Premier League Round-Up: Matchweek 29
Midweek:
Huddersfield 1-0 Wolves
Leicester 2-1 Brighton
Cardiff 0-3 Everton
Newcastle 2-0 Burnley
Southampton 2-0 Fulham
Arsenal 5-1 Bournemouth
Liverpool 5-0 Watford
Man City 1-0 West Ham
Crystal Palace 1-3 Man United
Chelsea 2-0 Tottenham
Weekend:
Tottenham 1-1 Arsenal
Brighton 1-0 Huddersfield
Burnley 1-3 Crystal Palace
Bournemouth 0-1 Man City
Man United 3-2 Southampton
Wolves 2-0 Cardiff
West Ham 2-0 Newcastle
Watford 2-1 Leicester
Fulham 1-2 Chelsea
Everton 0-0 Liverpool
Liverpool Are Officially In 2nd Place
Maybe try to finish off those chances there, Salah. Though it seems like they fell to 2nd place a couple of weeks ago when Manchester City moved up their game against Everton, they were never truly in 2nd because they always had a game in hand. Well after the cup final last week, which Man City ended up winning, Liverpool and City were finally back even with 27 games played and Liverpool holding a 1 pt lead. Both teams won their midweek match and then Man City followed it up with the most dominating 1-0 performance you’ll ever see. Liverpool on the other hand were stuck playing their bitter cross-town rivals Everton on the road, which ended in a 0-0 tie. As a result, Manchester City are now in control of their own destiny. Liverpool on the other hand have choked away a comfortable lead having tied in 4 of their last 6 Premier League games, leaving 8 pts out of a potential 18 on the table. To make things worse, in those 4 draws, their defense has been great only allowing 2 total goals. While they have had 2 good home performances picking up a 3-0 win over Bournemouth and a 5-0 win over Watford, Liverpool have scored 1 goal in their last 3 road games against Everton, Man United and West Ham, thanks to finishing like in the video above. Liverpool controlled the number 1 spot dating back to early December, so now we will see how they can respond and react playing from behind.
Bournemouth Put Up The Most Pathetic Performance You’ll Ever See
Photo Credit: Blue Heaven
As mentioned, Manchester City beat Bournemouth on Saturday 1-0 and while that scoreline seems close, this game was anything but. To start, Man City controlled the game with a whopping 82% possession. 82%!!! That is absolutely mind-boggling. Usually a 70/30 possession split is sign of dominance but an 82/18 is something I’m not sure I’ve ever seen. As you can imagine, with only 18% possession, the chances for Bournemouth were few and far between. To be frank, their chances totaled 0. Bournemouth had zero total shots, 0 chances created and didn’t even win a corner. Meanwhile, Man City had 23 total shots. Man City had 733 passes to Bournemouth’s 101. As you can see, Bournemouth didn’t even show up this game and I’m not really sure why. I mean what’s the point of having the mentality that you’d rather lose 1-0 than 5-0. A loss is a loss so you might as well at least give it a go.
Other Thoughts:
Photo Credit: NBC Sports
We are 3/4 of the way through the Premier League season and we have a lot to look forward to in the 9 remaining matches.
The title race should be good and hopefully it comes down to the wire with Man City currently leading the way over Liverpool by a single point.
The battle for the other two spots in the top 4 is also incredibly tight with 3-6 separated by just 5 pts and 6th place Chelsea having a game in hand on the rest.
Then finally, we have the final relegation spot that it still up for grabs. With Huddersfield and Fulham locks for relegation, it looks like it will be either Cardiff or Southampton who will fight for survival or could even Burnley or Brighton fall into this battle.
Tottenham have ended their drought and have finally tied in a match. Pretty incredible that it took 29 games before Tottenham finished in a draw. I feel like that has to be a record or at least close.
Thanny