Manchester City recorded their first loss in this English Premier League (EPL) season in a matchday 11 encounter against Liverpool.
At the Elland road, Arsenal got away with a hard-fought 1-0 victory against Leeds United. Chelsea, Tottenham and Wolverhampton Wanderers also grabbed vital wins over the weekend.
NRTC takes you through a review of all the action from the weekend as well as some amazing stats for your reading pleasure.
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Brentford 2-0 Brighton
Brentford got back to winning ways with a 2-0 win over Brighton and Hove Albion at the Gtech Community Stadium on Friday night.
Ivan Toney scored twice to restore confidence in a side that has suffered heavy defeats in recent weeks. He has now scored his 50th and 51st goal for Brentford, in his 100th appearance for the club.
Toney drew the first blood three minutes before the half hour mark following a cutback from Nigerian midfielder Frank Onyeka. He then extended the lead from the penalty spot after he was brought down by Joel Veltman in the box.
The second goal was his eighth consecutive top flight penalty goal. The England striker has now scored eight league goals, second only to Erling Haaland in the top scorers list.
The defeat also means the visitors are still searching for a win under new manager Roberto de Zerbi. Tribute was also paid to Zambian midfielder Enock Mwepu, who announced his early retirement following the discovery of a hereditary heart condition.
Stats
- Roberto De Zerbi (D1 L2) is the first Brighton manager to fail to win any of his first three league games in charge since Barry Lloyd in February 1987.
- Toney has scored with all eight of his Premier League penalties. Only Dimitar Berbatov (9/9) and Yaya Touré (11/11) have better 100% records from the spot in the competition.
- Brentford won the game despite posting a possession figure of 27.6 percent. It is the lowest by a winning team in a Premier League game since May (Everton v Chelsea – 21.7%).
- Brighton have lost consecutive Premier League games for the first time since February/March 2022 (a run of six losses). Each of their three defeats in the competition this season coming against London clubs (Fulham, Tottenham and Brentford).
Leicester City 0-0 Crystal Palace
Leicester continued on their disappointing start to the season with a goalless draw against Crystal Palace at the King Power.
Pressure continues to pile on manager Brendan Rodgers as Leicester failed to register a goal in a frustrating Saturday afternoon.
There were chances for both sides but they failed to grab a much needed goal. Patson Daka and Eberechi Eze had decent efforts but we’re denied, with Guaita saving the latter’s strike. James Maddison also missed the target as his shot flew over the bar before halftime.
Despite the introduction of Kelechi Iheanacho and Jamie Vardy, the home side seemed lacking in confidence. For Palace, Eze was quite busy but Zaha was largely isolated upfront, failing to have the kind of impact that has defined his season so far.
Leicester have won only one of their ten games so far this season. Their EPL matchday 11 match against palace was also their third draw this campaign. The Foxes are 19th in the Premier League table having lost seven matches. Crystal Palace have played nine games this season and sit 13th on the log.
Stats
- Leicester have now kept consecutive league clean sheets at the King Power Stadium for the first time this year. The previous occasion was back in December 2021, in victories over Newcastle (4-0) and Liverpool (1-0).
- Leicester have only won five points from 10 games in the Premier League this season. Only in 1983-84 have they had fewer points at this stage of a league campaign (2).
- This was Crystal Palace’s sixth goalless draw in the Premier League under Patrick Vieira. They have played out more 0-0’s than any other team in the competition since the start of last season.
- This was the first 0-0 between Leicester and Crystal Palace in a top-flight match since their first ever meeting at the top level, back in October 1971.
Fulham 2-2 Bournemouth
Bournemouth extended their unbeaten run under caretaker boss Gary O’Neil to six games following a 2-2 draw Fulham.
Dominic Solanke opening scoring after only 64 seconds after being assisted by Philip Anyanwu Billing. However, Issa Diop pulled one back for the hosts before Jefferson Lerma restored Bournemouth’s lead in the first half.
Returning striker, Alexander Mitrović levelled for Fulham once again in the 52nd minute when he converted from the spot. The Serbian striker has now scored seven goals in the 2022/23 English Premier League season.
Stats
- Solanke scored his 50th league goal in English football. He has now scored in his third league game in a row against Fulham. Only against Huddersfield has he scored in more consecutive league games (4).
- Fulham ended a run of 18 consecutive EPL home defeats when conceding the first goal. They gained their first such points since a 4-2 victory against Brighton in January 2019.
- Solanke has been directly involved in five goals (two goals, three assists) in his last five Premier League games. That’s already his best such tally for goal involvements in a single season in the competition, after eight appearances in 2022-23.
- Mitrović has scored five of his seven Premier League goals this season in his five appearances at Craven Cottage. That is as many goals as he’d scored in his previous 30 home games in the competition combined.
