Fixtures/Results 20-22.10.18
Saturday
Chelsea 2-2 Man Utd
It was nearly a very happy return to Stamford Bridge for Jose Mourinho, but he was deprived of a win by a late equaliser and then upset by the antics of Chelsea second assistant coach Marco Ianni, who later apologised for his exuberant celebrations in front of Mourinho's bench.
It had not been a good start for United, who fell behind to Rudiger's free header from a 21st minute corner. It took until the 55th minute for United to equalise and the goal came from Anthony Martial who scored from close range after a couple of United efforts had been blocked or saved. Chelsea threatened with De Gea making a good right hand save from Kante.
Martial scored again in the 73rd minute with a right footed shot inside the goalkeeper's left post. United fans were dreaming of a first Stamford Bridge win since the days of Sir Alex Ferguson, and a climb up the table, but Chelsea's equaliser came in the 96th minute after a long throw and several efforts in the United area. Ross Barkley. That was the cue for Ianni's antics which riled Mourinho.
The result was good for Spurs with both teams dropping two points. United are seven points behind us, whilst we have drawn level with Chelsea on 21 points.
B'mouth 0-0 S'hampton
I had fancied Bournemouth to win this one, but Mark Hughes' side secured a precious point. They probably came closest to winning the game too when Hojbjerg's second half shot was pushed over the bar by Begovic.
Cardiff 4-2 Fulham
Cardiff have overtaken Fulham with this first league win of the season, and climbed out of a bottom three which now includes the "Cottagers".
Bettinelli had saved early on from Murphy, but it was Fulham's Schurrle who gave the visitors an 11th minute lead with a lovely right footed shot from a full 25 yards. It was soon 1–1 and Murphy was the scorer after he had seen another effort saved by the Fulham keeper before scoring across Bettinelli in the fifteenth minute. After a Cardiff free kick move had broken down, Bobby Reid made it 2-1 when the ball did break to him in the Fulham area.
Ryan Sessegnon made it 2-2 with his first Premier League goal after 34 minutes. He had another effort saved in the second half. Fulham's defence is officially the worst in the Premier League and Paterson was allowed a well placed shot from the edge of the area after 65 minutes. Cardiff secured their win with three minutes remaining after Fulham struggled to recover from Ream's slip and Kadeem Harris scored his first Premier League goal.
Man City 5-0 Burnley
It certainly wasn't a happy return to The Etihad for Joe Hart who conceded five goals against his old team. Kevin De Bruyne returned from injury and came off the bench after 58 minutes, by which time City were already three goals up.
City's goals came from five different scorers. Vincent Kompany took out Aaron Lennon with a high tackle after only 35 seconds, but only got a yellow card. Hart made a good save from Aguero following Mahrez's cross, but there was no stopping the ace striker after 17 minutes when Silva crossed. Hart made a great save from Silva and then Aguero missed a sitter.
City scored two goals in quick succession before De Bruyne's entrance. Firstly, Sane wanted a penalty after a challenge by Cork, and while the Burnley defence seemed to freeze, David Silva crossed (the ball was over the line) and Bernardo Silva fired home. City won a corner almost immediately after the restart, after which Fernandinho fired home.
Two more goals followed late in the game. Mahrez scored a curling left footed shot from outside the box, and Sane passed Mendy's cross into the net.
City are top of the league with a goal difference of +23, and we all know they will be formidable opponents at Wembley on Monday 29th October.
Newcastle 0-1 Brighton
The "Magpies" have fallen to rock bottom of the league, and have lost their first five home games of the season. They are only the fourth top flight team in history to have such a start. Brighton's solitary goal was scored not by Glenn Murray who was stretchered off after a nasty aerial collision, but from Kayal, who deflected in Izquierdo's shot.
Shelvey had a shot saved by Ryan and it ran out to Muto, but all he could do was head over the bar at The Gallowgate End. Kenedy had a shot go just over the bar, and Ryan saved twice from Shelvey in the second half. Firstly he saved a long range effort, and secondly a well placed free kick 13 minutes from the end.
Not only did Brighton soak up the pressure, but they could have made it 2-0 through Bissouma. This was their second consecutive 1-0 win and their third in all, which was also by one goal. Chris Hughton's side sit six points above the bottom three - a more than satisfactory position.
West Ham 0-1 Spurs
This was Erik Lamela's first Premier League start of the season, and I did consider a headline of "Erik the five King" due to his fifth goal of the season in all competitions. Erik was in contention for man of the match, but was beaten only by Hugo Lloris, who made three vital saves from Arnautovic. Check out the spursometer here. Both Lamela and Lloris made Garth Crooks' team of the week.
