Matchday Seven of the Premier League season saw the Manchester clubs extend their lead at the top of the table as they both picked up wins against London teams. United’s victory over Crystal Palace has left the Eagles with no points and no goals and rock bottom of the Premier League table while the likes of Burnley and Watford are punching above their weight somewhat. Arsenal and Spurs, despite their shaky starts are closing in on Chelsea and Everton continue their dismal campaign.
The weekend started at the John Smith’s Stadium in Huddersfield and the Terriers were given a reality check as Harry Kane and co. produced a dominant display and scoring 4 goals. Kane grabbed the first after a mistake by Chris Lowe and Lowe later turned provider for Spurs as his tackle on the edge of his own area fell into the path of Ben Davies who slotted home. Kane then turn Christopher Schindler on the edge of the penalty box before sending one bending into the far side of the goal with his weaker foot – that’s 13 goals for him for club and country in the month of September and he’ll certainly be looking to continue his world-class form into October and beyond. Moussa Sissoko bagged his first Spurs goal in the Premier League with a scrappy finish but he won’t care.
Manchester United continued their fine form, scoring four in a game for the sixth time this season as they breezed past Roy Hodgson’s Crystal Palace at Old Trafford. United scored their first after just 3 minutes through Juan Mata and Palace looked short of confidence and effort from then on, Marouane Fellaini got onto the scoresheet twice while Romelu Lukaku scored his customary goal. Slaven Bilic got a much-needed boost, even if it game in the dying minutes of West Ham’s game against Swansea. He brought off Javier Hernandez, much to the anger of the home crowd, but his replacement, Diafra Sakho, scored the winner after good work down the left by Arthur Masuaku. That lifted the Hammers out of the bottom three and possibly saved Bilic’s job – for the while anyway.
Peter Crouch hinted at a possible England call-up, and I really hope Gareth Southgate doesn’t get any ideas from it, as he grabbed Stoke’s winner in a 2-1 win over Southampton at the Bet365 Stadium. Saido Berahino is still without a goal for the club after joining from West Brom in January but he had a great opportunity to notch his first for Stoke from the penalty spot. Fraser Forster denied him as his tame penalty was saved well by the big Saints keeper. Not much to report from the Vitality Stadium as neither Bournemouth nor Leicester could break the deadlock and both sides left the stadium with a point but both needed more.
Meanwhile at the Hawthorns, West Brom surrendered a 2-0 lead to Watford and it was Richarlison who scored a late goal for the Hornets for the second week in a row. Last week he grabbed the winner at Swansea and this time he scored a crucial header deep into stoppage time to nick a point from Tony Pulis’ team. The big game of the day at Stamford Bridge ended rather disappointingly for the home side as Pep Guardiola’s Manchester City outclassed a timid Chelsea team and won 1-0 thanks to a Kevin De Bruyne wonder strike but, quite frankly, it should’ve been more. Alvaro Morata limped off in the first half for the Blues and Antonio Conte will be hoping the injury isn’t serious because of the impressive impact the Spaniard has had on the team so far this season.
It was a triple header on Sunday and Arsenal enjoyed a comfortable lunchtime at the Emirates, riding out 2-0 winners over a plucky Brighton side who had their chances. Both Alexandre Lacazette and Solly March rattled the post in the opening stages of the game but goals for Nacho Monreal and Alex Iwobi secured all three points for the Gunners. Burnley are now unbeaten from trips to Stamford Bridge, Wembley, Anfield and Goodison Park and it looks like they’ve sorted out their poor away form from last season. The clarets currently sit just outside the top four but it’ll be Everton who grab the headlines as they look to be well in the relegation mix so early on in the season. A goal from Jeff Hendrick was enough for Burnley to win at Everton and it may well cost Ronald Koeman his job.
The final game of the weekend saw Liverpool travel to St. James’s Park and face Newcastle in a classic Premier League fixture. Philippe Coutinho scored a stunner to put the Reds a goal up but that was before some typically poor defending from Liverpool. Joselu was allowed to run straight through on goal and Joel Matip gets back to tackle him. But that tackle then ricocheted off Joselu and into the Liverpool net. The second half wasn’t as exciting as the first and it all fizzled out in a 1-1 draw in the end. So there you have it, you’re all up to date with the goings-on in the world’s best league.
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