Premier League Week #10 Wrap-Up

Arsenal suffer through another scare

Last week Arsenal had a disappointing draw that stuttered their early title charge. Arsène Wegner and company regrouped and dismantled the bottom team in the Premier League this past weekend. Sunderland has been struggling all year and has yet to win a game in the league only managing two points through ten games. Manager David Moyes has been unable to bring his squad out of the relegation zone.

In this meeting between a team at the top of the table and a team at the bottom, the favored team took control. Arsenal scored their first goal early on in the 19th minute. After not having started many games this season, Alex Oxlade-Chamberlin rewards his manager for selecting him. Oxlade-Chamberlin whips in a fantastic cross that comes off the head of forward Alexis Sánchez. The ball went in to give Arsenal the early lead.

Not much else happened before the teams went into the locker room for half time. Almost twenty minutes into the second half, Petr Čech gave Arsenal a scare as he conceded a penalty. Duncan Watmore was charging into the box with the ball, tailed by Laurent Koscielny. As Čech came out of the net, Watmore took a touch around the keeper but was fouled before he could score his goal. Čech was a bit slow on the play and was very clumsy to foul the Sunderland player. Veteran Jermain Defoe took the penalty and brought the game even. Fans were in shock as another tie would hinder Arsenals early title chances and move them out of the first position.

Frequent scapegoat Olivier Giroud took the game back for Arsenal six minutes later. Giroud was subbed on in the 69th minute, and with his first touch, restored a goal lead for the away side. Kieran Gibbs found the French forward and Giroud poked the ball in. Arsenal kept their foot on the pedal and put the game out of reach not much later.

Giroud added a second off of a cross from Mesut Özil. Özil swung in the cross to the near post. Giroud was able to get a looping header that went over the tips of Jordan Pickford’s fingers. Alexis Sánchez would also earn a brace late in the game. Gibbs took a shot that came off the post to Aaron Ramsey. Ramsey found the open Sánchez who put the ball away to close out the game. As fans streamed out of the Stadium of Light, Wenger was able to breathe a sigh of relief as his side remained top of the table.

United continue to struggle early in the season

Jose Mourinho has had a rough start to the beginning of his first season at Manchester United. Much like the two managers before him, Mourinho has come under much scrutiny and is unable to hold a light to the great United manager Sir Alex Ferguson. Against Burnley this weekend, that fact did not change.

If one were to look at the statistics of the match and not the final score they would think United completely shut Burnley out. United had thirty-seven shots to seven from Burnley, 72% possession and nineteen corner kicks. Despite their complete control in these areas United failed to deliver where it counts the most, in goals. United were unable to score a single goal against Burnley and ended up in another 0–0 draw.

United were able to frequently get the ball into the attacking third of the pitch and eventually inside the box. However once there, United were inept in front of the goal and put on one of the worst finishing displays seen this year. Though credit must be given to Burnley’s keeper Tom Heaton for his acrobatic saves and quick reflexes, just as much credit must go to the United players being unable to score right in front of the net. The biggest offender this match was Zlatan Ibrahimović. Despite the veteran striker having many golden opportunities to end his scoring drought, he could not do so at Old Trafford.

Just like their main strikers drought, United have been held scoreless in their last three premier League matches. Despite success in other competitions, including a win over their Manchester rivals in the EFL Cup, United have continued to deteriorate in form in the Premier League. They are playing like less than the sum of their parts and at the head of it all is Mourinho. The “Special One” needs to come up with some special magic to turns this teams form around and start winning games again.

Tottenham held off by the defending champions

Injuries continued to hamper Tottenham as they were still without key players. Leicester also suffered from injuries, as big signing Islam Slimani was not available to play. This meeting was the first time the top two teams from last season played against each other. Tottenham had the better form and better place in the table but the teams were equal on match day.

Both teams had chances in the first half. Dele Alli came the closest to scoring for the Spurs while Christian Fuchs and Shinji Okazaki were the closest for Leicester. Tottenham did score in the first half from the penalty spot. A free kick from Christian Eriksen came off the head of Victor Wanyama and fell to Vincent Janssen. Leicester defender Robert Huth was judged to hold Janssen back and referee Robert Madley awarded a penalty to Tottenham. Janssen took the penalty that he earned and gave the Spurs a 1–0 lead just before the half.

Leicester fought back and equalized the match on the other side of the half. In the 48th minute, Jamie Vardy found himself with the ball coming down the right side. Vardy took his time and looked to find a pass. He found Ahmed Musa running to the net from the middle of the box. Vardy picked the right pass and Musa scored the goal to tie the game at 1–1. During the goal, Musa seemed to be injured and was eventually subbed off later in the match.

Tottenham was the team that came closest to scoring the match winner but could not get the ball into the net. Both teams left the stadium with a point. A point kept Tottenham in the top five of the table and helped Leicester climb further up the table. The champions will play against West Bromwich Albion next week while Tottenham will face their rivals Arsenal.

Manchester City wins after a rough patch of games

City have struggled recently not having won a match in their last five games. Three of those games were in the Premier League where they only got two points. City took their pent up aggression out on West Bromwich Albion and completely smashed the bottom table side. Sergio Agüero and Ilkay Gündogan were the stars as City cruised to a 4–0 victory.

Agüero was the first to score in the 20th minute off a pass from Gündogan. The Argentine found another goal in the first half giving him the brace. An unfortunate bounce off of a West Brom defender fell to Agüero. He took the ball and took a beautiful shot to put the ball into the top corner of the net, out of the reach of Ben Foster. Pep Guardiola was able to smile for the first time in six games. His tactics were working and his players were at the top of their game.

Not much else action happened until late in the game when Gündogan scored a goal of his own. This time it was Kun Agüero supplying the pass that led to the goal in the 79th minute. The German later sealed the match and earned his second goal in the 90th minute. Kevin De Bruyne received the ball on the left flank and brought it into the attacking third. He played a low cross into the box that made its way to Gündogan. Gündogan struck the ball well and Foster was unable to parry the ball out of the net. The goal rounded out a fantastic day for Manchester City and Pep Guardiola.

City has been questioned about their tactics and choice of players, but there will not be many questions after their performance on Saturday. Though they are able to enjoy their win in the Premier League, City will face Barcelona midweek in the Champions League, which will be a much tougher match.

Liverpool continue their great attacking performance

Last week Liverpool put on an attacking clinic as they beat West Brom 2–1. This week the score was close against Alan Pardew’s Crystal Palace team. The win kept Liverpool tied at the top of the table with Manchester City and Arsenal. Both teams got off to a quick start, as there was five goals scored in the first half.

Jürgen Klopp kept his team relatively similar to the team from the match against West Brom but with James Milner sick, Alberto Moreno was subbed in. Emre Can continued to thrive in his new midfield position as he started the scoring for Liverpool. Moreno earned his start as it was his pass to Can that led to the goal.

While Liverpool displayed their attacking brilliance, two minutes later Liverpool showed their defensive weakness. Dejan Lovren hit the ball wrong at the edge of his own box. The ball went straight up into the air and keeper Loris Karius was too far to reach it. James McArthur was the first to react and he headed the ball over the Liverpool keeper to equalize the score. Lovren made up for his mistake three miuntes later when he scored the second goal for Liverpool. Coutinho swung in a cross to the far post that Lovern met with his head and went right between the legs of the Crystal Palace keeper Steve Mandanda.

James McArthur responded again and scored his second goal of the match. Wilfred Zaha supplied a gorgeous cross from the left side of the box to the near post. McArthur charged onto the cross and beat the defender to score with his head. Liverpool would end the first half with the lead after a goal from Joel Matip. Coutinho earned another assist from a corner as no Crystal Palace defender marked Matip. Matip scored with a thunderous header.

Liverpool would add one more goal in the second half from Roberto Firnmino. After their dull 0–0 draw against Manchester United two weeks ago, Liverpool has shined in their two recent Premier League games. Every player on attack, even the center backs, are playing at the top of their game in the final third of the pitch. Liverpool look to be able to score five or six goals in every match if they are able to continue playing like they have in their past two games.

Everton move closer to the top

Everton picked up their first Premier League win since week five while simultaneously snapping a three game win streak, in all competitions, by West Ham United. Of the four games for Everton, two were losses to mid-ranked teams Burnley and Bournemouth while their only good result was a draw away at Manchester City. Ronald Koeman was searching for answers while Slaven Bilić was finding his.

The two teams came into the game on opposite trajectories with West Ham rising and Everton falling. Those forms looked to continue as West Ham had the majority of the early chances. Dimitri Payet was showing some of his Euro Championship star play but could not get the breakthrough for West Ham. Everton were the closest to scoring though as Ross Barkley’s shot was deflected and forced Adrián to come up with a great save off his arm. The game went to half time scoreless.

The Toffees were the first to strike in the second half as Romelu Lukaku scored his 50th Premier League goal. A small mistake from the West Ham defense allowed a shot from Séamus Coleman. His shot was saved but the ball remained in the danger zone as Yannick Bolasie did great work to get to the ball and cross it. Lukaku was there for the open header to give Everton the lead.

The play remained even with both sides having possessions and creating chances until Lukaku made the difference again. This time it was the Belgian supplying the cross. He crossed it to the far post where an unmarked Barkley struck home to give Everton a two-goal advantage. The score would end 2–0 and Everton would cement themselves in 6th for the week, just outside of European football qualification.

Chelsea fend off threatening Southampton

Conte stuck with the line-up that has proven successful for Chelsea in recent weeks, and that squad gave Chelsea a four game win streak in the Premier League. On the other side, Southampton has been able to “hang” with the big boys of the Premier League holding both Leicester and Manchester City in recent weeks giving them good results and a high place in the table. It was Chelsea that would get the lead early in the game.

Chelsea’s number ten Eden Hazard was the first to put the ball in the net. After a pass to Victor Moses, Hazard made a run into the box. Moses found Hazard and he was on a one-on-one against Steven Davis. Hazard cut onto his left foot and rocketed the shot between Fraser Forster’s legs. Both teams pushed the pace to get a goal before half time, but the whistle blew with the score 1–0 in favor of Chelsea.

In the second half, Diego Costa was able to make up for an earlier miss with a wonder strike that put Chelsea comfortably up in the game. Hazard made the pass but Costa made the goal as his shot was near perfect and Forster had no chance to make a save. That goal made eight on the season for Costa, and he is leading the Premier League. In the 84th minute, Charlie Austen seemed to score but his goal was called off for offside. Chelsea closed the game with a 2–0 win. Chelsea kept their 4th place in the table while Southampton sit in 9th.

Other scores from around the league

Middlesbrough beat Bournemouth 2–0. Watford earns a 2–0 victory over Hull City and is ahead of Manchester United in 7th place. Bob Bradley is still searching for his first Premier League win after a 3–1 loss to Stoke City.