Team of the Weekend (4-3-3) - Shay Given (Newcastle) - Luke Young (Middlesbrough) - Richard Dunne (Man. City) - Matthew Upson (West Ham) - Michael Ball (Man. City) - David Bentley (Blackburn) - Mark Noble (West Ham) - Kieran Richardson (Sunderland) - Dave Kitson (Reading) - Dimitar Berbatov (Tottenham) - Eduardo da Silva (Arsenal)
Player of the Day Dimitar Berbatov Not for the first time the Bulgarian has taken this accolade and unlikely to be the last as he rounded off 2007 in wonderful style. The Spurs ace grabbed four goals for Spurs as they enjoyed a win in a ten-goal thriller (see below) against Reading. We very rarely hand out tens - but this example of finishing was well worth it. Game of the Day Spurs 6 Reading 4 Again not much debate needed for this as Spurs' win over The Royals was a brilliant Premier League encounter. Spurs enjoyed a dream start, taking the lead after just seven minutes through Berbatov's simple tap-in after Robbie Keane had rolled the ball across the goal. But Reading were level in the 16th minute when Kalifa Cisse fired through a crowd of players from the edge of the area. And the away side took the lead eight minutes into the second half when Ivar Ingimarsson rose well to head home Nicky Shorey's corner. Graeme Murty's poor clearance on 63 minutes gifted Spurs an equaliser as Berbatov scored his second of the game with a well-struck finish. On 69 minutes Dave Kitson glanced in Shorey's corner at the near post before Berbatov levelled again on 73 minutes with a composed finish. Reading were back in front through Kitson's dinked finish, but Spurs equalised once more on 76 minutes through Steed Malbranque's curling shot inside the far post. Jermain Defoe headed Spurs ahead on 79 minutes after Keane's penalty had been saved and Berbatov scored his fourth goal on 83 minutes with a thumping volley. Controversy of the Day Kalou's winner Very lucky for Chelsea and terrible shame for Newcastle as they were denied a hard-fought point at Stamford Bridge. With just minutes left John Obi Mikel's shot was deflected off Claudio Pizarro into Kalou's path. The Ivorian looked to be offside as the ball came off Pizarro - but he maintained his composure to finish - much to the annoyance of the visitors. Goal of the Day Cristiano Ronaldo Another great move from Manchester United - which gave them the lead at Upton Park. The flowing move was finished by Ronaldo but was a team effort. Carlos Tevez started it off as he found Louis Saha, who in-turn released Ryan Giggs and he delivered for Ronaldo to head home. Gaffe of the Day Tim Howard With the game poised at 2-1 Everton could not do with any mistakes - but that is just what Tim Howard and Joseph Yobo served up with 12 minutes remaining of their loss to Arsenal. A long ball forward should have been dealt with by Yobo but he left it for Howard - who missed his kick and it bounced off his leg to Emmanuel Adebayor, who made no mistake as he smashed the ball home. Save of the Day Antti Niemi Gary McSheffrey whips in a dangerous ball from a free-kick on the right which Antti Niemi does well to fist away, but Franck Queudrue volleys it back towards the top corner from 12 yards, only for the Fulham keeper to produce a great save to push the ball over. Pass of the Day Stewart Downing Wonderful play from the England international as he helped Middlesbrough to victory at Portsmouth. He switched to the right flank for a set-piece - the ball came for him and he whipped a brillaint ball over the defence for Gary O'Neil to volley at goal - his shot was parried by David James which gave Tuncay his chance to score the winner. Return of the Day Kieran Richardson A great way to mark his return to the first-team for Richardson. He opened the scoring with a great finish before setting up Kenwyne Jones for the second. A welcome impact from the former Manchester United star who will be looking to get his Sunderland career back on track! [Non-text portions of this message have been removed]
