Result:
Everton (1) 2 - Sheffield
Wednesday (0) 0
Scorers: Kanchelskis 17,
Stuart 60 (Unsworth missed a penalty)
|
Everton: Southall; Barrett, Short, Unsworth(c),
Hinchcliffe; Kanchelskis, Ebbrell, Parkinson, Speed; Stuart, Branch. Booked:
Unsworth. Subs Not Used: Gerrard, Hottiger, Limpar, Jackson, Grant. Unavailable: Watson, Ferguson, Rideout (Injured). |
Sheffield Wednesday: Pressman, Atherton, Nolan, Walker, Whittingham
(Williams, 70), Hirst (Humphreys, 45), Booth, Blinker, Stefanovic, Trustfull,
Nicol (Hyde, 45).
Subs not used: Clarke, Newsome. Booked: None.
 Ref:
Paul Alcock
|
Att:
34,160
|
League
Position: 13th
|
Results
and League Table
|
Previous Match: York City v
Everton Coca-Cola Cup, 2nd Round, 2nd
Leg
Previous League Match: Blackburn
Rovers v Everton - Next Match:
Everton v West Ham United
SoccerNet: Everton's worryingly poor run came to an end today as Graham Stuart belatedly opened his goal-scoring account and Joe Royle's team clinched their first win in nine games. Goodison was also treated to an Andrei Kanchelskis strike against a troubled Wednesday side that is now a shadow of the team that topped the Premiership early on.
Manager David Pleat now looks to have a job on his hands in keeping them in the top five, never mind the top half of the table. Everton, beaten in the Coca-Cola Cup by Second Division York in midweek, bounced back thanks to those goals from Kanchelskis and Stuart. However, the outstanding competitor for the Goodison Park club was 17-year-old striker Michael Branch.
The youngster's enthusiasm and energy gave experienced competitors Des Walker and Dejan Stefanovic tremendous problems throughout the 90 minutes. Wednesday were a huge disappointment but could have taken the lead after just three minutes when Regi Blinker sent a ball across the face of the area into the path of David Hirst, but he somehow steered the ball wide of the post.
Everton should have gone ahead three minutes later when Walker up-ended Branch in the penalty area after Joe Parkinson had played the ball through. But David Unsworth thundered the spot kick against the bar for his first miss in seven attempts.
But Everton continued to dominate and carved out chances almost at will before Andrei Kanchelskis gave them a deserved lead after 17 minutes. Parkinson played the ball through and Kanchelskis skipped away from Ian Nolan to steer the ball into the corner of the net.
Wednesday struggled to get out of their own half and Everton extended their lead on the hour thanks to a glorious piece of play from Branch, who has quickly become a favourite with the Goodison fans.
He dragged the ball away from Stefanovic down the right before cutting it back for Stewart to get his first goal of the season and make it 2-0. The former Chelsea star breathed a sigh of relief after getting back on target following his 15-goal haul last season.
Branch deserved a goal for all his hard work and cut inside only to see his dipping shot go inches over the bar. He then went close again in the closing stages, but Nolan denied him the opportunity to add a third for the home side.
Guy McEvoy: Faith is a funny thing. It frequently defies logic, you can go to eight games in a row convinced you're going to win every one of them and walk away with nothing. But you still go on believing each game will be the turnaround.
Eventually though, (usually after you've worked out, with horror, exactly how much travel to those games has cost you) there comes a point for even the biggest die-hard fan when faith wavers, this point seems to come sooner rather than later for many Evertonians (a notoriously fickle bunch).
Losing faith is a demoralising thing. You turn on those you love, you scream at those you worship, you yell at the board to sack Joe Royal. It gets ugly.
Therefore faith, when wavering, needs to be restored. In football, this means not just winning a game -- it means winning one convincingly, playing with flair and purpose. As a result of the Wednesday match, consider my faith (almost) restored -- yup, only "almost".
The team news didn't give too much initial cause for hope: the out-of-form Stuart teaming with the still unproven Branch. Ebbrell and Parkinson kept out the flair of Grant, whilst Speed kept out the flair of Limpar.
Funnily enough though it soon became clear that, despite the apparently negative line-up, this team was going to be causing Wednesday a rook of problems. Seemingly before we even had chance to draw breath from kick off, (was it really after a full 7 minutes?), Parkinson put a fine through ball up to Branch, the youngster's hopeful turn surprised Des Walker who stuck a leg out. Whether contact with the player was made or not I couldn't see, however, Branchy went down and the referee pointed to the spot. Penalty.
