Official 2012/13 Premier League thread

[GoGo Yubari]

He was just about caught but made way too much of it.

I would have been okay with no penalty call though I think there was enough there, but it was a completely unnecessary yellow.

Oh Christ, five minutes.

EDIT: Glad to win, because there were some rough patches.

[Mongrel]

Jeez, bit of a shitshow by Johnson in those last few minutes really. Unconvincing, but an important three points.

[Lineker]

Norwich: Bunn, Martin, Turner, Bassong, Garrido, Snodgrass, Tettey, Johnson, Pilkington, Hoolahan, Morison.

Subs: Rudd, Howson, Jackson, Elliott Bennett, Barnett, Ryan Bennett, Kane.

Man City: Hart, Zabaleta, Kompany, Nastasic, Clichy, Yaya Toure, Barry, Aguero, Silva, Nasri, Dzeko.

Subs: Pantilimon, Lescott, Milner, Sinclair, Javi Garcia, Kolo Toure, Tevez.

Referee: Mike Jones (Cheshire)

Manchester City make four changes from the defeat by Sunderland. Left-back Gael Clichy, midfielder Gareth Barry, winger Samir Nasri and striker Edin Dzeko replace Kolo Toure, James Milner, Javi Garcia and Carlos Tevez.

Norwich are without striker Grant Holt so Steve Morison comes into the side in the only change from the loss to Chelsea.

Fulham: Stockdale, Riether, Hangeland, Hughes, Briggs, Dejagah, Sidwell, Karagounis, Frei, Ruiz, Berbatov.

Subs: Etheridge, Kelly, Riise, Senderos, Baird, Richardson, Rodallega.

Swansea: Tremmel, Rangel, Williams, Monk, Tiendalli, de Guzman, Agustien, Dyer, Hernandez, Routledge, Graham.

Subs: Vorm, Bartley, Britton, Shechter, Moore, Ki, Davies.

Referee: Andre Marriner (W Midlands)

Fulham make six changes with Mark Schwarzer, Brede Hangeland, Matthew Briggs, Giorgos Karagounis, Kerim Frei and Bryan Ruiz all called into the starting line-up. Swansea make six changes to the side from their Boxing Day draw at Reading as Gerhard Tremmel, Garry Monk, Angel Rangel, Kemy Agustien, Jonathan De Guzman and Danny Graham all come in. Michu is ruled out with an ankle injury.

Aston Villa: Guzan, Herd, Clark, Lichaj, Lowton, Ireland, Holman, Bannan, Bennett, Weimann, Benteke.

Subs: Given, El Ahmadi, Albrighton, Westwood, Bowery, Stevens, Carruthers.

Wigan: al-Habsi, Ramis, Caldwell, Figueroa, Boyce, McCarthy, Jones, Beausejour, Kone, di Santo, Maloney.

Subs: Pollitt, Gomez, McManaman, McArthur, Boselli, Stam, Golobart.

Referee: Kevin Friend (Leicestershire)

Four changes for Paul Lambert as Villa look to earn a morale-boosting win against relegation rivals Wigan. Full-back Eric Lichaj replaces Nathan Baker, who limped off against Tottenham with a hamstring problem, while Stephen Ireland, Barry Bannan and Andreas Weimann also start.

Wigan boss Roberto Martinez makes just the two changes with Spanish central defender Ivan Ramis making his first start since late November following a hamstring injury. He replaces Stefan Stam, while Argetine striker Franco Di Santo starts ahead of midfielder James McArthur, who drops to the bench.

Reading: Federici, Gunter, Mariappa, Pearce, Harte, Leigertwood, Karacan, Kebe, Guthrie, McAnuff, Pogrebnyak.

Subs: Taylor, Le Fondre, Hunt, Morrison, Tabb, Robson-Kanu, Cummings.

West Ham: Jaaskelainen, Tomkins, Collins, Reid, O'Brien, Noble, O'Neil, Taylor, Nolan, Jarvis, Cole.

Subs: Spiegel, Collison, Maiga, Vaz Te, Demel, Diarra, Spence.

