A review of the weekend’s Premier League action including a whole host of records as Man City opens up an eight-point gap at the top as their noisy neighbours lose to Chelsea.
Man City 3 v 1 Arsenal
Turning up at the Etihad Stadium with Francis Coquelin in the middle of a back three you are more likely to catch a flying fish, barehanded, than win a game of football.
And so it proved correct, as Man City continued to bully every team they have faced this season, opening up an eight-point gap at the top of the Premier League, thanks to a comfortable victory against Arsenal in front of their home fans.
The Pep Guardiola machine doesn’t take long to warm up. They are at it from the minute the ball leaves the centre circle: snarling, snapping and stomping all over their opponents from the get-go. The Citizens could have been two up long before Kevin de Bruyne scored the opener in the 19th minute after a cute one-two with Fernandinho left the Arsenal defenders looking like grade school janitors stood holding a wet mop.
Aaron Ramsey could have equalised before half time, but Ederson dropped down smartly to deny the Welshman. It was Arsenal’s only decent chance in 90-minutes, other than the consolation goal.
In the 1930s, Eric Brook spearheaded the City machine scoring 177 goals, and before kick-off Brook’s tearful daughter awarded Sergio Aguero with a special award for breaking that record after scoring his 178th goal against Napoli in the Champions League.
He now has 179.
The impressive Raheem Sterling burst into the box and was felled by Nacho Monreal. The referee pointed to the place the City fans yearned for, and the Argentinean cannoned his shot in off the post.
“You can accept it if City wins in a normal way, but this is unacceptable.” Said Arsene Wenger after the match, claiming that Sterling dived to win his penalty.
I think the Frenchman should check his statistics.
Arsenal has conceded 12 penalties since the start of last season, more than any other Premier League club, and Petr Cech hasn’t saved one of them. Perhaps, the next time they concede a penalty they should give Coquelin the shirt.
Not long after the second goal went in, Wenger made a change. He spared Coquelin’s blushes by replacing him with Alexandre Lacazette, and the Frenchman’s impact was immediate scoring his sixth league goal since joining in the summer.
And then more controversy for Wenger to hide his side’s failings behind when an offside David Silva cut the ball back for Gabriel Jesus to score his seventh goal of the campaign. The young Brazilian has now scored a goal every 89.6 minutes since joining from Palmeiras.
It was City’s ninth consecutive Premier League victory and 15th in all competitions. The eight-point gap at the top is the largest at this time of the season since the Premier League formed, as is the +31 goal difference.
In contrast, Arsenal has now drawn seven, and lost ten, of the away games they have played against the so-called ‘Big Six.’
A statistic Arsene Wenger would fail to spot if we tattooed it to the inside of his Iris.
Chelsea 1 v 0 Man Utd
Man City’s eight-point gap exists after neighbours Man Utd fell to another defeat at Stamford Bridge. Talk about bogey grounds. United’s 1-0 loss means they have only one once in 16 visits to London, with Chelsea taking maximum points on ten occasions.
These two clubs hogged the pre-season headlines after Jose Mourinho gazumped Antonio Conte to the signature of Romelu Lukaku, pinching him for £90m. It left the Italian with little time to choose an alternative. Alvaro Morata came in for £65m, and on this showing, he’s hardly a second-rate pick.
It always looked like a single goal would be enough to win this tense encounter, and it came in the 55th minute courtesy of the Spaniard. Cesar Azpilicueta curled a magnificent ball into the United penalty area, and Morata rose majestically to head the winner.
It was only the fifth goal United had conceded all season, and Mourinho was rightly furious about the space the United backline gave a man who has now scored ten times with his head this season, more than any other player competing in the major European leagues.
It was Mourinho’s third successive defeat without scoring a goal against Chelsea since he left them for Old Trafford. Once again Romelu Lukaku looked a little lost up front and hasn’t scored in seven games. Zlatan Ibrahimovic is back in training, and when he returns the £90m man will find himself warming the bench at this rate.
West Ham 1 v 4 Liverpool
David Moyes is 1/8 to replace to Slaven Bilic at the helm of West Ham after Liverpool blitzed the Hammers at the London Stadium.
Bilic had warned the West Ham fans to be ‘patient’ against Liverpool; I assume because the Croat knew something like this was on the cards. The fans didn’t listen to him. By the time Mohamed Salah had scored Liverpool’s fourth goal in only the 75th minute, you could hear a plucked eyebrow hair hit the ground.
West Ham began brightly with André Ayew hitting the post, but a lightning break from Liverpool, from a West Ham corner, put free-scoring Liverpool into the lead – Sadio Mané and Salah racing down the pitch in a game of schoolboy attack v defence ending with the Moroccan scoring his sixth goal of the season.
Liverpool was two nil to the good three minutes later. Salah struck a low corner into the box. The ball hit Mark Noble, Joe Hart produced a reflex save, but Joël Matip was on hand to tap in the rebound.
West Ham pulled one back ten minutes after the restart thanks to the brilliance of Manuel Lanzini who chested a ball falling from the moon like it was a feather before calmly lobbing the ball over Simon Mignolet.
Any chance of a West Ham rival dampened 60-seconds later when Alex Oxlade-Chamberlain scored. It was the former Arsenal star’s first start for Liverpool since joining the club in the summer. Salah made it four in the 75th minute causing West Ham fans to leave en masse, and you can expect Bilic to join them in the next 48 hours.
Here are the rest of the weekend’s results:
Premier League Week 11 Results
Stoke 2 v 2 Leicester
Southampton 0 v 1 Burnley
Newcastle 0 v 1 Bournemouth
Huddersfield 1 0 v West Brom
Swansea 0 v 1 Brighton
West Ham 1 v 4 Liverpool
Spurs 1 v 0 Crystal Palace
Man City 3 v 1 Arsenal
Everton 3 v 2 Watford
Chelsea 1 v 0 Man Utd
Premier League Table (Week 11)
1. Man City – 31 pts
2. Man Utd – 23
3. Spurs – 23
4. Chelsea – 22
5. Liverpool – 19
6. Arsenal – 19
7. Burnley – 19
8. Brighton – 15
9. Watford – 15
10. Huddersfield – 15
11. Newcastle – 14
12. Leicester – 13
13. Southampton – 13
14. Stoke – 12
15. Everton – 11
16. West Brom – 10
17. Bournemouth – 10
18. West Ham – 9
19. Swansea – 8
20. Crystal Palace – 4
Premier League Title Winning Odds (Courtesy of Bodog)
Man City -700
Spurs +1400
Man Utd +1600
Chelsea +1800
