"Clearly our best performance of the season"
Premier League Review
Matchday 13 - 24-26/11/18
Saturday
Brighton 1 Leicester 1
Glenn Murray had his 100th Brighton goal celebrated with a presentation before his 100th Premier League game. Leicester's Jamie Vardy started on the bench.
Murray gave Brighton a 15th minute lead with a header from a corner. It was his seventh Premier League goal of the season. Leicester's James Maddison got two yellow cards in quick succession, the second of which was for simulation in the Brighton area.
Vardy did come off the bench in the second half and equalised from the penalty spot in the 79th minute after Iheanacho had been fouled by Kayal.
Everton 1 Cardiff 0
Cardiff remain in the bottom three after this ninth league defeat of the season. There was only one goal in it though. Gylfi Sigurdsson had a shot cleared just in front of his line by Bamba, but the former Spurs and Swansea player did get the decisive goal after 69 minutes when Walcott picked up a loose pass and had his shot parried but only to Sigurdsson's feet.
Fulham 3 Southampton 2
The "Tinkerman" had a good start to his Fulham managerial career but Mark Hughes' Southampton side did not make it easy, scoring two goals in a game for the first time in 8 matches. Stuart Armstrong scored his first goals for his new club, having been signed from Celtic in the summer.
Armstrong had threatened from outside the box with Gabbiadini following up Rico's save, and Rico making a second save to concede a corner. Armstrong did open the scoring after 18 minutes when Fulham failed to defend a cross from the left. Aleksandar Mitrovic, who hadn't scored for his club since 22nd September, but now has as many league goals as Harry Kane (7), equalised in the 33rd minute.
Schurrle gave Fulham a half-time lead, scoring at the back post after an excellent ball from the left by Ryan Sessegnon. Mitrovic nearly made it 3-1 from Schurrle's pass, but was denied by McCarthy. Armstrong made it 2-2 with a right foot drive from the edge of the box in the 53rd minute after a good passing move by "Saints".
Mitrovic's second goal in the 63rd minute came from another Sessegnon assist. Mitrovic's first had been a header, but this was a shot poked into the corner left of the keeper. The win lifted Fulham off the bottom of the league for a day at least, and Southampton were only outside the bottom three on goal difference, dropping down after Huddersfield's Sunday win.
Manchester United 0 Crystal Palace 0
When were Manchester United one of the two teams to be shown last on Match of the Day? Not often, I'll bet! It had been one way traffic in favour of United early on, but all they had to show for it was Martial being closed down by Hennessy. Zaha and Van Aanholt had chances for Palace, but missed the target.
Hennessy saved well from Lingard. Kouyate had the ball in the net for Palace before half time, but was marginally offside. Lukaku was also flagged offside when he converted Hennessy's save from Ashley Young's shot.
Palace were looking the more likely team to score and Andros Townsend pulled an excellent opportunity wide. Hennessy stretched to save from Lukaku.
Jose Mourinho did not look happy, and his United side are seven points behind the top four.
Watford 0 Liverpool 3
Liverpool remain unbeaten, along with Man City after this convincing win at Vicarage Road, although they had to wait till the second half before scoring. Deulofeu had the ball in the net early on for Watford, but had been flagged offside. Referee Jon Moss waved away Watford's appeals for a penalty in the second half when Will Hughes was caught by Robertson.
Liverpool captain Jordan Henderson was booked for tugging at Isaac Success, before Salah opened the scoring after 67 minutes from Mane's pass. Alexander-Arnold scored the second with an excellent right footed shot from a free kick, before Henderson got a second yellow card for a foul on Capoue. Henderson will miss next week's Merseyside Derby.
In the closing stages Robertson raced down the left wing and crossed. Foster saved from Mane, but could not stop Firmino's follow-up.
West Ham 0 Manchester City 4
Pep Guardiola's side continue to fly and this beating was at the expense of his predecessor at The Etihad - Manuel Pelligrini. The first goal came after 11 minutes and was an easy near post finish by David Silva from Sterling's pass. Number 2 was easy as Sane crossed low from the left, and Sterling finished. Only 19 minutes had gone.
West Ham had a couple of efforts with Ederson saving from Arnautovic and Antonio, but it was 3-0 inside 34 minutes when Sane turned cleverly and almost walked in Sterling's short pass. Antonio hit a shot which beat Ederson but not his left post. Sane scored his second and City's fourth in added time with a powerful low drive after substitute Jesus had crossed. West Ham are a full 18 points behind Spurs!
Spurs 3 Chelsea 1
This was clearly our best performance of the season with particularly high marks given to Chrisitan Eriksen, Harry Kane, Moussa Sissoko (his best performance in a Spurs shirt), Dele Alli and Son Heung-min. "Sonny" who scored his 50th Spurs goal (31st in the Premier League) for the club edged out Dele for the man of the match vote. See the spursometer in full.
Even referee Martin Atkinson scored his highest grade in a Spurs game since he was in charge of another Spurs win over Chelsea in January 2017. Dele Alli scored twice in that game!
Spurs are the only team in the top four tiers (and beyond) yet to have drawn a league game. Manchester City and Liverpool remain the only unbeaten teams in all four tiers. PSG have won all 14 of their first league games, whilst PSV have won all 13 of their first Eredivisie games.
