Premier League Review – Matchday 15
Tuesday 3rd December, 2019
Crystal Palace 1 Bournemouth 0
This was the first game televised by Amazon Prime, and the first half did not make entertaining fare. Most people probably switched to the Burnley – City game before Palace substitute Jeffrey Schlupp scored the only goal of the game in the 76th minute. Schlupp had come on in the first half for the injured Van Aanholt, but Palace had already lost Sakho for a red card as he hit Adam Smith with a high tackle.
Andros Townsend this week had a heartfelt article published entitled This is not a golden boy story.
Burnley 1 Manchester City 4
Midfielder Danny Drinkwater, on loan to Burnley from Chelsea, made his first Premier League start since March 2018. Gabriel Jesus opened the scoring in the 24th minute with a lovely right footed shot from the left of the area inside the far post after David Silva had fed him the ball. Jesus scored a second goal after 50 minutes when Bernardo Silva delivered a short cross from the right and Jesus met the ball perfectly to fire home. Rodri made it 3-0 after 68 minutes with a cracking shot from 20 yards.
Three minutes from time Mahrez made it 4-0 after Ederson’s long kick was not cleared by the Burnley defence and Mahrez seized the opportunity with a well-placed right footed shot. Burnley substitute Robbie Brady scored a true consolation goal after 89 minutes.
Wednesday 4th December, 2019
Chelsea 2 Aston Villa 1
Villa assistant coach John Terry was one of the attractions at his old stomping ground, whilst Tammy Abraham made a return after his hip injury.
Willian had an early shot well saved by Tom Heaton at his left-hand post. Tammy Abraham gave Chelsea a 24th minute lead when he headed in James’ cross. Having been on loan with Villa last year Abraham’s celebration was subdued. Trezeguet bundled home a 41st minute equaliser when El Mohamady crossed from the right.
Chelsea regained the lead three minutes into the second half. Willian crossed; Abraham touched the ball back to Mason Mount who hit a terrific shot into the roof of Heaton’s net. Heaton made a subsequent save from Willian and Abraham hit a shot wide across the goal. After a foul by Targett on Abraham, Willian hit a free kick from 25 yards with Heaton getting a touch. The ball rebounded off the post and Heaton held the follow-up shot. Arrizabalaga did have a late save to make from a Luiz header at his right-hand post.
Chelsea are six points clear of fifth placed Wolves.
Leicester 2 Watford 0
Troy Deeney made his first start since August, but Leicester won their 8th successive game in league and cup games, seven of which have been Premier League games. Watford were being looked after by caretaker manager Hayden Mullins.
Jamie Vardy was shown a yellow card for simulation by referee Craig Pawson in the first half, but Leicester were awarded a penalty in the second half when Masina put his hand in the face of Jonny Evans after a Leicester corner. Vardy’s successful spot kick was timed at 55 minutes. Masina became a Watford hero with two saving clearances, one of which was from a Vardy goal-bound shot. It took Leicester until the fifth minute of added time to double their score, and that came from a James Maddison shot, despite Ben Foster’s outstretched leg.
Manchester United 2 Spurs 1
Many thanks to Declan Mulcahy for the full details regarding the loss of this Dele Ali record:-
Sadly, Dele Alli's run of never having lost a Premier League match in which he had scored came to an end at Old Trafford. Over the past four and a half seasons he had scored in 38 PL games that Spurs either won or drew.
The totals season by season are as follows:
2015-16 8
2016-17 15
2017-18 7
2018-19 5
2019-20 3
Total 38
The run only includes Premier League games. Two seasons ago Dele scored in a league cup match which West Ham won. Dele was your Spurs Odyssey man of the match for the third time in four games, all of which have been under the leadership of Jose Mourinho.
Southampton 2 Norwich 1
Southampton climbed out of the bottom three with this win. They took the lead after 22 minutes when James Ward-Prowse, having been fouled by Cantwell, swung in a free kick from the left and Danny Ings headed home from the near post. It was 2-0 after 43 minutes following a corner from the right. Long headed the ball down and Bertrand scored from close range. Krul had to make a good save before the break from Hojbjerg’s shot from 20 yards out.
Pukki forced a save by McCarthy straight from the start of the second half. Both teams had conceded 32 goals so far this season at this point, but Pukki made it 33 conceded by “The Saints” after 65 minutes when he hit a left foot shot into the net from Tettey’s pass. The score remained 2-1 and Southampton are one point ahead of Everton with Norwich a further three points behind.
Wolves 2 West Ham 0
After their heroic away win against Chelsea, the “Hammers” reverted to type, whilst Wolves climbed into fifth place. Wolves remain unbeaten in their last ten league games. Dendoncker opened the scoring after 23 minutes from the second of two corners conceded by goalkeeper David Martin. It was Dendoncker’s outstretched foot that put the ball into the right-hand corner of the net.
Rui Patricio made an acrobatic save from Fornals’ shot. Jota hit a shot straight at Martin at the other end. Martin saved at close range from Jota in the second half after Jimenez crossed from the right. Wolves had to wait till the 86th minute for their second goal. It followed an attack down the left prompted by Moutinho’s pass, Jonny’s skill and Neto’s touch back to substitute Cutrone who scored from the edge of the area.
West Ham’s next game is on Monday night at home to Arsenal.
