Just wanted to give a good luck post to Stoke City in their upcoming match against Swansea. Hopefully my favorite team will continue to defend the way they have been and I hope Peter Crouch gets his 4th goal of this season. Here's a list of the Stoke City players that will be active for the match against Swansea.
Over the last 20 years of the Premier League, there have been a lot of changes to regulation. Among these changes are those made to safety in the league.
In 2006 Chelsea's goalkeeper, Petr Cech, fractured his skull in a match against Reading. The league treated this as a warning sign. The pace of the game is so different now than it was just a few years ago. With the way people tackle now, there will probably be a lot less contact injuries.
(Chelsea goalkeeper-Petr Cech)
The medical provision in the Premier League has changed massively. You generally have a couple of physicians sitting on the bench. If something happens, they get to players very quickly and start the treatment as soon as they are injured so you minimize damage to the player.
Hey all. Just wanted to post the big upcoming Barclays Premier League matches and the current league standings.
9/29 Arsenal vs. Chelsea
9/29 Fulham vs. Manchester City
9/29 Reading vs. Newcastle United
9/29 Sunderland vs. Wigan Athletic
9/29 Stoke City vs. Swansea City
This weekend my team, Stoke City, faced off against Chelsea FC. Going into this game, Stoke had tied their first 4 league matches. This hasn't happened in almost a hundred years. The game against Chelsea was their first loss. It was a close one too. It looked like it was going to be a 0-0 draw until Juan Mata assisted Ashley Cole's goal in the 85th minute of the game. This was Cole's first league goal since 2010. I'm proud of Stoke's performance, though. They held their own against one of the best teams in soccer and really should've won. They had a couple of easy opportunities to score but they just didn't take them. Stoke just needs to continue to play to their strengths with a strong defense, and long balls into strikers like Peter Crouch who has a lot of height on most defenders.
Here are the scores from the last few days around the league:
Swansea 0-3 Everton
Wiggan 1-2 Fulham
West Ham 1-1 Sunderland
West Brom 1-0 Reading
Southhampton 4-1 Aston Villa
The Southhampton-Aston Villa game really surprised me. In the first half, it really looked like Aston Villa was going to give Southhampton a run for their money. The score was 1-0 in favor of Aston Villa at halftime, but when Southhampton retook the field they were much more aggressive and it wasn't long before they had the equalizing goal. Then they pretty much dominated the second half scoring 3 more goals which is what I was expecting to see the whole time.
Well let start off by expressing my disappointment with my team, Stoke City, earning their 3rd draw in league play of the season. This makes their league record 0-0-3. Stoke played Wigan Athletic who are playing pretty well at the start of the season. The final score was 2-2 and much more exciting than the 0-0 draw against Arsenal last weekend. If you'd like all the grimy details of Wigan vs. Stoke, click on this link. http://www.thisisstaffordshire.co.uk/Match-analysis-Wigan-Athletic-2-Stoke-City-2/story-16812492-detail/story.html
So the scores from around the league last weekend are as follows:
West Ham 3; Fulham 0 (This was striker Andy Carrol's first game with West Ham on loan from Liverpool.)
Swansea 2; Sunderland 2/ West Brom 2; Everton 0/ Tottenham 1; Norwich 1/ Manchester City 3; Queens Park Rangers 1 (The score doesn't really reflect the match well. QPR held their own and were just unfortunate.)
Liverpool 0; Arsenal 2/ Southhampton 2; Manchester United 3/ Newcastle 1; Aston Villa 1
All in all, a great weekend for the league. It's nice to see the less recognized footlball clubs playing so well at the start of the season. Hopefully it is a foreshadowing of things to come. Peace out.
