EPL: Blackburn vs. Sunderland

Yakubu sports his "Pray 4 Muamba" shirt after scoring. (Premierleague.com)

Don't look now, but the Blackburn Rovers are not only out of the bottom three, but actually putting some distance between themselves and the bottom of the table. Coming into this home match vs Sunderland. they were seeking back to back Barclay's Premier League wins for the first time this season. Sunderland played a tough FA Cup match with Everton on the weekend, and were dealing with several suspensions. The recipe was just right for a Rovers victory.

It was Rovers who got the first chance on goal. In the third minute Yakubu took a pass from Junior Hoilett and squirted free on goal. His shot beat the 'keeper, and looked to be going inside the near post, only to have Craig Gardner knock it off the line.

Blackburn continued to control most of the first half, as Sunderland looked horrible. Martin Olsson had two shots come close in the 10th minute. His first look was saved, the rebound fell to him, but he put the shot wide. Still Sunderland was able to hold on and a scrappy first half ended 0-0.

Blackburn really started to turn the screw in the second half. Mauro Formica sent a great volley in on goal in the 53rd minute only to have Mignolet knock it away. Then in the 59th minute, Mignolet punched away a long throw in, but it fell right to Hoilett, who slammed the volley into the back of the net to give Rovers the 1-0 lead.

At that point all eyes turned to Sunderland to see if they would respond. They really didn't, and continued to struggle. They did get one chance at an equalizer though. In the 79th minute the ball fell to Dong-Won Ji right in front of the goal, but he totally missed the sitter and Blackburn maintained the lead.

They expounded on their lead late and sealed the points. In the 86th minute, Bradley Orr sent a cross into the area and Yakubu rose and headed the ball into goal to make it 2-0. For his celebration, Yakubu pulled up his jersey and showed a "Pray 4 Muamba" shirt. Another classy move as the league rallies around the fallen Bolton midfielder.

Rovers held on for the 2-0 win and the 3 points actually moves them 6 points clear of the relegation zone. It's still not total safety, but you can see that the team is coming together a little bit, and I think they just might stay up. For Sunderland, it was a less than memorable performance, but they really didn't have much at stake in the league.

EPL: Manchester City vs. Blackburn

Mario Balotelli opens the scoring. (AP Images)

I really doubt that anyone watching this match, City fan, Rovers fan, or neutral, would have expected anything different than what we got from Etihad stadium today. In the end, the only surprise might be that City didn't win by more.

City kicked into gear right away, with Mario Balotelli blasting a shot on goal in the 2nd minute. Rovers 'keeper Paul Robinson reacted well to his left and managed to keep the ball out. It was the first of many saves he would have to make to keep the scoreline respectable.

Chances didn't exactly come regularly for City, but it wasn't because of the Blackburn defense at all. City provided a very patient attack, pushing and probing for the right way to open the Rovers defense. It was quite impressive. The next good chance fell to Adam Johnson in the 24th minute, but once again Robinson turned City away. In the 27th Balotelli also put a free kick on target, that was once again parried away by Robinson. Finally City and Super Mario broke through in the 30th minute. Balotelli took a cross from Kolarov at the near the post then whacked it by Robinson to make it 1-0.

City would turn up the pressure even more prior to the half. David Silva was the maestro of
the match all day, as usual, and he had a shot nicely saved in the 34th. Vincent Kompany had a shot turned away in the 37th. The rebound fell to Yaya Toure, but he couldn't do much except put it wide. City took the 1-0 lead into the half.

Blackburn must have felt alright about themselves coming out for the second. Despite only having 20 percent of the possession and giving up quite a few chances, they were only down 1-0. All that changed very early on though. In the 52nd minute Robinson totally fumbled a City corner and Sergio Aguero kicked the ball into the empty net to make it 2-0. Robinson had a good day up until then, but that was a real howler.

City wasn't done though, and even one of their subs got in amongst the goals. In the 81st minute Edin Dzeko took a beautiful cross, again from Kolarov, and snapped a powerful header into the back of the net to make it 3-0, which was the full time result.

I didn't mention any real Blackburn chances. That's because there weren't any. Rovers took 5 shots, 4 of them were blocked. Yakubu actually got the only shot on goal, and that came in the 2 minute of 2nd half stoppage time. Horrible game for Rovers. The result puts City 5 points clear of United, going into their match with Norwich tomorrow.

EPL: Liverpool vs. Blackburn

I can't imagine what it's like to be a Liverpool supporter right now. The season got underway with a lot of promise and some high expectations. There's no doubt that since the new owners took over they've put out money into the club in order to get it back to it's former place at the summit of European soccer.

It hasn't quite worked out that way for Reds though, at least not yet. While the results have been better than those of the short and tension filled reign of Roy Hodgson, they haven't been great. Sure, they're unbeaten at Anfield, but even that is tempered by the fact that they've left a whole lot of points on the table with home draws.

