Premier League Review 25-27.08.18 - Matchday Three.
Wolves 1 Man City 1
The Wolves fans were naturally up for this game at Molineux, hosting the Champions. Away fans are still accommodated along the full length of the lower tier on one side of the pitch here.
There was plenty of excitement in the first twenty minutes with Wolves having a couple of chances, getting the ball in the net once, but correctly called offside. City had two shots hit the woodwork - one from Aguero; the other by Sterling, whose shot was pushed onto the corner of the bar by Rui Patricio.
A Mendy cross after 40 minutes was parried by the Wolves goalkeeper to the feet of Aguero, but the Argentinean was unable to get enough force on his shot.
City dominated possession and won several corners in the second half before Wolves won a corner after 55 minutes. Ederson saved well from Costa, but after the corner and a cross from the left, Boly's final touch to score was with his hand, but all the officials missed that.
City equalised in the 69th minute with a powerful header by Laporte (his first for the club) after a well delivered free kick by Gundogan. Rui Patricio made a point blank save from substitute Gabriel Jesus's header. £60 million Riyad Mahrez was a late substitute, and City had most possession but Wolves held on, despite an added time free kick by Aguero hitting the bar.
Arsenal 3 West Ham 1
West Ham have lost their first three games of the season for the first time in 8 years. They started this one brightly though with Arnautovic having gone close before giving the visitors the lead in the 25th minute. Monreal soon levelled the scores on the half-hour. It took Arsenal until the 70th minute to take the lead and that was through Diop's own goal from Lacazette's ball. Danny Welbeck made it 3-1 in added time to secure Emery's first win, and to leave Pellegrini's "Hammers" at the bottom of the league. Wolves will give West Ham a good test next week at The London Stadium.
Bournemouth 2 Everton 2
Everton were down to 10 men after 41 minutes when Richarlison blotted his copybook with the slightest of head butts on Adam Smith, but there probably be no appeal for him, and many fantasy teams (including mine!) will have to be changed. Despite the setback Walcott gave "The Toffees" a 56th minute lead with a good low shot.
Smith was sent off for a "last man" offence on Walcott in the 61st minute. Michael Keane gave Everton a 2-0 lead with a header from Sigurdsson's cross.
Calum Wilson had already threatened to score before he was nudged in the back by Baines and King scored from the spot. Bournemouth completed their comeback with a close range goal by Ake in the 79th minute.
Everton's Michael Keane suffered a hairline fracture of the skull, and faces three to four weeks out of action.
Huddersfield 0 Cardiff 0
This was the first top flight meeting between these two clubs since 1956. Already both are favourites for the drop. Cardiff are the only English league team yet to score a goal and Huddersfield managed one last week at The Etihad. Neither managed to score in this predictable result (I got it right!) Huddersfield's Jonathan Hogg was sent off following an arms-up offence against Harry Arter (on loan to Cardiff from Bournemouth). The incident followed a Cardiff corner and referee Michael Oliver needed his assistant's help in making a correct decision. Hogg was one of four players sent off on the day in the Premier League. Cardiff had the best chances to win the game in the closing stages.
Southampton 1 Leicester 2
This was a happy return to St. Mary's for Leicester manager Claude Puel. Danny Ings had a good turn inside the box, and his shot was well saved by Schmeichel in first half added time, but it was Ryan Bertrand who gave the home side the lead with a rasping rising shot in the 52nd minute.
Gray equalised within minutes for Leicester with a right footer. Southampton went down to 10 men when Hojbjerg was booked for the second time for simulation in the Leicester penalty area. England World Cup hero "slab head" Harry Maguire advanced and scored an added time winner (with his foot) to snatch the points for "The Foxes".
Liverpool 1 Brighton 0
Liverpool were unchanged for the third consecutive game. The Reds were on the front foot from the start. Mane had a shot just wide from Salah's pass. Then Firmino had a close range effort well saved by Ryan before Trent Alexander-Arnold's free kick hit the top of the crossbar.
In the 22nd minute, Brighton lost the ball from their own free kick and the inevitable Mo Salah finished Liverpool's move firing across Ryan into the far corner of the net.
Knockaert had a great opportunity near the start of the second half after great work by Murray on the bye-line, but Knockaert hit the shot wide. Brighton defended well and frustrated the home side with Murray sometimes no more than 25-30 yards from his own goal.
Alexander-Arnold probably came closest to adding to the Liverpool score but Gross also forced a good save from Alisson at his left post. The keeper had been given one or two other difficult moments too.
Chris Hughton will be frustrated that the one goal defeat came as a result of his team's errors with that free kick. Liverpool became the first of 6 possible teams to win their first three games after Man City and Bournemouth dropped points, and went to the top of the table on Saturday night.
Watford 2 Crystal Palace 1
Watford mascot Harry the Hornet was the target of Palace manager Roy Hodgson before this game, but Watford's players (and fans) certainly had their eyes on Zaha, who their mascot had derided on a previous occasion. Ex-Spur Etienne Capoue was perhaps lucky to only see yellow for his fourth minute challenge on the Palace talisman. Zaha got booked himself and attracted boos from the home fans throughout the game.
Foster made a couple of decent first half saves, one from Benteke's effort, and at the other end Pereyra had a shot deflected over the bar.
Watford started the second half brightly and it was no surprise when Pereyra gave his side a 53rd minute lead with a well placed shot inside Hennessy's left post. That was Pereyra's third goal of the campaign.
