By Alan Duffy
While the red half of Manchester were gunning down Chelsea at Old Trafford, City weren't having
it quite so easy against another west London side.
Despite going two up, courtesy of Sergio Aguero, second half goals from Bobby Zamora and Danny
Murphy spoiled the visitors trip to the capital.
Click here to view the embedded video.
Remember that vid we posted a few weeks ago featuring British magician Dynamo freaking Nemanja
Vidic out so badly with his playing card based trickery that the Hot Robot almost blew a
gasket?
Well, mesmerising footballers has become something of a hobby for the crafty conjurer and this
edition features him baffling the hell out of, among others, Jermain Defoe, Jermaine Jenas and
Bobby Zamora.
By Alan Duffy
Fulham 1-1 Blackburn Rovers Premier League 11 September 2011
Steve Kean's Blackburn Rovers picked up their first point of the new season at Craven Cottage,
courtesy of a superb strike from Ruben Rochina on 32 minutes. The creator of that goal, David
Hoillet (one of the few Canadians playing at a high level), would have to be stretchered off later
on, after clashing with Fulham keeper Mark Schwarzer.
This seems to have flown under the radar a bit with all the hand-wringing about Sunday, but our
squad for the Europa League group stages has been announced. Not too many surprises, except
one.
Goalies
1 Mark Schwarzer
22 Csaba Somogyi
38 Neil Etheridge*
41 Marcus Bettinelli*
44 Jesse Joronen*
Defenders
2 Stephen Kelly
3 John Arne Riise
5 Brede Hangeland
6 Chris Baird
14 Philippe Senderos
18 Aaron Hughes
26 Zdenek Grygera
28 Matthew Briggs*
39 Stephen Arthurworrey*
40 Alex Smith*
Midfielders
4 Steve Sidwell
10 Pajtim Kasami
13 Danny Murphy
15 Marcel Gecov
16 Damien Duff
20 Dickson Etuhu
21 Kerim Frei
23 Clint Dempsey
37 Courtney Harris*
43 Josh Pritchard*
Forwards
8 Andrew Johnson
9 Orlando Sá
25 Bobby Zamora
30 Moussa Dembélé
35 Richard Peniket*
42 Marcello Trotta*
No, the surprise is not Ruiz.
Nothing like a nice strong, muscular back to focus the mind on a Monday morning, is there,
Kickettes? Image: Getty Images/Daylife.
Stunning strikes, howling misses, gargantuan victories and inexplicable defeats litter the
results this week. But you don't care about that. You care about the nekkid and the
short-tents.
Three Americans abroad sit in the pole positions along with their clubs in the early part of the
season. In Holland, Jozy Altidore is enjoying a professional renaissance with AZ Alkmaar, the team
level with Twente Enschede on points at the top of the Eredivisie. Over in Scotland, Carlos
Bocanegra and Maurice Edu are basking in the glow of the 4-2 victory against Celtic in the first
Old Firm of the campaign, as Rangers are now four points clear at the top of the table.
By CALEB SONNELAND
But it wasn't all good news for the winners as striking sensation Javier "Chicharito" Hernandez
was forced out of the game after he suffered a tough challenge from Chelsea's Ashley Cole in front
of goal.
Sir Alex Ferguson described the tackle as "shocking" and "over the edge," also citing that he
couldn't understand why a penalty wasn't giving, as Cole received a yellow card for the challenge
inside the area.
Chelsea begin play in the Carling Cup on Wednesday night at Stamford Bridge.
It's round three, and we open with a West London derby against Fulham. Second-rate competition
against second-rate competition, eh? Not so much.
Will not play
It would make sense for Andre Villas-Boas to make this competition a priority, similar to the
way another Portugese did in his first season with the club.
By Chris Wright
Remember Dynamo? The guy that pulled Premier League tickets out of thin air and then reduced
Nemanja Vidic to a puddle of bubbling silicon and nano-circuitry?
Well the boy's back, and this time he's bamboozling the living daylights out of Jermain Defoe,
Jermaine Jenas and Fulham's Bobby Z with some neat sleight-of-hand.
The journey toward winning another one of these starts here.
Team news and the like from 2:30pm EDT.
Teams sheets:
Chelsea
Cech
Ferreira-Luiz-Alex-Bertrand
Romeu-McEachran
Lukaku-Kalou-Malouda
Sturridge
Substitutes: Turnbull, Bosingwa, Terry, Mikel, Lampard, Mata, Drogba.
