Harry Maguire silences the haters, Firmino bamboozles Newcastle’s defence & Norwich shock the champions.
After five weeks of the English Premier League being back on screens, what have we learned? It never pays to hate, Liverpool and Firmino in particular are playing no-look winning football and any team would miss Vincent Kompany and Aymeric Laporte. We take a look back on what could prove to be a pivotal weekend’s results come May.
Liverpool 3-1 Newcastle United
To say Liverpool coasted to victory against Newcastle would be complete disrespect – to Liverpool. The European Champions simply blew the Geordies away, albeit after the away side scored a stunning opener at Anfield via the left foot of Jetro Willems.
Having gone behind, Liverpool weren’t so much provoked into action as reminded that they have the ability to switch from a dangerous team to one against whom so few teams can even cope on an emotional level. Newcastle conceded an equaliser from Liverpool’s regular clutch player, Sadio Mané. And it was Mané again who scored the second before half-time, underlining his priceless nature to The Reds.
Mo Salah added a delightful third goal when Firmino, who had pulled the away defence across the pitch like a puppet master who was angry with his dolls all afternoon. A sublime touch and reverse backheel put Mo Salah in on goal, and the Egyptian had no problems slotting past the unfortunate Martin Dubravka.
Manchester United 1-0 Leicester City
Harry Maguire was the star man as the Red Devils welcomed The Foxes to Old Trafford on an afternoon of retribution, mutual respect and, most importantly, a win for Ole Gunnar Solskjaer’s United just when they needed it.
With Leicester in fine form going into the game, and desperate to prove that they didn’t miss Harry Maguire one bit, their fans chanting ‘We don’t need you, we’ve got Söyüncü’, the irony of those comments came back to haunt the visitors in record time, the Turkish defender clipping Marcus Rashford inside the penalty area after eight minutes.
It was Rashford himself who stepped up to slam the ball home and give the United fans plenty to cheer about, but it was Maguire who marshalled the home team’s back line through a difficult afternoon to see the game out, and you can’t put a price on that kind of leadership. Oh, wait, you can; it’s £80 million.
Norwich 3-2 Manchester City
The biggest shock result of the English Premier League season so far took place at Carrow Road on Saturday evening as Norwich City triumphed over the visiting champions Manchester City.
With Teemu Pukki and Sergio Agüero both involved, it was a chance to compare the two pacesetters in the race for the Golden Boot, and neither man disappointed. Agüero scored a brilliant header on the stroke of half time to drag City back into it at 2-1 down, but by then, Pukki et al had already done the damage.
With an unchallenged header from a corner after 18 minutes, Kenny McLean had The Canaries chirping, and when Pukki turned provider for Todd Cantwell after 30 miniutes, Norwich, last year’s Championship winners were in dreamland.
Agüero’s goal back put Manchester City on the front foot, but it was Pukki who scored at the start of the second half to restore Norwich’s two-goal lead, and despite a late Rodri strike that flew into the bottom corner like a rocket, it was the promoted side who celebrated lift-off in their campaign and in doing so, put Manchester City five points back in the title race already.
Gameweek #5 results:
Liverpool 3-1 Newcastle United
Brighton & Hove Albion 1-1 Burnley
Manchester United 1-0 Leicester City
Sheffield United 0-1 Southampton
Tottenham Hotspur 4-0 Crystal Palace
Wolves 2-5 Chelsea
Norwich 3-2 Manchester City
Bournemouth 3-1 Everton
Watford 2-2 Arsenal
Aston Villa 0-0 West Ham United