I was worried for a moment that Hinchcliffe was going to try to take it, but thankfully Unsworth stepped forward, after all, Unsworth never ever misses them. Ever. Unsworth stepped forward and confidently and powerfully placed the ball.
Into the crossbar! Bugger.
Uncharacteristically, heads stayed up and Everton resumed with even more vigour. Kanchelsksis, Branch and Stuart all combined well, though ultimately it was Kanchelsksis who made the break-through.
Joe Parkinson won the ball in the centre circle with a crunching tackle, was quickly on his feet and sent an inch-perfect ball to Kanchelskis on the edge of the box. Andrei took it inside and looked like he would either cut back across the defender for his famous, "all look the same" goal, or else square it.
The defender was hedging his bets against these possibilities so the Ukrainian took advantage of the room to surprise Pressman by jinking right and hitting it hard and low. Everton were off the mark.
A confident Kanchelskis is the finest sight in football. For the remainder of the game, he looked capable of anything. Only a combination of poor finishing and more than a touch of greed stopped him contributing to a greater scoreline.
But for Evertonians, the commanding performance of Kanchelskis was not the big news. We expect nothing less of him. The talk was all about our 17-year-old wonder-kid, Michael Branch.
He showed yet again each of the qualities we've already had brief glimpses of: lightning speed, enthusiasm and pride. Also, the ability to turn a man in a manner very reminiscent of a certain big nosed chap who's just sulked off to Leeds.
We can now add to this list dangerous close control, unselfish play and growing self confidence. Indeed, by the second half his confidence had grown to the point where he would walk up to a senior pro like Kanchelskis and yell and scream at him for not playing a through ball. Now that is bottle.
The lad was instrumental in our sealing the victory in the second half (why did it take that long?) He did one of his turns, accelerated to the line and centred the ball to gift Graham Stuart a much-needed morale-boosting goal. This was a moment of class and control straight out of the Kanchelskis book.
Make no mistake, this game was dominated by Everton. The team played with heart and purpose and were men enough to take some responsibility. We created too many chances to count, and importantly managed to actually finish two of them.
So why is my faith only "almost" restored. Well, to start with, again our chances created/goal scored ratio was disappointing. The final score flattered Wednesday. True, Pressman pulled off some fine saves but he also seemed to have greased gloves on and dropped at least 3 crosses that perhaps could have been better followed up on.
Also, to put things into perspective, Wednesday on the day were dire. They offered nothing and created no real chances themselves, this brings me to my final moan. The chances Wednesday did create seemed to stem not from their own creativity but from gifts from Everton players.
This happened three times when under-weighted back-passes created danger, (Unsworth and Ebbrell Twice being the offenders). A sharper attack would have been less merciful with these errors and it could easily have been a repeat of the Middlesbrough result.
Moaning over though; a win is a win. It takes an enormous amount of stress off everyone as we enter the fortnight break, and hopefully now we've buried the heebie jeebies we can go on to deliver some of that promise we showed at the start of the season.
If we use the time for some shooting practise then perhaps we can put this entire nightmare run behind us. Hallelujah for Branchy. God bless Kanchelskis. Let's wait for another game before we call off the panic completely though.
Dave Shepherd: A win and three points will be all Joe and Evertonians everywhere will have asked the Football Fairy for before today's meeting with those nice Sheffield Wednesday people in there rather garish away strip.
(OK -- Yellow-n-black isn't the amber we wanted at EFC, but it could be a lot worse.. all fluorescent orange, for example. The Owls' kit made the old Chelsea orange & grey look quite pleasant!)
Our wish was granted, which in itself was an invaluable tonic, but Everton still managed to make their fans wonder if they were cursed. Despite the ominous problem of being without both first choice strikers, the injury problems of both Short and Ebbrell had cleared up, leaving the rest of the team at almost full strength (minus Watson).
Concerned about our chance conversion rate, I kept a count of some new statistics as an experiment to test the worth of 'shots on target'. Instead of targets, I graded every goal attempt either a 'poor' chance or a 'good' chance. This takes some personal interpretation, but should be more accurate: a weak shot on target is a lot further from being a goal than a thunderbolt that is just high or wide. A wild long shot goes as as a poor chance. A pass which just eludes the attacker's stretching toe six yards out is a good chance.
Everton created two soft (poor) chances within the first minute, and Stuart was involved in both, thus improving on his York-away productivity by a factor of 180.
