There were late goals, thrashings and a deal of drama on every day of the midweek English Premier League. It was a big set of fixtures and was always going to have huge ramifications on the Champions League places, but no-one could have seen what was coming.
At the weekend, Wolverhampton Wanderers got a vital win in their quest to upset the applecart at Aston Villa. Elsewhere, Southampton won at Watford to leave The Hornets in a mess, while Crystal Palace crumbled against Burnley, whose late charge for a Europa League spot would be comical if it wasn’t so serious.
Brighton & Hove Albion 0-3 Manchester United
One of the most pivotal results took place on Tuesday evening at the Amex Stadium as the Red Devils dismissed Brighton in the way a headteacher sends a truant to their study.
As poor as The Seagulls were, United were irresistible, with two goals from Bruno Fernandes and a strike from Mason Greenwood, who along with the Portuguese midfield maestro, enjoyed himself thoroughly on the South coast.
West Ham United 3-2 Chelsea
An amazing game took place at the London Stadium as West Ham gave themselves a fighting chance to escape relegation from the Premier League in stunning fashion at their London neighbours’ expense.
Chelsea took the lead through Willian, but only after West Ham were denied what seemed a perfectly good goal by VAR, a fate that befell Spurs the next day too. Willian’s opener was equalized before half-time, however, and when Michail Antonio scored to put The Hammers in front, David Moyes was hoping his team would hang on from the sidelines.
That didn’t happen, as Willian scored a beautiful free-kick in off the post to level the score again, but West Ham continued to attack on the break with pace, power and no little panache. When Andriy Yarmolenko was set free on the right side of the Chelsea penalty area, his cut inside and curling strike into the corner was as expected as it was skillful.
Manchester City 4-0 Liverpool
The clash between the outgoing champions and incoming ones at the Etihad Stadium saw Manchester City comfortably remind Liverpool that they won’t be going anywhere when it comes to fighting for next season’s Premier League title.
The game got off to a very slow start, possibly inspired by the tepid and tedious ‘guard of honour’ put on by Manchester City players to congratulate their challengers who became champions at their expense, Liverpool. The game itself took some time to get going, but when it did, it was The Citizens who put their stamp on it.
Kevin De Bruyne scored an easy penalty won by Raheem Sterling and it was the England wing-forward who notched the second, running onto a pass from Phil Foden after De Bruyne’s run took away the Liverpool defenders with understated nous.
It wasn’t over, as Phil Foden scored an exquisite strike on the stroke of half-time, exchanging a neat one-two with Kevin de Bruyne before smashing the ball gleefully past Alisson Becker between the sticks.
Into the second half, much of the action was in watching the reactions of managers and substitutes as the structure of two teams famed for their elite levels allowed the game to drift a little.
A comical own-goal by Alex Oxlade-Chamberlain added a touch of amusement to some extremely dry toast just after the hour and that was largely it. A coronation for the champions, but some thorns sitting in the crown as it was laid on their head.
Gameweek #32 results:
Aston Villa 0-1 Wolves
Watford 1-3 Southampton
Crystal Palace 0-1 Burnley
Brighton & Hove Albion 0-3 Manchester United
Bournemouth 1-4 Newcastle United
Arsenal 4-0 Norwich
Everton 2-1 Leicester City
West Ham United 3-2 Chelsea
Sheffield United 3-1 Tottenham Hotspur
Manchester City 4-0 Liverpool