Wolves 1-0 Nottingham Forest
Different penalty outcomes for both sides made a huge difference in the match played at the Molineux on Saturday.
Jose Sa saved Brennan Johnson’s penalty to help preserve Wolves lead. Wolves midfielder Ruben Neves had earlier scored from the spot to give the hosts the lead.
Wolves, who remain managerless were awarded a penalty in the 55th minute after a lengthy VAR review. It was only the fourth goal Wolves have scored in the EPL this season and it came on matchday 11.
Nottingham missed a great opportunity to equalise when another VAR review saw referee Thomas Bramall penalise Matheus Nunes for pulling back Ryan Yates at a corner.
Wolves goalkeeper Jose Sa saved the resulting penalty from Brennan Johnson to maintain the lead.
It was a first win for Wolves interim boss Steve Davis since he started taking temporary charge of the side.
Stats
- Nottingham have conceded 23 goals in their first 10 top-flight games in a season for only the second time ever. They also shipped 23 at this stage in 1905-06.
- Brennan Johnson became the first Nottingham Forest player to fail to score a penalty in the Premier League since Stuart Pearce versus Coventry City in December 1994.
- Steve Cooper has won just five points from his first 10 matches as a manager in the Premier League. He is the 12th manager to earn five points or fewer after his first 10 games. He is also the first since Jan Siewert in April 2019.
- Wolves’ goalkeeper Jose Sa has saved each of the last two penalties he’s faced in the Premier League. That’s after conceding nine of the 10 previous spot kicks he faced in the Premier League (one hit the post).
- Nottingham Forest haven’t won any of their last 40 Premier League games when they’ve conceded first. They’ve lost 32 times in the process (D8) – including losing all five games this season when conceding first.
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Tottenham 2-0 Everton
Harry Kane scored for the fifth Premier League game running as Tottenham beat Everton 2-0 at the Tottenham Hotspur stadium.
It was also Kane’s 400th appearance for Spurs and the match proved a perfect victory for Antonio Conte’s team. Pierre-Emile Højbjerg scored the other goal from a deflected effort in the 86th minute following a fine assist by Rodrigo Bentacur.
Kane’s fantastic start to the season continues as he has now netted nine times in 10 league outings.
Everton had two precious opportunities wasted as both Demarai Gray and Amadou Onana blew glorious one-on-one chances.
Spurs now occupy third spot in the league table, level on points (23) with Manchester City who are second.
Aston Villa 0-2 Chelsea
Mason Mount scored in either half of the Premier clash at the Villa Park to ensure Chelsea claimed all available points.
It all began when Tyrone Mings made a costly error to gift Mount the chance to convert inside six minutes. Villa were sharp up front as the attacking trio of Leon Bailey, Danny Ings and Ollie Watkins all looked dangerous and came close to scoring several times.
However, they were denied constantly by the brilliant Kepa Arrizabalaga. Chelsea head coach Graham Potter described Kepa’s heroics as a “world-class performance.”
Marc Cucurella was the main culprit at the back and was replaced at halftime. Both Thiago Silva and Trevoh Chalobah produced good performances to help the Blues keep a clean sheet.
Mount added to his goal tally with a swerving free-kick that was misjudged by goalkeeper Emiliano Martinez.
Prior to the match, there were rumours of the possibility of manager Steven Gerrard’s sack if there was no significant improvement in Villa’s game. This is despite the Villains entering the match having avoided defeat in their previous four games, but pressure continues to pile on Gerrard.
Villa have won only two of their 10 league matches this season while Chelsea have won six out of nine.
Stats
- Gerrard has lost as many games with at Villa Park as he did with Rangers at Ibrox across all competitions. Indeed, since Gerrard’s appointment, only Watford (12) and Norwich (9) have lost more home league games than the Villans (8).
- Graham Potter has won five of his first six games in charge of Chelsea (D1). This includes each of the last five. It is the joint-longest winning run of his managerial career (another five times previously).
- Since the start of 2019-20, no outfield player has made more errors leading to goals in the PL than Mings. Only goalkeepers Jordan Pickford (7) and David De Gea (6) making more overall in this time.
- Since the start of 2020-21, no goalkeeper has conceded more direct free-kicks in the EPL than Villa’s Emiliano Martínez (5).
Leeds 0-1 Arsenal
In a keenly contested affair, Arsenal earned a narrow win at Elland road via a Bukayo Saka powerful strike.
Arsenal maintained their lead at the top of the EPL table after their matchday 11 game. The match was delayed by about 40 minutes due to power outage.
Drama ensued in stoppage time when referee Chris Kavanagh sent off Arsenal defender Gabriel Magalhães. The Brazilian had kicked out at Patrick Bamford after both players collided. Kavanagh also awarded a penalty to Leeds but after reviewing the incident on the monitor, overturned both the red card and penalty call.
