EPL matchday 10: Arsenal top, Ronaldo milestone as City, Newcastle record massive wins

It was entertainment as usual during the matchday 10 round of the 2022/23 English Premier League (EPL) season. Arsenal maintained their lead at the top of the table while Manchester City, Tottenham and Chelsea recorded victories to maintain top four spots.

Meanwhile, Bournemouth and West Ham both registered their third wins of the current campaign. Super Eagles star Alex Iwobi continued his impressive form with an early goal in Everton’s narrow loss to Manchester United.

Here is a quick review of EPL football action over the weekend alongside some stats for your reading delight.

Bournemouth 2-1 Leicester

Gary O’Neil continue to impress since taking over as Cherries’ caretaker manager with yet another victory. The home team came from behind to win 2-1 against Leicester – the away side’s seventh loss in nine games.

Patson Daka’s strike in the 10th minute put the visitors ahead but Philip Anyawu Billing equalised in the second half. Bournemouth scored their second goal four minutes later when Dominic Solanke released Ryan Christie to bury into the net.

The home side now sit 8th on the table with 12 points while Leicester are 19th with only four points.

ALSO READ: La Liga: Barcelona return to summit after 1-0 win against Celta Vigo

Stats

• Leicester’s defeat to Bournemouth was their 250th in the competition. This season, no side has dropped more points from winning positions than the Foxes (14).
• Bournemouth have now won each of their last three home league games against Leicester City. It is the first time they’ve recorded consecutive league victories over the Foxes since March 1989 (run of three).
• Bournemouth played their 100th Premier League game at home.
• Daka’s goal for Leicester was the 350th Bournemouth have conceded in the Premier League in what is their 199th game. It is the quickest any side has conceded that many goals in the competition’s history.

Chelsea 3-0 Wolves

Chelsea made it three consecutive victories in all competitions following a beautiful display at Stamford Bridge. Wolves missed the services of Ruben Neves and Neto, who could have proved vital during this EPL matchday 10 match.

The Blues are yet to lose under head coach Graham Potter following victories against Crystal Palace and AC Milan. The victories had followed Potter’s first game in charge – a Champions League match against Salzburg, which ended 1-1.

Saturday’s win means Chelsea have conceded only one goal in their past three matches in all competitions.

Potter decided to rotate the squad, resting the likes of Mateo Kovačić and Reece James, with both players coming on as substitutes. The home side have an eye on the return leg of the Champions League tie against Milan, hence the wholesome changes.

The head coach also rested Thiago Silva, Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang and Raheem Sterling. None of the trio played a single round of minute against Wolves in the EPL matchday 10 fixture.

After failing to utilize several opportunities, Chelsea broke the deadlock in third minute of added time in the first half. Mason Mount’s cross met German forward Kai Havertz whose header left goalkeeper José Sá helpless.

Mount again provided the assist for Christian Pulisic’s goal in the 54th minute. The American made it 2-0 when his chipped ball over the goalkeeper found the back of the net.

The rout was completed when substitute Armando Broja scored his first goal for Chelsea in the 89th minute. He had connected with a fine pass from Kovačić to make it 3-0.

Stat

Wolves have scored just three times in their nine league matches this season. That is as many goals as Chelsea ended up with in this match.

Manchester City 4-0 Southampton

City thumped struggling Southampton to extend their unbeaten run this season. Indeed, the Cityzens are yet to lose any game in all competitions so far.

After being rested in midweek, both Erling Haaland and Kevin De Bruyne returned to the starting lineup. In-fom João Cancelo opened scoring after dribbling in Soton’s defence. Phil Foden, who had created Cancelo’s goal, scored a goal of his own in the 32nd minute.

Further goals from Riyad Mahrez and Haaland completed the emphatic victory for the English champions.

Stats

• Manchester City have become the first team to score at least four goals in five consecutive top-flight home games since Tottenham Hotspur in September 1963.
• Phil Foden has scored five goals in his last three Premier League games for Manchester City. This is just the second time he has scored in three consecutive league appearances. Truly impressive stats for the young Englishman after EPL matchday 10 fixtures.
• Joao Cancelo has scored in two of his last three Premier League home games. He had not scored in any of his first 43 appearances at the Etihad Stadium.
• Haaland is just the second player to score in seven consecutive Premier League games for Manchester City, after Sergio Aguero.

Newcastle 5-1 Brentford

Star man Bruno Guimarães scored twice as Newcastle mauled hapless Brentford in an interesting affair at the St James’ Park.

Jacob Murphy and Paraguayan attacking midfielder Miguel Almirón were also in the score sheet. 29-year-old Jamaican centre-back Ethan Pinnock’s own goal late in the encounter made it five for Newcastle.

Brentford’s only goal was gotten through talisman Ivan Toney when he converted from the spot in the 54th minute.

Eddie Howe’s side occupy 6th spot on the log with 14 points – same as Brighton in 7th. Meanwhile Brentford are four points behind in 11th position.

Stats

• Since he made his league debut in February, no Newcastle player has scored more than Guimarães’ seven goals from midfield.
• Only Kieran Trippier had more touches of the ball than Guimarães among Newcastle players.

