Premier League Round-Up: Matchweek 22
Watford’s new coach Nigel Pearson
Credit: Football365
Matchweek 22:
Sheffield United 1-0 West Ham
Crystal Palace 1-1 Arsenal
Chelsea 3-0 Burnley
Everton 1-0 Brighton
Leicester 1-2 Southampton
Man United 4-0 Norwich
Wolves 1-1 Newcastle
Tottenham 0-1 Liverpool
Bournemouth 0-3 Watford
Aston Villa 1-6 Man City
Watford and Everton Getting The Boost They Desperately Needed By New Coaches
We will start off with Watford, who are on their third head coach this season, and apparently it’s third times the charm because ever since Nigel Pearson took over this squad they’ve done nothing but win. Okay well not quite but pretty close to it. Prior to Pearson taking over at Watford, they had only 1 win and just 8 pts through 15 games. In the 7 games since, Watford have won 4 games and have 14 pts in that 7 games stretch. They only have 1 loss so far under Pearson and that came at the hands of Liverpool, so not much they could do there. The biggest change is that Watford are now finding the back of the net. They had only 9 goals in their first 15 games and have scored 11 goals in the 7 games under Pearson. All of this has been good enough for Watford to climb out of dead last place to 17th which gets them just out of the relegation zone. The question is can they keep it up?
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The other team enjoying a nice little run under their new manage is Everton. Just like Watford, Everton were at their lowest after matchweek 15. Everton, which is a way too talented squad to even be flirting with relegation, sat in 18th place through 15 matches. Now some of this Everton turn around came under their interim coach Duncan Ferguson, who took over after Marco Silva was dismissed. Ferguson led them to a 1-2-1 record, with two big draws against Arsenal and Manchester United and their only loss coming against Liverpool, of course. Then on December 21st, Everton made a huge splash with the signing of one of the best managers in the world, Carlo Ancelotti. In Ancelotti’s 4 games under charge, Everton have won 3 games and lost a close game to Manchester City. Everton are safely out of the relegation zone as they’ve moved up to 11th place but still have some work to do if Ancelotti’s going to get them in a Europa League spot.
Other Notes:
After a close and controversial win over Tottenham on Saturday, Liverpool set the record for quickest team to 60 pts in the history of the top 5 leagues in Europe(England, Germany, Spain, Italy, France). Liverpool are now an absurd 20-1-0 through 21 games. Still undefeated and Arsenal fans have to start getting a bit nervous that their record of having the only undefeated team ever might be in jeopardy.
Manchester City put a shellacking on Aston Villa with a 6-1 victory on Sunday. Sergio Aguero scored a record setting hat-trick in the process. Aguero now has 12 Premier League hat-tricks which is the most all time.
Chelsea and Manchester United both pick up big wins in their fight for a top 4 spot. Chelsea take down Burnley 3-0 and Manchester United take down Norwich City 4-0.
FA Cup replays take place midweek. Only Premier League Clubs involved are Watford, Tottenham, Man United and Wolves.
Premier League action continues next weekend.
Thanny