Liverpool 5 Everton 2
Everton dropped into the relegation zone following this defeat, which was the ninth of their season. It was Jurgen Klopp’s 100th Premier League win and he achieved it with the luxury of 5 changes. Adrian had to come in for the suspended Alisson, but Klopp also fielded Shaqiri, Milner, Origi and Lallana. Salah, Firmino and Henderson were on the bench.
The game was preceded with reflection following the recent Hillsborough verdict.
Origi opened the scoring in the 6th minute. Everton had been on the attack, but Liverpool broke forward and Origi ran onto Mane’s ball from the left and slotted past Pickford. Everton fans might have had more fun playing new online slots, because it was 2-0 after 17 minutes. Alexander-Arnold hit an excellent long ball from his own half reaching Mane, again patrolling the left channel. Mane hit a through ball which Shaqiri gleefully converted for his first goal since Boxing Day last year.
Everton got a goal back after a corner on 21 minutes. Iwobi’s forward pass was picked up by Michael Keane, who scored his first Everton goal since August 2018. Marco Silva later claimed the turning point of the game when he felt his side might have had a second goal when Calvert-Lewin fired wide, but the Everton bench thought they might have had a penalty for Van Dijk’s challenge. It was 3-1 after 31 minutes when Lovren hit a long ball and Origi slotted home his second goal.
In the 45th minute, following an Everton attack, Mane and Alexander-Arnold broke forward together from their own half down the left-hand side. Alexander-Arnold was the provider for Mane’s finish inside Pickford’s right post. The first half scoring was not over either because Richarlison made it 4-2 when he hit a powerful header following substitute Bernard’s cross from the left.
Mane fired wide after 80 minutes when Henderson hit a long ball. The same combination failed again when Mane missed his opportunity to shoot. Moise Keane missed a chance at the other end before Wijnaldum wrapped up the scoring in the last minute with a right foot shot inside the area to the corner of the net. Liverpool march on. The sacking of Marco Silva was confirmed on Thursday night and Duncan Ferguson will look after the team for Saturday’s game against Chelsea.
Thursday 5th December, 2019
Sheffield United 0 Newcastle 2
Andy Carroll made his first start for Newcastle since 2010. £40 million signing Joelinton was dropped to the bench. Dubravka had to make an early save from a deflected shot by Stevens before Saint-Maximin met Manquillo’s cross from the right and headed Newcastle into a 15th minute lead. The closest the “Blades” came to scoring was when Dubravka stretched to his left to save Ollie McBurnie’s header.
There was a degree of controversy about Newcastle’s second goal in the 70th minute. Andy Carroll had headed the ball onto Jonjo Shelvey just inside the Sheffield United half. The assistant referee’s flag was raised and there is no doubt the Sheffield players took heed of that. However, referee Stuart Attwell waved play-on (in accordance with a Premier League directive that teams were advised about at the beginning of the season) and Shelvey planted the ball into the net around Henderson who had clearly been affected by that offside flag. VAR reviewed the incident and awarded a goal. Newcastle and their fans got to celebrate twice!
Arsenal 1 Brighton 2
Arsenal remain below Spurs and have now not won any of their last 8 games. They have also failed to win any of their last six league games. Brighton won this game after three consecutive defeats to Manchester United, Leicester and Liverpool.
Brighton took a quick free kick after 32 minutes and Maupay forced Leno to make a save, diving to his left. The “Seagulls” then took a 35th minute lead following a corner on the right. Connolly got a touch, but Webster fired the ball into the net. Matty Ryan saved well from Willock after Aubameyang crossed from the right.
Arsenal did equalise when Lacazette headed home a corner taken by Ozil in the 50th minute, but Maupay headed in an 80th minute winner in front of his delighted fans after Mooy crossed from the left.
Fixtures & Results 03-05.12.19
Tuesday
C. Palace 1-0 B'mouth
Burnley 1-4 Man City
Wednesday
Chelsea 2-1 A. Villa
Leicester 2-0 Watford
Man Utd 2-1 Spurs
S'hampton 2-1 Norwich
Wolves 2-0 West Ham
Liverpool 5-2 Everton
Thursday
Sheff Utd 0-2 Newcastle
Arsenal 1-2 Brighton
Premier League Table
P W D L F-A GD Pts
1. Liverpool 15 14 1 0 37-14 23 43
2. Leicester 15 11 2 2 35-9 26 35
3. Man City 15 10 2 3 43-17 26 32
4. Chelsea 15 9 2 4 30-21 9 29
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5. Wolves 15 5 8 2 21-17 4 23
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6. Man Utd 15 5 6 4 23-18 5 21
7. C. Palace 15 6 3 6 14-18 -4 21
8. Spurs 15 5 5 5 25-23 2 20
9. Sheff Utd 15 4 7 4 17-15 2 19
10. Arsenal 15 4 7 4 21-23 -2 19
11. Newcastle 15 5 4 6 15-22 -7 19
12. Burnley 15 5 3 7 21-24 -3 18
13. Brighton 15 5 3 7 18-22 -4 18
14. B'mouth 15 4 4 7 18-21 -3 16
15. West Ham 15 4 4 7 17-25 -8 16
16. A. Villa 15 4 3 8 22-24 -2 15
17. S'hampton 15 4 3 8 17-33 -16 15
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18. Everton 15 4 2 9 16-27 -11 14
19. Norwich 15 3 2 10 16-32 -16 11
20. Watford 15 1 5 9 9-30 -21 8
