The Premier League this season is as open as ever as top clubs struggle for consistency. Some clubs have taken advantage of this while others are in more trouble than ever. Oladipupo Mojeed brings us Premier League game week 8 review as he analyzes the way it shapes the league standings.
Friday night football
Brighton & Hove Albion 0-0 Burnley
Brighton and Burnley kicked off the game week with a goalless draw at the Amex Stadium on Friday.
Graham Potter’s men dominated the game as expected but failed to find the back of the net for the entire duration. They recorded 12 shots in the first half alone.
Burnley’s poor start to the season has been well documented but not much has been said about Brighton’s lack of results.
This could be partly due to how well they seem to perform on the pitch. However, they are yet to have a home win this season and sit 16th in the Premier League.
Burnley however would be happy with the draw as it at least moves them away from the bottom of the table.
Southampton 2-0 Newcastle United
Seemed like a freaky Friday as Southampton climbed the top of the Premier League table after victory over Newcastle United.
In the absence of Danny Ings, there were questions as to whether Southampton would still possess a cutting edge. Che Adams rose to the occasion giving the Saints an early lead as he smashed Theo Walcott’s cross into the back of the net.
Southampton dominated the game and added another in the 82nd minute through Stuart Armstrong. The Saints rose to the top of the league albeit temporarily.
Premier League week 8 review of Saturday’s games
Everton 1-3 Manchester United
The Toffees suffered their third straight defeat this season, crumbling to a 3-1 defeat against the Red Devils on Saturday.
Everton took the lead in the 19th minute when Bernard smashed the ball into the bottom corner out of David De Gea’s reach.
Ole Gunnar Solksjaer’s men responded well soon after as Bruno Fernades headed home a cross from Luke Shaw. The Portuguese added another soon after.
Carlo Ancelloti’s men came into the second half aiming to get something from the game. But they lacked the required creative force and cutting edge.
The Red Devils punished their attacking intent through a counter-attack, finished by new signing Edison Cavani.
Manchester United remain in the bottom half of the table despite the win. However, it took a bit of pressure off their manager going into the international break.
Crystal Palace 4-1 Leeds United
Crystal Palace bagged a home victory over Marcelo Bielsa’s men in an emphatic fashion.
The Eagles took an early lead as new signing Eberechi Eze set up Scott Dann for the first goal. The Englishman then registered his name on the scoresheet as he sent a freekick beautifully into the back of the net.
Patrick Bamford whose goal was ruled out earlier by the VAR for offside reduced the deficit shortly after Eze’s goal.
Helder Costa deflected a cross into the back of the net to make it 3-1 before half time.
Jordan Ayew sealed the game with his first goal of the season in the 70th minute.
The result places Palace level on points with Everton. Leeds remains in the bottom half of the table.
Chelsea 4-1 Sheffield United
The Blues sent the Blades to the bottom of the league with their 4-1 win at Stamford Bridge on Saturday.
They went behind quite early as David McGoldrick opened the scoring in the 9th minute.
Tammy Abraham drew the Blues level in the 23rd minute after being set up by Mateo Kovacic.
They then rained hell on Sheffield United as Hakim Ziyech bagged two assists, setting up Ben Chilwell and Thiago Silva for the 2nd and 3rd goals respectively.
Timo Wener capped it with an 80-minute goal in a one on one situation with the goalkeeper.
Chelsea now have 15 points going into the international break.
West ham United 1-0 Fulham
A night to forget for Ademola Lookman as he denies the Cottagers a much needed point.
The game was quite balanced for the most part, although West Ham had more attacking intent.
Tomas Soucek then gave David Moyes’ men the lead after being set up by new signing Said Benrahma in the 90th minute.
All thought the late drama was over until Said Benrahma trips Tom Cairney to concede a penalty.
Ademola Lookman then took the penalty and was easily saved in a poor attempt to deceive the goalkeeper with a Panenka.
Fulham are only just outside the relegation zone.
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Sunday Premier League action
West Bromich Albion 0-1 Tottenham Hotspur
Despite registering more shots than their opponents, the Baggies were still unable to earn their first win of the season as they lost 1-0 to Tottenham at home.
Tottenham skipper Harry Kane continues his wonderful form as he heads home from Matt Doherty’s cross to secure maximum pointfor th team.
Spurs struggled a bit in the attacking sense registering just one shot on target in the entire first half. They increased pressure in the second half and got their reward.
Spurs now sit 2nd on the league standings level on points with defending champions Liverpool with a much better goal difference. West Brom on the other hand sits 18th with 3 points in 8 games.
Leicester City 1-0 Wolverhampton Wanderers
The Foxes climbed up to the top of the Premier League table with their 1-0 victory over Wolverhampton Wanderers.
Jamie Vardy did the honours of putting a 15 minutes penalty into the back of the net. This increased his goal tally to 8 goals for the season.
The Englishman, however, missed another penalty minutes later as Rui Patricio blocked it from finding the back of the net.
The game was balanced in terms of possession and could have gone either way at different points of the game but the 15-minute penalty decided the game at the end of the day.
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Manchester City 1-1 Liverpool
Pep Guardiola’s men are known to edge this fixture at Etihad but it wasn’t so as they played out a draw with the defending champions on Sunday.
Liverpool started the game in such a strong fashion and got rewarded with a penalty as Kyle Walker tripped Sadio Mane in the penalty box.
Mohammed Salah sent the ball into the back of the net from the spot to give Liverpool the early lead.
Manchester City thereafter grew into the game and drew themselves level as Gabriel Jesus controlled Kevin De Bruyne’s pass with a lovely piece of skill and sends the ball into the back of the net.
The Citizens, however, bottled the chance to move forward as Kevin De Bruyne’s penalty went just wide in the 42nd minute.
The tempo of the game dropped in the second half and there were no goals eventually.
Liverpool suffered a setback as right-back Trent Alexander Arnold sustained an injury and was then replaced by James Milner.
Arsenal 0-3 Aston Villa
Aston Villa went back to winning ways, stunning the Gunners at home in the process.
Villa’s early lead from John McGinn was ruled out by VAR. The visitors, however, shook it off like it was nothing and added 3 more.
Matt Target squared the ball into the box and was sent home by Bukayo Saka, to give Villa the lead.
New signing Ollie Watkins then added 2 goals to seal the game in Aston Villa’s favour.
Aston Villa now sits 6th on the league standings level on points with Chelsea as they sent Arsenal into the bottom half of the table.
24 goals were scored last week. Hope you enjoyed the Premier League game week 8 review? See you after the international break.
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