Gervinho (35)

Goal!
Dimitar Berbatov opens his Fulham account as he puts his new team 1-0 up against West Brom.

Fulham 1-0 West Brom
Berbatov (32)


Goal! 
Arsenal double their lead thanks to Lukasz Podolski who puts the Gunners 2-0 up.

Arsenal 2-0 Southampton
Hooiveld (11) O.G
Podolski (31)

Yellow Card! 
Ryan Bertrand joins Ramires in the referees book in the Chelsea/QPR game.

Yellow Card!
 Ciaran Clark picks up the first booking at Villa Park.

Yellow Card! 
Ramires collects a yellow card in the first booking as Chelsea play QPR in a match that has already see Anton Ferdinand refuse to shake John Terry's hand.

Goal!
Matthew Lowton has put Aston Villa 1-0 up against the high flying Swansea.
 
Aston Villa 1-0 Swansea
Lowton (16)

Goal!
Peter Crouch has just put Stoke in the lead against Manchester City! The City defense has once again been shown up

Stoke 1-0 Manchester City
Crouch (15)

Goal!
We have our first goal in the 3PM kick offs as Jos Hooiveld puts the ball in his own net to put Arsenal 1-0 up.

Arsenal 1-0 Southampton
Hooiveld (11) O.G

Penalty...Saved!
Manchester United get a controversial penalty against Wigan but Javier Hernandez's is poor and Ali Al Habsi makes an excellent save. The second missed penalty by Manchester United in as many games.

We now have kick off in all of our 3 o'clock kick offs

Full Time
Norwich 0-0 West Ham


Norwich Corner
The Norwich corner is poor and easily cleared. Norwich however use the ball well afterwards and attempt to steal 3 points but sadly it comes to nothing.


Norwich Chance
Harry Kane plays in Robert Snodgrass but the shot is turned behind for a corner.

Norwich Half Chance 
Norwich counter well but the shot, by Harry Kane is very, very poor, again.

West Ham Free Kick 
West Ham have a free kick out wide as we enter the 90th minute. The kick, taken by Mark Noble is poor.

West Ham Corner
Wow! A good cross by West Ham (at last!), results in a corner but it's headed behind by James Collins.


West Ham Substitution
Yossi Benayoun comes on to replace Ricardo Vaz Te with around 4 minutes left. Hopefully Benayoun can add something to this match which has become really dull.

Norwich Half Chance
Norwich get their first half chance in almost 25 minutes as Harry Kane gets the ball outside of the area. His shot goes wide, but it did inject a little bit of excitement into a match which as become awfully tedious.

Eurgh this is starting to become a very tedious match. West Ham manage to break down the sides every so often but Ricardo Vaz Te has failed to deliver a good ball in a very, very long time. Starting to look like it'll either be goal less.

West Ham Corner 
West Ham get another corner though it's swiftly cleared.


West Ham Corner
West Ham get a corner which it turned around for another corner.


Norwich Substitution 
Grant Holt is replaced by Harry Kane. We've had very little of not to report on in the last few minutes, West Ham are doing everything but getting the final pass right, which Norwich look like they are taking a breather. Really gone down hill in the second half.

Norwich Substitution 
Steve Morrison comes on to replace Simeon Jackson

Norwich Free Kick
Mark Noble fouls Robert Snodgrass in a wide position and the freekick provides some issues for West Ham who eventually get sorted.


West Ham Substitution
Carlton Cole and Matt Taylor are replaced by Modibo Maïga and Matt Jarvis

Norwich Half Chance  
Norwich have a half chance which is hit very tamely and leaves an easy save for Jussi Jaaskelainen

Norwich Corner
A 3rd successive corner for Norwich leads to nothing.

Norwich Corner 
Simeon Jackson strikes a belter which is forced behind resulting in another Norwich corner. This one flies across and flick's Winston Reid's head for another corner.

Norwich Corner
The first corner of the second half goes to Norwich and Robert Snodgrass' deep ball is cleared easily.

We are back in to the action at Carrow road with the second half now under way.

Half Time
Norwich 0-0 West Ham
A competitive opening half which despite being goalless has been thoroughly watchable through out. Whilst both teams have created some decent chances neither team look like they have the quality up front to finish anything off. The major talking point however will not be that the match is goalless, but that Norwich could have had a penalty late on, however neither team really deserves to be behind at the break.

Penalty...oh no just a free kick
Awful tackle by James Collins which produces the first booking of the match and gives away a clear free kick, but was the foul inside the area? Chris Foy deems it to have taken place just outside. The free kick taken by Bradley Johnson is dreadful and hit right into the wall. Controversial moment though.

Norwich Corner 
Norwich's second successive corner is cleared with ease.


Norwich Corner 
Winston Reid puts it behind to give Norwich a corner and it's headed behind for another corner.


Norwich Half Chance
Grant Holt gets a half chance inside the West Ham penalty area but the shot is sliced wide.

West Ham Free Kick 
West Ham get a free kick well outside the Norwich area. Mark Noble's cross goes over everyones head.


Penalty Area Pinball Wizard!  
Norwich come close 3 or 4 times in quick succession as the West Ham penalty area becomes a pinball table for a continuous 25 seconds with the ball bouncing backwards and forwards.

Norwich Corner
 Joey O'Brien makes an awful mistake that opens up the West Ham defense for Robert Snodgrass, who sees his cross cut out by James Collins.


West Ham Corner
West Ham are starting to look more threatening as they force a second successive corner though again it's cleared without too many problems.

West Ham Corner
West Ham force their second corner but it's really wasted.

Norwich Corner
Norwich get their first corner of the game which it taken low by the home side, but the move has been scouted well by the Hammers defense.

West Ham Chance 
West Ham come close for the second time in just minutes as they force the John Ruddy into action to claw the ball away.


