Wednesday 30 August 2017

Premier League Picks Of The Week 3

Sports - Football - Premier League Week 3

In the third week of the Premier League action we saw:

20 goals - most by Liverpool = 4
270 shots - most by Tottenham = 26
78 on target - most by Liverpool = 10
103 corners - most by Tottenham = 10
201 fouls - most by Brighton = 18
38 yellow cards - most by Man City & Bournemouth = 5 each
2 red cards - Raheem Sterling for Man City, Miguel Britos for Watford
1 penalty - 0 scored (first miss of the season goes to United's Romelu Lukaku, saved by Kasper Schmeichel, see below for more details)

What a game! Liverpool were totally in charge at Anfield and could have scored more against Arsenal in the Super Sunday clash. The first goal was great, a nice header from Roberto Firmino.  The second was a superb counter attack with Sadio Mané finishing off nicely with a curled effort after a quick run on the left. The Reds were dictating nearly everything and Arsène Wenger had to make changes after the break. Shambolic stuff followed after the interval, Hector Bellerin giving the ball away off an Arsenal corner for Mohamed Salah to pounce on it, with a clear run on goal, and slot it home to make it 3-0, a cool finish past Petr Cech. No one was left back by the Gunners. The Reds were left free to dance and prance all over them, sub Daniel Sturridge making it 4-0 with just under a quarter of an hour to go, heading the ball in with plenty of time and space. Cech has conceded 30 goals against Liverpool, more than any other side in the Premier League. It was 10-0 in shots on target. It was the first time since 2014 Arsenal didn't get any attempts towards the goal. Embarrassing. Wenger in? Wenger out? Definitely shaking all about! Click here for my full LFC match report. Meanwhile, it was a comfy win for Chelsea in the earlier kick-off at Stamford Bridge, 2-0 against Everton, dominating and downing their opponents as well, it could have been a much worse score too. Disappointing as a better competition was expected by the big spending Toffees.

What a team! Huddersfield went top at least for a couple of hours remaining unbeaten and recording another clean sheet and point after a goalless draw at home against Southampton. It's the first time since 1965-6 the Yorkshire side have kept a clean sheet in each of their opening three games to a league season. The Red Devils soon took the Terriers' place though, more to their cruel win against Leicester below. At the other end of the table, Crystal Palace served Swansea their first win of the season, an easy 0-2 at Selhurst Park. That means the Eagles have now lost their opening three matches of the Premier League season under new boss Frank de Boer. They have failed to score a single goal, conceding five in two home matches. True misery. West Ham are also struggling, losing the third game in a row, thrashed 3-0 at Newcastle. The last time they did this was 2010-11, they finished bottom.

What a man! Kasper Schmeichel made some brilliant saves in the first half to keep Leicester in the game at Old Trafford on Saturday evening. Peter Schmeichel's son also denied Romelu Lukaku from the spot not long after the interval, the former Red Devil will have been gutted but oh so proud at the same time, seeing his son break his record of penalty saves at Old Trafford (father 0-1 son). But the deadlock was eventually broken by substitute Marcus Rashford converting a corner, in off the Danish keeper, with 20 minutes to go. It was stoppable. Such a shame. The 30-year-old stopper deserved a clean sheet! Substitute Marouane Fellaini added to that misery in the 83rd minute, knocking the ball in from close range, which looked like an offside position, to double the home side's lead and keep United's 100% start to the season on track and going. Their unbeaten run at home has stretched to 31 games. Four goals have come off the bench already for José Mourinho's men this season, compared to six in the whole of last season. Progress. Harsh result on the Foxes though.

What a goal! Bournemouth's opener was stunning in the early kick-off on Saturday! From the tightest of tight angles, former Leyton Orient defender Charlie Daniels whacked the ball bouncing off the top and side netting and in! Just to be heartbroken by Man City's later than late winner by Raheem Sterling (97') after Gabriel Jesus had levelled the score before the interval and Joshua King hit the bar. The former Liverpool man was then sent off for his celebrations with the City fans (99'). What a comeback and late drama! Cherries boss Eddie Howe was understandably gutted, his counterpart Pep Guardiola a very relieved man! For the first time since 1994-95, Bournemouth have lost their first three league games in a campaign, that was in the third tier. They have never beaten City in 11 meetings (2D, 9L). Burnley's club-record signing Chris Wood shocked Tottenham with a last-minute equaliser, calmly slotting the ball into the bottom corner from close range in the 92nd minute to make it 1-1. It was a deserved leveller for the Clarets, despite Spurs' dominance, the home side were very wobbly at Wembley, once again.

What the hell?! Uruguayan defender Miguel Britos was rightly shown a first-half straight red card for his high and reckless challenge nowhere near the ball on Brighton's Anthony Knockaert, who was very lucky to escape injury. The Seagulls recored their first ever Premier League point after the goalless draw at Vicarage Road, but were left gutted not to have taken advantage and downed 10-man Watford, and still waiting for their first Premier League goal since their promotion. West Brom's 100% winning start to the season came to an embarrassing end when a defensive mix-up between Ahmed Hegazy and Ben Foster gifted Peter Crouch an equaliser and Stoke a point at the Hawthorns.

My Predictions - Actual Results
Bournemouth 0:3 Man City - 1:2
Crystal Palace 0:0 Swansea - 0:2
Huddersfield 3:2 Southampton - 0:0
Newcastle 2:2 West Ham - 3:0
Watford 2:1 Brighton - 0:0
Man United 2:1 Leicester - 2:0
Chelsea 1:1 Everton - 2:0
West Brom 2:1 Stoke City - 1:1
Liverpool 4:4 Arsenal - 4:0 or my match report
Tottenham 4:2 Burnley - 1:1

Click here for my previous Premier League Picks Of The Week.

All pictures, stats and facts are taken from the BBC match reports, MOTD, SFR and Twitter match coverage.

No comments: