Premier League Review
Matchday 38
Sunday 12th May, 2019
Brighton 1 Manchester City 4
Manchester City became the first team to retain the Premier League title since their United rivals in 2008-09. They didn't quite match last season's 100 point final total, but do hold the record of the two highest totals, with Liverpool now third highest with their 97 point tally. Until the 38th minute though when Guardiola's men went into the lead here, the "as it stands" table had Liverpool on top.
City fans had heard the news of Liverpool's opening goal and things got worse for them when Glenn Murray headed in a corner taken on the left in the 27th minute. A minute later that man Aguero equalised with a low shot from the left of goal, after a nicely flicked pass by Bernardo Silva.
City's second goal came following a corner won after a poor back pass by Murray. It was Mahrez's shot on goal which was saved and Laporte who headed home from the corner. Tears were being shed at Anfield.
Ederson had to make a save from Dunk's late first half free kick, pushing the shot over the bar. Mahrez made it 3-1 to City in the 63rd minute to make it almost certain that the title was heading back to The Etihad. The goal followed a typical City passing move and a right footed shot from the edge of the area by the former Leicester man, who has only made 14 Premier League starts for his new club.
It was all over in the 72nd minute when Gundogan fired home a free kick after Sterling had been fouled. The Premier League trophy was presented to Vincent Kompany at the Amex Stadium, and City did organise a party outside The Etihad later on Sunday night.
City will be playing for a domestic treble at Wembley on Saturday against Watford.
On Monday Brighton announced the sacking of Chris Hughton, who had kept his team in the Premier League for a second season.
Burnley 1 Arsenal 3
Burnley have leaked 68 goals after the three that were scored in this game by Arsenal. Goalkeeper Tom Heaton might have been lucky to only see a yellow card for handling outside his area, but it was out on the left-hand side. From the free kick, Aubameyang headed against the post before Chris Wood hit the post at the other endd with a shot.
Aubameyang did open the scoring after 52 minutes when he came off best in a one on one against Heaton. He scored a second goal 11 minutes later firing home from an angle on the right after Iwobi crossed from the left. That put Aubameyang level with Mane and Salah on 22 league goals for the season.
Barnes got one back for Burnley in the 65th minute meeting Gudmundsson's cross, and Aubameyang missed a good hat-trick chance that would have given him the Golden Boot. Substitute Eddie Nketiah, aged 19, scored his first ever Premier League goal in added time, and it was in fact the final Goal of this season.
Arsenal now have to win their Europa League Final against Chelsea, otherwise they will be playing Thursdays and Sundays next season too! Here's hoping!
Crystal Palace 5 Bournemouth 3
There was an end of season goal festival at Selhurst Park! Travers was in goal again for "The Cherries" after his debut against Spurs last week. The first goal came after 24 minutes when Batshuayi turned in a deflected Zaha cross. He had a second 8 minutes later when he got a foot on the end of a low through ball by right back Wan-Bissaka who is getting some rave notices for his performances over the course of the season.
Zaha made a run from half-way and his shot was saved by Travers, but rebounded into the net off the unfortunate Simpson in the 37th minute. In Spurs' eyes, Lerma was a villain in last week's game, but he scored a cracking goal for Bournemouth on the stroke of half-time with a 25 yard shot that rocketed in off the underside of the right-hand frame.
Palace went close with shots by Townsend and Zaha before Jordon Ibe made it 3-2 after 56 minutes with a deflected shot from 19 yards. Palace left back Van Aanholt made it 4-2 after 65 minutes moving into the area and exchanging passes with Zaha before finishing through the legs of Travers.
The goalscoring was not over as Josh King scored at the back post from a corner after 73 minutes. Zaha had been riled after he was booked for a tussle with that man Lerma. The Palace winger went on a surging run down the left and into the area before he passed to Townsend on his right who scored with a left footed shot after 80 minutes.
Bournemouth have conceded 70 goals this season. Only Huddersfield and Fulham conceded more.