Palace were now struggling against a strong defence to get a foothold in the game, which looked beyond them in the 71st minute once Janmaat floated in what was probably an intended cross which beat Hennessy, again inside his left post.
Zaha got one back for Palace in the 77th minute, after a wall pass from substitute Max Meyer, scoring from an angle with his right foot. That put him on 24 Premier League goals for Palace, beating the former record of Chris Armstrong, signed by Spurs from Palace in 1995. Palace very nearly equalised in the last minute of added time, but Ward headed wide with the goal beckoning, following a corner. Watford joined Liverpool on 9 points from 3 games.
Fulham 4 Burnley 2
Fulham got off the mark, and Burnley are in the bottom three after a busy start to the season which has included their efforts to qualify for the Europa League group phase. As they lost 3-1 away to Olympiakos on Thursday, they are likely to fail in that task.
Fulham manager Slavisa Jokanovic made 5 changes to his starting line-up. Ryan Sessegnon started on the bench and goalkeeper Bettinelli returned. Summer signing Seri gave the home side the best of starts with a super 25 yard goal in the 4th minute. Burnley equalised 6 minutes later through Hendrick, who scored following Aaron Lennon's ball from the right.
Mitrovic got his first goal of the game in the 36th minute following a well planned Fulham corner, taken by Seri. It was 3-1 before half-time and the scorer was again Mitrovic, this time heading home Vietto's cross. Tarkowski brought the score back to 3-2 with a close range goal following a corner and Mee's header.
There was only one goal in the second half and it didn't come until the 83rd minute when Mitrovic's shot hit the post but was fired in by Schurrle when the ball rebounded to his feet.
Newcastle 1 Chelsea 2
The home side played a remarkably defensive game, with a 5-4-1 formation, and most of the time it was a case of Chelsea pressing and trying to break through. Rudiger hit a stunning shot from some 25 yards after 71 minutes which rebounded off the bar. The deadlock was finally broken in the 76th minute when Eden Hazard converted a penalty awarded by referee Paul Tierney for a foul on Alonso.
Newcastle got an 83rd minute equaliser when substitute Joselu met Yedlin's cross at the near post to head home. Chelsea complained about an alleged foul by Yedlin, but the referee was not interested. Joselu had been the scorer when Spurs travelled to St. James' Park on the opening day of the season.
The points were sealed when Hazard was fouled and Willian floated a free kick to the back post. Giroud headed back; Alonso shot towards goal but it was an own goal by Yedlin, who had created the equaliser. Chelsea joined Liverpool and Watford at the top of the league.
Manchester United 0 Spurs 3
Match facts (courtesy of Declan Mulcahy):-
· Tottenham have begun a top-flight season with three wins from three games for only the fifth time in history, and first since 2009-10.
· Manchester United have lost two of their opening three Premier League games for the first time since 1992-93, when they ended up winning the title in the competition's inaugural season.
· This was United boss Jose Mourinho's biggest home defeat in all competitions as a manager.
· Mourinho has lost two of his opening three games in a league season for the first time in his career.
· All three of Tottenham's league wins at Old Trafford have come with a different manager at the helm - Andre Villas-Boas (Sep 2012), Tim Sherwood (Jan 2014) and Mauricio Pochettino.
· This was United's 50th home defeat in the Premier League.
· Tottenham striker Harry Kane has scored at 25 of the 28 Premier League grounds he has played at, the exceptions being Upton Park, the Stadium of Light and Cardiff City Stadium.
· There were just 133 seconds between Tottenham's opening two goals - the quickest time between two goals for the away side at Old Trafford since April 2012 (112 seconds between Nikica Jelavic and Steven Pienaar strikes for Everton).
Lucas Moura was the Spurs Odyssey man of the match and you can see the full spursometer here.
Fixtures/Results 25-27.08.18
Wolves 1-1 Man City
Arsenal 3-1 West Ham
B'mouth 2-2 Everton
Hds'field 0-0 Cardiff
S'hampton 1-2 Leicester
Liverpool 1-0 Brighton
Sunday
Watford 2-1 C. Palace
Fulham 4-2 Burnley
Newcastle 1-2 Chelsea
Monday
Man Utd 0-3 Spurs
Premier League Table
P W D L F-A GD Pts
1. Liverpool 3 3 0 0 7-0 7 9
2. Spurs 3 3 0 0 8-2 6 9
3. Chelsea 3 3 0 0 8-3 5 9
4. Watford 3 3 0 0 7-2 5 9
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5. Man City 3 2 1 0 9-2 7 7
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6. B'mouth 3 2 1 0 6-3 3 7
7. Leicester 3 2 0 1 5-3 2 6
8. Everton 3 1 2 0 6-5 1 5
9. Arsenal 3 1 0 2 5-6 -1 3
10. C. Palace 3 1 0 2 3-4 -1 3
11. Fulham 3 1 0 2 5-7 -2 3
12. Brighton 3 1 0 2 3-5 -2 3
13. Man Utd 3 1 0 2 4-7 -3 3
14. Wolves 3 0 2 1 3-5 -2 2
15. Cardiff 3 0 2 1 0-2 -2 2
16. Newcastle 3 0 1 2 2-4 -2 1
17. S'hampton 3 0 1 2 2-4 -2 1
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18. Burnley 3 0 1 2 3-7 -4 1
18. H'dsfield 3 0 1 2 1-8 -7 1
20. West Ham 3 0 0 3 2-9 -7 0