Midfield work threw up a couple more Everton advances, and a run into the Gwladys St area by Branch was ended by Des Walker. It looked from behind the goal as if Branch made the most of the contact and could have kept his feet if he tried. Furthermore, TV side-on slow motion showed Walker took the ball first.
Odd how fate makes teams miss more penalties if they were undeserved.. Rhino had never missed a penalty for Everton -- this one missed scoring, but didn't miss the goal, which shook like a jellyfish as the ball smacked full face into the bar, almost exactly centrally.
There was a very gloomy feeling in the stands. Under the circumstances of recent fortune, this was leaving the ridiculous and entering Twilight Zone proportions.
Fortunately, ten blue shirts did not have time to dwell on it. Chances kept queuing up, and Kanchelskis was keen to take up where he left off at Hillsborough. Skipping into the box at his favourite angle, he had still a defender in front of him.. He slowed almost to a stop, then pulled the trigger. From an almost standing shot, it was so hard even Pressman's great job to get a hand down to the very base of the near-covered near post was not enough.
This was AK's second chance of the game, and he went on to have at least 4 more. A possible personal haul of 5 was not at all fanciful.
And chances kept coming. A mental count just wasn't enough, and I improvised
a notepad from a cigarette packet. This helped a bit, but it would have needed
a shorthand secretary or lip-mike & tape recorder to relate all the action:
instead I can tell you that by half time the tally was:
David Pleat was obviously less than happy despite only being one down, making two substitutions at half-time. This got a response of a bright start from the bright oranges (Neville had to go back to his banana-suit to avoid clashing colours!), prompting the worry that we could easily witness another 'Boro' result.
Luckily this only held up the one-way traffic briefly, and Everton resumed their format of attack, attack, and attack. It was the most one-sided game since the 11-0 aggregate against Wrexham.
The entertainment got better after a second goal was added to dispel worries of a comeback. Branch left his man for dead (again) with a turn out wide, attacked the goal from the bye-line and passed for Graeme Stuart's favourite little right foot scoop shot to score (he tried it again later to bring a good Pressman save).
Branch missed a late 5 yard tap in, but it was from a very high cross which fell to him at awkward knee height. He looked like someone who'd won second prize in the lottery.
I'd been kept busy counting chances all afternoon, and the second half
tallied:
This made a total of two goals from 15 great and 12 poor chances. If the average conversion rate turns out even as low as that of 'Shots on target' (20-25%), this was a bigger win squandered!
The papers were quite nice (though one disappointed ghoul described Parki's goal-making through ball as a long-range hoof) and JR took the opportunity to lay the boot into one or two critics as thanks for their recent comments during his interviews.
Yes, a timely boost if ever one was needed. But not every game is against a team who plays the open football Everton love to exploit. Spurs do; Man City do, but are down... This only leaves Forest, and the City ground is jinxed.
Also, not every team will have as awful a day as Wednesday did. They looked every bit as bad as when we won 5-2 in May, even despite their league-topping start and gushing reports of Regi Blinker (the black continental footballer with the name of a cockney binman).
It was a good three points, but let's hope the staff realise that it is not a passport to safety, let alone Europe, unless it becomes merely a foundation on which to build and improve.
Team Performance: - 6 - Amazingly, still a bits-&-pieces performance. Their shape seems all 'make it up as we go' and very little actual purpose.
Ref: P. Alcock. I try not to let past performances affect my comments, but Alcock was so bad last time that I was pleasantly surprised at this one. Penalty against Wednesday was a poor decision.
Richard Marland: Thank Christ for that, we've finally won a game and so prevented our drama turning into a full blown crisis, and we don't have to play any more games in September. Phew.
After the York debacle it was imperative that we got a result, and perhaps more importantly, that the players showed some spirit, fight and ability. From the kick-off it appeared clear that the players were eager to put York behind them and show us that weren't as bad as the York game had made them appear.
We went straight onto the attack through Andrei Kanchelskis. Something had clearly galvanized Andrei, either his own professional pride or some harsh words from Joe Royle... whatever it was it worked as Andrei carried the fight to Sheff Wed right throughout the game.
Within minutes of the kick-off we were on the offensive and carving out chances. Within 8 minutes we had a penalty as Michael Branch was brought down by Des Walker. My own view of the penalty was that Walker had made contact with Branch but that Branch had been a mite theatrical with his fall.
