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Nearly ¼ way through the season and the Premiership has certainly been the place to be - with plenty of surprises and twists and turns to come no doubt, but there has been excitement, goals, injuries and red cards which have all added to the drama - and clearly some top level managers plying their trade.
At Arsenal, the home fans were looking to their heroes to overtake the upstarts from across the way at Tottenham and go above them in the league again. Barnsley were the visitors, and to be fair the Tykes have not given anyone an easy game either, so they came with the intention of getting something from the game. Arsenal started attacking which looked like it would blow Barnsley away, and after 25 minutes got their reward when Timo Werner broke the deadlock, Maximiano in the Barnsley goal not covering himself with glory. Barnsley countered and 15 minutes later Edgar stunned the Emirates with a colley that went in off the bar and equalised with 5 minutes to go before half time. Darren Humphris got the knuckle dusters out at half time and it was all Arsenal who had plenty of chances to win the game, but Maximiano atoned for his error by keeping them in the game, before Boulaye Dia somehow scuffed a sot that lobbed over the keeper and gave Barnsley the lead with 16 minutes left. Humphris glared at his men, and Ant Harris brought a couple of buses in from the car park, and that is how it stayed. A memorable victory for Barnsley and a very disappointing defeat for the Gunners. Arsenal will certainly be up there, and Barnsley will be very pleased with their start.
MOM : Timo Werner (Arsenal)
Claret and blue action all round at Villa Park as Burnley visited Aston Villa. Burnley have had an awful start to the season and Simon Hill must be scratching his head as they seem to have hit a streak of bad form and luck. Villa hadn’t won in the last 5 games in the league so actually came into this with worse form. The home side had a tactical advantage from the start, and Gabriel Jesus got himself back on the scoresheet with an absolute bomb of a shot in the 15th minute to ignite Villa. 15 minutes later the lead was doubled as Martinez combined with his winger to finish with the perfect headed goal. 2-0 and comfortable for Villa as the home fans scented victory. 2-0 at half time and Hill threw everything at Villa in the second half as they attacked - and he sent on Mendonca and Coufal to try to salvage something. Morata who has been the shining star for Burnley found Mendonca with 20 minutes to go and he hammered his shot into the goal to make it 2-1. It looked like the home side would hang on for the 3 points until Marc Cucurella’s long throw found Guedes who smashed home the equaliser with seconds to go and sent the away fans back up north with a point that they thought was lost. 2-2 the final score, both sides will be looking to push on in the next month to climb the table with Villa 16th and Burnley 18th.
MOM : Lautaro Martinez (Aston Villa)
Blackburn were looking for some consistency against a Watford side who despite a bright start had lost 4 out of their last 5 league games. Heung Min Son, who would love to be at Spurs obviously, has been superb in the last couple of weeks, and this time he decided to take up a position in the six yard box even though Blackburn had possession on the half way line. Leroy Sane took the ball down the line and Son stayed where he was, clearly a few continents offside. Tony Ayre managed to keep the linesman chatting whilst Sane crossed for the South Korean to finish in an unmarked position, and it was 1-0. Amazingly no missiles came on from the Hornets as one of the most astonishing decisions in football was made and the goal stood. That was how it stayed until half time, and through the game Watford only managed 4 attempts on goal, with Sane popping up again with 6 minutes to go to beat Okoye through the air and make it 2-0. Blackburn nestle just behind the European places and Watford look to be in a relegation battle.
MOM : Leroy Sane (Blackburn)
After a magical start Cardiff had lost a couple recently and were looking to get back on track with Southampton the visitors who had 2 wins in their last 3. Alex Isak thought he had taken the lead on 6 minutes for Saints only to be ruled out by VAR. Given that he had hit it from 30 yards the offside flag seemed unlikely, but it was given. 0-0 at halftime and not much in terms of clear opportunities, then on the hour popped up another man who would love to be at Spurs, Dejan Kulusevski. The Swede interchanged with Martinelli before heading in off the post to take the lead for the away team. Cardiff were the better team and hammered the Southampton door but had no luck and found Saints keeper Jose Sa in superb form, making 12 saves to keep his side in the game and to take the 3 points away from Wales. Cardiff will want to stop this run of losses and get back into winning ways and Saints will be very pleased with their recent upsurge after an indifferent start, which moves them into the top 6 and Cardiff just off it.
