Premier League Review - Matchday 12
10/11/18 - 11/11/18
Remembrance Day was commemorated with the utmost respect this weekend all over the country and at every Premier League ground hosting a game. There was additional poignancy at Leicester where they had their first home game since the helicopter tragedy at the stadium two weeks ago. The club grieved their Chairman Vichai Srivaddhanaprabha and the four other victims.
Saturday
Cardiff 2 Brighton 1
Cardiff achieved only their second league win of the season. It was their second win in four games, but still not enough to lift them out of the bottom three just yet. In consecutive games, Brighton have now lost away to Everton and Cardiff, after they had won three on the trot.
Brighton did take an early lead through their captain Lewis Dunk, who headed home across the keeper from a free kick taken on the left. Paterson equalised after 28 minutes, heading home a short deflected cross by Harris. Brighton's Stephens got a first half red card for a challenge upon Cunningham.
Despite the 10-man opposition, Warnock's men had to wait till the last minute of ordinary time for their winner, which followed two corners, a goalmouth scramble and a long throw from the left. Bamba had an overhead kick rebound off the post, a follow-up shot was saved before Bamba made no mistake from that rebound.
Huddersfield 1 West Ham 1
After their 4-2 win last week against Burnley, West Ham probably hoped for more than this draw against struggling Huddersfield.
There were chances at either end early on before ex-Spur Alex Pritchard gave his side a 6th minute lead when he squeezed a left foot shot inside Fabianski's left post. It was the first home league goal by a Huddersfield player in over 700 minutes! Billing nearly added a second with a long shot from the left which beat the West Ham keeper, rebounding off the far post and rolling agonisingly along the goal-line before being cleared.
Hernandez came close to scoring for "The Hammers" early in the second half, but it took them until the 74th minute to equalise. Snodgrass had crossed from the left before Arnautovic mis-kicked, Hernandez's effort was blocked, along with that of Antonio, before Anderson fired the ball into the roof of the net.
Diop's header from a West Ham corner was cleared off the line by Mooy, and Durm fired just wide at the other end, but the score remained 1-1.
Leicester 0 Burnley 0
This game was clearly and understandably overshadowed by the heartfelt grief for the loss of the Leicester chairman. The match was attended by former managers, Nigel Pearson, Claudio Ranieri, Craig Shakespeare, and Martin O'Neill, and was preceded by a march to the ground by thousands of supporters led by Leicester squad members. The surrounds of the stadium had been adorned by carpets of floral and club scarf tributes, many of which which had been laid around the outside of the pitch for the game. A memorable silence was observed, with commemorative scarves held aloft around the stadium.
Vardy had a shot cleared off the line and Ghezzal's header hit the bar. Hart also saved from Gray in the first half, but there was no way through the Burnley defence for the "Foxes". Mr Srivaddhanaprabha's two sons tearfully applauded the fans and received affection after the game.
Newcastle 2 Bournemouth 1
Newcastle got a second consecutive league win and have one more point than Cardiff, so they are out of the bottom three, although only by one point. "The Toon" are one of seven clubs who have to be considered as involved in the relegation fight.
Rondon opened the scoring in the seventh minute. This was the first Premier League goal for Newcastle for the striker who is on loan from West Brom. Yedlin had been the provider, after a good run and cross.
Bournemouth's Brooks was denied a penalty, and former Spur Adam Smith had to be stretchered off with a leg injury. Rondon scored a second goal after 40 minutes. This one was a powerful header from Kenedy's cross from the left. It was the first time Rondon has scored twice in a Premier League game.
There were several minutes of first half added time, during which Bournemouth scored from Lerma's header after a corner on the left. Newcastle had three good chances to extend their lead during this period before and after the "Cherries"' goal.
The second half was goal-less, although Rondon had a couple of hat-trick chances, and Bournemouth had a "goal" disallowed for offside.
