Midweek Round up.
Midweek player round up from Sophie Beresford.
Premier League
Danny Gabbidon believes his former side West Ham won't have any problems staying in the Premier League, but it's fair to say they had a few problems on Tuesday night when they visited Gabbidon's current side, Crystal Palace. Gabbidon played in defence as Palace won 1-0, a first victory for new manager Tony Pulis. Jonathan Williams made a late appearance from the bench for Palace, while Lewis Price was an unused substitute. James Collins played in defence for West Ham; Jack Collison was on the bench.
It's getting to be more of a surprise when Aaron Ramsey doesn't score, but that's exactly what happened when Arsenal beat Hull 2-0 at the Emirates on Wednesday evening. The Emirates saw a spot of role reversal as top-scorer Ramsey provided the assist for top assist-maker Mesut Ozil's winning goal early in the second half.
Joe Allen was recalled to Liverpool's starting line-up for their home match against Norwich and made at least one attempt on goal, forcing a good save from Norwich keeper John Ruddy. But Liverpool still managed to win quite comfortably - the final score was 5-1, with four from Luis Suarez.
Ryan Giggs became only the fourth outfield player to play in the Premier League at the age of 40 - and came close to maintaining his record of scoring in every Premier League season, but his header was wide of the target. Sadly for Giggs, Everton took all the points in a 1-0 away victory. Sadly for David Moyes, he still hasn't been on the winning side in a Man Utd v Everton league match at Old Trafford.
Declan John signed a new contract with Cardiff this week and was rewarded with a place in the starting line-up for Cardiff's away match against Stoke. John very nearly won it for Cardiff late on, but Asmir Begovic saved well, and the game finished goalless. Although Craig Bellamy was tipped as a possible starter for Cardiff, he was not part of the squad.
Ben Davies' week got off to a bad start when he lost a crossbar challenge and was condemned to driving a pink 'Ferrari' to training and to home games. But there's a good chance Davies left the Liberty in the pink after keeping a clean sheet in Swansea's 3-0 home victory over Newcastle - though there is some debate about whether Newcastle should have had a couple of penalties. An appeal was turned down after the ball struck Davies' arm, and there were also question marks over the legality of a challenge by Ashley Williams. Neil Taylor steered clear of controversy by staying on the bench.
Boaz Myhill was in the wrong place at the wrong time on Wednesday night: between the West Brom sticks on the night that Manchester City remembered how to win away. The Blues came close to throwing it away in the last five minutes, with West Brom fighting back from 3-0 down to 3-2, but City managed to hang on to take the points. At least Myhill didn't score an own goal, which is more than Man City's keeper Costel Pantilimon can say.
Championship
David Cotterill finally scored his first goal of the season - and you could say it was worth waiting for. The substitute scored from 30 yards out (or 25, according to some reports) to earn Doncaster a 1-1 draw at Birmingham - their first point against the Midlands club in nine matches.
Andrew Crofts played 90 minutes for Brighton, but was unable to prevent them from losing 2-1 at home to Barnsley. Goalkeeper Christian Dibble, son of Andy, was on the bench for the winning team as they moved level with second-bottom Sheffield Wednesday on goal difference.
Brian Stock was given only his second start of the season (and first in the league) for Burnley in a goalless draw at home to Watford. The pressure was on Sam Vokes to perform as his strike partner Danny Ings was injured, but he was unable to find the back of the net, and Burnley slipped to third place. This was at least partly due to the excellence of Watford keeper Jonathan Bond, who recently made the regrettable decision to switch allegiance from Wales to England.
Ipswich hadn't won at home since September; Blackburn hadn't won away since September. As the two teams were facing one another at Portman Road, something had to give (unless it was a draw). And something did give: Blackburn's defence, as Ipswich got a 3-1 win. I'm glad to say that Blackburn defender Adam Henley was in no way to blame: he was on the bench the whole time.
Steve Morison started for Millwall for only the second time since his hernia operation in August. and it looked like under-pressure manager Steve Lomas had made a good decision for once when the striker gave Millwall the lead from 20 yards out. When away side Nottingham Forest duly equalised, Morison was there again, this time as the provider, but Millwall held onto their lead for only ten minutes, and the match finished 2-2. Morison's team-mate Jermaine Easter was an unused substitute.
Shaun MacDonald was back in the starting line-up for Bournemouth, but found himself on the losing side - which happens only too often when you travel to Loftus Road to face QPR. MacDonald received a yellow card for a foul, but his victim (unnamed by BBC Sport) probably wasn't in as much pain as Bournemouth were following this 3-0 defeat.
Andy King made a quick recovery from injury, but was an unused substitute as his team Leicester lost 2-1 at Sheffield Wednesday. Wednesday have only won twice this season, but they obviously enjoy the tougher games. Their first win was against Chris Gunter's Reading.
Joel Lynch helped Huddersfield to keep a clean sheet as they beat Bolton 1-0 away. Bolton's Craig Davies, who has had a series of injury problems this season, was left out of the matchday squad for the third consecutive match - which must be particularly annoying when your next match will be your 300th in English league football.
Simon Church faced his former side Reading for the first time when Charlton visited the Madejski Stadium. Church and team-mate Rhoys Wiggins both had chances to score and Church probably should have won a penalty when his heels were clipped by Reading's Stephen Kelly, but the match finished 1-0 to the home side. Hal Robson-Kanu was a 67th minute substitute for Reading; Chris Gunter missed out following his red card at Nottingham Forest.
FA Cup
There was romance in the air for keeper Chris Maxwell as Cambridge United's FA Cup First Round replay ended in a 1-0 home victory over League Two's Bury. Bury were forced to omit Daniel Nardiello, who was ineligible as he wasn't at the club when the original tie took place - and it looks like they missed him. Bury had their chances, including a header from Craig Jones which was cleared off the line, but it's Cambridge who go into Round Two, where a home tie at Sheffield United awaits.
round by SophieB.