Premier League Week 9 Wrap-Up

Tottenham and Arsenal are held by bottom half teams

Tottenham came into the week with two key players still out injured. Both Harry Kane and Toby Alderweireld were nursing injuries and were unavailable for the game against Bournemouth. Eric Dier was put in to start for Alderweireld while the Spurs leading goal scorer, Heung-min Son, earned the start for Harry Kane. Tottenham were looking to take the top spot on the table with a win but Bournemouth had other ideas.

The best early chance came from Bournemouth off of a short corner. The corner came to Dan Gosling who back heeled the ball into the path of Charlie Daniels. Daniels hit the shot but Lloris was able to make the save, denying the early goal for the home team.

In the 27th minute, Christian Eriksen had his chance to score. He took his shot that deflected off a defender, changing the path of the ball. Artur Boruc showed great reaction speed and agility to get low enough to parry the ball behind the touchline away from the goal. There would be no goals scored in the first half despite good chances for both teams.

The first chance of the second half came three minutes after the whistle when Boruc was forced into a save off of the shot from Dele Alli. Later Erik Lamela would miss his shot at the near post, just putting the ball above the crossbar. Tottenham were the team looking to score in the second half while Bournemouth were defending for majority of the forty-five. The Bournemouth defense proved up to the task and the game ended in a 0–0 draw.

While Tottenham remain undefeated on the season, they fell to fifth spot on the table. With five wins and four draws, Tottenham have been able to get points from every game they have played. Though it puts them in a good position, Tottenham need to get better results, as this is their second draw in a row against a team that is in the middle of the table. This draw moved Bournemouth up a spot to 10th and they are in the top half of the table.

Arsenal suffered the same fate as their London rivals in their 0–0 draw against Middlesbrough. The draw broke Arsenal’s win streak but kept them at the top the table. Petr Ćech was called on early in the 18th minute, as Laurent Koscielny was slow to get onto a ball and was run down by Adama Traoré. Traoré stole the ball away and powered ahead to have a go at the Arsenal keeper. Ćech was able to come up with the save on Traoré’s shot and the second shot by Alvaro Negredo. He was also gifted some luck on the free kick as the shot from Gastón Ramirez hit the post and bounced out. The shot was beautiful and Ramirez was very unlucky to not get a goal.

Arsenal also had a good free kick minutes later. Alexis Sánchez forced Victor Valdés into a save as the ball was heading for the top right corner of the net. Bournemouth responded in a move started by Traoré. Traoré whipped in a beautiful cross that came of the head of Negredo. The ball would come to a wide-open Ramirez who looked to head home the opening goal but Ćech was there again to make a great save.

The teams went into the locker room at the half with the score tied at 0–0. Arsenal would have the first chance of the half. Mesut Özil took a free kick and swung the ball into the box. Koscielny headed the ball high to the far post for Sánchez. Valdés attempted to catch the ball but was blocked by his defenders and Sánchez put the ball back across the face of the goal. The ball was just too high for Koscielny and Arsenal were unable to score.

Sánchez would continue to put pressure on Valdés and the Bournemouth goal. But Valdés was able to keep the ball out of the back of the net. While Arsenal’s opportunities came from Sánchez, Bournemouth’s chances would come from Traoré. Arsenal thought they had won the match in stoppage time as Özil put the ball in the net after a pass from Alex Oxlade-Chamberain. But Özil was in an offside position and the goal did not count. Bournemouth held on to end the game with a point.

Arsenal will be extremely disappointed they could not capitalize on other poor results around the league and take the number one spot for themselves against a team just outside of the relegation zone. The point for Middlesbrough was crucial as it kept them in the 17th spot, one spot away from the bottom three teams. Arsenal will face another bottom team next week and will look to take advantage of the easy opponent.

Everton narrowly lose to Burnley

Coming off their tie away at Manchester City, Everton had confidence carried into the most recent week as they played a team in the bottom half of the table in the form of Burnley. However, Burnley surprised the Toffees and took all three points from the match. Burnley was the first to score in the 39th minute. Jóhann Gudmundsson had a great run to bring the ball to the edge of the box and take a shot. Stekelenburg miffed the save and did not put the ball out of harms way. Sam Vokes took advantage of the poor clear and poked the ball into the next. The save was atrocious from Stekelenburg who was coming off of a terrific display against Manchester City last week.