Prior to the game I had read in the programme that Unsworth had a 100% record from the penalty spot. The penalty, therefore, was surely a formality. The programme editor should have known better than to tempt the gods of fate, especially where Everton are concerned. Unsworth positively thundered his penalty against the bar, the rebound clearing the edge of the penalty area.
The penalty miss didn't appear to throw Everton out of their stride, with the players carrying on with their pressing. It was no surprise when we eventually took the lead. Parkinson did well in midfield to release Andrei down the right. Andrei homed in on goal as only Andrei can and, despite the close attention of a Wednesday defender, beat Pressman at his near post with a typically Andrei rocket.
Considering the importance of the goal to Everton, there was precious little in the way of goal celebrations, Andrei saluted the crowd as the rest of his team mates returned to their positions; only Earl Barrett came over to congratulate Andrei. Very strange... hope there are no sinister undertones to this.
The rest of the half continued in much the same vein. Most of our attacking came through Andrei, and we created a number of chances without, once again, turning our dominance into the goals we deserved. Michael Branch was giving Stefanovic a torrid afternoon, using his pace to good effect to repeatedly close him down, and generally giving a very impressive performance.
Wednesday gave us occasional problems with their neat passing and the vision of Regi Blinker, our defence never looking totally secure, and Wednesday could have made us pay. Even before we got the penalty, Hirst had wasted a glorious opportunity when he was one of two players left unattended in our penalty area. Fortunately for us, Hirst went for glory with an ambitious volley when he had the time and space to control the ball.
The second half carried on much as the first half had ended, with Everton totally on top. Memories of Middlesbrough, though, meant that the crowd was a little restless, as we once again failed to turn chances into goals.
We were allowed to breath a little easier after good work from Branch set up Stuart for a goal. Branch, once again, beat Stefanovic with his pace. Branch took it to the by-line where he pulled it back to Stuart in the penalty area who slid it past Pressman into the far corner.
Thereafter it was only the profligacy of Everton and the excellence of Pressman that kept the score down. Andrei, Stuart and Branch twice all could have scored but all failed to convert good chances. However, the general ineptness of Wednesday meant that we were never to rue these misses.
All in all this was a very comfortable victory with Everton in control for practically the entire 90 minutes. We played some very good football, and also showed rather more attacking intelligence than we had of late. The likes of Unsworth, without Dunc to launch it at, were forced to think and looked a better player for it. But, and there is a but, we shouldn't get carried away and think that all is suddenly right.
We never looked comfortable at the back and we wasted a lot of good chances both failings which cost us dearly against Middlesbrough. Maybe I'm being a bit churlish here but I want to emphasise the point that this was not the complete performance and further improvements will have to be made.
Individually, the defence all had reasonable games but collectively they
didn't convince. I'm therefore going to mark them all down by a point for
this collective failing.
Bastard who broke into my house and stole my video whilst I was at the match - 0 (Incidentally anyone know how you can explain to a two-year-old that she can't watch her Big Bird videos because a nasty man has stolen the video. I'm having trouble getting this one through.)
Mike Bersiks:We watched the game here in
South Africa on M-net and I must say were pleasantly surprised. I won't give
a full match report as Guy has already given an excellent one but will merely
concentrate on the players:
Defence - 6 - As a whole our defence was not that impressive. They tended to drift out of position (esp Unsy,Barrett) but Sheff Wed were so devoid of ideas that they coped admirably. Unsworth is a better player than this and I really think however that he is not a leader or an able organiser of the defence
Midfield - 8 - We dominated fairly easily in Midfield, and created chances almost at will. One criticism could be that almost everything creative came down the right and that if AK gets injured we are in turd city.
Team - 7 - We did well even though we missed countless chances but I thought Sheff Wed were very poor. AK is great and if he and the team click and learn how to shoot we are going to give some team a horrible hiding. Still, our defence is not that great and has problems with positioning and marking that have to be sorted out.
Louise Taylor, Sunday Times: JOE ROYLE, pleading for patience from those disaffected supporters who have lately called local radio phone-ins demanding his dismissal, described Everton's recent regression as "a problem rather than a crisis".
The Goodison manager's confident pre-match declaration was thoroughly vindicated yesterday as his men outmanoeuvred and out-muscled Wednesday. Much credit for this should go to Andrei Kanchelskis whose relentless high-speed harassment of David Pleat's back line swiftly silenced that dissenting "Royle Out" brigade.
Lacking width, wit and will, Wednesday were never in the game and had to thank the defiance of Kevin Pressman, the goalkeeper, for the deceptively modest margin of defeat.
