Premier League Wrap-Up Week #8

Conte’s new formation nets a win for Chelsea

Going into the International Break, both Chelsea and Leicester have been struggling. Chelsea dropped points to Liverpool and was dismantled by Arsenal, but was on the rise after a win against Hull City. Leicester has been doing even worse doing as poorly of a title defense as Chelsea did last season.

Antonio Conte was on the hot seat as he has not lived up to expectations yet at Stamford Bridge. With this in mind, Conte decided to experiment against the Premier League champions and used a 3–4–3 formation. With Willian back in Brazil after a death in the family, Conte wanted to switch it up and use new players that have not seen as much action so far this season. Conte used a back three of David Luiz, Gary Cahill, and Cesar Azpilicueta. Conte utilized the pace and youth of both Luiz and Azpilicueta, electing to keep veteran John Terry on the bench.

In the wide midfield, Conte chose his two defensive midfielders in Nemanja Matić and N’Golo Kantè to patrol the midfield and give the back three some support. He put full-back Marcos Alonso and winger Victor Moses on the edges to have them run up and down the field while also supplying help defensively towards the touchline.

Up front Conte used Diego Costa as the main striker. Costa has scored many goals this season, and is an early contender for the golden boot award. Supporting Costa was Eden Hazard and Pedro. Hazard has had a terrific year so far, making up for his torrid season last time around. Pedro has not seen much play under Conte but with the absence of Willian he steps in.

Leicester made a few changes, dropping big summer signing Islam Slimani and in form Riyad Mahrez. Claudio Ranieri may have made these changes to keep his star players fresh for Leicester’s mid-week match in the Champions League. Leicester will be playing against Kante for the first time since he left the club as in the last meeting between the two teams Kante was sat on the bench.

The game started off well for Chelsea as the first goal was scored in the sixth minute. After an early save on a shot from Victor Moses, a corner was given to Chelsea. Hazard swung in the cross form the right side. The ball came to the near post where Matić flicked it on for a charging Costa who scored. There were no Leicester players tracking Costa’s run and the Spaniard was free to score at the far post.

Chelsea continued to test Kasper Schmeichel during the run of play. David Luiz came immensely close to scoring himself off of a free kick. Despite a gorgeous kick, the ball was just off and rebounded of the post. Chelsea would get another score in the first half by way of Eden Hazard. A defensive error by the Leicester midfield allowed the ball to travel into the final third where it came to Pedro. As he was falling, Pedro was able to flick the ball on for Hazard who won his 1-on-1 with the keeper putting Chelsea up 2–0.

Going into the second half, Chelsea continued with more chances and more control of the game. Leicester did have some chances of their own, narrowly scoring once but luck was on Chelsea’s side. Kante almost put the nail in the coffin but Wes Morgan came up with a fantastic stop to keep the lead at two. Moses put all hopes to rest in the 80th minute of play.

Chelsea youngster Nataniel Chalobah was subbed on in the second half and played a part in closing the game for Chelsea. A one-two was played between Moses and Chalobah and Moses was able to put the ball in the back of the net to win the game for Chelsea. This was a great game for Chelsea youngsters as Ruben Loftus-Cheek and Ola Aina also saw some playtime in the game.

Leicester has started off the season very poorly. They find themselves thirteenth in the table with only eight points from eight games and sporting a goal differential of minus six. Chelsea has not had the best start to the season but are in fifth place. They have struggled against top teams but a win against the defending champions may boost their morale. It will remain to be seen if Conte uses this formation again when Willian comes back.

Arsenal holds on in Bob Bradley’s debut

Swansea City comes back from the international break with a surprising new manager. Former US men’s national team coach Bob Bradley has been brought on to coach the Welsh side in the Premier League. While Swansea has had a horrendous start to the season, Arsenal was flying high in second place. Theo Walcott has been the man for Arsenal, as he has impressed in recent weeks.

Arsenal had the early chances in the game with Leroy Fer having the only good chance for Swansea. Walcott popped up in the danger area again for Arsenal. Alexis Sánchez played in Héctor Bellerin on the near post in the Swansea box. Bellerin headed the ball over to Walcott who wass able to get his body in front of Jordi Amat and score Arsenal.

Walcott again scored later in the thirty-second minute. A corner was taken by Santi Cazorla who swung it into the middle of the box near the keeper. Federico Fernández completely misses the header and fell on the ground while Walcott wass there for an easy score in front of the net. The Swansea defense was completely flat-footed and did nothing to stop the goal. That goal made it five goals in eight start in the Premier League for Walcott.

Granit Xhaka did not have his best match of the season. He takes too long on the ball and gifts the ball over to Icelandic star Gylfi Sigurdsson. Sigurdsson takes the ball and curls in a beautiful kick that beats Petr Čech into the net. Sigurdsson narrowly gave Swansea another goal just before half with a great free kick but Amat was unable to score.

Walcott was close to getting a hat trick early in the second half after Alex Iwobi made it past a few defenders before crossing to Walcott. Iwobi would play a part in the build-up to the third goal for Arsenal as well. Alexis Sánchez swung in a gorgeous cross to the far post for Mesut Özil. Özil thumped the ball into the back of the net, giving him a goal on his birthday.

