Premier League Review - Matchday 23
19 - 20/01/2019
Saturday
Wolves 4 Leicester 3
The last time these two sides met in the Premier League at Molineux was in October 2003, when the result was - 4-3! The only other Premier League fixture where this has happened in consecutive meetings was Liverpool v Newcastle in 1996 and 1997.
Wolves fans were chanting "Getting sacked in the morning at Leicester manager Claude Puel after his side went two goals down in the first 12 minutes. Puel's job might still be on the line despite his side coming back twice in this exciting game, but Wolves scored an added time winner, which might still be a hammer blow to the Leicester manager.
Wolves' first goal came within four minutes and followed a corner after Schmeichel made a brilliant one-handed save from Neves. Leicester failed to clear their lines and Wolves came back with Moutinho crossing from the right and Jota meeting the ball with a perfect right-footed touch across the goalkeeper. Wolves second goal came courtesy of a corner on the left and a header by Bennett.
Rui Patricio saved well from and Schmeichel held a Jota header from Jimenez's cross.
Leicester got two goals early in the second half to draw level for the first time. The first came after a defensive clearance and a good ball by Vardy to Demarai Gray, who ran with the ball from 40 yards out, entering the area and beating the goalkeeper with a low right-footed shot.
Leicester's Harvey Barnes had been recalled from his loan at West Brom and won a corner with a powerful shot tipped over by Patricio. Barnes had the ball in the net in the 51st minute, but his right footed shot had in fact been turned in by Wolves skipper Conor Coady.
Jota made it 3-2 as he ran onto a great ball by Neves, beating Schmeichel with a low shot for his second goal in the 64th minute. Wes Morgan made it 3-3 with three minutes remaining, heading in substitute Maddison's free kick.
That was not the end of the scoring though as Wolves grabbed a dramatic added time winner. Jota had one chance in front of goal from a Neves pass, but could not quite make the killer touch. He did get his hat-trick though when Jimenez crossed from the right and Jota scored. Wolves' manage Nuno Espírito Santo ran onto the pitch and joined in his players' celebrations and was sent off. Jurgen Klopp had been fined £8,000 for his last minute joy when Liverpool beat Everton last month and referees had been instructed to punish future infringements of this nature, where a manager/coach leaves his technical area. The Wolves manager has since been charged with misconduct.
Bournemouth 2 West Ham 0
Arnautovic didn't travel to Bournemouth and Andy Carroll made a rare start for West Ham. The first half was scoreless, with Brooks and Nasri going closest at either end.
Carroll missed a second half chance from less than two yards, somehow scooping the ball over the bar. Wilson showed how to score with a cracking right footed shot from nearly 25 yards after good work down the left by Ryan Fraser. Wilson hit the post with a later shot. Brooks set up King for the coup de grace in added time, and Bournemouth drew within one point of "The Hammers".
Liverpool 4 Crystal Palace 3
The last time two Premier League games finished 4-3 on the same day, Spurs were involved as we beat Portsmouth at home and Man Utd beat Everton away.
Liverpool played James Milner at right back in the absence of the injured Trent Alexander-Arnold and Palace played 39 year old veteran goalkeeper Julian Speroni in goal. Speroni's last first team game was in December 2017.
Liverpool had a nasty shock after 34 minutes when Zaha cut the ball back to Townsend, who scored with a low left footed shot at The Kop End. Salah and most of Anfield wanted a penalty when he went down easily when challenged by Sakho and Milivojevic, but referee Jon Moss wasn't interested.
Salah did equalise in the first minute after the break when he latched onto a Van Dijk shot that was deflected and looped to Salah's feet. Firmino made it 2-1 in the 53rd minute with a low right-footed shot after receiving the ball on the left of the area. This was a deflected shot. The home side were now in front of The Kop End, of course.
Tomkins levelled the scores with a header from a corner after 65 minutes. Palace became the first side to score more than once at Anfield in the Premier League this season. Speroni mis-handled James Milner's short-range cross and Salah pounced to finish, literally on the line. (3-2, 75 minutes).