Referee: Michael Oliver (Northumberland)

Stoke: Begovic, Shotton, Huth, Upson, Wilkinson, Kightly, Whelan, N'Zonzi, Etherington, Walters, Jones.

Subs: Sorensen, Palacios, Owen, Adam, Whitehead, Crouch, Jerome.

Southampton: Kelvin Davis, Hooiveld, Yoshida, Fonte, Shaw, Puncheon, Schneiderlin, Cork, Rodriguez, Guly Do Prado, Lambert.

Subs: Boruc, Steven Davis, Ramirez, Fox, Richardson, Mayuka, De Ridder.

Referee: Mark Clattenburg (Tyne & Wear)

Man Utd: de Gea, Smalling, Vidic, Evans, Evra, Carrick, Cleverley, Valencia, Kagawa, Young, Welbeck.

Subs: Lindegaard, Ferdinand, Giggs, Hernandez, van Persie, Scholes, Buttner.

West Brom: Foster, Jones, McAuley, Tamas, Ridgewell, Thorne, Brunt, Rosenberg, Dorrans, Odemwingie, Long.

Subs: Myhill, Morrison, El Ghanassy, Jara Reyes, Lukaku, Dawson, Fortune.

Referee: Jon Moss (W Yorkshire)

Robin van Persie is on the bench as Danny Welbeck starts for Manchester United at Old Trafford. Shinji Kagawa is also handed his first start since October after recovering from a knee injury while the side also includes Nemanja Vidic, Tom Cleverley and Ashley Young.

Nineteen-year-old George Thorne, who played in Peterborough's 3-0 win at Wolves on 26 December, makes his second league start for West Brom after returning from loan.

[Lineker]

City winning at Norwich already, as are Wigan at Villa.

Here's what Bale has had to say:

"It's a vital win for us. We have put pressure on the other teams around us and it was a great performance from us. We got the two goals which we thoroughly deserved and won the game positively. This is the same again - three times now I've been clipped and I've been booked for no reason. People keep saying I dive but if you're clipped it's not a dive. Referees just have to look a bit closer."

"That's the third time now I've been clipped and booked for no reason again. There's nothing I can do, the referees need to look a bit closer. People think I'm diving when there's contact. If there's contact it's a penalty or free kick, there's nothing I can do. If there's contact, what do you want me to do - hit my head on the floor? I have to put my hands down to protect myself. If people kick me, I'm going to go down. It doesn't bother me, people keep saying I'm diving but it doesn't bother me whatsoever. It's a foul and I know it myself."

[Summers]

Someone hold me.

[Lineker]

Is that thirteen without return now?

Utd one-nil up.

[GoGo Yubari]

Norwich score!

[Lineker]

Stoke are getting smashed by Southampton :/

[Lineker]

Red card Nasri!

[Dingle]

Never a red for Nasri and nothing for Bassong. Ridiculous

Edit: Bassong got his yellow for the follow through on the tackle, not the aftermath.

Edited December 29, 2012 by Dingle

[Summers]

emmerson fucking boyce.

seriously.

fuck off villa.

[Dan]

3-0 now

[Summers]

we need to spend money.

a lot of fucking money.

[brenchill]

Bank is empty. O'Neill spent it.

[Summers]

Apart from the $1B Lerner made from selling the Browns.

[Dan]

Reading a Villa forum.

PAHAHAHS!ALL THE OPTIMISTS AND LAMBERT NUT HIGGERS ARE CHANGING THEIR TONE NOW ARENT YA!!!!!!

EVERYONE WHO.THOUGHT HE WAS THE RIGHT MAN IS A TARD!

SAID IT FROM DAY ONE!

SHOULD HAVE HAD ALLARDYCE!

[Summers]

lol

[brenchill]

Apart from the $1B Lerner made from selling the Browns.

I think it's pretty obvious he's not going to put any of that into Villa.

[Summers]

Then he should be adding to his billion with whatever he can get from selling us, to someone who actually cares.

[brenchill]

Only way I can see him spending any money is to bring in a few players to save us so he can get a better price for the club when he eventually pulls out.