Free kick Norwich 
Norwich have a promising free kick just out side the D. Robert Snodgrass sadly wastes it by smacking it into the wall. The resulting breakdown results in a penalty appeal for Norwich which is turned down by Chris Foy.

West Ham Chance 
West Ham come close twice after Ricardo Vaz Te lays in a clever ball which sees the resulting shot blocked before the follow up goes wide. Best chance so far for the visitors.

Norwich Half Chance
A shot by Andrew Surman goes just wide of the West Ham goal. It's as close as we've been to an opening goal in the first 6 minutes.


West Ham Corner
West Ham get their first corner of the game inside 2 minutes, though the header goes behind for a goal kick. As we all know West Ham are hugely dangerous from set pieces so Norwich will not be wanting to give too many of those away.

And we're off at the Carrow Ground!

So after no Premier League football in almost 2 weeks we are finally back in action as Norwich host West Ham in the early kick off of the weekend! Hopefully we'll see some goals here, though I'm doubting it personally...

Premier League Week 4-Preview and prediction (Norwich v West Ham)

With the recent international games the Premier League has been on a bit of a hiatus though returns this weekend as Norwich host West Ham in the early kick off. Whilst it's not a headline game it will likely be seen as a huge 6 pointer with both teams expected to be battling relegation and one that is almost certainly worth some interest from football fans.

Whilst expectation at Norwich was low, following the loss of manager Paul Lambert (who went to Villa) it's fair to say that the Canaries haven't actually done that badly. Whilst they were slaughtered on the opening day (losing 5-0 at Fulham) they have held their own with both QPR and most recently Tottenham (drawing both of those games 1-1) as they have earned both their first home and away points of the season.

Despite having conceded 7 goals so far this season Norwich's big problem seems to be up front where they lack a true goal scorer, instead having an attack built up of various threats as opposed to an out and out threat. The likes of Grant Holt will bag goals but will struggle to find the target on a regular basis however Robert Snodgrass (who looked sensational in his last match for the club) will create chances for the attacking line.

With Chris Hughton looking to hit the ground running following the internationals Norwich could pose a threat here, but only if they can get in the goals against a West Ham team that look unwilling to give many away (with only Swansea having scored against West Ham this season). This is the problem, Norwich can't score and West Ham don't really concede, in Norwich win it'll only be by a single goal.

Last year Norwich were very average at home, but they were an average team. Their Premier League position of 12th overall was a solid mid-table finish and their home form was reflective of that with 27 home points from their 19 home games (surprisingly the same as Liverpool).

Last time out (a fortnight ago!) West Ham looked excellent in defeating Fulham 3-0 with the Fulham defensive lining looking completely unable to cope with the West Ham attack. Sadly however the forefront of that attack was Andy Carroll who will be absent (due to injury) from this game leaving the West Ham attack looking like a bit of a rag-tag collection. Whilst Kevin Nolan will get goals he's not a pure goal scorer, Ricardo Vaz Te has goals in him but seems to lack Premier League class and Carlton Cole is a joke even amongst West Ham fans. The loss of Carroll (after just 1 game) is genuinely huge.

At the back West Ham have been solid conceding just 3 goals so far this season (in 3 Premier League games) though notably all 3 goals came in their only previous away fixture. This is a stark contract to their form last season where defensively they were rock solid away from home (conceding just 22 away goals in 23 games) and slightly less secure at home (29 goals conceded). If we were to look at last season's numbers however we'd have to favour West Ham here on the back of 13 away wins however was that in the championship, not in the Premier League.

Whilst there is Premier League quality running through the West Ham squad there are questions about the depth of the squad and the absence of Carroll really does bring that issue up. Players like Nolan, Matt Jarvis and Yossi Benayoun can all grab goals and show sparks of something extra but the squad looks like it's only ever going to be 2 injuries away from a crisis.

Kick-Off: 12:45
Prediction: 1-1

Expected Line Ups:

Norwich-Ruddy, Bassong, Garrido, R.Martin, Barnett, Johnson, Howson, Snodgrass, Holt, Morrison (4-4-2)

West Ham-
Jääskeläinen, Demel, Reid, Collins, Tomkins, Diamé, Benayoun, Nolan, Vaz Te, Taylor, Cole (4-3-3)


Notes:Norwich have the same amount of points (2) as they had after the same amount of games (3) last season.
West Ham have only lost 2 of their last 24 competitive fixtures (one of those being their 3-0 loss to Swansea)

Players to watch out for-
Norwich:
Robert Snodgrass-Talented Scot Robert Snodgrass looked very out of sorts on the opening day of the season though has looked like the key to everything Norwich have done in their most recent Premier League matches. He looks like he's going to be the driving force going forward for the Canaries and whilst he may not be an out and out goalscorer himself he will create chances for others as well as bagging a fair few himself. He really is the key to the attack.
John Ruddy-Goalkeeper John Rudd started the season with a nightmare at Fulham however he has been very good since then. Whilst he hasn't kept a clean sheet this season he's a very under-rated keeper and is doing a fine job behind a weak defense. He may not have a lot to do here, but he will need to keep his concentration.

West Ham:
Kevin Nolan-The West Ham Captain is their key player and most of what they do goes through him. Nolan is the driving force behind West Ham so the Norwich defense and Midfield will look to keep Nolan from exerting his force on the game. Whilst he's the West Ham Midfield general he's also a threat in front of goal and has already bagged himself some goals this season and will be high on confidence going into this match.
Matt Jarvis-The former Wolves Winger Matt Jarvis has that level of of class that sees him not only able to open up the defense but also create a shed load of chances. Whilst Andy Carroll will be missing Jarvis will be able to look up and find either Carlton Cole or Kevin Nolan in the penalty area giving him some solid targets to aim for in attack.