Football Corner

Middlesborough have today earned a great victory at home to the mighty Gunners 2-1. Ayegbeni Yakubu opened the scoring on 40 minutes, turning smartly to curl a shot into the bottom corner. Arsenal had looked the better side of the first half but went in at the break one-nil down. Wenger probably needed a player like Henry to score the goals for Arsenal because Reyes wasn't doing that.

Yakubu opened the scoring for Boro
When the second half began Boro grew in confidence and on 59 minutes they got their second goal scored by striker Massimo Maccarone. Arsenal didn't do much for the rest of the half but they got a consalation goal on the 93 minute by Jose Antonio Reyes. They had a real go at it in the last minute after that but it wasn't enough and Boro hung on.

Great score for Boro after their humiliating defeat to Charlton a couple of weeks ago. Arsenal have already lost two games this season and are already 9 points behind leaders Chelsea although they do have 2 games in hand. It's good to see Maccarone scored for Boro today because he hadn't scored in a year before that.

Stuart Peace's Man City maintained their unbeaten start to the season with a well earned point against bitter rivals Man United who also maintained an unbeaten start to the season. United took the lead on the stroke of half-time when a Paul Scholes free kick was deflected of Van Nistelrooy and City keeper David James made a super save but it came back out to Van Nistelrooy and all he had to do was simply tap it in to an empty net.

City defender Sylvain Distin holds off United striker Wayne Rooney
The second half began and it looked as though United could go on to score more but they didn't. City managed to earn a point thanks to a goal that was scored in the six yard box by Joey Barton. City nearly snatched all three points in the last minute when former United player Andy Cole had a great shot saved by a great save by Edwin Van Der Saar. Sir Alex Ferguson will tonight be wondering why he didn't play Roy Keane and Ryan Giggs from the start of play after he said he was resting them.

Stuart Peacre has got Man City playing to their full potential thsi season and few would bet against City making Europe. United did dominate most of proceddings but fair play to City, they just kept plugging away at them. United now have to look forward to the Champions League game on Wednesday when they play Spanish side Villareal and try and forget about this.

Charlton striker Darren Bent has been named player of the month for the month of August and Man City manager Stuart Pearce has been awarded manager of the month. Bent has been rewarded with the award after scoring 4 goals for Charlton in their 100% record start to the Premiership. Pearce has earned the award for his great managerial skills to lead City to 2nd in the Premiership just behind leaders Chelsea.

This is the second time Pearce has won the award since taking over at Man City in March, his wins this season has included wins against Portsmouth, Sunderland and Birmingham. This has been Bent's first month in the Premiership since his move from Ipswich during the summer for a fee of £2.5million.



I believe both of the awards are very fair results because Pearce and Bent have both got of to flying starts with their respective clubs. Bent has adapted to the Premiership very well with Charlton and Pearce is adapting to being a manager very very well.

Name: Blackburn Rovers
Nickname: Rovers

Manager: Mark Hughes
Captain: Andy Todd

Stadium: Ewood Park
Capacity: 31,500

Star Player: Morten Gamst Pedersen
Young Gun: David Bently
One To Watch: Craig Bellamy

Top goal-scorer of all-time: Simon Garner (208)
Most Appearances: Derek Fazackerly (596 games)

Profile:

Blackburn Rovers are one of the few English clubs to ever win the Premier league along with Man United, Chelsea and Arsenal. Rovers were promoted to the Premiership in 1992 and since then they have gone from strength to strength. Alan Shearer and Chris Sutton were the two strikers who won the league for Rovers and since then Shearer has left the club for a record fee of £15million to Newcastle and Sutton has gone on to achieve great things at Scotish club Celtic. Since Mark Hughes has been appointed manager last year, Rovers look like a side that in years to come could go on to reach the dizzy heights of Europe. Rovers were relegated to the Division 1 back in 1999 and they were the first club to win the title and then in later years get relegated. Rovers reached Europe in 2003/2004 season and who’s to say that they can’t go on and achieve similar things under Mark Hughes.

Other Profiles:
Arsenal
Aston Villa
Birmingham