Swansea did not go quietly as they attempted to mount a comeback. Modou Barrow wove in on the right flank before drifting towards the middle. He swung in a low cross to Borja Bastón who scored the second goal for Swansea. Swansea looked to further their comeback as Granit Xhaka was handed a red card in the 70th minute. However they were unable to score again despite some great chances and Arsenal won the match 3–2.

Despite not getting any points from the match, Bradley’s first match was a relative success for him. Arsenal has shown to be a top team in the league so far and defeating them would be tough. Swansea came extremely close and with some better defending and a little more luck could’ve gotten three points on the day. Bradley has a meeting next week against the surging Watford and that match will set the tone for the team. Arsenal keeps it together and rises further up the table

City are held at home

After being beaten for the first time this campaign, Manchester City only get one point at home against Everton. While City has had an amazing start to the season, Everton has also had a hot start and find themselves in sixth place.

Kevin De Bruyne and Leroy Sané were the danger men for City early on as they had the majority of chances in the match. David Silva also had a part to play, as he was able to earn a penalty for City before half time. Phil Jagielka just caught Silva and took him down in the box, knowing he did wrong. Kevin De Bruyne took the penalty but Maarten Stekelenburg was up to the task as he predicted the way De Bruyne would shoot and saved the penalty. The half would end 0–0.

Both keepers would be called upon early in the second half as the teams started rolling and creating chances. City was the first to cave as Romelu Lukaku scored the first goal of the match. As Yannick Bolasie was falling he over, he kicked the ball on to a surging Lukaku who picked it up and ran down the right flank. He beat the only defender covering him, Gaël Clichy, and slotted the ball in low to beat Bravo for the first score.

Jagielka gave up another penalty and it looked as if City would score and even the game up. This time is was Sergio Agüero who took the penalty, but Stekelenburg produced the same result as another fine save from the Dutch player kept the score 1–0 in favor of Everton. However, Stekelenburg would finally be beaten two minutes later on a header from Nolito. The cross came from Silva, as there was no second defender to pick up Nolito who got a goal on his birthday.

Stekelenburg would produce one more amazing save against De Bruyne to keep the game level. Stekelenburg was the man of the match without a doubt as it was his acrobatic abilities and timing that kept Everton in the game despite two penalties for City. Manchester City retains their first place in the Premier League although they are now tied with Arsenal. Everton are set to break into the top five teams making for a competitive start to the EPL season.

Tottenham were as bad as their kits

Even though Tottenham have failed to impress in the Champions League, the Spurs have had a bright start to the Premier League. Tottenham had yet to drop a game in the league ending up in third place after five wins and two draws. The team was coming off of a surprise win over league leading Manchester City. Meanwhile West Bromwich Albion has been an average team in the league.

There was not much action in the game until late. The first goal came in the eighty-second minute. James McClean launched a great shot off of a corner but Hugo Lloris was able to come up with a brilliant save to stop the ball from going in. However he was not able to control the rebound and Nacer Chadli was there to clean up the mess and put West Brom up 1–0.

Seven minutes later Tottenham would get their response and even the game. Eric Dier swung in a cross that made its’ way to Heung-min Son. Son kicked the ball over to Christian Eriksen who saw his initial shot blocked. Eriksen then fed the ball to Dele Alli who was able to rescue the point for Tottenham on the road. Despite a large amount of stoppage time, neither team would score again and the game ended 1–1.

Despite being in the top three, Tottnenham have only looked truly impressive in a few wins this season. They are lucky to have not dropped a game yet but could do so against a top club if their luck runs out. West Brom fought hard for their point here and it will do them well in avoiding the relegation zone but there are not many high hopes for this club in the current season.

Liverpool and United play to a dull tie

Jürgen Klopp used an interesting line-up due to injuries to some key players. Simon Mignolet was sat for new signing Loris Karius and James Milner was dropped into a full back role in the game. Lallana started the game on the bench and Georgino Wijnaldum was out with an injury. United kept a relatively similar line-up with Rooney continuing on the bench.

The majority of chances early in the game were hopeful shots from outside the box that soared over the crossbar. In his 100th game for Liverpool, Daniel Sturridge was able to create some chances for the team. David De Gea was the keeper doing more of the work during the match, especially going into the second half. The United defense was suspect at times relying on the Spanish keeper to keep the ball out of the net.

Karius was also forced to make some early saves and was put under pressure by striker Zlatan Ibrahimović. However neither team was able to score as the game ended 0–0. Despite a hyped up match-up between two historic teams, neither team was able to deliver the excitement and skill needed.

More often than not, players were caught offside as they looked to score and the overall pace of the game was poor. Both teams remain high up in the table but if they continue playing like this game neither will be able to challenge for the title. The game was awful and many fans would rather forget about the game and move on to the next match. David De Gea will remember the game because of the few fantastic saves he was forced to make because of his poor defense.

Other scores from around the league

Hull City falls further from their good start in a 1–6 loss to AFC Bounemouth. Stoke City gets their win with a 2–0 victory over Sunderland. West Ham United beat Crystal Palace 1–0. Watford continue their hot streak with a 1–0 win over Middlesbrough. Charlie Austin scores more goals for Southampton in a 3–1 over Burnley.