UNITED TAKE ANOTHER BITE

 

(Image taken from Manutd.com)

Well Fulham had already been to Old Trafford and we'd taken care of business. Since then, well if Fulham weren't in the relegation mire before, they certainly are now, Roy Hodgson has taken over, returning to the Premiership for the first time since the late 90s in the hope of a fresh challenge. Well he's certainly got one, and United were the latest visitors to Craven Cottage. We went 4-1-3-2. Hargreves as link man. Scholes, Nani and Park in midfield. Tevez and Saha up front.

United had the first shot on target and though Fulham replied a few minutes later, it was the Reds that took charge and in the 15th minute Hargreves opened his United account, sending a free kick beyond the Fulham goalie's reach! After that, the home side had the occassional shot but you had to feel for someone like Roy Hodgson seeing his side get outclassed. Sooner of later we were going to get a second goal and it happened when Scholesey sent in an injury time cross for Park to head in with ease.

Well Brian McBride did hit the net early on in the second half for Fulham but that got ruled out for offside and after that normal service was resumed, more than that, Fergie turned up the heat even further with his choice of subs. United then got a third with former United reserve Simon Davies putting the ball in his own net after an O'Shea cross. United cruised to the finish and abandoned the wreckage of an in theory "too good to go down" Fulham side, taking home another three points.

Elsewhere, Arsenal drew 1-1 with Villa at the Emirates Stadium with the Gunners possibly still suffering a mental hangover after the injury to Eduardo. Chelsea beat West Ham 4-0 at Upton Park with the game effectivly ending before the half hour mark, the Blues were that dominant after their Wembley dissapointment. That leaves United still second in the Premiership, but with the gap to leaders Arsenal just one point and we're also six points ahead of Chelsea and the detour through the Champions League preliminaries though the Blues have a game in hand.

North of the border, Aberdeen faced Rangers at Ibrox. Lovell opened the scoring for the Dons but Christian Dailly equalised for the Gers in an even first half. Charlie Adam then completed the turnaround for Walter Smith's men in a second half that proved to be a reality check for the Reds. Kris Boyd finished them off late on and I suppose no Don should really be surprised, a team with the Dons current form on an Old Firm ground were always going to be unlikely winners.

Elsewhere, Hearts faced Inverness CT at the Caledonian Stadium. Christos Karapidis opened the scorng for Hearts with Callum Elliot putting them 2-0 up at half time. Elliot got his second early on in the second half and even at that point the Edinburgh side still dominated and should have got four. Either way, that result sent the Dons down to 8th in the SPL, three points behind Falkirk(who drew 0-0 with Motherwell at Falkirk Stadium) and the top half of the table while eighteen points ahead of bottom side Gretna with the Dons having two games in hand.

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