The Premier League has had it’s first midweek action of the season this week, with Amazon Prime broadcasting all 10 matches live-on-air. Eight out of the 10 games have taken place already, with two more to come this evening.
Tuesday evening saw Leeds claim only their third Premier League win of the season with the only goal of the game coming from a last-gasp penalty from Raphinha sealing the three points against Patrick Viera’s Crystal Palace side.
Newcastle United had to settle for a point at home to Norwich City after Callum Wilson’s penalty was cancelled out by Teemu Pukki’s excellently taken volley. The Canaries manager Dean Smith expressed his annoyance at the referee’s decision to award the penalty, by stating that it was “pathetic.”
There was more action on Wednesday evening with six more matches taking place, including the Merseyside Derby, and Jack Grealish’s return to Villa Park with Manchester City.
Leicester City fought back twice to claim an draw against Southampton in a game which saw a medical emergency occur in the stands at half time. The draw sees Southampton edge away from the relegation spots with Leicester sneaking closer to the European spots.
Chelsea fielded a weakened side up against Watford at Vicarage Road but thanks to a goal and an assist from Mason Mount, the Blues were 2-1 victors. While it wasn’t the most convincing of wins over the struggling side, the win sees Thomas Tuchel’s side remain at the top of the table on 33 points.
However, the evening had a shadow casted over it when a fan was taken ill in the early parts of the game and had to be halted for over 30 minutes. The fan is now ‘doing OK in hospital’ today.
Graham Potter’s frustration continues to grow as Brighton failed to win once more despite a catalogue of chances while West Ham had their own struggles in front of goal in a 1-1 draw. Neil Maupay cancelled out Thomas Soucek’s early goal with a magnificent acrobatic effort.
Wolves and Burnley played out a forgettable 0-0 draw that saw more bookings than shots on target, as Sean Dyche’s men continue to reside in the relegation zone despite having not lost either of their last five fixtures.
Bernardo Silva continued his fine run of form, including an terrific volley for the second, to help Manchester City complete a routine win over Aston Villa with Ruben Dias netting as well. Villa responded through Ollie Watkins but it wasn’t enough to come back against Grealish’s new posse.
The Merseyside derby completed the evenings fixtures and Liverpool built on their devastating record over their neighbours thanks to a brace from Mohammed Salah while Jordan Henderson and Diogo Jota also netted past Jordan Pickford. Everton fought back when Demarai Gray capitalised on some poor Liverpool defending, but the Toffee’s couldn’t keep up.
Tonight sees the final two fixtures of the game week take place, with Tottenham hosting a struggling Brentford side, and Arsenal travelling to Old Trafford to face Manchester United in Michael Carrick’s final game as interim manager, following Ralf Rangnick securing his work permit to start managing the Red Devils.
Spurs will be hoping to seize three points against the Bees to catch up with their top-four-hunting rivals, and have an advantage over their opponents following the postponement of their away fixture against Burnley last Sunday, due to snowy, unsafe playing conditions. A win for Antonio Conte’s side could see them rise to sixth in the league, depending on the result of the other game taking place this evening, with a game in hand still to be played.
Arsenal could leapfrog West Ham into the top four with a win against Manchester United, who sit 10th in the league following a poor run of games at the end of Ole Gunnar Solskjaer’s reign at the club. The Gunners will be looking to capitalise on their good form, and the Red Devils’ poor form to claim a big three points in the race for Europe, in the stadium that they won at, only 13 months ago.
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