Premier League Round-Up: Matchweek 18
Chelsea and Tottenham match getting a little heated
Credit: SportsRush
Matchweek 18:
Everton 0-0 Arsenal
Bournemouth 0-1 Burnley
Aston Villa 1-3 Southampton
Brighton 0-1 Sheff United
Newcastle 1-0 Crystal Palace
Norwich 1-2 Wolves
West Ham vs Liverpool PP (Due to Liverpool playing in Club World Cup)
Man City 3-1 Leicester
Watford 2-0 Man United
Tottenham 0-2 Chelsea
Chelsea Pick Up Big Win In Showdown With Mourinho
After a rough couple of weeks for Chelsea, they came into this match-up desperately needing a win, against a Tottenham side that has been trending upward ever since the arrival of their new manager, Jose Mourinho. Obviously a Chelsea and Tottenham match is going to have big implications. Two teams that are rivals in the same city, London, and two teams that are usually near the top of the table. But of course this time, the match had an even bigger narrative as Tottenham were led by Chelsea-legend and former manager, Jose Mourinho. Not only this, but Chelsea are obviously currently led by one of Mourinho’s former star players, Frank Lampard. There was a bit of sparring prior to this match, which seemed to boil over into the match as well among the players. Back before Mourinho took over at Tottenham, he was an analyst for SkySports. After one of the Chelsea games, Mourinho expressed worry about the current Chelsea team when they face up against big competition. Which as a Chelsea fan, I can say was and is 100% warranted. But Chelsea assistant, Jody Morris, mocked Mourinho on social media for saying that he was “worried”. Then you also had Frank Lampard saying that he would never coach Tottenham and saying that you can replay that clip in 10 years and it will still remain true. While I admire Lampard’s dedication to the club, it does come off at him taking a dig at Mourinho for taking the Tottenham job. I absolutely love the fact that Lampard will never be at Tottenham, but I can’t be mad at Mourinho for taking a job with a rival. The man is a coach and that’s what he’s going to do. Chelsea are the club that fired him the following season after winning the title. So to put it lightly, it’s been a bit testy between these two clubs in the media.
On to the fight, I mean the game. I’d be lying if I didn’t say I was surprised by the result. It’s not so much that we won but that we kept a clean sheet. Chelsea had only kept 3 clean sheets in 17 games so far this season, so expecting them to keep a clean sheet on the road against a Tottenham side that’s been pouring on the goals lately, was non-existent. Chelsea got off to a fast start with a beauty of a strike from Willian in the 12th minute. Then just before halftime, Chelsea doubled their lead thanks to an absurd attempt to play the ball by goalie Paulo Gazzaniga which resulted in a penalty that Willian converted on. No more goals would follow in the second half but that didn’t keep it from being any less eventful. Heung-Min Son lost his cool in the 62nd minute after being involved in an altercation with Antonio Rudiger. Granted this altercation was entirely one sided. Rudiger and Son came together going after the ball and Son fell to the ground with his feet up in the air and decided to kickout at Rudiger, hitting him in the ribs. I’ll admit it was very light for it to be a red card, but just an absurd thing to do, which clearly came from the frustration that the Chelsea defense was causing Tottenham. Can’t be mad about the red card when you do something that stupid and put yourself in that situation, no matter how light the red card was. In the end it was a 2-0 win for Chelsea, which widened the gap between the two clubs to 6 pts, and keeps Chelsea in the top 4, for the time being.
Here’s some clips of some of the goals and altercations that occurred in the match.
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Other Notes:
Arsenal have hired their new coach in Mikel Arteta. If you think the name sounds familiar it’s because the Spaniard played in the Premier League for over 10 years. He played at Everton between 2005-11 then moved onto Arsenal where he finished out his career in 2016. Since retiring, he’s been an assistant manager under Pep Guardiola at Manchester City. Arteta has been highly touted but it will be interesting to see what he can do in charge of his first team, especially at such a big club and critical fan base. Arteta’s first match in charge should be against Bournemouth on Boxing Day.
Manchester City picked up a big win on Saturday over Leicester City. Leicester jumped out to the lead in the first half with a goal from Jamie Vardy in the 22nd minute, but an equalizer from Mahrez and a penalty to Man City just before halftime was enough to change the tide. Manchester City picked up another in the second half on their way to a 3-1 win over 2nd place Leicester City. Leicester have another big match coming up on Boxing Day against first place Liverpool. Leicester and Liverpool have already played once this season and Liverpool needed an injury time penalty to win 2-1. Man City play Wolves on Friday.
Sheffield United pick up another win, this time over Brighton. Sheffield United will go into Christmas, 5th place in the table. Sheffield United are probably only about 6 pts shy from being safe from relegation, which is where most expected them to be at the end of the season. Not too shabby.
Manchester United continue their roller coaster of a season losing to last place Watford 2-0. It was just two weeks ago that United were coming off two big wins over Tottenham and Manchester City, and it looked like they may have turned their season around. Well they followed that up with a 1-1 tie with 15th placed Everton and now this loss to last place Watford. Also you can’t have your world class goalkeeper doing this.
The schedule continues to be busy this week with Boxing Day games, day after Christmas, folowed up by another round of games on Saturday and Sunday.
Thanny