EPL week 10 review: tragedy strikes as Leicester Chairman dies

EPL Week 37 Review: Man City retain the title after battering Brighton

The English Premier League has a tough week after the Leicester City Chairman Vichai Srivaddhanaprabha dies in a helicopter crash outside of the King Power Stadium, Glenn Hoddle suffers a heart attack when covering the league for BT Sport, and an elderly Brighton fan collapses at the AMEX before passing away in a hospital. 

EPL Wk 10 Review: tragedy strikes as Leicester Chairman diesIt was one of the darkest days in Premier League history as Leicester Chairman Vichai Srivaddhanaprabha was one of five people confirmed dead after a helicopter crashed shortly after taking off from the King Power pitch on Saturday.

None of the five people on board survived, including the pilot Eric Swaffer, another pilot, Izabela Lechowicz, and two members of Srivaddhanaprabha’s staff Nursara Suknamai and Kaveporn Punpare.

Srivaddhanaprabha bought the club in 2010 and went on to lead the most remarkable sporting fairytales in recent memory when the club won the 2015/16 English Premier League (EPL).

On the same afternoon, the England and Spurs legend, Glenn Hoddle, suffered a heart attack while covering the EPL for BT Sport. The 61-year-old collapsed inside the BT Studios, and Sound Engineer, Simon Daniels, performed CPR on Hoddle, keeping him alive until the paramedics arrived. Hoddle remains in a ‘serious condition’ in hospital.

Finally, an elderly Brighton fan collapsed at the AMEX Stadium during the 1-0 win over Wolves and later died in hospital. The man was at the game with his son.  

Our thoughts and prayers are with the families. 

Liverpool 4 v 1 Cardiff 

With Man City playing Spurs on Monday night, Liverpool charged to the top of the table with a 4-1 thrashing of Cardiff City at Anfield.

Neil Warnock told the press that it was “virtually impossible” to win at Anfield, and was proven right. The experienced campaigner has also said to the Cardiff fans not to expect to stay up. Let’s call him a miserable realist.

Liverpool extended their unbeaten run at Anfield to 26 games.

Mohamed Salah opened the scoring on ten-minutes, dispatching the ball in typically clinical fashion after a spot of penalty area pinball. It was the Egyptian’s 33rd goal in 35 Anfield matches.

Liverpool could have been three-up before half time. Virgil Van Dijk, captaining for the first time in the EPL, headed against the post from a smart Salah chip, and Adam Lallana saw a robust header cleared off the line by Sean Morrison.

The second goal came with 66-minutes played, and it was all Sadio Mané. The Senegalese international fired a bullet into the bottom corner of the net for his second goal in successive games, before Callum Paterson gave Cardiff fans hope with a close-range effort on 77-minutes.

Then Salah turned provider to finish Cardiff off, first for Xerhan Shaqiri to finish beautifully after some neat footwork in the box and then to put Mané through on goal to chip the ball over the keeper with three minutes of the match remaining.

It was Liverpool’s eighth EPL win of the season.

Burnley 0 v 4 Chelsea 

Chelsea moved into second, two points behind Liverpool, after hammering Burnley at Turfmoor without their star man, Eden Hazard. The Belgian missed the game with a back injury, but Chelsea went on to score four in a game they utterly dominated, meaning Maurizio Sarri becomes the first Chelsea boss to remain unbeaten after his first ten EPL games in charge.

Chelsea was at the races from the start with Joe Hart tipping an Alvaro Morato header over the bar, and Willian striking the post with a curler from just inside the box.

The break came in the 22nd minute, and it was a peach of a goal. N’Golo Kante won the ball in midfield before passing to Barkley who took a touch before sending Morata through to score his third goal in four games.

Morata could have had a second before half-time, but Hart denied him once again, this time from close range.

The second goal came in the 57th minute, and once again, Kante and Barkley were involved. The Frenchman brought the ball out from the back, handed the reins to Barkley, and he marched up the pitch before striking from long range to score for the third consecutive game, the first time an Englishman has done that for Chelsea since the days of Frank Lampard.

Man of the match, Willian, made it three with a trademark long-range effort, and after substitute, Olivier Giroud missed two golden opportunities to score his first league goal of the season (one brilliantly stopped by Hart), Ruben Loftus-Cheek finished from close range from an injury-time goalmouth scramble.

Here are the Week 10 fixtures in full:

Fixtures in Full

Brighton 1 v 0 Wolves
Southampton 0 v 0 Newcastle
Liverpool 4 v 1 Cardiff
Fulham 0 v 3 Bournemouth
Watford 3 v 0 Huddersfield
Leicester 1 v 1 West Ham
Man Utd 2 v 1 Everton
Burnley 0 v 4 Chelsea
Crystal Palace 2 v 2 Arsenal

To Be Played (Mon)

Spurs v Man City

Premier League Table

1. Liverpool – 26
2. Chelsea – 24
3. Man City – 23
4. Arsenal – 22
5. Spurs – 21
6. Bournemouth – 20
7. Watford – 19
8. Man Utd – 17
9. Everton – 15
10. Wolves – 15
11. Brighton – 14
12. Leicester – 13
13. West Ham – 8
14. Crystal Palace – 8
15. Burnley – 8
16. Southampton – 7
17. Cardiff – 5
18. Fulham – 5
19. Newcastle – 3
20. Huddersfield – 3

Premier League Winner Odds

Man City 4/7
Liverpool 5/2
Chelsea 10/1

Premier League Relegation Odds

Huddersfield 1/3
Cardiff 4/11
Fulham 11/10
Burnley 11/8
Newcastle 7/4

Top 4 Finish

Man City 1/150
Liverpool 1/33
Chelsea 2/11
Spurs 8/13
Arsenal 11/8
Man Utd 3/1

Top Goalscorer

Sergio Aguero – 11/4
Harry Kane 3/1
Mohamed Salah – 9/2
Pierre-Emerick Aubameynag – 5/1
Eden Hazard – 8/1