Premier League Round-Up: Matchweek 3
Rashford after his penalty miss
Credit: The Independent
Matchweek 3:
Aston Villa 2-0 Everton
Norwich 2-3 Chelsea
Brighton 0-2 Southampton
Man United 1-2 Crystal Palace
Sheffield United 1-2 Leicester
Watford 1-3 West Ham
Liverpool 3-1 Arsenal
Bournemouth 1-3 Man City
Tottenham 0-1 Newcastle
Wolves 1-1 Burnley
Liverpool Make Easy Work Of Arsenal
And when I say easy work, they made them look like a lower league team. Liverpool faced their first “tough” competition in the Premier League on Saturday. It was interesting to see how they would fare since their first two matches and wins were against Norwich and Southampton, who will likely finish in the bottom 5 come end of the season. Arsenal also hadn’t faced any stiff competition with their two prior games being narrow wins over Newcastle and Burnley. Would this rejuvenated Arsenal team be able to compete with one of the two title favorites?
While the first half only ended 1-0 in Liverpool’s favor, that’s about the only positive for Arsenal is that it wasn’t worst. Liverpool would go on to grab two more goals thanks to Mohamed Salah (And David Luiz thanks to him giving away a penalty) shortly after half-time and then Arsenal would get on the score sheet thanks to a Lucas Torreira goal in the 85th minute. A final score of 3-1 honestly is a good scoreline for Arsenal considering how much they were dominated throughout this game. If Liverpool could have been more clinical in finishing they could have easily put up 5 or 6 goals. Liverpool finished the game with 25 shots to Arsenal’s 9. They also created 21 chances to Arsenal’s 5. Possession may have been even but Liverpool were far better in the attack and this game was never in doubt.
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Man what a penalty
Penalty Woes For Manchester United Again
After dropping points this past Monday to Wolves, thanks to a missed penalty from Paul Pogba, Manchester United surely couldn’t have dropped points again due to a penalty could they? Despite Paul Pogba stepping aside and letting Marcus Rashford take the penalty in Saturday’s game against Crystal Palace, the result was mostly the same. Pogba’s penalty was at least on target but the goalie was able to save it, Rashford’s penalty sent the goalie the other way but hit the inside of the post and went out of play. Pogba’s penalty would have all but secured the win and instead United ended up drawing Wolves. Rashford’s penalty would’ve tied the game up a lot earlier than the Daniel James goal in the 89th minute, which turned out not to be enough anyway but could have flipped the result had they tied this game earlier. A lot of debating occurred as to whether or not Pogba should have hopped in front of Rashford for the penalty but now with Rashford’s miss it really begs the question as to who should be taking penalties for this team. A competent penalty taker and United could be sitting with Liverpool as the only other team with 3 wins to start the season.
Other Notes:
Frank Lampard gets his first Premier League win with Chelsea. Chelsea battled Norwich back and forth but ended up coming out on top 3-2, courtesy of a pair of goals from Tammy Abraham and another goal from Mason Mount. The defense for Chelsea is still in shambles though.
Again, shoutout to Teemu Pukki on scoring another goal. 5th goal in 3 games, he’s on fire.
Newcastle pull off an early season upset on Sunday morning with their 1-0 victory over Tottenham. Newcastle may have only had 20% possession in the game but that didn’t stop them from picking up their first, and much needed win of the season thanks to a great defensive performance and a goal from Joelinton.
Newly promoted Aston Villa also pick up their first win of the season with their 2-0 victory over Everton on Friday.
Speaking of Everton, they have only scored 1 goal through their first 3 games of the season, but amazingly have 4 pts to show from it.
Big game next week, we have Arsenal vs Tottenham on Sunday. Both teams look to bounce back from demoralizing losses
Thanny