A Premiership Safari: Africans On Form In England

Andriy who? Drogba celebrates his wonder strike. Elsewhere, Adebayor, Lua Lua, & Martins do the same.







Quite the showdown weekend in England. The four best teams in the land, although the standings say otherwise, squared off. Jose Mourinho and Rafa Benitez got to renew hostilities as Liverpool travelled to Stamford Bridge to face Chelsea. Up north, Sir Alex Ferguson and Arsene Wenger did likewise at Old Trafford as Man Utd hosted Arsenal. There's no love lost between any of these four coaches, but something tells me that there is a healthy amount of respect. The latter two have been at it for years, but recently Mourinho and Benitez have bagged the Premiership and Champions League titles, respectively. And when the four giants of English footie do battle on the pitch, the games rarely disappoint.

This weekend was no exception. The doubleheader treated us to the goal and the save of the season thus far. The former came in London. When the Blues take on the Reds, their games always seem to be settled by one play here or there. It's a testament to the quality of the players and the tactics of the coaches that all of the talent on offer seems to cancel itself out. Case in point: it was literally a matter of inches when Luis Garcia's ball may or may not have crossed the goalline in 2005's Champions League semifinal at Anfield, giving Liverpool a 1-0 aggregate win and a trip to the title match in Istanbul. This time around, it was no different. One single play proved to be enough to decide matters at the Bridge: Didier Drogba's brilliance was all the Blues needed to win by the minimum. Standing outside the 18-yard box, the Ivory Coast striker, far and away more effective than new boy Sheva so far this year, trapped the ball beautifully on his chest and, in one glorious motion, swung around and rocketed the ball past a stunned Reina in the net. Game, set, and match, save a few fireworks when Ballack stomped on Sissoko. Stevie G should have equalized later on, but he smacked it straight at Cech, who knew nothing about it. After their poor start to the season, it was an away win over a close rival already running away from them in the standings that Liverpool sorely needed but couldn't get. Arsenal, in a similar predicament heading into an inferno at Old Trafford, had better luck.

Say what you want about Portsmouth's stunning start, but the team of the season thus far has been the Red Devils. Even without the services of two of their best players, Wayne Rooney and Gabriel Heinze, they've been fantastic. Some idiots picked them to finish as low as fourth this season, but who's laughing now? Arsenal, on the other hand, have looked a shadow of the team that they theoretically should be. With the likes of Fabregas, Gallas, Rosicky, Baptista, Van Persie, Gilberto, Toure and Henry, it is almost inconceivable that the Gunners have been reduced to draws and losses against mid-table sides like Middlesborough, Man City, and Aston Villa. Worst of all, there would be no Henry at Old Trafford. The Frenchman was out injured. Not that they needed another problem, but Henry's counterpart for the hosts, Rooney, was back from suspension. After Gilberto blew a penalty and Scholes cleared the ball off the line in the first 15 minutes, one wondered if Arsenal hadn't squandered their opportunities. It was a pulsating encounter, both teams attacking relentlessly throughout the opening half, roared on by a capacity crowd of 75,000 eager to see the hosts hammer the final nail into the coffin of one of their most hated rivals. Wenger's boys, though, would not go quietly. Their central midfield of Gilberto, Fabregas, and Rosicky appeared more lively than their counterparts of O'Shea, Fletcher and Scholes. Rooney was clearly off-form up front, leaving Saha to go it alone for most of the game. Ronaldo was active on the wings, but was never able to play the final ball or finish the attacks as well as he could have or should have. Across the pitch, the new Kanu, Adebayor, was not having much better luck against Ferdinand and Brown. The match was scoreless as it headed into its final 10 minutes, despite some very shaky goalkeeping from Van der Sar's sub Kucscak and the clinically insane Lehmann (I can't wait for the day when someone just clocks him for one of these nutty, unsportsmanlike stunts he pulls - it's a wonder that O'Shea didn't leave him on his arse like some drunk hooligan on the wrong end of a donnybrook at a Dublin bar). It was then that, as in the Chelsea-Liverpool game, an African striker finally put the bulge in de ole onion bag. Fabregas, man of the match in my mind, stole the ball off Ronaldo, scooted by a few ManU defenders, and slipped a wonderfully delicate through-ball through to Adebayor. The pass was weighted perfectly, soft enough to suck Kucscak out of his goal but not too hard so that the keeper would have a play on it. The Togo striker finished it with aplomb: 1-0 to the Arsenal. At the other end, Lehmann managed to keep his head straight long enough to make a stunning fingertip save on Solskjaer, denying the Gunnar a tying goal against the Gunners. And so the goal from Adebayor held up, giving Arsenal a surprising upset, but one that keeps them in the race for the title and keeps ManU from getting even further away from the pack.

And after the opening month, who's your Premiership leader? Portsmouth, believe it or not. It turns out that the boys from the south coast can play, but the real secret to their success must be that they've got the flavor of the month when it comes to in-form forwards. Who's been leading the line for Harry Redknapp's squad? It's two African strikers: the real Kanu & the wonderfully named Lomana Tresor Lua Lua - the Nigerian has bagged four goals thus far and the Congo frontman scored the game's only goal against Charlton. And, stop me if you've heard this one before, but who got the winner in the Monday night game? You guessed it, Newcastle's young Nigerian, Obafemi Martins. Now if you'll excuse me, I've got to go watch the highlights of Barcelona's dismantling of Racing: Cameroon's Samuel Etoo looks awfully dangerous up front...