Fulham 0 Newcastle 4
Earlier in the final week of the Premier League season Fulham announced the appointment of Scott Parker as manager on a permanent basis, or at least on a two year contract, but this was not a happy first game for him in his new status.
Shelvey opened the scoring with a 9th minute shot from a corner. It was a nice angled right footed shot, and was his first goal for over a year. Two minutes later Fulham were all at sea, as Ritchie advanced, Sergio Rico spilled Atsu's weak shot and Perez made no mistake.
Newcastle's third goal also came from a set piece after 61 minutes when Schar was allowed a free header from a corner taken on the left. Fulham had a "goal" disallowed for offside when Ayite turned in Anguissa's shot, and in the last minute Rondon scored when his first shot was saved and he converted the rebound. It was either Rondon's last goal for Newcastle, as his loan has come to an end, or perhaps he will be signed permanently from West Bromwich Albion.
Leicester 0 Chelsea 0
Had Spurs won their game, then Chelsea would have lost the third place they had taken last week. That was not to be . There were no goals here, but Schmeichel made a good close range save to deny Barkley in the early stages. Higuain put another effort wide at the end of the first half, and that was about as close as anybody came to scoring.
Chelsea have an appointment with Arsenal in Baku later this month. I am obliged to support Chelsea in that game!
Liverpool 2 Wolves 0
It is a phenomenal achievement to come second in the Premier League with the second highest points total of 97 points, but that is what happened to Liverpool. This was always the likely outcome in the recent week by week Premier League title race in which Liverpool played first, taking the lead, before City would play and overtake them. Today, of course, they kicked off at the same time.
Liverpool did go ahead in the race for the title when they took a 17th minute lead. Alexander-Arnold's cross took a slight deflection and fell nicely into the path of Mane, who fired low into the net in front of The Kop.
Doherty hit the top of the bar with a right footed shot after a Wolves counter attack in the first half.
Liverpool fans were defiant in the knowledge of Manchester City's 4-1 lead, and their team got a second goal - again scored by Mane - in the 81st minute when he met Alexander-Arnold's cross from the deep at close range. Mane was actually offside and the goal would be disallowed with VAR being introduced next season.
That goal gave Mane a share of the Golden Boot with his team mate Salah, and Arsenal's Aubameyang.
Mauricio Pochettino will no doubt watch a full video of this game to see how Wolves made this win so hard for Liverpool, who had forged few chances on goal. Spurs must hope that more tears are shed by Liverpool fans on June 1st in Madrid, and that they are not as a result of joy!
Manchester United 0 Cardiff 2
United were embarrassed here by relegated Cardiff, and very few of the home fans remained in the "Theatre of Dreams" to applaud their team on their "lap of honour". United might yet face the nightmare of an early start to a qualifying campaign for next season's Europa League which would make a mess of their lucrative pre-season plans.
17 year old Mason Greenwood made his first senior start in this game. Greenwood had an early headed chance, but it was never really testing Cardiff keeper Etheridge, who has had such a good season, despite the fate of his team.
Mendez-Laing was awarded a penalty by referee Jon Moss, and scored from the spot in front of the Stretford End in the 23rd minute. United's young player of the year Greenwood responded with a shot from the right of the area, which took a deflection but still needed a very good save by Etheridge to prevent an equaliser. Murphy had a good shot from the edge of the box for Cardiff, and that required a good save by De Gea just before the end of the first half.
Cardiff fans sang "You're getting sacked in the morning" to their former manager, just before Cardiff attacked from a throw on the right; Murphy crossed from the right inside the box and Mendez-Laing had another goal - this one an easy finish.
Etheridge made another great save - this one at close range - to deny Rashford's headed attempt from a corner. Pogba got only a booking for pushing Murphy then literally pulling him to the ground in his frustration. Pogba also put his hand in Murphy's face. It seemed to be a worse offence than that which has got Son Heung-min banned for three League games.
Neil Warnock has described this as his last Premier League game with Cardiff. He has turned 70 now and has one year left on his contract.