Milner got a first booking for a foul on Zaha, and a second very soon after for another foul on Zaha. The first had been to prevent a Zaha advance. The second was needless really, near the half way line.
There were two goals in added time. The first was by Mane, who received from the left and fired home with his right foot from inside the area. There was still time for Palace to score as Townsend crossed from the right; substitute Wickham pushed the ball back, and Meyer beat Alisson with a shot inside the keeper's right post. Palace doubled Liverpool's goals against tally in the Premier League at home this season, and will offer Spurs tough Cup opposition next week.
Manchester United 2 Brighton 1
Ole Gunnar Solskjaer has now beaten Sir Matt Busby's record of five opening league wins as a manager, and actually has won his first seven games, including the FA Cup game against Reading.
Pogba won a penalty and scored from the spot in the 27th minute. Up till then the only United chance of note had been Rashford's shot which had been charged down. Button saved well by spreading his body in front of Martial at close range. Rashford made it 2-0 in the 42nd minute with a right-footed shot from the left of the goal, hitting the net on the far side at The Stretford End.
As always, Brighton did not make things easy and they got a goal back in the 72nd minute through Pascal Gross, after Davy Propper's ball from the left.
Newcastle 3 Cardiff 0
Newcastle got a much-needed win that lifted them out of the bottom three and consigned Cardiff into their former position. Perez had a header tipped over by Etheridge, but it was defender Schar who gave the home side a 24th minute lead with a run from the right, forging a path goalward, before beating the goalkeeper's right hand. That was Schar's first Newcastle goal and he got a second after 63 minutes when a corner from the right was flicked over and the ball more or less rebounded into the net off his legs.
Rafa Benitez was happy to consolidate his two goal lead, with Manquillo replacing Ritchie, but Newcastle did get a third goal in added time when Rondon crossed from the left and Perez had a simple finish.
Cardiff had only on Saturday announced the signing of Argentinian striker Emiliano Sala from Nantes in a club record £15 million deal, and today (Tuesday) French Police have confirmed that Sala was on board a light aircraft that went missing off Alderney last night (Monday). The continuing search for the plane was called off for the night at sunset on Tuesday and more news is awaited.
Southampton 2 Everton 1
Southampton's recovery under Ralf Hasenhuttl continues. Everton are once again under-achieving.
Jordan Pickford had been required to make a couple of good saves in the first half before Redmond skimmed his left post with a low shot. Danny Ings powered his way into the Everton area and Gomes nearly scored an own goal, but was saved by his post.
James Ward-Prowse scored a superb right footed goal from 23 yards, beating Pickford's outstretched arms to his right. (50 minutes). It looked as if Redmond had made it 2-0 after 64 minutes but it was in fact the unfortunate Digne, beating Pickford from just outside the area.
Everton had to wait till added time for what turned out to be no more than a consolation goal, scored by Sigurdsson from 20 yards, after pressure on the defence by Zouma.
Watford 0 Burnley 0
Tom Heaton's return to the first team has co-incided with Burnley's partial recovery and he made a good early save from Deulofeu. Tarkowski hooked clear another Watford effort by Sema. Ashley Barnes hit a header straight at Ben Foster at the other end. Barnes somehow put another chance wide from close range, but he had in fact handled the ball.
In the second half, Foster saved from Hendrick, and Heaton saved a Deeney header with his legs. Chris Woods thought he had snatched an injury time winner, but the offside flag had been raised.
Arsenal 2 Chelsea 0
Dare I suggest that this was the best result for Spurs in the circumstances? While fifth and sixth places have narrowed the gap in the top four, Spurs are secure in third place and 7 points ahead of Arsenal and Manchester United.
Arsenal started brightly, with Aubameyang firing wide, and Koscielny forcing a reaction save by Kepa. Lacazette scored with a rising shot from an angle on the right following a corner. Pedro pushed a shot wide after a good ball by David Luiz.
Aubameyang hit a scissor kick wide. Koscielny made it 2-0 after 39 minutes with an attempted header that came off his shoulder, and that was the end of the scoring. Arsenal right back Hector Bellerin is out for the rest off the season with an ACL injury.