Southampton 1 Watford 1
Southampton manager Mark Hughes is rarely in a happy frame of mind after a game, but perhaps he was entitled to be upset by events which prevented "The Saints" from getting a first home win this season.
Gabbiadini had put Southampton ahead with a shot inside the area after a corner taken on the left after 20 minutes, when Watford's Peyeyra should have defended the situation better.
Referee Simon Hooper rarely has charge of Premier League games (this was his third such game in a year) and denied Watford a penalty when Chalobah seemed to have been fouled by Ryan Bertrand.
Charlie Austin thought he had scored a second goal for Southampton after 65 minutes, and was astounded when it was disallowed for offside. Replays showed that Yoshida was in an offside position and presumably deemed to be interfering with play, although apparently the officials thought Yoshida had touched the ball. Austin's outrage was displayed in a post-match interview, and went viral on social media.
Watford only aggravated the upset for the home side when Holebas's 82nd minute shot from the left of the area took a deflection and beat the Southampton keeper.
Crystal Palace 0 Spurs 1
Look at that gap this weekend! I don't mean the three point gap between fourth placed Spurs and Arsenal (although that is nice, of course!), but the seven point gap between Spurs and Bournemouth, Watford and Manchester United, who are in sixth, seventh and eighth places respectively.
This was Spurs' fifth consecutive 1-0 Premier League win over Palace, and our seventh successive win over the Selhurst Park side.
Goalscorer Juan Foyth edged out Moussa Sissoko for your man of the match vote. You can see the spursometer in full here.
Quotes of the week:-
1. ....."The way in which the team congratulated Foyth says much for its team spirit and was a delight to see. I am aging fast in the last five or ten minutes of each game though."
2......."Sissoko was outstanding- never thought I'd ever write those words."
Sunday
Liverpool 2 Fulham 0
Liverpool were always clear favourites to win this game, but it took them till the 41st minute to take the lead. The game turned within the passing of 14 seconds. A good headed goal by Mitrovic was disallowed for a debatable offside decision. Liverpool goalkeeper Alisson's free kick was a rolling ball, but Fulham were slow to respond to Liverpool's quick attack, and Salah's run and finish.
Shaqiri sealed the points with a left footed finish from Robertson's cross. Fulham are rooted to the bottom of the table, three points and the worst goal difference of the Premier League behind.
On Wednesday 14th November, Fulham announced that they had sacked manager Slavisa Jokanovic, and replaced him with Claudio Ranieri. Ranieri, who spent last season with French club Nantes, famously won the Premier League with Leicester in 2015-16. The "Tinkerman" has been sighted several times this season at Premier League grounds including those of his former clubs Leicester, and Chelsea. Ranieri is the first man to manage both Fulham and Chelsea since Bobby Campbell, who was at Fulham between 1976 & 1980, and at Chelsea between 1988 & 91.
Chelsea 0 Everton 0
Surprisingly there seemed to be quite a lot of needle in this game, and there were no goals. Referee Kevin Friend booked four Chelsea players and three on the Everton side. Jorginho was booked for the tackle that may have led ultimately to the departure of Gylfi Sigurdsson in the second half through injury.
England goalkeeper Jordan Pickford made a good double handed save from Alonso's shot in the first half and another diving save in the second from Morata. Chelsea keeper Arrizabalaga had to push over a Sigurdsson dipping shot. At the other end, Morata wanted a penalty when he was bundled in the box by Everton's Yerry Mina, who was making his first start for the club. Mina starred next to our own Davinson Sanchez for Colombia in the World Cup.
Hazard had one long range and one deflected shot saved by Pickford, before Alonso hit the outside of the keeper's left post with a powerful low drive. Morata did get the ball in the net but he was correctly called offside. Everton held out for a draw which helps Spurs, who can go above Chelsea if they win at Wembley on November 24th!
Arsenal 1 Wolves 1
Arsenal had a nasty shock early on at The Emirates, and it took them almost to the end of the game to level the scores. Wolves could easily have won the game after that too. 10 of the Wolves side have played every league game so far. The only exception was Cavaleiro who only made his full debut against Spurs last week.