Everton answered in the second half, equalizing the game. Romelu Lukaku took the ball in the attacking third for Everton. Yannick Bolasie took the ball from Lukaku and moved into the right side of the box. He took his shot and Tom Heaton was unable to save the ball and the score would be 1–1. Everton would be on the front foot for the rest of the match trying to find the game winner.

In the 89th minute, Heaton stepped up to take a free kick that was placed just before the halfway line. The ball lofted into the box and would come to Gudmoundsson. His shot hit the crossbar and fell to Scott Arfield. Arfield took a brilliant volley and Burnley found their late winner against the favored side. It was a well-taken goal and Stekelenburg was not able to keep the score level.

Dropping the three points kept Everton out of the top five teams and will be a massive disappointment for them. Burnley move up in the standings a bit and will hope this will transition into more wins for them. Everton will have an easy match-up against West Ham United next week and must clean up their mistakes.

Leicester finds points against Crystal Palace

Leicester has had a torrid start to the season, former player N’Golo Kante, and his new squad Chelsea, embarrassed the champions last week. This week Leicester was the team to step up and score three goals against their opponent. Leicester had more of their normal line-up starting the match but Jamie Vardy started the game on the bench.

It took until just before half time for Leicester to find their first goal. Interplay from Shinji Okazaki, Islam Slimani, and Ahmed Musa led to the first goal. Musa was the one to score from the top of the box, giving Musa his first goal for Leicester. A run from Danny Drinkwater led to the second goal for Leicester. Drinkwater crossed the ball to Slimani but Damien Delaney slid to keep the ball from reaching the striker. With no one else around, Okazaki jumped on the ball and scored the goal that would put Leicester comfortably up 2–0.

The third goal came off of a corner for Leicester. Christian Benteke cleared the ball away from the goal where it came to Christian Fuchs. Wolfried Zaha was slow to close down the Leicester player who took a beautiful shot that found the back of the net. Crystal Palace would get a consolation goal in the 85th minute. Crystal Palace did have good chances throughout the game but where unable to score until late. Zaha found Yohan Cabaye in the middle of the box and Cabaye ruined the clean sheet for Kasper Schmeichel.

Any points that Leicester can get are welcomed as they look to defend their title this season. They started off on the wrong foot but look to be climbing with some results in the Premier League and their great performances in the Champions League. They find themselves in 12th place and have a very tough match-up against Tottenham next week. Crystal Palace has been doing well for themselves and are in the middle of the table. They also will face a tough team next week in Liverpool.

Liverpool put on an attacking clinic against a stringent West Brom defense

Jürgen Klopp kept much of the same side that drew against United for his game against West Bromwich Albion. Adam Lallana rejoins the starting eleven and James Milner remains at left back. Tony Pulis also kept his side the same and has had the same starting eleven for most of the season.

Liverpool’s first goal was the result of a beautiful series of plays. Coutinho started the move by playing a dummy and letting the ball continue on to Emre Can. Can took the ball closer to the box when he passed to Roberto Firmino. Firmino crossed the ball into the box right to Sadio Mané who scored the goal with relative ease. Each player that was a part of the play executed their part brilliantly and it all culminated in a lead for the home side.

Later in the half, Darren Fletcher played an awkward pass back to Ben Foster who was forced to lash at the ball, botching the clearance. The ball went up high but did not go far. The ball fell to a West Brom player who was not able to control it and Sadio Mané picked up the ball. He passed it to Coutinho and Coutinho made a good move that made both West Brom defenders dive to one side while Coutinho cut the ball back and scored a great goal to put Liverpool up 2–0 just before the half. Foster was raving at his defenders for leaving him in a bad position and misplaying the ball.

Liverpool continued to execute brilliant attacking football from every player going forward. Firmino, Can, Mané, and Coutinho were especially in top form and looked as if they could have scored ten goals in the match. Foster was forced into multiple great saves and West Brom defenders had to make several crucial blocks to keep the gap at two goals.

As the game ticked closer to the final whistle, West Brom started to move forward and create chances. They were rewarded with a goal in the 81st minute. Chris Brunt took the corner and swung it into the middle of the box. The ball bounced off a head and fell to an unmarked Gareth McAuley right in front of the goal. With no defenders around and Loris Karius unable to close down quick enough, McAuley brought West Brom within reach of tying the match.

Liverpool was able to hold on and win the game, putting them at the top of the table alongside Manchester City and Arsenal. If they played against most other teams, Liverpool would have scored many more goals but West Brom was on top form to keep the game from getting out of hand. Foster put on another great keeping display and the defense held strong. However it was not enough against the quality and talent of the Liverpool players. Liverpool appears to be gaining form as other teams are losing theirs.