Everton, who had not won since the season's opening match when Newcastle were vanquished at Goodison Park, earned a penalty after six minutes. Belying his 17 years, Michael Branch did well to remain on side before collecting Joe Parkinson's lobbed long pass and advancing into the area. Des Walker stretched his sprinter's legs to make a strong redeeming tackle. It seemed that he went for the ball rather than the man but Mr Alcock pointed to the spot.
Justice was done when David Unsworth blasted against the underside of the bar. Squandered opportunities had also punctuated Everton's midweek League Cup defeat against York, which brought added pressure on Royle.
Ian Nolan quickly realised he ranked high on Kanchelskis's hit list. Wednesday's whole-hearted if naive left-back proved powerless to halt the right-winger as he ran onto another Parkinson through ball and abruptly cut in before shooting low past Pressman with geometric precision. Dejan Stefanovic could not be blamed for backing off.
Steve Nicol, who had conceded possession to Parkinson, belatedly began helping Nolan but with Kanchelskis consistently going outside his marker, such efforts proved forlorn. Ably aided and abetted by the impressive Branch, the Ukranian could have scored more but for Pressman.
Wednesday's sole chance came in the second half when Unsworth hauled back Andy Booth just outside the area and the defender was lucky to see a yellow rather than red card.
The visitors badly missed those usually combative midfield tacklers, Mark Pembridge and Wayne Collins, and this weakness in the central zone resulted in a marked lack of width. With Regi Blinker constantly sucked into the middle it was hard to recall Wednesday dispatching a single centre of the quality.
Instead, it was a superlative centre from Branch -- delivered after turning Stefanovic quite brilliantly -- which precipitated Everton's second goal. Stretching out his right foot, Graham Stuart diverted it into the net from point blank range.
"We were lucky to lose only 2-0," said Pleat. With Kanchelskis in this mood, the Merseyside moaners have no hope of a new manager.
Report Copyright The Sunday Times
Mark Hodkinson, The Times: IF A towel had been thrown from the Sheffield Wednesday bench, or had David Pleat gambolled on to the pitch waving a white handkerchief, no one would have been surprised.
Everton, quite simply, ravaged Wednesday and it was barely an understatement when Joe Royle, the Everton manager, said: "It could have been ten."
Without their beacon, Duncan Ferguson, Everton were bullied into the passing game and it suited them splendidly. The ball was married to the turf and the fluency of their play was almost joyous at times.
Michael Branch wriggled past Walker on six minutes but fell to the ground as the defender closed in. A penalty was awarded; a decision Royle later conceded was "shady". Unsworth rammed the kick against the bar, but the disappointment did not trouble Everton.
Wednesday, in their fluorescent orange kit, were as stationary as traffic cones and, without the injured Collins and Pembridge, their midfield had neither enterprise or intent.
Joe Parkinson fed Kanchelskis and the winger obliged with his trademark run and finish. Shoulders rolling, right instep flashing like a sabre, he swashbuckled through Wednesday's defence before placing it beyond Pressman. Kanchelskis has little peripheral vision, and his next move is rarely a surprise, but at full pace he is as elusive as a ghost.
The goal signalled a cascade of chances for Everton, Kanchelskis, Speed and Branch compelling Pressman to make a series of saves. Andy Booth might have equalised but was pulled back by Unsworth as he approached Southall. Unsworth was rightly booked and a more fastidious referee than Paul Alcock might have sent him off.
The anticipated banquet of goals did not arrive, but the second and final one was of a rare value. Michael Branch outwitted Stefanovic, tore to the by-line and crossed for Stuart to prod home with aplomb.
It was a fitting cameo of Branch's overall performance. On only his second full appearance, and at just 17, he showed heartwarming potential. He is impudent, linear, and his style of play uncannily similar to a certain Robbie Fowler from across the other side of Stanley Park.
Pleat, the Wednesday manager, was typically frank afterwards. "We got lucky today, end of story," he said. "My goalkeeper gave a class display and can hold his head up but, from full back upwards, Everton were better in all aspects. They had two sharp players up front. I think Branch was excellent. In time he is going to be a very, very good player."
Royle revealed that Branch will be chaperoned into his professional career. "We will look after him and make sure he doesn't get burn-out. He is very tired back there in the dressing-room but he can be pleased with himself. We have known about Michael Branch for some time and we intend to pitch him in and out of the first team at the right time," Royle said.
Derick Allsop, Electronic Telegraph: JOE ROYLE'S charges did not so much go to a football match as a crusade, their breast-beating commitment threatening to destroy Wednesday.