Solskjaer has won just two of his last 12 games in charge of United, who might be wondering if they did pick the right man for the job after all.
Southampton 1 Huddersfield 1
Huddersfield played in their yellow shirted third strip and gifted one to each and every one of their fans who made the trip for their last Premier League game - of this stay anyway. Their team got another point too!
Redmond opened the scoring in the 41st minute with a stunning right footed shot. Redmond teed up Long for another goal, but Long's effort was blocked. 23 year old Joel Coleman made a debut in goal for the visitors and denied Ward-Prowse with a good diving save, pushing the ball onto his right post.
Alex Pritchard took advantage of a horrible error by Angus Gunn to score a gifted equaliser.
Spurs 2 Everton 2
Moussa Sissoko won your man of the match vote for the 9th time this season, and remains a candidate for the Spurs Odyssey player of the season poll with one very important game to come! Eric Dier's goal was the fastest yet scored in our new stadium. You can see the full spursometer here.
Watford 1 West Ham 4
Watford fielded a strong side, despite their FA Cup Final appointment. The side included former Spurs man Etienne Capoue, who has been voted Watford's player of the season.
Mark Noble scored a fine individual goal after 15 minutes, as he ran through the middle before slotting the ball inside the keeper's right post. It was his first goal from open play this season. Antonio had a shot which hit the bar with Lanzini scoring from the follow-up in the 39th minute.
Fabianski made a good close range save from Troy Deeney after a Watford corner had been headed down by Doucoure on the stroke of half-time, but Deulofeu did score seconds into the second half when he latched onto Zabaleta's poor back pass, and skilfully pushed the ball past the keeper before scoring.
Holebas was sent off for an alleged push in the back upon Antonio just outside the Watford area. Nothing came of the free kick. West Ham went 3-1 up through Arnautovic as Anderson's shot rebounded off the post and Arnautovic scored from the rebound. West Ham had a penalty after 77 minutes when Antonio went down, and Noble had a second goal - this time from the spot.
West Ham have managed a top half finish for only the second time in 6 seasons. At the start of this one they had looked like being relegation candidates!
Holebas's red card has since been rescinded so he will be available for the FA Cup Final.
Spurs Odyssey has summarised or reported upon every single one of the 380 Premier League games played this season. Just check the Review Index page to find all of those reports!
Fixtures/Results 12.05.19
Sunday
Brighton 1-4 Man City
Burnley 1-3 Arsenal
C. Palace 5-3 B'mouth
Fulham 0-4 Newcastle
Leicester 0-0 Chelsea
Liverpool 2-0 Wolves
Man Utd 0-2 Cardiff
S'hampton 1-1 Hds'field
Spurs 2-2 Everton
Watford 1-4 West Ham
Premier League Table
P W D L F-A GD Pts
1. Man City 38 32 2 4 95-23 72 98 C
2. Liverpool 38 30 7 1 89-22 67 97
3. Chelsea 38 21 9 8 63-39 24 72
4. Spurs 38 23 2 13 67-39 28 71
=========================================
5. Arsenal 38 21 7 10 73-51 22 70
6. Man Utd 38 19 9 10 65-53 12 66
=========================================
7. Wolves 38 16 9 13 47-46 1 57
8. Everton 38 15 9 14 54-46 8 54
9. Leicester 38 15 7 16 51-48 3 52
10. West Ham 38 15 7 16 52-53 -3 52
11. Watford 38 14 8 16 52-59 -7 50
12. C. Palace 38 14 7 17 51-53 -2 49
13. Newcastle 38 12 9 17 42-48 -6 45
14. B'mouth 38 13 6 19 56-70 -14 45
15. Burnley 38 11 7 20 45-68 -23 40
16. S'hampton 38 9 12 17 45-64 -19 39
17. Brighton 38 9 9 20 35-60 -25 36
=========================================
18. Cardiff 38 10 4 24 34-69 -35 34 R
19. Fulham 38 7 5 26 34-81 -47 26 R
20. H'dsfield 38 3 7 28 22-76 -54 16 R
