While it would be difficult for England’s afternoon fixtures to match the excitement from Villa Park, most of the league six 10:00 a.m. kick-offs have been uneventful, with four going to halftime scoreless.
English Premier League, Halftime Updates: Villa-United Must Have Used-Up All The Goals
Manchester City and Birmingham City is almost predictably so, though Carlos Téez did his best to create one goal. The Argentina star appeared to have scored toward the end of the first half, but his chested ball into the net was flagged by the assistant referee. Hand ball was the judgment, one that didn't hold up to a replay's scrutiny. Perhaps the assistant referee can be excused for have a reflexive response to Tévez's extended right arm. But that's a common technique when trapping a ball with your chest. Ultimately, the assistant referee shouldn't be calling fouls that never occur.
The speculative call sends the two sets of blue into half scoreless, with most of the first half defined by City figuring out how to play when their opponent won’t come to them.
Blackpool and West Ham are also scoreless at Upton Park, though each side has shown the expected ambition. But the match has been a good illustration of why each of these teams are struggling. Neither team is exhibiting much defense acumen, but poorly places passes, ill-timed runs and bad decisions have left this match without a goal.
At the DW the story is slightly different, with Wigan and West Brom’s nil-nil half being more attributable to patience than ineptness. Surprisingly, it is the counter attack-dependent Wigan that’s seen much of the ball, patiently holding spells of possession after some early changes put Brom on their heals.
Of the two matches that have featured scores, Bolton's trip to Wolverhampton's been only slightly more eventful than the scoreless matches. An own goal from Wolves gave the Trotters a lead within minutes, throwing Mick McCarthy's plans into turmoil. The Trotter held that 0-1 lead at halftime at the Molineux.
But for all the matches that are playing out through subtext, Spurs-Blackburn has provided enough talking points to justify it's own column. Gareth Bale and Roman Pavlyuchenko goals have Tottenham up 2-0 at intermission, with two other penalty shouts giving Spurs claim to a bigger margin. The one chance they had from the spot, a kick earned by Jermaine Jenas, was pulled three feet wide by Pavlyuchenko.
While there was one moment of pause for Spurs fans, Tottenham is in control, en route to their first win since downing Internazionale.
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