Ultimately this fixture against Rovers was no different. It would be more than fair to say that Liverpool dominated the EPL's cellar dwellers, but it didn't translate into goals. Indeed, the Reds held 65 percent possession, out shot Blackburn 27 to 6, and created many more chances. However in the end, the Reds downfall came off of one of their own men.

The soon to be sitting Luis Suarez got Liverpool off to a hot start, getting a trio of chances in the opening minutes. The best of which was probably a free kick that he sent just wide. None of the three found the target however, leaving the Uruguay international frustrated.

Much maligned Liverpool striker Andy Carroll started for the Reds for the first time in several matches and tried to make an impact. He found the back of the net on 30 minutes, but it was ruled no good for offside. Liverpool then tried to claim a penalty as Maxi Rodriguez was brought down in the box, but the offside flag foiled them again.

Blackburn didn't do much all match long, yet they had the lead at half time. Unfortunately for Liverpool, it was from an own goal. Blackburn's Morten Pedersen set up for a corner right before the half, and it found it's way into the Liverpool net off of Charlie Adam to give Rovers the 0-1 lead at half time.

The second half saw more of the same with Liverpool holding the possession and attacking. Liverpool found the equalizer in the 53rd minute as Martin Skrtel put in a cross that was clinically headed in by Maxi Rodriguez to make it 1-1.

That was the way the score would stay until full time, as Liverpool could not capitalize on anymore chances and dropped yet more points at Anfield. The positive for Liverpool is this: Steven Gerrard checking in on 69 minutes and playing well. Unfortunately for the Reds, with a long absence probably upcoming for Suarez, they're going to have find some more goals.

EPL: Fulham vs. Blackburn

Luckily my Sundays off have started again in time for the new EPL season. I hope they continue that way. I set my alarm this morning to be up in time to make some coffee and catch the Fulham versus Blackburn match live on Fox Soccer. I love watching and tweeting about matches on my DVR, but nothing compares to being able to watch and interact live.

Usually we get one of the big four on a Sunday match. Not this week though. On the surface, Fulham v Blackburn isn't that attractive a match up. Both teams came into the match winless in the new season in the EPL, Blackburn with no points at all after three losses. Fulham has the fire power, and you would have considered them favorites to pick up the three points at Craven Cottage. Blackburn had other ideas though.

Ideas weren't something that abounded in this match. Fulham got off to a pretty bright start. They held the ball for a good portion of the first 10 minutes or so, but were unable to fashion any real chances except for a shot in the 8th minute that Sidwell sent just wide.

After the initial period of Fulham possession, things really evened out. Blackburn finally got their feet under them and pushed the ball up the pitch. Goodwillie had nice acrobatic volley in the 15th minute that just barely went wide and should have served to wake Fulham up a bit.

Blackburn finally opened the scoring in the in the 32nd minute. Ruben Rochina took the ball on a slight angle near the top of the area and roped it in past Schwarzer. The ball hit the crossbar first, then bounced around and in, giving Blackburn the 0-1 lead.

The lead didn't last long however. About 6 minutes later Bobby Zamora put Craven Cottage on his back and absolutely blasted home an equalizer from an acute angle. Great shot. It too hit the post, but there was no doubt where it was going to end up and we went to the interval tied at 1-1.

Unfortunately the second half resembled most of the play in the first half, not the wide open 6 minutes that produced both gorgeous goals. All the drama in the second half took place in stoppage time. Clint Dempsey looked to have a sure winner in the 91st, only to be denied by a gorgeous save from Paul Robinson. Then a couple of minutes later Mark Schwarzer and Junior Holiett collided at the top of the Fulham 18. Both men went down in a heap. Schwarzer was given a yellow card, but play was stopped for about seven minutes while medical attended to Holiett. There was no malice involved, just two guys going hard for the ball. Rovers reported after the match that he likely has a concussion and took some stitches in the side of his head.

The Rovers looked for a winner on the ensuing free kick, but it was to no avail. It went into and through Fulham's wall and trickled right to Schwarzer. The full time score was 1-1. Luckily for Blackburn there wasn't too much time added after the injury. They had already used all three subs, and with Holiett off, they were down a man.

George John Will Not Be Joining Blackburn

Despite rumors that a deal between MLS/FC Dallas and Blackburn Rovers was all but done for defender George John, it looks like the deal is off. No official reasoning was given for the break down, but it's possible John could not come to personal terms with Rovers.

John had been in Europe trying to finalize Greek citizenship and hammer out the details for a move to England. Now he will return to FC Dallas, who he has refused to resign for.

EPL: Blackburn vs. Everton

So what does one say about this match? It was sloppy, it was often ugly, and both clubs REALLY needed the points. Blackburn came into the match at 0 points, hoping to get on track at home. Everton lost their opener to QPR last weekend and were also on 0 with their first match against Spurs being postponed.

