Liverpool 2 - 1 Middlesbrough
Liverpool came from behind to snatch a dramatic 2-1 win at home to Middlebrough, with captain Steven Gerrard scoring a last-minute winner. Middlesbrough had taken a shock lead when Mido scored from 20 yards with 20 minutes to go and it looked like they were going to record an unlikely victory, but goals in the last five minutes from Jamie Carragher, whose shot took a deflection off Emmanuel Pogatetz, and Gerrard, kept Liverpool’s 100% record intact.
The afternoon began badly for Boro when they lost goalkeeper Brad Jones in pre-match warm-up. Ross Turnbull took his place in goal, and the 23-year-old produced a string of first-half saves to stop Liverpool taking the lead. Turnbull saved from Dirk Kuyt, Fernando Torres and Robbie Keane to keep the home side at bay. In the dying minutes, as Liverpool pushed for a winner, Turnbull saved again from Martin Skrtel and it looked to be enough to earn the visitors a point, but Gerrard popped up to secure victory.
Tottenham Hotspurs 1 - 2 Sunderland
Tottenham’s early-season misery continued when they fell to a 2-1 home defeat to Roy Keane’s Sunderland. Spurs manager had left Dimitar Berbatov out of the squad for the game claiming that the Bulgarian was a “negative effect” on the dressing room. The damage seemed to be done already, however, as Tottenham fell to their second defeat of the season.
Kieran Richardson opened the scoring ten minutes into the second-half with an unstoppable drive from 20 yards which flew past Heurelho Gomes in the Spurs goal. It was no more than Sunderland deserved after a first-half in which Steed Malbranque, returning to White Hart Lane after his transfer earlier this month, hit the post for the Black Cats.
Jermaine Jenas equalised when he combined with new-signing Luka Modric. The Croatian saw his shot saved brilliantly by Craig Gordon, but Jenas was on hand to slot home. Spurs couldn’t build on that, however, and Sunderland regained the lead through debutant Djibril Cissé. The former Liverpool striker had only been on the pitch for 11 minutes when he got on the end of a Daryl Murphy cross to give the Sunderland the points and pile the pressure on Ramos.
Newcastle United 1 - 0 Bolton Wanderers
Michael Owen came off the bench to score the winner for Newcastle at home to Bolton. Owen, who replaced the injured Obafemi Martins, headed Geremi’s cross past Jussi Jaaskelainen after 71 minutes. Shay Given had earlier saved a penalty for the home-side. Steven Taylor was adjudged to have handled, but Given dived low to his left to save Kevin Nolan’s penalty.
Stoke City 3 - 2 Aston Villa
Stoke City recorded their first win of their Premier League campaign with a dramatic 3-2 victory at home to Aston Villa. Stoke went ahead after half and hour when Martin Laursen brought down Rory Delap in the area. Referee Mark Halsey pointed to the spot and Liam Lawrence duly dispatched the penalty. Villa felt they should have had a penalty of their own just minutes earlier when Gabriel Agbonlahor went down among a crowd of bodies, but Halsey waved away the protests of the Villa players.
John Carew equalised for Villa, latching on to an Ashley Young pass and firing past Thomas Sorensen in the Villa goal. Stoke regained the lead when Ricardo Fuller brilliantly flicked the ball past Laursen before beating Brad Friedel from a tight angle.
Laursen appeared to make up for his miserable afternoon when he equalised with just six minutes to go. Young’s shot was deflected into his path and the Danish defender made no mistake from three yards, but Mamady Sidibe scored an injury-time winner to claim a historic victory for Stoke.
Blackburn 1 - 1 Hull City
Hull City built on their opening day victory over Fulham, with a well-earned point at Blackburn. The home-side opened the scoring through Jason Roberts, but Richard Garcia equalised almost straight away.
West Brom 1 - 2 Everton
Everton put their off field problems behind them to win away at West Brom, who have now lost both their opening games. Leon Osman opened the scoring in the 65th minute and Aiyegbeni Yakubu doubled their advantage 10 minutes later. Roman Bednar pulled one back for the home side in the final minute, but Everton held on for their first points of the season.
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