BY STEVE MITCHELL

LIVERPOOL IN (SEVEN) HEAVEN AS SPURS ARE HAMMERED AT ANFIELD

Title favourites Liverpool enjoyed a wonderful afternoon in front of their fanatical support as they hammered newly promoted Tottenham Hotspur at Anfield this afternoon. The writing was on the wall for the North London side as early as the eighth minute when summer signing Ricky Villa lost possession to Ray Kennedy, who in turn released Jimmy Case down the right wing. A scuffed cross found its way to Kenny Dalglish and the super Scot smashed home to give the hosts the lead.

12 minutes later and Dalglish had doubled his tally for the afternoon after another scramble in the Spurs penalty area found the ball at the feet of Case whose miss-hit shot was turned in by the Reds’ super number seven. Eight minutes later and the contest was over as a powerful Ray Kennedy header was deflected into his own goal by the unfortunate John Lacy.

Three minutes after the interval, England international David Johnson benefitted from more great work by Dalglish to hit home number four. Ten minutes later and Johnson had his second, played in by the irrepressible Dalglish for Liverpool’s fifth of the afternoon. Six minutes on from this and Phil Neal made it goal number six from the penalty spot after John Duncan had brought down Steve Heighway. Goal number seven arrived courtesy of more great work from Heighway down the left wing as his pin-point cross was superbly finished off by Terry McDermott.

When referee Mr. Flint brought the game to an end it was a merciful release for Tottenham who were embarrassingly second best. Nottingham Forest will have watched this demolition with interest as they prepare to face Liverpool in the first round of the European Cup later this month.

RARE BUCHAN STRIKE ENDS EVERTON’S PERFECT START

Everton’s perfect start to the campaign came to an end at Old Trafford this afternoon in a match they totally dominated. Striker supreme Andy King was on target once again for the Toffees after just six minutes and in truth, Gordon Lee’s side should have been out of sight by the interval despite England winger Steve Coppell smashing a shot against the underside of the crossbar for the hosts.

The second-half continued in the same vain with the visitors squandering more gilt-edged opportunities but when United skipper Martin Buchan found himself 30 yards out from goal, no betting man would have predicted that the ball would end up in the back of the net but that’s exactly what it did do, and even the player himself looked perplexed as it flew into the top corner giving George Wood no chance.

Afterwards, Buchan explained to reporters that; “I glanced up to try to play a one-two with Jimmy Greenhoff but couldn’t, so I had to shoot and thankfully it went in. That cheered me up as until then I’d had a bad game”.

Everton keeper Wood admitted that; “I didn’t sight the shot because our back-four were moving out. I didn’t see the ball until it hit the stanchion. Even if I had seen it I doubt I would have been able to stop it”.

WEEK FOUR ROUND-UP:

For the third week running champions Nottingham Forest failed to score as they were held to another goalless draw at the City Ground by high-flying West Bromwich Albion. Arsenal recovered some North London pride as they thrashed capital neighbours Queens Park Rangers 5-1 at Highbury; Irish striker Frank Stapleton grabbing two of their goals.

Chelsea were humbled 3-0 at Stamford Bridge by Leeds United thanks to goals from Arthur Graham and a brace from John Hawley. Manchester City were held to a 1-1 draw at Carrow Road by Norwich City where former England star Martin Chivers was on target for the Canaries.

FA Cup holders Ipswich Town couldn’t follow up last weekend’s great home win over Manchester United as they were held to a goalless draw at Ayresome Park by Middlesbrough. Derby County were beaten at home by Coventry City where Scottish striker Ian Wallace was once again on the scoresheet.

Aston Villa and Southampton shared the points in a 1-1 draw at Villa Park with Bolton Wanderers and Birmingham City doing the same in a 2-2 draw at Burnden Park. Bristol City already look like having to dig in for a long cold winter after they were beaten by Wolves at Molineux.

FIRST DIVISION RESULTS – SATURDAY SEPTEMBER 2^ND:

Arsenal 5-1 Q.P.R. (Rix 2, Brady, Stapleton 2; McGee)

Aston Villa 1-1 Southampton (Gray; Nicholl) (DOWNLOAD THE FULL MATCH PROGRAMME BELOW)

Bolton Wanderers 2-2 Birmingham City (Worthington 2, 1 pen; Francis)

Chelsea 0-3 Leeds United (Graham, Hawley 2)

Derby County 0-2 Coventry City (Hunt, Wallace)

Liverpool 7-0 Tottenham Hotspur (Dalglish 2, Kennedy R, Johnson 2, Neal pen, McDermott)

Manchester United 1-1 Everton (Buchan; King)

Middlesbrough 0-0 Ipswich Town

Norwich City 1-1 Manchester City (Chivers; Channon)

Nottingham Forest 0-0 W.B.A.

Wolves 2-0 Bristol City (Rodgers o.g, Hibbitt)

UPCOMING FIXTURES – SATURDAY SEPTEMBER 9^TH

Birmingham City v Liverpool

Bolton Wanderers v Derby County

Coventry City v Chelsea

Everton v Middlesbrough

Ipswich Town v Aston Villa

Manchester City v Leeds United

Nottingham Forest v Arsenal

Q.P.R. v Manchester United

Southampton v Wolves

Tottenham Hotspur v Bristol City

W.B.A. v Norwich City

FOLLOW THE WHOLE 1978-79 SEASON IN THE ENGLISH FIRST DIVISION WITH STEVE MITCHELL HERE ON THE FOOTBALL PINK. FOLLOW HIM ON TWITTER @barafundler

PROGRAMMES COURTESY OF MILES MCCLAGAN https://www.flickr.com/photos/114058793@N05/sets