Manchester City barely gets a point from the week

Manchester City got a boost over the weekend with the return of Sergio Agüero to the starting line-up. Pep Guardiola kept the rest of his side the same, also starting long-time City captain Vincent Kompany. Southampton were on the rise as Charlie Austin has averaged a goal in his past four Premier League games and started his 50th league game.

City was on the front foot at the beginning of the game using their talent to create great chances. However it was not City that scored first in the game. City defender John Stones played a horrendous ball backwards that was meant for Kompany but fell behind him. Claudio Bravo was unable to come out of the goal quick enough to recover the ball and Nathan Redmond was able to put Southampton up 1–0 in the match against the run of play.

Stones looked to make up for his mistake later in the first half. He was on the receiving end of a free kick at the far post and snuck the ball past Forester to equalize the score. However, the goal was disallowed because Agüero was in an offside position and Mark Clattenburg judged him to have affected the play. The score would continue at 1–0 in favor of Southampton.

City continued their attack as they looked for an equalizer in the game. That moment would come after half time in the 54th minute. Fernandinho played a brilliant ball across the pitch to Leroy Sané. Sané eventually got the ball under control and found Kelchi Iheanacho in the middle of the box. Iheanacho was able to get the advantage over the defender and score for Manchester City.

Although both teams kept attacking and put a lot of pressure on the opposing defense, neither team was able to score another goal and the game ended 1–1. City have come in to a torrid run of form as they have only gotten two points from three games in recent weeks. Even with Agüero back, City is unable to close out games. Some big signings are being questioned but Guardiola stands behind his players. Southampton has found great form recently and a tie against the league leaders was not a disappointing result for then. Southampton will face Chelsea next week and City will play West Brom.

Jose Mourinho gets a rude welcome back to Stamford Bridge

In his first trip back to Stamford Bridge after being relieved of his managerial duties, Jose Mourinho has his side embarrassed. Antonio Conte stuck with the 3–4–3 formation that earned his team the win of Leicester City, using the exact same starting line-up against United. Rooney was left off the team completely, not even earning a space on the bench. Just like their Manchester counterparts, United committed a defensive mistake that lead to a goal.

This defensive mistake came in the first minute of the game. Marcos Alonso kicked the ball up field where Pedro was making a run. Daley Blind and Chris Smalling were slow to get to the ball and Pedro jumped on it, working past David De Gea and getting an early goal for Chelsea. That was the start for what would be a long game for Mourinho and his players.

The next goal came from a corner taken by Eden Hazard. The ball came off of Ander Herrera and Gary Cahill was alone to smash the ball into the net. United made another defensive mistake, this time it was Smalling failing to cover Cahill and let the Chelsea defender run free onto the ball. Eden Hazard would get his own goal after half time in the 62nd minute. He worked the ball on the right side, just outside the box. He laid the ball off to N’Golo Kante who passed it right to Nemanja Matić. Matić found Hazard making a run into the box and passed it to the Chelsea number ten. Hazard beat Smalling to the right and found his shot end up in the back of the net putting Chelsea up 3–0.

The last goal came nine minutes later. Pedro laid off a pass to Kante who took the ball into the box. Both Herrera and Smalling were unable to stop Kante as he scored Chelsea’s fourth goal of the game. Both the United defense and midfield were completely outmatched this game and looked useless in the match. Paul Pogba was ineffective and Chris Smalling was unable to stop the goals from flying in and was actually the cause of most of them. As the game was winding down, Conte started to pump up the crowd, and that seemed to upset Mourinho. Mourinho and Conte had a long talk as the game ended but neither has discussed what was said.

The game was a massive triumph for Chelsea and it put the team in fourth place, behind the three teams tied for first. Conte trusted the formation he put out last game and it brought him success again. Mourinho’s men find themselves in poor form after a lackluster tie against Liverpool and a humiliating defeat at the hands of his former club. Chelsea seems to be increasing their stock while United are losing theirs. Chelsea will meet streaking Southampton next week while United should be able to recover against Burnley.

Other scores from around the league

Stoke get a 2–0 win to get them out of the relegation zone against Hull City. Swansea halts the streak of Watford in a 0–0 draw. West Ham United beat Sunderland 1–0 to keep Sunderland at the bottom of the table with only two points.