MOM: Dejan Kulusevski (Southampton)
Tottenham have certainly exceeded everyone’s expectations, including their fans, and this week had a tough away London derby at Crystal Palace who have looked strong in recent weeks. Spurs are not a defensive side and this game was no different, which made for an entertaining contest. Palace were dealt a blow when defender Tsimikas had to leave the field after 19 minutes with an injury, and then Leon Bailey became the division’s top scorer in the 27th minute when he slotted his 9th goal of the season after being put in by the highest passer, Stephen Bergwijn. So 1-0 at half time and a significant Spurs travelling army going bonkers and it stayed like that until the 66th minute, when Asano equalised for the home side to ruin the away party. Cometh the hour and the cometh the man, and Inaki Williams has been something of a supersub for Tottenham. Brown immediately brought him on, and from the kick off he dribbled past the defenders, somehow popped the ball up to himself and scored with a flicked header to the far post. He ran over to the fans who again went mad and chanted ‘Are you watching Arsenal?’ and ‘London's number 1’ in what looks like a little bit of an early state of euphoria. To be fair, they haven’t had much to cheer about in recent years, and as any Spurs fan knows, you have to take the highs when they come! 2-1 it stayed and Spurs stay second, keeping Leeds honest. Palace will be disappointed not to at least take a point, but they have also made a solid start nad Lee Clark will be relatively pleased with his side so far.
MOM : Leon Bailey (Spurs)
The Merseyside derby saw Everton host Liverpool at Goodison, Everton looking to climb out of trouble. Everton have had some interesting selection choices this season and Alois Confais probably wasn’t expecting a run out in the defensive midfield position for the Toffees. Liverpool defender Kevin Mbabu has been superb of late, and has been responsible for a lot of their attacking play. It was his first minute ball into Mudryk that created problems and won an early corner which could have easily resulted in a penalty as Guirassy went down with some pushing and shoving. In the next minute though, Liverpool's other man of the moment Andy Robertson broke clear and lobbed David de-Gea to take the lead and the red side of the ground erupted. That was how they went in at half time, until Everton sent on Aourir and Philippe on 70 minutes for Confais and Depay. This seemed to assist Liverpool even more, and Guirassy took advantage of the spaces offered to score a brace in the last 15 minutes to make it a comfortable 3-0 victory and the bragging rights on Merseyside. Everton are now back in the danger zone and haven’t won in the last 4, and Liverpool manager Graeme Edwards is starting to find some form as his side move to within striking distance of the European spots.
MOM : Serhou Guirassy (Liverpool)
Tim Davey got a rapturous reception from his fans as Leeds walked out to face West Ham. They certainly have been the class act of the Premiership so far and look very difficult to stop. Todd Fortune’s West Ham have not hit any consistency yet despite Cole Palmer’s goals, and came to contain the home side where they could. This worked until just before half time, when Moises Caicedo who is at the heart of most Leeds moves, found Cuadrado who scored what will probably be a contender for goal of the season - a wicked snap bender that seemed to have the commentary team in tears.Fortune sent on Politano to try and salvage something, but it was Leeds who scored again through Osimhen with his 8th of the season to make it 2-0. Of all of the games this week this was by far the dullest, West Ham winning the attempts on goal battle 5-4. However, this Leeds team is frighteningly clinical and the fans didn’t mind the lack of football as long as they had the 3 points. Leeds stay top and the Hammers keep looking for more.