It was Cavaleiro who gave Wolves the thirteenth minute lead after an exchanged pass with Jimenez. Helder Costa might have made it 2-0 on the counter, but Arsenal keeper Leno was brave. Leno was required to make a second save from Helder Costa, this time diving to his right to keep out a 20 yard shot.
The closest Arsenal came to scoring before their equaliser was when Aubameyang turned Bellerin's cross against the post. It was quite a miss from the middle of the goal area. Traore and Jimenez advanced upon the Arsenal goal with Jimenez feeding Jota, whose shot was saved by Leno. Arsenal's goal was scored following a corner and Mkhitaryan scored directly from what was surely intended as a cross.
Traore had a chance to get the lead back for Wolves in added time, but Leno saved the day again for the "gooners". On another counter led by Traore, another substitute Morgan Gibbs-White hit the inside of Leno's right post, only to see the ball go clear.
Manchester City 3 Manchester United 1
There is no doubt that City have the upper hand over United these days, and there is already a 12 point gap between the two sides. Both Pogba and Lukaku were left out of the United team. Pogba was in the stands, apparently injured in Turin where United had beaten Juventus this week. Lukaku was on the bench.
City came out of the traps like lightning, and totally dominated possession in the early stages. They went ahead after 12 minutes through David Silva, after Bernardo Silva had hooked a cross back across goal.
City seemed to lose intensity as the first half progressed but they started the second half in the same vein as they had the first. Aguero (who had dyed his hair silver for the occasion) hit a rocket of a shot literally through De Gea's hands to make it 2-0 in the 48th minute.
Lukaku did come off the bench and won a penalty when Ederson needlessly brought him down when the ball might have run out of play anyway. In Pogba's absence, Anthony Martial confidently converted from the spot.
United were never really in the game though, and when Gundogan sealed the win from Bernardo's pass, his goal came at the end of a remarkable 44 pass move.
Jose Mourinho's excuse for the defeat was that City had an easier run of games leading up to the Derby!
Now we have the final International break of the season, why not catch up with my Premier League Review Index which features summaries of all 120 games played so far!
Fixtures/Results 10-11.11.18
Saturday
Cardiff 2-1 Brighton
Hds'field 1-1 West Ham
Leicester 0-0 Burnley
Newcastle 2-1 B'mouth
S'hampton 1-1 Watford
C. Palace 0-1 Spurs
Sunday
Liverpool 2-0 Fulham
Chelsea 0-0 Everton
Arsenal 1-1 Wolves
Man City 3-1 Man Utd
Premier League Table
P W D L F-A GD Pts
1. Man City 12 10 2 0 36-5 31 32
2. Liverpool 12 9 3 0 23-5 18 30
3. Chelsea 12 8 4 0 27-8 19 28
4. Spurs 12 9 0 3 20-10 10 27
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5. Arsenal 12 7 3 2 26-15 11 24
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6. B'mouth 12 6 2 4 21-16 5 20
7. Watford 12 6 2 4 17-14 3 20
8. Man Utd 12 6 2 4 20-21 -1 20
9. Everton 12 5 4 3 19-15 4 19
10. Leicester 12 5 2 5 17-16 1 17
11. Wolves 12 4 4 4 12-13 -1 16
12. Brighton 12 4 2 6 13-18 -5 14
13. West Ham 12 3 3 6 14-18 -4 12
14. Newcastle 12 2 3 7 9-15 -6 9
15. Burnley 12 2 3 7 12-25 -13 9
16. C. Palace 12 2 2 8 8-17 -9 8
17. S'hampton 12 1 5 6 8-21 -13 8
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18. Cardiff 12 2 2 8 11-25 -14 8
19. H'dsfield 12 1 4 7 6-22 -16 7
20. Fulham 12 1 2 9 11-31 -20 5