ALSO READ: Super Eagles drop one place in September FIFA world rankings

Brighton 0-1 Tottenham

Tottenham came out unscathed in their keenly contested affair at the AMEX stadium to maintain third position on the table. The EPL matchday 10 match was one of the tough picks from the round.

Antonio Conte’s side were mourning the passing away of Spurs’ fitness coach Gian Piero Ventrone. The victory was a good way to pay their respects to the departed coach.

Harry Kane scored his eighth goal of the season following beautiful work from Son Heung-min. It proved to be the only goal of the match.

Stats

• Heung-Min Son and Harry Kane combined to score a Premier League goal for the 43rd time. It’s the most of any duo in the competition’s history.
• Conte is yet to lose any of his previous 54 Premier League games in which his sides have gone into half time ahead (W50 D4). That’s the most such games in the competition without defeat for a manager.
• Conte is now unbeaten in all seven of his Premier League matches against fellow Italian managers (W6 D1). He has seen his sides keep clean sheets in four of their last five such games.

Crystal Palace 2-1 Leeds United

Patrick Vieira said Palace needed the win against Leeds United even though it wasn’t a pretty one.

Pascal Struijk, just like Leicester’s Patson Daka, opened scoring in the 10th minute. Odsonne Edouard restored parity minutes later as the home side started to hold their own in the game.

Eberechi Eze completed the turnaround when his 76th minute strike beat 22-year-old goalkeeper Illan Meslier.

Speaking to Skysports after the match, Vieira said: “… Today we worked hard. We rolled up our sleeves and competed and in the end we scored a goal. It’s good for us.”

West Ham 3-1 Fulham

Jarrod Bowen, Gianluca Scamacca and Michail Antonio all scored to help West Ham to a deserved victory over Fulham.

The away side were missing injured Serbian striker Alexander Mitrović and were not good enough match for the Hammers.

Lucas Paquetá was the star of the match and had duly assisted the second goal for Scamacca. The 23-year-old Italian has continued to grow in leaps and bounds with the goal his third in three straight games.

DR Congo attacking midfielder Neeskens Kebano was provider for Fulham’s only goal, netted by Andreas Perreira.

Stats

• West Ham have won consecutive Premier League games for the first time since January last season (three in a row). They had won just two of their previous 14 league games before this (D3 L9).
• At 4:47, Andreas Pereira’s opener for Fulham was the earliest Premier League goal West Ham have conceded at the London Stadium since March 2019.
• West Ham won an EPL game in which they had fallen behind for the first time in 2022. They had last done so against Watford in December 2021.
• After the EPL matchday 10 round up, Fulham remain winless in their last 16 London derbies in the Premier League away from home. Indeed they have lost all three this season (v Arsenal, Spurs, West Ham).

Arsenal 3-2 Liverpool

The Gunners raced to an early lead but were pegged back twice in the game before finding a winner via a penalty.

Gabriel Martinelli scored inside the first minute to put the home side in a great position. Liverpool looked unconvincing as they’ve been all season and lacked creativeness in the middle of the park.

The Reds were denied a penalty when Gabriel Magalhães’s arm clearly obstructed the ball in the box. However, referee Michael Oliver waved play on, causing the EPL matchday 10 encounter seem imbalance at the time.

There were signs of positivity upfront however before Darwin Núñez got the equalizer off a Luis Diaz assist.

In the fifth minute of additional time in the first half, Martinelli made a solo run into the box before setting up Bukayo Saka as Arsenal led for the second time in the game.

Roberto Firmino, who replaced the injured Luis Diaz earlier in the first half, scored to make it 2-2 in the 53rd minute. The 31-year-old forward sent the ball past Gunners goalkeeper Aaron Ramsdale after being found by Diogo Jota’s through ball.

The Brazilian has now scored ten Premier League goals against the Gunners. He is now the leading scorer in the fixture during the Premier League era.

Both sides had chances to score a third but fluffed their lines each time. The home crowd were thrown into a frenzy when Saka scored the winner from the penalty spot.

Stats

• There have been 180 goals scored in Premier League meetings between Arsenal and Liverpool. It is the most of any fixture in the competition’s history
• That was the 10th time in their last 12 Premier League games they’ve conceded the first goal. Klopp’s side had only lost on one of those previous occasions though.
• Arsenal had lost six of their last seven Premier League games with Liverpool before the match.

Everton 1-2 Manchester United

Cristiano Ronaldo scored his 700th club career goal after coming off the bench to grab the winner for Manchester United.

ALSO READ: Ronaldo scores 700th goal to secure win for Manchester United

The Portuguese was brought on to replace the injured Anthony Martial in the first half and scored just before halftime.

Alex Iwobi once again showed why he’s been an important player for Everton when he broke the deadlock after five minutes. Brazilian winger Antony levelled matters not long after before Ronaldo hit his milestone.

Stats

• Manchester United won their 100th Premier League game having conceded the first goal of the game. That’s the most such wins in the competition’s history.
• No side has conceded more away goals in the Premier League in 2022 than Manchester United (34).
• Cristiano Ronaldo scored the 700th club goal of his career, 20 years and 2 days after his first goal.
• Antony became the first United player to score in each of his first three EPL games for the club.

The last game of the EPL matchday 10 round of fixtures will be decided later on Monday night. The game comes up between Nottingham Forest and Aston Villa (20:00 WAT/GMT+1).