Chelsea looked pretty lack-lustre throughout, and we must hope for a similar performance in our Carabao Cup semi-final second leg on Thursday night, but somehow I doubt that will be the case.
Sunday
Huddersfield 0 Manchester City 3
This was Huddersfield's first game without David Wagner, for whom the fans displayed affection before the game. The team was looked after for this game by under-23 team coach Mark Hudson, but the club have since announced former Borussia Dortmund second team coach Jan Siewert as their manager. David Wagner had the same history before he took the Huddersfield job.
Despite several team changes for the home side, the result went the way expected, with City running out comfortable winners.
Sterling had been denied a penalty by referee Andre Marriner before Danilo hit a shot from a good 25 yards, which beat the goalkeeper due to a wicked deflection in the 18th minute. That was City's 100th goal in all competitions so far this season. Spurs have amassed 72.
Sterling scored City's second goal in the 54th minute with a close range header from Sane's cross. The third came two minutes later courtesy of Aguero's lay-off to Sane who finished off. City have not conceded a goal in their last four games, and only one in five played so far in 2019.
Huddersfield are rooted to the bottom of the table, ten points away from safety. Mounie somehow managed to skew a chance wide in added time when he could at least have scored a consolation goal.
Fulham 1 Spurs 2
Not only was this Harry Winks' first goal since his full league debut against West Ham on 19th November, 2016, but this was his first Spurs Odyssey man of the match vote since that game. Winks made his 50th club start in Sunday's game and has made 38 substitute appearances as well in all competitions. Harry's winning goal has been watched many times over and he made a 60 yard run from his own half after starting the move which led to that goal. See the spursometer in full.
Quote of the week - "Fernando is class but was playing with no self belief. He could not help the own goal but in 2nd half started to impose himself and then missed a good chance! Georges-Kevin Nkoudou simply put in the perfect pass in the last seconds! It was game changing but his coming on changed the game and deserves huge credit. Eric Dier also made a big impact. This is all uplifting for me as self belief is big in this excellent squad when it is required"
The club have confirmed Dele Alli's hamstring injury, and along with Harry Kane, Dele will be out till at least early March. Son Henug-min's South Korea have progressed to the quarter-finals of the Asian Cup, leaving us without so much goal power at the moment.
Fixtures/Results 19-20.01.19
Saturday
Wolves 4-3 Leicester
B'mouth 2-0 West Ham
Liverpool 4-3 C. Palace
Man Utd 2-1 Brighton
Newcastle 3-0 Cardiff
S'hampton 2-1 Everton
Watford 0-0 Burnley
Arsenal 2-0 Chelsea
Sunday
Hds'field 0-3 Man City
Fulham 1-2 Spurs
Premier League Table
P W D L F-A GD Pts
1. Liverpool 23 19 3 1 54-13 41 60
2. Man City 23 18 2 3 62-17 45 56
3. Spurs 23 17 0 6 48-23 25 51
4. Chelsea 23 14 5 4 40-19 21 47
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5. Arsenal 23 13 5 5 48-32 16 44
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6. Man Utd 23 13 5 5 46-33 13 44
7. Watford 23 9 6 8 32-32 0 33
8. Wolves 23 9 5 9 27-31 -4 32
9. Leicester 23 9 4 10 29-29 0 31
10. West Ham 23 9 4 10 30-34 -4 31
11. Everton 23 8 6 9 34-33 1 30
12. B'mouth 23 9 3 11 33-42 -9 30
13. Brighton 23 7 5 11 25-32 -7 26
14. C. Palace 23 6 4 13 23-32 -9 22
15. S'hampton 23 5 7 11 25-40 -15 22
16. Burnley 23 6 4 13 23-43 -20 22
17. Newcastle 23 5 6 12 19-31 -12 21
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18. Cardiff 23 5 4 14 19-44 -25 19
19. Fulham 23 3 5 15 21-51 -30 14
20. H'dsfield 23 2 5 16 13-40 -27 11
