This Premier League just keeps on delivering! If anyone tells you the big clubs are becoming untouchable, don’t you believe them as they all had a pretty torrid time this weekend…apart from Enzo Maresca’s Chelsea.
Leaders Liverpool had their game called off and then, with a chance to close the gap at the top of the table, Manchester City managed to evade victory again with a 2-2 draw against struggling Crystal Palace and Arsenal were held 1-1 away to Fulham. Chelsea did take their chance with a thrilling 4-3 win away to Tottenham Hotspur and the Blues now sit in second place and four points behind Liverpool.
The Spurs vs Chelsea vs clash was my SBOTOP Premier League pick of this round and boy did it deliver! The hosts burst into action with a blistering start and were 2-0 ahead thanks to two fine finishes from Dominic Solanke and Dejan Kulusevski. Jadon Sancho halved the deficit on 17 minutes and then the Blues went out on the attack.
It took until the hour before Chelsea levelled, Cole Palmer firing home a penalty after Yves Bissouma fouled Moises Caicedo and then, after more good work fro Palmer, Enzo Fernandez rifled home to make it 3-2. Spurs pushed for a leveller but when Chelsea broke away, Palmer won another penalty when he was tripped by the hugely naïve Pape Sarr. ‘Cold’ Palmer, the coolest had in the stadium, converted his second penalty, this time with an audacious chip. There was still time for Heung-Min Son to make it 4-3 but the Blues had already won the day.
And breathe!
Arsenal’s set piece prowess was there for all to see again as they punctured the Fulham defence when William Saliba converted, for the second time in a week, from a Declan Rice corner. The Cottagers had gone ahead thanks to a cool finish from Raul Jimenez, but Saliba got the Gunners back into the game though this time there was a lengthy VAR delay before the visiting fans could complete their celebrations.
VAR then snatched away a victory for Arsenal after Bukayo Saka thought he’d won it, only for Gabriel Martinelli to have stepped inches offside.
Manchester is not ‘mad for it’
While the capital city clubs have been dominating the Premier League 2024 news headlines this weekend, the swagger of the North of England’s biggest city seems to have disappeared as both Manchester City and United had deflating weekends. The Sky Blues’ poor run continued as they were held 2-2 by strugglers Crystal Palace and it was a particularly frustrating afternoon for Pep Guardiola as he saw his midfielder Rico Lewis wrongly sent off as his team chased a winner.
City twice came behind as first Erling Haaland equalised a Daniel Munoz opener and then, after Maxence Lacroix had restored the Eagles’ lead Lewis levelled again with a clever finish with his third league goal, all of them against Crystal Palace. Lewis had already been booked for dissent when he was sent off wrongly after being caught by Trevor Chalobah. This time VAR, that brilliant technological innovation, couldn’t intervene because it was a yellow card decision.
Over at Old Trafford, Ruben Amorin’s all too brief honeymoon is well and truly over after Manchester United followed up a midweek loss to Arsenal with a home defeat at the hands of Nottingham Forest. Nikola Milenkovic gave Forest a lead which Rasmus Hojlund cancelled out. But when Keeper Andre Onana totally misjudged a Morgan Gibbs White shot it was 1-2, and then that man Chris Wood scored his tenth of the season to double the visitors’ lead.
Bruno Fernandes halved he deficit on the hour but the Red Devils could not breach Forest’s defence again. What they would do for a striker like the flying Kiwi Wood…United’s top scorer is Marcus Rashford with four!
This is a new reality for Amorin.
Mersey Derby blown away
Down the East Lancs Road from Manchester, high winds and squally showers put paid to the final Merseyside derby scheduled to be played at Everton’s Goodison Park and, while that gave the Toffees and Liverpool’s players a weekend off, everybody else toiled in the tricky conditions.
Storm Darragh put paid to the ‘Friendly Derby’ with winds of up to 70mph forecast and so the fixture will be re-arranged for a night match later in the season.
The latest Premier League 2024 betting odds have installed Arne Slot’s Reds as the title favourites and, without even playing, they have had a pretty good weekend. It wasn’t so bad for Everton either who, as at Sunday night, were still five points clear of the drop zone.
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