The second round of Premier League fixtures resumed with a Friday night clash between Nottingham Forest hosting Sheffield United at Forest Ground. Matt Turner was between the sticks for the home team as Taiwo Awoniyi continued his hot streak with a beautifully placed header from Serge Aurier’s peach of a cross. Sheffield United got one back through a masterful curling effort from Gustavo Hamer, which left Turner scrambling as the ball smashed the back of the net. It seems that Turner has a penchant for conceding worldies as Hamer continued in the same vein with Bukayo Saka’s strike. With Nottingham Forest visiting Old Trafford next, one wonders who’s next in line to curl one past Turner.

Late on Chris Wood latched onto another lovely Aurier cross to give Nottingham Forest all three points in the Premier League opener. That was two defeats in two for Sheffield United and their cause will not be helped with the fact that they host the defending champions, Manchester City next. We trust them to concede a hatful of goals to the juggernaut.

The newly-promoted six pointer between Luton Town and Burnley was postponed due to the challenges associated with Luton’s stadium, but there was still enough Premier League football to keep neutrals like us entertained. Up next was Bournemouth and their new gaffer, Andoni Iraola, visiting Anfield to take on Liverpool, the same ground that they were decimated with nine goals in the previous season.

However, Liverpool started the game like a hungover bloke, playing so poorly at the back and that sloppy play got punished early on with Antoine Semenyo blasting the loose ball in with Alisson Becker rooted to the spot. The goal brought the Liverpool attack into life, and the Reds got their equalizer with a nicely improvised finish from Luis Diaz. The Colombian was signed to replace the great Sadio Mane but had some major struggles with injury last season, so it was good to see him playing well and scoring his second goal in two games. Dominik Szoboszlai, in my opinion, conned the ref into getting a penalty, but some blame would also go to Joe Rothwell for stretching out his leg inside his box. Salah stepped up, fired a very tame penalty which was saved by Neto but Salah was lucky enough to pounce on the rebound to give Liverpool the lead.

The home side struggled midway into the second half when Alexis Macallister received his marching orders for a tackle that was deemed dangerous by the ref and the VAR team. That looked like a yellow card to me because we got something very similar in the Chelsea vs. Liverpool game last week. I have a hunch that Liverpool can get the red rescinded if they appeal. The red card also paved the way for the new defensive midfield signing Moises Caicedo Romeo Lavia Wataru Endo to come in and strut his stuff.

Diogo Jota scored what proved to be the match winner when he reacted the quickest to Szoboszlai’s shot that was parried by Neto. 

Wolves held their heads high after their narrow Premier League defeat to Manchester United on game week one, but their clash against Brighton was a far cry from what was expected of them as Roberto de Zerbi’s side ran out as 4-1 winners, propelling them to the summit of the Premier League division.

Japanese sensation, Kaoru Mitoma, opened the scoring with a wonderful solo strike after receiving a pass from Pervis Estupinan, and both players switched roles with Mitoma feeding Estupinan with a nice cut back for his own goal, but this was after Fabio Silva and Rayan Ait Nouri spurned glorious chances to make it 1-1. Julio Enciso, who took the No. 10 jersey with Macallister departing to Liverpool, created two big chances that were finished by Solly March. 

Late on, Hwang Hee Chan nodded a consolation effort, but the end of the game was marred by a red card for Matheus Nunes that was boiled out of sheer frustration. He shoved two players in a violent manner that earned him an early bath.

The 3.00pm fixtures concluded with a London derby that saw Fulham host Brentford. Fulham could consider themselves lucky in the last Premier League game week against Everton, as they conceded an xGC of 2.5 but still managed to keep a clean sheet thanks to the heroics of ex-Arsenal goalie, Bernd Leno. Their luck ran out yesterday as they were torn apart by a rampant Brentford side.

The opening goal was a gift and a half when Issa Diop played a short pass meant for his goalie, but he fed Yoane Wissa, who dribbled past Leno and pass the ball to an unguarded net. With Brentford having a Ivan Toney-sized crater in their attack, Wissa has done very well to stake his claim for that role with two goals in his first two games. 

Fulham almost got an equalizer when Bobby Decordova Reid’s shot from a Tete cut back beat David Raya’s replacement, Mark Flekken, but the cross bar spared the goalie’s blushes. Fulham’s woes were compounded when Fulham captain, Tim Ream, was adjudged to foul Wissa in the box, which earned him a red card, as he had received a booking early on in the game. Bryan Mbeumo stepped up for the second week from the penalty spot and placed the ball past Leno who didn’t even make an attempt to execute a save. 

Mbeumo wrapped things up for Brentford late on when Kristoffer Ajer made a rare foray forward and found him from the byline, giving the Bees four points from the first two games.

The 5.30pm Premier League fixture saw Tottenham play their first home game without Harry Kane leading the lads against a Manchester United side that were ran ragged by Wolves in their previous encounter and need to shake that off with a better performance. 

The visitors drew first blood when Marcus Rashford used his pace to evade his marker but Gugliermo Vicario was on hand to make a very good save. Later in the game, Bruno Fernandes served up a miss of the season contender with a terrible header off the mark with the entire goal gaping. Tottenham soaked that pressure and made some attacks of their own with Pedro Porro smashing the cross bar with a good effort. Pape Sarr drilled one in from the byline which was intercepted by Luke Shaw, but the Englishman was relieved to see his deflected effort clip the post. 

Tottenham opened the scoring when Dejan Kulusevski’s cross was deflected kindly to Sarr’s path and the holding midfielder smashed the ball to the roof of the net to score his first goal for Spurs. Fernandes played a carefully weighted ball for Antony and his curled effort waltzed past Vicario, but the post prevented the ball from going in. Fernandes was at his creative best, swinging in a dead ball from the right that was attacked by Raphael Varane but Vicario showed great reflexes to make an outstanding save. 

Late on, Tottenham got the match winner when Ben Davies mistimed shot confused Lisandro Martinez who scored an unfortunate own goal. Manchester United may have lost the match, but the biggest drama came from a penalty claim in the first half that fell on deaf ears despite a VAR appeal. Alejandro Garnacho fired a shot that hit Cristian Romero’s arm but for some strange reason, the refs decided it was not a penalty. The standard of officiating has been very poor in the Premier League and from all indications, it seems that it is continue in the current campaign.

Finally, we were served with some late football when Manchester City hosted Newcastle. The Premier League defending champions may have won the game on the night, but Newcastle showed great improvement, confirming that their rising status in the division was no fluke. A shoutout has to go to Phil Foden that ran the show like the boss he really is.

Well, that’s yer lot.

Sayonara.

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