In the first half, nothing happened. Both teams had chances and blew them. Late in the first half the football got ugly as the teams got desperate. The half ended scoreless.

The story of the second half was penalty kicks. Blackburn had 2 and Everton had 1. Blackburn got their first right after half time as Ross Barkley brought down Formica after turning ball over. However, Howard saved the PK and score remained 0-0. They got another chance in the 83rd minute. Formica was causing problems in the area again and this time Jagielka brought him down. Once again Blackburn screwed up as Formica hit the post on the PK.

Everton got their chance in stoppage time. Chris Samba looked to have fouled Fellaini in the box. Looked a bit soft to me. Anyway, Arteta did NOT miss from the spot and earned the Toffees a 0-1 win. Three crucial points on the road and a nice match from Tim Howard.

Phil Jones to Manchester United

Manchester United today confirmed one of the more significant transfers of the period so far. They announced the Blackburn defender Phil Jones has officially been sold to them.

The deal is supposedly a five year deal worth about 16.5 million pounds. 19 year old Jones has been playing a starring role with the England U-21 side. Liverpool were also interested but apparently Jones said he wouldn't go anywhere but Old Trafford.

Great catch for the Champions.

Survival Sunday: Blackpool and Birmingham City are relegated.

Going into the final round of fixtures today in the Barclay's Premier League, West Ham had already been relegated, leaving two spots open. Five teams were on the bubble to fall into those two slots. They were:

Wigan Athletic
Blackburn Rovers
Wolverhampton Wanderers
Birmingham City
Blackpool

The top 3 escaped, the bottom two did not.

Blackpool fought hard against Manchester United, but the newly crowned champs were just too much for the Tangerines, and beat them 4-2. Birmingham City conceded a late goal at Spurs and lost 2-1, to finish them off.

For the survivors, Wolves and Blackburn squared off. Blackburn won 3-2 to seal their top flight status. Wolves remained one point ahead of Birmingham City and Blackpool. Wigan climbed out of the bottom 3 with a 1-0 win at Stoke.

I do feel bad for Blackpool, and I'm impartial as to Birmingham, who won the Carling Cup this year. This will be a huge hit to the finances of these clubs.

EPL Thoughts: 4/2/11. Huge day in the title race!

Well, as a Chelsea fan, I'm pretty bummed tonight. If you're an Arsenal fan, you very well might be in the same boat. If, however, you're a Manchester United supporter, you're probably pleased as punch. Looks like the Premiership is yours to lose. Mr. Rooney says, "You're welcome."

First off, at Upton Park, things looked a little bleak for the Red Devils. West Ham won two first half PKs, and converted them both. At this point, Arsenal and Chelsea are licking their lips and thinking that even Robert Green can't screw this up. Right? Well, Wayne Rooney had other ideas, which he frequently does. Today he fancied a hat trick and got to work in the second half. Later, Javier Hernandez came in and added a fourth. A stunning comeback for United that put them in control of the title race, waiting on Chelsea and Arsenal. The result also dropped the Hammers back into the bottom three. I'd hate to see the Hammers go down, I hope they can get it together.

Next up Stoke and Chelsea. The Blues knew they needed to pick up all three points, but let's face it, a game at Stoke is never a walk in the park. Stoke showed their intentions early with a goal in the 8th minute from Jonathan Walters, putting Chelsea on their heals. Didier Drogba brought Chelsea back though, equalizing in the 30th. For the Blues fans, nice to see Drogba back in the side. In the second half, Stoke looked to be the favorite to go ahead for awhile, but couldn't beat Petr Cech. Torres came in late for Chelsea but really didn't look dangerous. In the end, the Blues' title hopes took a big hit with a 1-1 draw.

Surely the Gunners would get it done right? I mean, 2 draws before the FIFA date had already cost them, and they had Blackburn Rovers at home. Plus, they knew they needed the 3 points to keep pace. Well, once again, Arsenal can't get it done when it counts. Despite a lively match from Theo Walcott and a fairly consistent attack, they couldn't find the back of the Blackburn net. They almost went down a goal when Almunia got caught out and watched a shot go just wide. Much frustration for the Gunners. Another draw, this one 0-0 with a relegation threatened club. Hard to believe that just a few weeks back Arsenal was in the running for 4 trophies. Rovers pick up a crucial point to stay above the drop zone.

In other results of note, Spurs had a goalless draw at Wigan and failed to make up any ground on the top four. West Brom beat Liverpool 2-1 and picked up three crucial points. Plus, that result makes me really happy for Roy Hodgson. It also deals a mortal blow for any hopes Liverpool had of trying to claw into a Champions League spot. I guess King Kenny isn't perfect after all.