There were two games in the Premier League today and in both of them the referees had a poor game. Liverpool played Chelsea at Anfield and won 2-0 with a couple late goals from Torres. Chelsea went down to 10 players after Lampard was sent off. It seems he was sent off for a high challenge but it was fine really and he got the ball. Seemed like he got sent off for being kicked by Alonso!! Gerrard also had a over the ball challenge and wasnt sent off. Possibly should have got a red card – it was properly worse than Lampards challenge. Someone who should have certainly been sent off was Bosingwa who managed to get away with kicking/pushing Benayoun in the back. Amazingly the ref Mike Riley saw nothing wrong with it – the assistant ref was just a couple yards away so I dont know why he didnt say anything!!
Overall Liverpool were the best team and deserved to win. Chelsea are really not playing well. As they said on MOTD2 the Chelsea attack was toothless. They defended well but Cech is not the same keeper he was a couple seasons ago. If Liverpool can keep Torres fit, they have a chance of keeping up with United.
In the other game, Newcastle played Sunderland. The game ended 1-1. It was a “fast and furious” game with end to end action and tackles flying in. Several comical moments! The referee for the game Howard Webb is usually good and is one of the best refs in the Premier League. However he got it wrong with the penalty to Newcastle. Taylor seems to just fall over but ended up getting a penalty. Maybe the ref was influenced after (correctly) not giving a penalty to Newcastle a few minutes before after Duff dived in the box.
In the post-match interviews, as usual the managers didnt agree. Joe Kinnear thought a goal should have been allowed and said Ameobi controlled the ball on his chest well. Replays show he clearly used his arm to control the ball. (He also thought when Duff dived it was a penalty).
Personally I wouldnt be too unhappy if Newcastle were relegated. There is no particularly players I dont like (unlike in the Chelsea team) but I really dont like Joe Kinnear.
The Premier League looked like it was lining up to be one of the most exciting in awhile with all the “big-four” quite level and with Aston Villa threatening to enter the “big four”.
England have now played 4 World Cup qualifier games and have 12 points out of 12. So far the performances have generally been very good. 