The power outage earlier experienced happened after only 23 seconds into the game. This resulted in Kavanagh losing communication with the video assistant referee (VAR) officials. The goalline technology was also down during that time.
Bamford, an early second half substitute, missed a penalty minutes after he had a goal chalked off. Leeds had further chances to get back into the game through Luis Sinisterra and Brenden Aaronson, but were denied.
Manchester United 0-0 Newcastle
Manchester United failed to convert two glorious chances as Newcastle held on to earn a goalless draw at Old Traffford.
It was a busy EPL matchday 11 fixture as both teams missed begging chances. Joelinton had a succession of headers hit the post. The Newcastle striker had seen a header hit the crossbar and headed the rebound against the post in the first half.
Both Marcus Rashford and Fred went very close very late in the match.
United now occupy 5th position with 16 points, one ahead of Newcastle who are also a place behind.
Stats
- Newcastle have drawn more league games this season than any other side (six). It is the second time they have drawn up to six of their opening 10 games of a league season. They also drew six games in 1924-25.
- Manchester United have only lost one of their last 13 Premier League home games (W7 D5). That was a 1-2 defeat to Brighton on MD1 this season.
- Newcastle have won just one of their 28 Premier League games at Old Trafford (D9 L18). Their 3.6% win ratio being the joint-lowest at any ground they’ve played 10+ times at in the competition.
- Nick Pope kept his 50th clean sheet in the Premier League. No other English goalkeeper has kept more in the EPL since his debut in September 2017 (level with Jordan Pickford).
Southampton 1-1 West Ham
Despite having 25 attempts on goal, West Ham had to come from behind to secure a draw against Southampton. The Hammers also had 61% possession but had only four shots on target.
Romain Perraud fired the home side into the lead in the 20th minute before Declan Rice’s second half goal levelled. Rice ended his Premier League goal drought four minutes past the hour mark as he was assisted by substitute Saïd Benrahma.
After the match, West Ham manager David Moyes hit out at the officials. The former Manchester United manager blamed referee Peter Bankes for Saints’ goal.
Stats
- Southampton are unbeaten in their last three Premier League meetings with West Ham (W1 D2). The Saints have failed to win their seven previous league matches against the Hammers (D1 L6).
- West Ham are unbeaten in their last five away Premier League matches against Southampton (W2 D3). Their last three visits to St Mary’s have ended in draws.
- West Ham are unbeaten in their last three Premier League matches (W2 D1). It is the Hammers’ longest unbeaten streak in the league since February (a run of four).
- West Ham have failed to score in the first half in eight of their Premier League matches this season. No other team in the division has failed to do so on more occasions.
- The Hammers have scored two first-half league goals this term. That is the fewest of any side in the top flight.
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Liverpool 1-0 Manchester City
The EPL matchday 11 was rounded off with a pulsating encounter at Anfield which saw City lose for the first time this season.
The ‘Cityzens’ came into the contest having failed to taste defeat in their any of their last nine league encounters.
After a couple of missed opportunities, City had Phil Foden’s strike, which came off Joe Gomez, disallowed. Referee Anthony Taylor had given the goal but had to check the pitchside monitor before ruling it out. In the buildup, Erling Haaland was seen to have dragged down Liverpool midfielder Fabinho while trying to gain the ball.
The game was keenly contested and Liverpool barely gave City breathing space. The Reds ensured they were all over Pep Guardiola’s team, disallowing them from playing the kind of very fluid exchanges the reigning league champions have been known for.
Credit must be given to Virgil van Dijk and makeshift defender James Milner who played wonderfully in defence.
Mohamed Salah scored the match winner after João Cancelo committed a blunder that left the Egyptian through on goal.
Cancelo made another error that almost resulted in another goal but Darwin Núñez saw his shot blocked. The Uruguayan had options but decided to goal solo much to the disappointment of fans.
As tensions rose and tackles flew, Liverpool manager Jurgen Klopp was sent off for failing to manage his frustrations.
City are now four points behind table toppers Arsenal while Liverpool are placed eighth with 13 points. The Reds are level on points with Brentford (9th) and Bournemouth (10th).
Stats
- Liverpool are now unbeaten across their last 28 Premier League matches at Anfield (W21 L7). That is since they lost six in a row between January and March, 2021.
- Manchester City have lost a Premier League away game for the first time since August 2021 against Spurs. This ended what was the longest unbeaten away run in their league history (22 games).
- Pep Guardiola has lost 11 matches against Jurgen Klopp as a manager. That is at least four more defeats than against any other coach.
- Mohamed Salah has been directly involved in 14 goals against Manchester City in all competitions for Liverpool. It is his most against any opponent for the Reds.
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