GAMEWEEK 8

• Spurs stroke one past Luton to go top. Tottenham Hotspurs looked to make easy work of bottom-side Luton Town in the first Premier League encounter of the week. Spurs threatened to put a goal at the back of Luton’s net but misses by Richarlison and Pedro Porro as well as the save of Kulusevski’s shot kept the game tame. A lifeline was thrown the way of Luton when Bissouma who had been booked in the first 10 minutes was sent off the pitch for a dive on the stroke of half-time. Adebayo failed to score for Luton when he got his chance. Tottenham took full advantage of the failure by Luton by scoring their own. Once again it was Maddison who broke the mould when he skilfully beat his man down the byline before crossing for Micky van de Ven to score his first goal in a Tottenham Hotspurs jersey. Luton didn’t take their chances and so the game ended 1-0 seeing Tottenham top the table.

• Chelsea shock many with an unrecognizable display at the Moor. Chelsea were no longer the butt of the joke when they matched their largest margin of a win this season when they came from behind to beat Burnley 4-1 at Turf Moor. Burnley struck first through their youngest-ever goalscorer Wilson Odobert (18 years 313 days). Chelsea bit back before half-time when Sterling’s cross managed to knock Al Dakhil and zoom past his goalkeeper into his own net. Chelsea then drew blood from Burnley. Cole Palmer brought Chelsea ahead through converting a penalty, in the process scoring his first Premier League goal. This came as a result of Vitinho’s foul on Sterling. Sterling added to Burnley’s woes when he found the left corner after being assisted by Gallagher. The nail to the coffin came through Nicolas Jackson who spun on the ball before firing it in the bottom corner, ending the one-sided affair 4-1.

• Everton go cherry-picking at the expense of Bournemouth. Everton managed to get their long waited first win of the season at the Goodison Park. The Toffees got ahead on the eighth minute when James Garner capitalised on a slip by Zabarnyi by gathering the ball and burying it in, his first goal for Everton. The Cherries tried hitting back and got closest through Solanke six minutes later. At the closing stages of the first half, Bournemouth goalkeeper Neto punched away several crosses, the final one fell kindly to Harrison, he struck a magnificently side-footed volley from outside the box that sailed over the head of the retreating keeper to double Everton’s lead. Sean Dyche’s side pushed relentlessly for a third by aggressively pressing and attacking Bournemouth. They were blessed with a third by Doucoure, he poked in from close range after Harrison’s header was first blocked on the line by Bournemouth’s Kerkez. Bournemouth managed to tighten their defence to see it end 3-0.

• Yet another team rolls over the Blades. Fulham were looking to bounce back to their winning form when they faced a troubled Sheffield United. The side pushed for a goal in the games earlier stages but Sheffield defended well. De Cordova-Reid and Willian had decent efforts but Sheffield played well to prevent them from scoring. Sheffield then suffered a big blow when their captain Basham had to go off during the first half after suffering an ankle injury. McBurnie headed towards goal but straight to Bernd Leno after a corner at the stroke of half-time. Fulham got to strike first when they broke from the back in unison before setting De Cordova-Reid up to score in the 53rd minute. Sheffield didn’t wait long to be level as Robinson scored an own goal from Larouci’s cross. As if lady luck was against Sheffield United, Fulham went ahead once more. The goal came when Cairney slipped as he shot the ball which hit his standing foot before dinking Foderingham, striking the bar and going in off his back. The game was put to bed at stoppage time by Willian’s late goal to end it 3-1.

• Manchester United spared defeat by super substitute McTominay. Brentford were resolute in both halves when they attacked and defended against United. They went ahead when Casemiro had mistakenly given the ball away which saw it crossed past Lindelof to Wissa who squared it to Jensen and he in turn snuck one under Onana’s hand. The Red Devils efforts were decent, especially when Bruno Fernandes attempted to score from long-range but was kept out by a debuting Strakosha. Brentford pushed for a second first through Maupay then by Norgaard but Onana managed to keep United in the game. Erik ten Hag brought in Scott McTominay in the 87^th minute. At the 89^th minute, Manchester felt hard done by VAR after their equalising goal was overturned. McTominay threw a lifeline to the Red Devils when he controlled the ball spectacularly and smacked it into the bottom corner to bring united level at the third minute of stoppage time. Manchester United completed the jaw-dropping turnaround at the dead from the same inspired substitute; he headed in from close range after Maguire had flicked the ball on. This saw Manchester United win it 2-1.