MOM : Juan Cuadrado (Leeds)
The Foxes took on the Magpies at Walkers Stadium looking to get back to winning ways after 3 draws in a row. 2 minutes in they were dealt a hammer blow when Sequeira saw red for a professional foul on Acuna which fortunately for him was just outside the box. Leicester had to take off Dolberg and re-organise the defence with Comuzzo coming on and on 8 minutes Jonathan David hit a sweet shot to beat Areola and take the lead. Raul de Tomas then doubled the lead on 20 minutes and Clauss added another before half time to make it 3-0. Shirts off in the away end and Newcastle’s scoring spree continued. Leicester re-grouped at half time, and Anthony Elanga scored a fine goal to cut the deficit back to 2, before Acuna made it 4-1 in the 68th and secured the points for the Toon army. The score remained 4-1 to Newcastle and they are the second highest scoring team in the league behind Leeds. Only Burnley have conceded more, but they remain the best value for money ticket in the Premiership.Newcastle climb to 8th, and Leicester now haven;t won in 4 and drop down to 11th
MOM : Jonathan David (Newcastle)
Man City are looking to regain some lost ground at the top, and hosted Chelsea at The Etihad. Both sides had been shaken by goalkeeper injuries this season, but Ederson and Henderson both managed to patch themselves up for this one. On 6 minutes Henderson probably wished he was on the physios bench as he was nutmegged by Aymeric Laporte in a rare foray forward for City to take the lead. Talbot’s men hit back almost immediately, and Ederson was probably feeling the same, as Sanches’s shot hit him and fell for the same man to finish into an empty net to equalise. It remains to be seen what Laported was taking before the match, but on 33 minutes he dribbled past the defence and chipped one past Henderson to make it 2-1 and the home fans started to make some noise. Just after half-time Rovella shot at goal and Henderson who might have done better again couldn’t hold on to the shot and it crept past him for 3-1. City were hard done by when Marquinos seemed to make a perfectly clean tackle but was shown his second card and sent off for a tackle on Zefi - Chelsea fought back and Tariq Lamptey made it 3-2 with 2 minutes to go but it was too little too late and City held on to win 3-2 in a game that really could have gone either way and Chelsea were unlucky to lose. City move up into 3rd and look menacing again, after no win in 3, and Chelsea find themselves a little closer to the foot of the table than they would like.
MOM : Aymeric Laporte (Man City)
Man Utd have looked solid if not terribly dangerous in the last few weeks and faced strugglers Sheffield Wednesday who are rooted at the foot of the table. Wednesday started with 3 at the back and have been decimated by suspensions this season, having had 4 players in 9 games banned at various times. Gavi has been impressive for United and he played in Adeyemi to put the home side ahead on 14 minutes. Ansu Fati scored the second on 23 minutes and Old Trafford was bouncing. Engels surprised them briefly with a goal on the half hour to make it 2-1, but just as they tried to get back into the game, keeper Gunn’s error allowed Adeyemi’s shot to slip through his hands and it was 3-1 United at half time. Simon Skrabb and Ryan Croasdale were given rare outings by United boss Steve Outten from the bench and Skrabb scored a collectors item to make it 4-1 after coming on for Fati with 6 minutes to go - Wednesday were unlucky to have a goal ruled out that would have pulled one back but it stayed 4-1 and a comprehensive win for the Red Devils. United move up to 5th and Wednesday stay rooted to the bottom with just one win to show for themselves.
MOM : Karim Edeyemi (Man Utd)
Team of the Week :
Sa (Southampton), Laporte (Man City), Militao (Spurs), Hummels (Liverpool), Cuadrado (Leeds), Canales (Newcastle), Sanches (Chelsea) ,Bailey (Spurs), Gordon (Man U) Adeyemi (Man Utd), David (Newcastle)
Performance Of the Week : Barnsley’s win at The Emirates was probably the surprise result of the week as Ant Harris’s men got all 3 in London.
Shocker of the Week: Everton, despite starting with a 14-10 DM, managed to live with Liverpool until they took off a 22-16 AM for a 14-11 FW and the 14-10 DM for a 17-13 MF. For some reason this didn't work and they conceded 2 more ……