And the second week of the 2012-13 Premier League season did not disappoint either! We saw 24 goals, 183 attempts, 78 on target, 105 off target, 197 fouls, 17 yellow cards, one sending off, two penalties, countless rain and one game postponed due to the beautiful English weather. Here are my best and worst picks of the weekend:
OUCH!
Wayne Rooney's deep cut over the knee did not look nice! The former Everton striker was dropped from Manchester United's starting lineup by Sir Alex Ferguson but came on as a substitute in the second half replacing Shinji Kagawa. Deep into injury time he suffered the large gash to his right leg after he attempted to charge down Hugo Rodallega's shot and the Fulham forward's studs inadvertently came down onto his leg. Straight away it was clear how serious the injury was and the England striker was stretchered off. Rooney is expected to be out for at least four weeks, missing England's upcoming World Cup qualifiers and United's league clash against rivals Liverpool at Anfield. This gives Robin van Persie more than a golden chance to shine over the next weeks!WOW!
It has been a terrific start to the season for Roberto Di Matteo's Blues! After three games and three wins, Chelsea are now looking forward to the UEFA Super Cup clash against Atletico Madrid on Friday. With Fernando Torres finally shining and seemingly back to his best and new star man Juan Mata showing pace, tenacity and an eye for a pass, this duo have the potential of making (or breaking) Roman Abramovich's season over the next weeks and months. The Russian tycoon will be hoping the London club will be title contenders once again after finally tasting European success last season.
Everton and Swansea have also impressed with their starts to the season, two wins out of two and twelve goals between them! Obviously it is still too early to tell, but from what we have seen so far, David Moyes and his boys can gain confidence and focus on a top four spot after beating United and Aston Villa. Michael Laudrup will be more than happy with the start to the season by his Swans, but with the wins coming against newly promoted West Ham and relegation battlers of last season QPR, the Dane will know to compose himself and his side for more and harder times to come! But after this weekend, even Cesc Fabregas tweeted his appreciation of and admiration for the Swans!TOP!
The Belgian playmaker Mata produced a superb flick to set up Torres to make it 2-0 to Chelsea against Newcastle at Stamford Bridge. The Spaniard's powerful strike made this his sixth goals in nine games for club and country.
RvP's left-footer against the angle was a stunner sending Patrice Evra's cross into the back of the net to make it 1-1 and equalise for Manchester United after Damien Duff had shocked Old Trafford and opened the scoring for Fulham converting a well-worked free kick. The Dutchman will be glad to have found his opener for United so early on in the season and hoping he can add plenty more over the coming weeks with Rooney missing out due to injury.Luis Suarez' free kick for Liverpool was unstoppable! The Argentine forward curled the ball around and past the wall, well out of the City keeper Joe Hart's reach, to make it 2-1 seconds after Yaya Toure tapped in Pepe Reina's giveaway to equalise for City. Breathtaking goal in a brilliant game!
FLOP!
So far, it has not been a good weekend or season for defenders and goalkeepers, with a hand full of nightmare rebounds and back passes!
After Norwich debutant Sebastien Bassong was debatably penalised for pulling down QPR forward Djibril Cisse, keeper John Ruddy did a great job of saving the spot kick, but the rebound found Bobby Zamora who made no mistake of netting it to equalise and make it 1-1. The keeper was not happy with that and replays showed the players were inside the box when the spot kick was taken which means the penalty should have been retaken!
Angel Rangel's shot-cum-pass from the right went under goalkeeper Jussi Jaaskelainen to give the Swans the lead against the Hammers. The Spanish defender claimed it of course eventhough it was more luck than shine. Miguel Michu took advantage of a short backpass by James Collins and punished the defender for his mistake nipping the ball past the goalkeeper to make it 2-0 and complete the WHam nightmare!Keeper David De Gea's punch deflected in off defender Nemanja Vidic to make it 3-2 and a nervy finish for United against Fulham at Old Trafford.
Red defender Martin Skrtel's back pass to Reina which found Carlos Tevez for the second equaliser will have made Anfield cringe after they played so well against the defending champions. The Slovak's mistake gave the Argentine his 100th goal in English football and City one point.HERO!
The youngsters were the best this weekend! Raheem Sterling and Jonjo Shelvey impressed for Liverpool, staying on the ball and frustrating the opposition in a nailbiter of a game against defending champions Manchester City.
Eden Hazard and Mata were scorer and provider in Chelsea's stroll to their third win in a row.
But as mentioned above, the "old boys" impressed too with Torres and RVP shining on the pitch and coreboard once again.
ZZZERO!
Arsenal disappointed again with a goalless draw at Stoke. It was a game with not much to write about as both sides cancelled each other out. Stoke kept a back line of ten players which frustrated and kept Arsenal out and left no form or space for any kind of attack on neither side which voided any form or chance of a competition. I hope and think that things will be very different for the Gunners next weekend, beware, as Arsene Wenger's men will be heading to Anfield, where they have yet to see a goalless game in the Premier League era!My Predictions => Actual Results
Swansea 2-1 West Ham => 3-0
Aston Villa 0-1 Everton => 1-3
Man United 3-1 Fulham => 3-2
Norwich 0-0 QPR => 1-1
Southampton 2-0 Wigan => 0-2
Sunderland P-P Reading => postponed due to waterlogged pitch
Tottenham 2-0 West Brom => 1-1
Chelsea 3-2 Newcastle => 2-0
Stoke 1-1 Arsenal => 0-0
Liverpool 2-3 Man City => 2-2
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