• Roy Hodgson sees his boys draw to Nottingham Forest. Roy Hodgson, the Crystal Palace manager became only the eighth manager to take charge of 400 Premier League matches when his team faced Nottingham Forest at home on Saturday. Crystal Palace were unlucky when another of their key players in Jeffery Schlupp was brought off midway through the first half after suffering an injury. Forest who also lacked their top scorer Awoniyi almost went ahead through Morgan Gibbs-White but his lobbed effort struck the bar and back into Johnstone’s arms. Palace had a chance of their own as well in the 63rd minute, Edouard set up Mateta on the edge of the area but he shot it slightly wide. The game ended as blunt as it had been, 0-0 the final score.

• Liverpool and Brighton evenly balanced as the Reds miss out on a chance to go second in the table. Brighton had managed to go ahead after only 20 minutes, when former Brighton man Alexis Mac Allister was unable to receive Virgil van Dijk’s pass, Adingra got to it first and caught Alisson out-of-position with his long range shot. Liverpool would not be kept out for long however. Mac Allister pounced on Dunk’s loose pass and played his team’s press forward in a move that finished when Darwin Nunez squared for Salah to score. Mohamed Salah turned the game on its head when he scored again from the penalty spot following Pascal Gross’ foul on Dominik Szoboszlai in the box. The second half saw chances by Adingra and Gravenberch saved or fail to hit the net on both sides. Liverpool would rue the latter when in the 78th minute Brighton levelled matters. Solly March had his free-kick placed into Liverpool’s net by Lewis Dunk. Liverpool almost gave the point away when they let the Seagulls look for a winner by Joao Pedro but he could not keep his close-range effort down. It was an entertaining game of press or get pressed that ended in a 2-2 draw.

• The Hammers narrowly squeeze a draw out of tough opponents Newcastle. West Ham invited the team which had made light work of PSG midweek in Newcastle. They wanted to prove a point and this was evident eight minutes from the open when Emerson rounded Nick Pope and sliced it out to his teammate Soucek who tapped it in easily. Newcastle kept most of the ball but were unable to cut past the well-shaped Westham side. Their brightest chances of the first half were by Almiron though it didn’t amount to much. It was only after the half that Newcastle managed to bounce back: Isak scored on the 57^th minute when Trippier’s free-kick was cleared by Edson Alvarez only as far as the striker. They shocked the Hammers five minutes later when they took the lead through Isak once more, this time Trippier volleyed the ball to him before he lashed it into the far post. Isak failed to put in another chance to see out his hat-trick. That was the only window of opportunity Westham needed, they bit back at the 89^th minute through their substitute Mohammed Kudus who received Coufal’s pass and sent it into the bottom corner.

• Aston Villa and Wolves leave it tied in their derby at the Molineux. The two teams came into this game enjoying some run of form in their recent league games. They exchanged shots with both failing to trouble both goalkeepers. After a tied first half, Wolves decided to break the deadlock; Pedro Neto sped down the right flank before sliding the ball across goal for Hwang Hee-Chan to put it past Martinez. Villa would not let it go so struck back only two minutes later. It was Torres who got behind Watkins ball in the box and made sure to put it past Sa. Lemina was sent off four minutes into stoppage time after being shown a second yellow card for fouling Zaniolo. Watkins was looking to capitalise on this and was unlucky to steal it for his team as his shot only found the post. It ended 1-1.

• Arsenal end 8-year winless streak against Manchester City in the Premier League. Both teams met missing their key players, City were without Rodri and De Bruyne while Arsenal would be missing Saka after his club-record run of 87 consecutive Premier League appearances (this  also the longest active run in the competition.) City had the best chance of the match in the first four minutes when Josko Gvardiol’s effort was cleared off the line by Declan Rice but Haaland squared it to Nathan Ake but he fired it over from close range.The second of the chances came from a mishap by Raya who stayed on the ball to long and was caught offguard by Alvarez but the Argentine could only find the side netting. At half-time, Arteta brought a returning Martinelli on for Trossard. Four of Arsenal’s substitutes shone at the close of the match; Partey found Tomiyasu who headed it for Havertz, he teed up Martinelli who shot from the edge of the box and a deflection wrongfooted Ederson for the only goal of the game. It was the 86^th minute when the goal went in and City were left wondering how they lost to Arsenal with their only shot on target coming at the fourth minute. Arsenal went top of the table, sharing the position with their North London rivals, Tottenham.

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