Wolves 0-2 Watford
This was a surprising but deserved win for Watford - their first since beating Spurs on September 2nd. Wolves had not lost a Premier League game since August 18th and were overtaken as a result of this defeat.
Etienne Capoue scored a cracking goal from 27 yards after 20 minutes - his first in the league since August last year. This was very quickly followed by Peyreya, within 58 seconds in fact! Watford fans were in dreamland and Wolves never recovered.
Hds'field 0-1 Liverpool
Liverpool maintained their title challenge, but they didn't have it easy against struggling Huddersfield. Salah scored his first away goal of the season in the 24th minute from Shaqiri's astute pass, but Jonathan Hogg was unlucky to beat Alisson, but not the Liverpool keeper's right post.
Huddersfield had some pressure on the Liverpool goal late in the first half with a failed penalty appeal for handball, and also an offside "goal" by former Spur Alex Pritchard. The "Terriers" kept trying in the second half having one decent shot by Depoitre well saved and another effort lifted over the goal. Liverpool had a couple of chances but failed to add to their one goal.
Sunday
Everton 2 C. Palace 0
Crystal Palace have only scored 5 goals all season, and the closest they came in this game was when they were awarded a penalty for Coleman's foul upon Zaha. Unfortunately, Milivojevic's shot down the middle was saved by Jordan Pickford's legs despite his dive away from the ball. Pickford was the home crowd's hero, and Zaha their villain, despite the fact the penalty had been correctly awarded.
Palace had defended stoutly, and even had the best of the chances to score in the first half, but Everton manager Marco Silva's substitutions turned out to be magical. Firstly Calvert-Lewin headed home Lookman's delicate cross, and within two minutes with Palace desperately trying to get back on terms, Silva's third substitute Cenk Tosun raced onto a long clearance and made it 2-0.
Everton climbed above Wolves and Manchester United, whilst Palace face a difficult run of games against Arsenal, Chelsea, Spurs then Man Utd.
Monday
Arsenal 3 Leicester 1
Leicester started well, and scored first, but ultimately it was not a night that Spurs fans will want recalled. Holding had already been booked and was lucky not to be spotted handling in the area, which might have drawn a second yellow, but when Ben Chilwell's cross/shot was deflected past Leno by Bellerin it looked as if it might not be Arsenal's night.
Unfortunately Arsenal fans and press observers were delighted by Ozil's goal and his involvement in Aubameyang's two which gave Arsenal a 3-1 win and a return to fourth place - on goal difference - above Spurs. I do have to mention that Ozil's goal made him the highest scoring German player in the Premier League, finally going ahead of Jurgen Klinsmann's 29. the difference is that Jurgen made 56 league appearances, whereas Ozil has made 149.
Fixtures/Results 20-22.10.18
Saturday
Chelsea 2-2 Man Utd
B'mouth 0-0 S'hampton
Cardiff 4-2 Fulham
Man City 5-0 Burnley
Newcastle 0-1 Brighton
West Ham 0-1 Spurs
Wolves 0-2 Watford
Hds'field 0-1 Liverpool
Sunday
Everton 2-0 C. Palace
Monday
Arsenal 3-1 Leicester
Premier League Table
P W D L F-A GD Pts
1. Man City 9 7 2 0 26-3 23 23
2. Liverpool 9 7 2 0 16-3 13 23
3. Chelsea 9 6 3 0 20-7 13 21
4. Arsenal 9 7 0 2 22-11 11 21
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5. Spurs 9 7 0 2 16-7 9 21
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6. B'mouth 9 5 2 2 16-12 4 17
7. Watford 9 5 1 3 13-12 1 16
8. Everton 9 4 3 2 15-12 3 15
9. Wolves 9 4 3 2 9-8 1 15
10. Man Utd 9 4 2 3 15-16 -1 14
11. Leicester 9 4 0 5 15-15 0 12
12. Brighton 9 3 2 4 10-13 -3 11
13. Burnley 9 2 2 5 10-17 -7 8
14. West Ham 9 2 1 6 8-14 -6 7
15. C. Palace 9 2 1 6 5-11 -6 7
16. S'hampton 9 1 3 5 6-14 -8 6
17. Cardiff 9 1 2 6 8-19 -11 5
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18. Fulham 9 1 2 6 11-25 -14 5
19. H'dsfield 9 0 3 6 4-18 -14 3
20. Newcastle 9 0 2 7 6-14 -8 2
