Chelsea refused to quit and came back three different times to take a point at Stamford Bridge in an action packed 4-4 draw with Manchester City. A result against a Premier League table leader for a second consecutive week lends some credibility to the notion that the Chelsea project could be turning the corner. Chelsea has scored 14 goals in its last five Premier League matches after finding the net just seven times in its first seven league games. Former Manchester City players Raheem Sterling and Cole Palmer were integral to Chelsea’s fortunes on Sunday. Sterling scored Chelsea’s second goal while Palmer converted a 95th minute penalty to secure the point for Chelsea. Erling Haaland scored twice for Manchester City to add to his league leading goal total, but his club looked vulnerable to Chelsea’s aggressive tactics. Rather than sit back as many teams do against City, Chelsea employed its speed to keep the pressure on its visiting opponent while also conceding opportunities and goals to the defending champion. The dropped points by Manchester City tightens the race at the top of the table where the first five clubs are now separated by just three points.
It had just about everything, again! 😅 pic.twitter.com/ZtLe90JUk3
— Chelsea FC (@ChelseaFC) November 13, 2023
Tottenham Hotspur, beaten by Chelsea for its first loss in the league last week, lost a second consecutive match with a late collapse at Wolverhampton. Seemingly in control of a match they led for 87 minutes following Brennan Johnson’s first goal with his new club, Manager Ange Postecoglou’s side were victimized by two stoppage time goals in a 2-1 loss at Molineux Stadium. Whether suffering from fatigue, lack of focus or both, Spurs were caught off guard by a quick throw-in leading to the equalizer and then were left flatfooted by a quickly taken restart leading to Mario Lamina’s 97th minute winner. Spurs dropped to fourth in the table, two points behind league leading Manchester City and a point ahead of fifth place Aston Villa.
Liverpool and Arsenal, meanwhile, are both just a point behind Manchester City after taking care of business this weekend. Mohamed Salah scored twice, his 9th and 10th Premier League goals of the season, in Liverpool’s 3-0 win over Brentford. Liverpool is undefeated in six matches at Anfield and Salah has scored in each to become the fourth player in Premier League history to have scored in each of his club’s opening six home matches.
Arsenal kept pace with a 3-1 victory over Burnley at the Emirates. Leandro Trossard starred for the Gunners, striking for Arsenal’s first goal and assisting on the second. Arsenal’s third goal also developed from a Trossard corner kick.
Burnley fell into the Premier League basement with its sixth consecutive loss, and a league high tenth defeat of the season, as former cellar dweller Sheffield United captured a point in a 1-1 draw at Brighton. The Blades have looked much sharper of late, winning for a first time last week, but needed the generosity of Brighton to capture Saturday’s point. The Seagulls went down to 10 men on a 69th minute red card to Mahmoud Dahoud and Brighton’s Adam Webster then handed the Blades their point with a 74th minute own goal. It was the third consecutive 1-1 draw for a Brighton side which hasn’t won since September.
Newcastle lost 2-0 for a second time this week as the suddenly vulnerable Magpies lost at Bournemouth just days after their Champions League loss to Dortmund. Manager Eddie Howe was missing 11 players entering the match and then saw Miguel Almiron injure his hamstring before halftime. Dominik Solanke struck for a second half brace to move the Cherries out of the relegation zone with their second win of the season. The surprise loss to Bournemouth ended a seven-match unbeaten run in the league for Newcastle. WHAT A WIN 🙌 pic.twitter.com/NR9LLyhdVs
Aston Villa extended its winning run at home to 13 matches with a 3-1 defeat of Fulham at Villa Park. An own goal by the Cottagers Antonee Robinson gave Aston Villa an early lead before John McGinn and Ollie Watkins extended the Villa lead. Raul Jimenez’s first Premier League goal since March 2022 proved too little, too late for the Cottagers.
Manchester United moved to sixth in the Premier League table with a harrowing 1-0 win at Old Trafford over newly promoted Luton Town. Victor Lindelof was the unlikely goal scorer, finding the net for the first time in three seasons and for only the fourth time since joining the club for the 2017/18 season. Manchester United has needed to look for alternate sources of goal production as its forwards have been almost entirely unproductive in the league this season. Marcus Rashford’s solitary goal is the only one scored by a Manchester United forward this Premier League season. Rasmus Hojlund, scorer of five goals in the Red Devils’ Champions League matches, has yet to score in the Premier League. The Red Devils, however, have won four of their last five league matches, each win coming by a single goal.
West Ham ended a three-match losing run in the league and moved back into the top half of the table with a 3-2 win at London Stadium over Nottingham Forest. James Ward-Prowse assisted on two of the Hammer goals, including Tomas Soucek’s 88th minute winner. Lucas Paqueta and Jarrod Bowen scored the other West Ham goals. Bowen’s eighth goal of the season is the joint third highest total in the Premier League this season. Nottingham Forest lost for the fifth time in their seven road matches.
A back-and-forth match which featured two goals in the first five minutes ended in a 3-2 Everton win at Crystal Palace. Idrissa Gueye struck the winner in the 86th minute for an improving Everton side. The Toffees have taken 10 of their last 15 available points in the league as Manager Sean Dyche’s club has removed itself, at least temporarily, from the relegation discussion.
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