Here was a battalion making a statement for themselves and their beleaguered commander-in-chief. No win since the opening day of the season, restless natives and a demanding local media: they were talking of crisis at Goodison Park.
All rumblings of discontent should have been dispelled by half time, yet Everton had only one goal, dispatched by the ever- potent Andrei Kanchelskis, to show for their endeavours. Wednesday, too, have plummeted of late, a run of five games without a victory bringing them back into the real world after their flirtation with the high life. They had the resourcefulness of their goalkeeper, Kevin Pressman, to thank for averting a first-half annihilation. Kanchelskis alone might have had four goals in that one-sided period.
Kanchelskis, inevitably, was the principal figure from the early, frenzied offensive warming Pressman's hands, with a characteristic angled drive. The pressure should have yielded the opener after seven minutes. Michael Branch, a mere twig of a player at 17, fell under the weight of Des Walker's challenge and the benefit of the doubt went Everton's way. Wednesday doubtless felt justice had been done when David Unsworth's penalty cannoned off the crossbar.
Wednesday's only positive response thus far produced a reasonable chance for David Hirst, but he volleyed wide. By the time they mustered a further semblance of hope they were a goal down. Kanchelskis homed in from the right after 17 minutes and for a moment it seemed he was seeking out a team-mate. Perhaps Pressman and his defenders thought so also. It was a costly misconception. The Russian winger turned his sights on goal and Pressman was beaten by the force of his his low shot.
Branch took the Kanchelskis route to give Wednesday's back-line still more grief, surging in from the right. He attempted to pull the ball back across goal but Pressman intercepted. Graham Stuart made amends for any earlier miss with Everton's second, swept in from Branch's cross after 59 minutes.
Pressman denied the striker a hat-trick within 10 chaotic minutes.
Report Copyright The Electronic Telegraph
Monday, 30 September 1996
NEWCASTLE UNITED 4-3 ASTON VILLA 36,400 Ferdinand(5,22) Shearer(38) Yorke(4,59,69) Howey(67)
Sunday, 29 September 1996
MANCHESTER UNITED 2-0 TOTTENHAM HOTSPUR 54,943 Solksjaer(38,58) WEST HAM UNITED 1-2 LIVERPOOL 25,064 Bilic(15) Collymore(3) Thomas(55)
Saturday, 28 September 1996
ARSENAL 2-0 SUNDERLAND 38,016
Hartson(73) Parlour(88)
CHELSEA 1-1 NOTTINGHAM FOREST 27,673
Vialli(51) Lee(90)
COVENTRY CITY 0-0 BLACKBURN ROVERS 17,032
DERBY COUNTY 0-2 WIMBLEDON 17,022
Earle(49) Gayle(70)
EVERTON 2-0 SHEFFIELD WEDNESDAY 34,160
Kanchelskis(17) Stuart(60)
LEICESTER CITY 1-0 LEEDS UNITED 20,359
Heskey(60)
SOUTHAMPTON 4-0 MIDDLESBROUGH 15,230
Oakley(11) Le Tissier(29,48) Watson(82)
Table after 30 September 1996
Club P W D L GF GA GD Pts Liverpool 8 6 2 0 18 6 12 20 Newcastle United 8 6 0 2 14 9 5 18 Arsenal 8 5 2 1 17 8 9 17 Manchester United 8 4 4 0 18 6 12 16 Wimbledon 8 5 0 3 12 7 5 15 Chelsea 8 3 4 1 11 10 1 13 Sheffield Wednesday 8 4 1 3 9 11 -2 13 Aston Villa 8 3 3 2 11 9 2 12 Middlesbrough 8 3 2 3 14 13 1 11 Leicester City 8 3 2 3 6 9 -3 11 Derby County 8 2 4 2 8 10 -2 10 Sunderland 8 2 3 3 6 6 0 9 ***EVERTON*** 8 2 3 3 8 10 -2 9 Tottenham Hotspur 8 2 2 4 6 8 -2 8 West Ham United 8 2 2 4 7 12 -5 8 Nottingham Forest 8 1 4 3 9 14 -5 7 Leeds United 8 2 1 5 6 13 -7 7 Southampton 8 1 2 5 10 12 -2 5 Coventry City 8 1 2 5 3 13 -10 5 Blackburn Rovers 8 0 3 5 4 11 -7 3
This League Table Update provided by Lawrence "Leagueman" Breakey