Premier League Round-Up: Matchweek 18
Matchweek 18 Scores:
Wolves 0-2 Liverpool
Arsenal 3-1 Burnley
Bournemouth 2-0 Brighton
Chelsea 0-1 Leicester
Man City 2-3 Crystal Palace
Newcastle 0-0 Fulham
West Ham 0-2 Watford
Huddersfield 1-3 Southampton
Cardiff 1-5 Man United
Everton 2-6 Tottenham
A couple of really big and shocking results to shake things up even more as we head into Christmas. Premier League is pretty much the only league that doesn’t take a winter break so we will all be treated to the traditional full slate of games on Boxing Day(Day after Christmas).
Manchester City Lose a Shocker to Crystal Palace
For the second time in three games in the Premier League, Manchester City who have looked like such a formidable force have dropped yet another. City were undefeated in their first 15 games of the year and just cruising along in first place. Their first loss came two weeks ago to Chelsea, which is excusable as Chelsea are a top 5 team in the league. But yesterday we were all treated with the lowly Crystal Palace, now sitting in 14th place, not only beating Manchester City but hanging 3 goals on them as well. Palace who are averaging just less than a goal per game somehow managed to score 3 on the second best defensive team in the league. City though have begun to struggle lately on defense given up 8 goals in their last 5 games and they had only allowed 5 goals in their previous 13 games. Granted you can’t do much about goals scored like this…..
So this loss by City yesterday and yet another win by Liverpool on Friday over Wolverhampton, has now positioned Liverpool 4 pts clear at the top of the table. Who could’ve seen this coming just two weeks ago? Manchester City will be away at Leicester City on Boxing Day and Liverpool are home against Newcastle.
Tottenham Are Quite The Confusing Team
Tottenham have lost 4 matches so far this season which is more than any other team in the top 5. So how exactly are they sitting in 3rd place and just 2 pts behind City in second and 6 pts behind first-place Liverpool? As mentioned a few weeks ago, Tottenham still haven’t tied a game this season. They’re apparently the ultimate American team who doesn’t believe in ties. All 4 of Tottenham’s losses actually comes against teams ranked in the top 7 in the table as they lost to Liverpool, City, Arsenal and Watford. So that also begs the question, are Tottenham actually good? You got to be able to beat the best to be the best. Their biggest wins so far this season have come against Man United, Chelsea and beating Everton today 6-2 is probably their 3rd best victory. You have to give it to Tottenham though for their ability to finish off weaker opponents. A loss to Crystal Palace and a draw against Wolves has cost Man City crucial pts. If Tottenham can just turn around some of their results against top 7 opponents then don’t count them out of the title race.
Photo Credit: NBCSN
Other Notes:
Chelsea lose a disaster of a game to Leicester at home where they were unable to score a single goal. Chelsea’s biggest need going into the January transfer window has to be a striker. Forget Pulisic or Fekir or any other winger, Chelsea needs a striker. Man do I miss Diego Costa. Thanks a lot Conte.
Arsenal are back to their winning ways and picked up a 3-1 win at home over Burnley which brings them level with Chelsea on pts, but still sit behind Chelsea in 5th place based on goal differential.
So Manchester United looked pretty good in their first game without Mourinho, beating Cardiff 5-1. United’s biggest weakness if their defense, so playing an offensive style of football is pretty much the only way to counteract that. Try to score more goals than your opponent, not try to hold you opponent to fewer goals than you. Unfortunately for Mourinho he chose the latter strategy.
Our weekly Fulham update, they kept a clean sheet for the first time season in the Premier League. Congratulations, unfortunately they couldn’t score a goal, but hey at least their making progress.
Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang was worth every penny that Arsenal paid, £ 56 million to be exact. Since coming over from Borussia Dortmund last January, the striker scored 10 goals in 13 appearances to finish off last season and has started this campaign off with 12 goals in 18 games. This is definitely the kind of striker needed on the other side of London in Chelsea.
Things have not been good for Burnley this year. Burnley finished 7th place last year and that put them in a Europa League spot, which was pretty incredible for this small club who has a very small budget. Unfortunately they were bounced from the Europa League before the group stage and have been abysmal in the Premier with just 12 pts in 18 games. I really hope Burnley can turn it around and avoid relegation.
Thanny