Sports - Football - Premier League - Week 19
The 19th week of the Premier League action saw:
32 goals - most by Tottenham and Everton = 5 each
249 shots - most by Crystal Palace = 31
94 on target - most by Man United = 10
94 corners - most by Crystal Palace = 12
177 fouls - most by Everton = 19
27 bookings - most by Everton = 4
1 red card - Delph for Man City
3 penalties - 3 scored (Sigurdsson for Everton, Salah for Liverpool, Hazard for Chelsea)
What a game! Manchester City lost again! After the shock home defeat against Crystal Palace last week, Pep Guardiola’s side could not keep hold of a lead again and ended up failing and falling 2-1 at Leicester. Bernardo Silva had opened the scoring for the champions (14’), but just five minutes later Marc Albrighton headed in the equaliser (19’). Ricardo Pereira’s blasting strike (81’) put the Foxes ahead, before Fabian Delph’s sliding tackle ended the afternoon early for the Bradford-born and any chance back into the match for his side, the defeat seeing City slide down to third. Their Spanish boss doesn’t like December, seeing six of their 11 league defeats in the month of Christmas. Claude Puel meanwhile, will be thinking he is dreaming, his change of formation was spot on. The 2016 champions are up to seventh after taking max points against top sides, when the Frenchman was being doubted and under fire most.
What a team! Liverpool thrashed Newcastle 4-0 to extend their lead at the top to six points. Cheers were even louder at Anfield after hearing the result mentioned above come through from the King Power Stadium. An unmarked Dejan Lovren had opened the scoring with a belter from the centre of the box (11’). Mohamed Salah doubled the score from the spot (47’) after being pulled back in the penalty area by Paul Dummett. Xherdan Shaqiri (79’) and Fabinho (85’) doubled the score to complete the comfortable win, their 16th in 19 games, and secure their 12th clean sheet. It was Jürgen Klopp’s 100th win as LFC boss in his 181st match and the Magpies’ heaviest league defeat at Anfield since December 1987. The Reds are only the fourth Premier League team to be unbeaten at the halfway stage of a season after Arsenal 2003-04, Manchester United 2010-11 and Manchester City 2017-18. Each of those sides went on to win the title.
Tottenham are the closest chasers at the moment, moving up to second after they hammered Bournemouth 5-0 at Wembley. Boss Mauricio Pochettino remained humble though, pointing to Liverpool and City as “the real contenders”.
What a man! Manchester United caretaker boss Ole Gunnar Solskjær was all smiles after watching his side make it back-to-back wins under him with a convincing 3-1 win against Huddersfield, making Old Trafford bounce again. The Red Devils were on fire, much more open, positive, liberal and riveting, with ten shots on target. Paul Pogba scored twice, a nice sweeper (64’) and 30-yard rocket (78’), after Nemanja Matić poked one home earlier on (28’). The French world champion has been directly involved in four goals in two league games under the Norwegian (2 goals, 2 assists), the same total he registered in his last 12 matches under The Sacked One (José Mourinwho).
Eden Hazard became only the tenth Chelsea player to reach the landmark of 100 goals for the club, his brace (45’+1’, 58’ pen) was enough to secure a win at Watford and keep his side in fourth.
What a goal! Everton shook off the 2-6 home embarrassment against Tottenham last week by thrashing Burnley to bits 1-5 at Turf Moor. Lucas Digne’s long-range effort gets the pick, a smacker to complete his brace (13’, 71’) and add to man of the match Yerry Mina’s early opener (2’) and Gylfi Sigurðsson’s spot kick (22’). Ben Gibson had pulled one back for the home side before the break (36’), but Richarlison came off the bench to add a late goal to the Clarets’ misery (90’+3’). The win takes the Toffees up to eighth, whilst Sean Dyche watched his side trying hard but suffering and failing harder, the defeat keeping them stuck in 18th, having conceded 41 goals after 19 games, two more than they shipped in the whole of last season (39).
What the hell?! Crystal Palace had 31 shots against Cardiff, their highest number since 2003-4, including last week's hero Andros Townsend and Luka Milivojević hitting the crossbar and post respectively, but it somehow stayed goalless. Frustrating for manager Roy Hodgson, who was left rueing all the missed chances. But the former England boss can be more than happy with four points from the two last to games after beating the champions last week. Neil Warnock can still be satisfied as well, watching his side staying stubborn, keeping a clean sheet and collecting only their second point on the road this season. The sides remain 14th and 17th respectively. This was the first-ever Premier League meeting between two managers aged over 70 (Warnock 70y 25d, Hodgson 71y 139d on the day of the game).
Three goals in nine minutes decided the only clash left on the day after Boxing Day. Southampton went ahead against West Ham thanks to Nathan Redmond scrappy finish (50), before Felipe Anderson’s brace decided the encounter, one low strike (53’) and a powerful shot (59’). Injury-hit Hammers held on to the lead to secure their fifth win in six games, taking them up to ninth, whilst the Saints remain 16th.
My Predictions - Actual Results
Burnley 1:2 Everton - 1:5
Crystal Palace 2:1 Cardiff - 0:0
Leicester 1:1 Man City - 2:1
Liverpool 3:0 Newcastle - 4:0
Man United 4:0 Huddersfield - 3:1
Tottenham 3:1 Bournemouth - 5:0
Brighton 2:2 Arsenal - 1:1
Watford 2:2 Chelsea - 1:2
Southampton 0:0 West Ham - 1:2
No comments:
Post a Comment