Premier League Week 13 Wrap-Up
City comes back against Burnley
Pep Guardiola elected to give Yaya Toure his second consecutive start for Manchester City after the players’ two goals in his previous match. Kevin De Bruyne earned a break, starting the game on the bench. City had the potential to take sole possession of the top spot with a victory in the match. City was coming off of a win against Crystal Palace while Burnley was coming off a terrible 4–0 defeat against West Bromwich Albion.
It was Burnley who struck first in the 14th minute of the match. A long free kick by Burnley keeper Paul Robinson delivered the ball to the edge of the City box. Nicolás Otamendi headed the ball away from the danger area but the ball fell to Dean Marney. Marney struck brilliantly on the volley and beat Claudio Bravo to give Burnley the lead. Turf Moor was ecstatic as the home team went ahead.
City would equalize in the 37th minute from key man Sergio Agüero. Raheem Sterling delivered the cross into the box and Nolito took the initial shot but was blocked. The ball bounced around in the box and confusion ensued until the Argentinian poked the ball in.
Agüero would also score the match winner in the 60th minute. Fernandinho brought the ball to the box and passed it off. There was absolute chaos in the box as Burnley could not clear the ball and City was unable to score until Agüero was in the right place at the right time to give City the three points.
Pep and the team were happy as it was three points on the road and the win put them in first place with Liverpool to play later in the day and Chelsea to play the next day. Though it was not a good-looking win, it was still three points that helped City in their fight for the title. Burnley remained in the middle of the table and face fellow mid-table side Stoke City next week.
Liverpool suffers a scare despite a win
Jürgen Klopp’s side has been flying high due to their great attacking play in recent weeks of the Premier League. Led by Philippe Coutinho, Liverpool has risen up the rankings and has even held first place for a time. Meanwhile, Sunderland has been struggling and has only managed two wins in the Premier League. The good news is that those two wins came in the past two weeks for the team.
The first important moment happened late in the first half as Coutinho had to be carted off the field. Coutinho struck the ball at the same time as a Sunderland defender and went down immediately. The early reports are that Coutinho could be out for six weeks, which would be a massive blow to Liverpool. Coutinho has looked like the MVP so far this season and missing him may hurt Liverpool’s title chances.
Luckily in this game Liverpool was able to still show their attacking brilliance and pulled out a win. The first goal came from substitute Divok Origi. Origi had the ball on the right side of the box and curled in a shot that seemed to be going wide but at the last second sneaked inside the post and gave Liverpool the lead. The second goal came as a penalty in the 90th minute. Didier Ndong went too hard in the box in a tackle onto Sadio Mané and conceded the penalty. James Milner took, and scored, the penalty to seal the 2–0 victory for Liverpool.
Liverpool still managed twenty-one shots in the match but was frustrated by the Sunderland defense early on. The loss of Coutinho may have inspired the club to win, as it was the player who was subbed on for him that scored the first goal. Despite good recent results for the club, Klopp must be in a worried state as Coutinho is a key part of the club. Sunderland drops back down to the bottom team of the Premier League. Liverpool will face Bournemouth next week while Sunderland will play defending champs Leicester City.
Chelsea wins to stay top
Antonio Conte stuck to his guns as the Italian kept an unchanged starting line-up for the seventh straight game. His 3–4–3 formation had yet to concede a goal and won six matches in a row, moving Chelsea to top of the Premier League. Tottenham has been fairly consistent but unimpressive in their season. Hugo Lloris has had to bail the club out with spectacular goalkeeping on more than one occasion to keep them in the top five teams. Tottenham had yet to beat Chelsea at Stamford Bridge during the Premier League era. The Spurs looked to change that early in the match.
The first goal came in the 11th minute as Christian Eriksen struck a fantastic shot into the back of the net to give Tottenham the lead. Tottenham was dominating the early stages of the game, putting a lot of pressure onto Chelsea and rattling the Blues. Pedro was the man to equalize the score just before half time. Pedro scored a goal that should be considered goal of the year, as it was just perfect to make it past Lloris.
After half time, Chelsea took the lead by way of a Diego Costa pass to Victor Moses. Moses had a fairly simple tap in to seal a seventh straight win for Chelsea that put them back on top of the Premier League. Tottenham has still yet to beat Chelsea at Stamford Bridge. Though they are still in the top five, Pochettino has work to do to keep his side there as the teams below the Spurs may start getting wins at any point. Conte and his side have another tough match-up against Manchester City next week while Tottenham will play struggling Swansea City.
Arsenal gets back to their winning ways
Arsenal got off to a quick start in the Premier League and rose to the top spot in the league. However, in recent weeks, the Gunners have stuttered and tied each of their last three games. Bournemouth has risen to mid table and has hovered around that area in recent weeks.
Alexis Sánchez started the action off early for Arsenal as he scored a goal in the 12th minute. A massive error by Bournemouth defender Steve Cook allowed Sánchez the opportunity to take the ball after the failed back-pass and the striker scored. Bournemouth got one back in the 23rd minute as Nacho Monreal fouled Callum Wilson in the box to concede a penalty. Wilson scored the penalty tying the game for Bournemouth.
Theo Walcott got a goal for himself on the other side of half time. Mesut Özil did some fancy footwork in the box and crossed the ball to Nacho Monreal. Monreal made up for his defensive mistake as he played a great cross to Walcott for the Englishman to head home. Sánchez earned a second at the end of the game as Olivier Giroud started a quick fast break and assisted Sánchez on the goal.
With the win, Arsenal remained behind Liverpool and Manchester City, sitting in fourth place by two points. The win will instill some confidence in the London side and may get them back to their winning ways. Bournemouth continues to hover around the middle of the table, safely outside of the relegation zone. Arsenal will face West Ham United next week.
United falter again
Three recent good results gave Manchester United fans hope that the team was coming into form and would make a charge towards the top spots of the league. José Mourinho has been up to his typical ways of being fined by the FA and causing controversy. The big stars of the United team have failed to live up to expectations and are preforming not to the level their payroll would indicate. West Ham United has also been struggling as they have been around the relegation zone for much of the season.
West Ham got a quick start after they earned an early free kick in the attacking third of the pitch. Danger man Dimitri Payet swung in the kick and Diafra Sakho beat the United defenders to score in the second minute for West Ham. United quickly equalized the game as their two big names, Paul Pogba and Zlatan Ibrahimović, combined for the goal. Pogba played a gorgeous long pass to the Swiss man and Zlatan easily headed the ball into the net.
The other moment of note in the match was when Mourinho got himself sent off after kicking a bottle. Mourinho was frustrated after a call did not go his teams way and referee Jonathon Moss saw fit to send the United boss off the pitch. The game ended in a 1–1 draw and kept United out of the top five teams. There is much of the season left and United has time to turn around their form and get it together. United have an enticing match-up against similar side Everton next week.
Other Scores from around the league
Hull City remains in the relegation zone with a 1–1 draw against West Bromwich Albion. Leicester City drew Middlesbrough 2–2 as they earned two penalties. Bob Bradley found his first win at Swansea City after a thrilling 5–4 victory over Crystal Palace. Stoke City surprises Watford with a 1–0 upset. Everton falls again in a 0–1 loss to Southampton.