Sunday
Bournemouth 1 Arsenal 2
I don't like the fact that I predicted the correct scoreline for this game, and I didn't see much of it, but of course I was rooting for Bournemouth. Brooks had the ball in the net inside 8 minutes, but was called offside despite Mustafi actually being on the ground and closer to the goal. Torreira hit the post for the visitors with a shot just a minute later.
Arsenal actually took the lead on the half hour through quite a spectacular own goal by Lerma from 10 yards with an outstretched foot. Begovic had no chance in the Bournemouth goal. Bournemouth levelled on the stroke of half time with a great team goal. Fraser raced away from the Bournemouth area and fed Calum Wilson on the left. Wilson passed inside to Brooks who passed to Josh King on the right of the Arsenal area, and King scored with a powerfully driven shot.
Arsenal took the lead in the 67th minute after a free kick conceded by Lerma. Aubameyang had an easy close range finish after Kolasinac's low cross from the left. Lerma hit the Arsenal post with a good shot from outside the area, and late in the game Leno had to clear after a Charlie Daniels header from a Bournemouth corner was prodded goalward by Sokratis.
Arsenal are three points behind Spurs going into next Sunday's Derby match.
Wolves 0 Huddersfield 2
They have fireworks before every game at Molineux, but Wolves have lost their early season sparkle and have now managed only one point from their last five games. Huddersfield have something of a hoodoo over Wolves, having won 12 of their last 14 meetings since the turn of the Century, and with this surprising but well deserved win, they lifted themselves 6 places off the bottom of the table.
Aaron Mooy, who went to Australia and back during the International break, scored both goals, which were his first this season. The first came in only the sixth minute after a cross from the left and a good shot from the edge of the box.
Jimenez was deprived of a second half equaliser with his header from Traore's cross by the closest of margins. Billing cleared off the line and technology showed only the very slightest part of the ball had not crossed the line. Mooy made it 2-0 in the 74th minute with a very well placed free kick which curled just inside Rio Patricio's left post.
Huddersfield managed the closing stages well, and manager David Wagner made a triple substitution to use up a fair bit of the added time too!
Monday
Burnley 1 Newcastle 2
Both teams were desperate for a win which would lift the winner above Huddersfield, who had won on Sunday, and give them a little breathing space away from the bottom three. Burnley were without a win in 5 games, and had only won once at home in the Premier League this season. Newcastle had found winning form, with two previous consecutive wins - at home to Watford and Bournemouth.
Newcastle were looking to end an unusual run of 10 consecutive Monday night football games which they had lost.
The game was delayed for half an hour due to a medical emergency involving referee assessor Eddie Wolstenholme, who thankfully was conscious in hospital. Newcastle took the lead following a fourth minute corner when Fernandez's effort took a deflection off Mee to leave Joe Hart stranded in the Burnley goal.
It was 2-0 to the away side after 23 minutes when Ciaran Clark glanced home a header following a short corner. Burnley striker Sam Vokes made it 2-1 five minutes before the interval with a fine powerful header from the edge of the area following Mee's long ball from the left. Newcastle keeper Dubravka had been caught a little too far off his line, but made a good save to deny Chris Wood before the break.
Matt Ritchie made an extraordinary miss from 2 yards when Yedlin's effort was touched on by Hart. Somehow, Ritchie managed to hit the side netting and not the goal with his shot in front of the travelling fans. Newcastle's lead was preserved though, and might have been increased had Joselu's shot not rebounded off the post. Newcastle climbed up to 13th place, while Burnley are only one place above the bottom three.
Fixtures/Results 24-26.11.18
Saturday
Brighton 1-1 Leicester
Everton 1-0 Cardiff
Fulham 3-2 S'hampton
Man Utd 0-0 C. Palace
Watford 0-3 Liverpool
West Ham 0-4 Man City
Spurs 3-1 Chelsea
Sunday
B'mouth 1-2 Arsenal
Wolves 0-2 Hds'field
Monday
Burnley 1-2 Newcastle
Premier League Table
P W D L F-A GD Pts
1. Man City 13 11 2 0 40-5 35 35
2. Liverpool 13 10 3 0 26-5 21 33
3. Spurs 13 10 0 3 23-11 12 30
4. Chelsea 13 8 4 1 28-11 17 28
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5. Arsenal 13 8 3 2 28-16 12 27
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6. Everton 13 6 4 3 20-15 5 22
7. Man Utd 13 6 3 4 20-21 -1 21
8. B'mouth 13 6 2 5 22-18 4 20
9. Watford 13 6 2 5 17-17 0 20
10. Leicester 13 5 3 5 18-17 1 18
11. Wolves 13 4 4 5 12-15 -3 16
12. Brighton 13 4 3 6 14-19 -5 15
13. Newcastle 13 3 3 7 11-16 -5 12
14. West Ham 13 3 3 7 14-22 -8 12
15. H'dsfield 13 2 4 7 8-22 -14 10
16. C. Palace 13 2 3 8 8-17 -9 9
17. Burnley 13 2 3 8 13-27 -14 9
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18. S'hampton 13 1 5 7 10-24 -14 8
19. Cardiff 13 2 2 9 11-26 -15 8
20. Fulham 13 2 2 9 14-33 -19 8
