Manchester United 1 – 1 Southampton
Another week of Premier League action got underway at Old Trafford where Southampton impressed yet again. Thanks to a well-executed goal by Che Adams they travelled back down south with a deserved point.
Manchester United fans will be concerned by their team’s inability to see out games when ahead. Despite a good goal neatly finished off by Sancho (his first in the Premier League) it was never going to be enough.
Despite the quality of individual players, there is something about this team that doesn’t work. Unless they can sort it out soon, they won’t be playing Champions League football next year.
Everton 3 – 0 Leeds
Finally, the performance Evertonians have been wanting and needing all season. They were heavily criticized for their lacklustre performance against Newcastle, however, responded brilliantly at Goodison Park.
Everton legend Seamus Coleman put the Toffees ahead, quickly followed by Keane giving them a 2 goal lead. It’s the first time this season that Everton have been in a comfortable lead. The win was put to bed by the the home grown youngster, Gordon.
Despite some good results this season (such as a 3-2 win at West Ham), Leeds have been under par recently. They fought back well against Aston Villa last week, but even then, their defensive performance was a worrying sight.
With teams below them starting to pick up points, their fans should be concerned.
Watford 0 – 2 Brighton
Brighton produced another solid performance against Watford, again showing how well Graham Potter is coaching his players. They sit very comfortably in the top half of the table and are only showing signs of improving.
For Watford, it really is starting to get worrying. With Newcastle pulling away and even Norwich finding a few results recently, you would think they need to find their form sooner rather than later if they are to have any chance of staying in the Premier League.
Brentford 0 – 0 Crystal Palace
Undoubtedly the most uneventful game of the week. It was frustrating for both sides, with either being unable to create anything meaningful throughout the 90 minutes.
Despite Crystal Palace most likely being safe from relegation, their has been a dip in performances recently which will be concerning some fans.
For Brentford, picking up a point is still better than their last five results. However, like Leeds, they are another side who might want to keep an eye on what’s going on below them if they continue this poor form.
A silver lining for Brentford came pre-match when Christian Eriksen was revealed to the crowd. Will he help them stay up?
Norwich 0 – 4 Manchester City
Another routine performance from Manchester City. England’s Raheem Sterling was the star man and took home the match ball after netting a hat-trick.
No-one really predicted anything less than a City win, not even the most optimistic Norwich fan.
From a Norwich point of view, it’s not too disastrous. Although it’s never nice to lose 4-0, they knew they were up against the very best today.
Tottenham 0 – 2 Wolverhampton
If Conte didn’t know quite how tough this job would be before he started, he definitely does now.
Wolverhampton moved above Spurs in the table after quite a dominating performance away from home. Their defensive display was remarkable considering they shut out world class players like Son and Kane for the entire game.
Tottenham are slowly slipping further and further away from that much needed champions league spot. Their only saving grace is that one of their main challengers (Manchester United) also seems unable to find a win.
Burnley 0 – 1 Liverpool
Considering the fire power that Liverpool possess, it was a well organised and gritty performance from Burnley who only narrowly lost this game.
Klopp hailed his players for overcoming a “banana skin”, with Fabinho scoring his fifth goal this year to give Liverpool all three points.
Sean Dyche will be extremely disappointed with the manner in which they conceded. Normally so organised at defending set pieces, Burnley switched off when Robertson delivered a corner and Liverpool capitalised with a rather scrappy goal.
Newcastle 1 – 0 Aston Villa
Captain Kieran Trippier was once again the hero at St.James’ Park following another great free-kick. Despite taking a deflection, the power that Trippier put behind it ensured it would find the back of the net.
Ollie Watkins and Villa will be feeling hard done by after his goal was disallowed for an offside which couldn’t have been much more than 1mm off. Steven Gerrard didn’t dwell on this, and instead insisted that his team just weren’t good enough on the day.
Nine points out of nine for Newcastle now. The buzz around the football club has completely turned on its head in under a month.
Leicester 2 – 2 West Ham
The last game of the week was by far the most thrilling.
Bowen scored yet again to give West Ham an early lead. The home crowd didn’t take long to become restless, with a real anxiety filling the stadium.
Leicester were given a life-line towards the end of the second half. Aaron Cresswell’s ridiculous hand-ball gifted Leicester a penalty which was dispatched excellently by Tielemans.
Going into the second half, Leicester fans were a lot more confident. Harvey Barnes and Ricardo linked up well to put Leicester ahead.
With the nightmare of conceding two goals in stoppage time against Tottenham still present in everyone’s mind, the anxiety returned to the stadium as the game approached the 90th minute.
To add to that, West Ham won a late corner, something Leicester have struggled to defend all season.
Their worst nightmare happened again as Craig Dawson headed in West Ham’s equaliser.
