Friday, October 14, 2022

Match Week 11 Preview: Shine Off Liverpool v. Manchester City Matchup? Newcastle Chance To Prove It Belongs; Fulham and Bournemouth A Clash of Overachievers; Hammers Look To Continue Climbing

Manchester City travels to Liverpool this weekend to visit its wounded rival. Manchester City is chasing yet another Premier League title and has arguably become a better club after adding the prolific goalscoring of Erling Haaland. Liverpool, meanwhile, has fallen on hard times in the league and is looking up from 10th position in the table. Manchester City has outscored Premier League opponents by 24 goals in nine matches this season. Absent an anomalous 9-0 battering of Bournemouth, Liverpool would have a negative goal differential this season. While a mismatch on paper, the rivalry of recent years and the Anfield support for Liverpool should ensure a lively affair and perhaps a chance for the Reds to reverse their fortunes.

Manchester City, however, is still chasing Arsenal in the table and will be keen to avoid dropping points Sunday to its once most formidable rival. Arsenal holds a slim one-point lead over Manchester City as the league leaders head to Elland Road this weekend to face Leeds. The Gunners have responded with three consecutive wins after suffering their only loss of the season to Manchester United. Leeds, meanwhile, is reeling a bit after suffering a third loss in five matches last weekend versus Crystal Palace. Colombian winger Luis Sinisterra returns from suspension for Leeds. Arsenal rested Gabriel Jesus for its midweek Europa League match, but Arsenal’s leading scorer should again be leading the line at Elland Road this weekend.

Graham Potter is undefeated across all competitions as Chelsea manager as he takes his club to Aston Villa Sunday where opposing manager Steven Gerrard is under fire. Villa has been unproductive in the final third this season, scoring more than a goal in just one match. Chelsea has scored at least two goals in each of its three league matches under Potter and striker Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang seems to offer the consistent goal threat the Blues have been lacking in recent seasons. Chelsea has moved into the top four, just four points behind third place Tottenham Hotspur which has played one more match than Potter’s side.

Spurs are home to Everton on Saturday where Manager Antoinio Conte’s club will look to extend a current seven match winning run at Tottenham Hotspur Stadium. Richarlison will be anxious to put in a performance versus his former club, perhaps capped by his first Premier League goal for Spurs. Everton are squarely mid table with the Toffees four points removed from both the European places and the relegation zone. Manager Frank Lampard received criticism for the performance of his defense as Chelsea manager, but his Everton side has conceded the joint fewest goals in the Premier League this season.

Sixth place Newcastle will attempt to leapfrog fifth place Manchester United at Old Trafford Sunday. Newcastle has rolled its last two opponents by an aggregate 9-2 margin. Miguel Almiron has contributed three goals in those two matches while Bruno Guimares registered a brace in the Magpies’ last match. Manchester United responded to a crushing defeat at Manchester City two weeks ago by nipping Everton on a Cristiano Ronaldo goal last week.

Fulham and Bournemouth finished first and second in the Championship division last season and the two promoted clubs are both surprisingly now in the top half of the Premier League table. Eighth place Bournemouth visits Fulham this weekend with the Cherries yet to taste defeat under interim manager Gary O’Neil. A five-match unbeaten run has moved the Cherries one point ahead of Fulham in the table. The Cottagers have hit a rough patch, losing three of their past four matches after a strong start to the season. The fitness of Fulham’s Aleksandar Mitrovic could be the deciding factor Saturday. Mitrovic is questionable for the match at Craven Cottage with a foot injury which caused him to miss the Cottagers’ loss at West Ham last week.

Brentford have won only one of their last seven Premier League matches as the Bees prepare to host Brighton in a Friday match. That lack of success has dropped Brentford to 11th in the table, but the Bees are still only four points behind seventh place Brighton. The Seagulls will be looking to win their first match in a third try under new manager Roberto de Zerbi. Ivan Toney leads the scoring for the Bees with a six-goal tally to date which includes a hat trick versus Leeds. Leonardo Trossard leads the Seagulls with five goals, including a hat trick against Liverpool.

West Ham has moved within four points of the European places after two consecutive victories have lifted the Hammers from the relegation zone. Manager David Moyes will expect his charges to continue to climb the table by capturing a result at Southampton this weekend. The Hammers’ attack, somnolent for much of the season, has awakened in recent weeks with improved performances from goal scorers Jarrod Bowen and Gianluca Scamacca. The Saints, meanwhile, have lost four consecutive matches to drift to within a point of the drop zone and allow Manager Ralph Hasenhuttl to make rapid strides in the Premier League sack race.

Crystal Palace has another opportunity to distance itself from the relegation clubs when the Eagles visit Leicester Saturday. Crystal Palace Manager Patrick Vieira saw goals from Odsonne Edouard and Eberechi Eze defeat Leeds last week for just the Eagles’ second win of the season. Production from players not named Wilfried Zaha is critical for the Eagles to keep moving up the table. Leicester risks losing to Crystal Palace for a first time under Manager Brendan Rodgers. The Foxes are bottom of the table and have conceded the most goals in the league.

The two clubs sharing the relegation spaces with Leicester are Wolverhampton and Nottingham Forest. Those two clubs face off on Saturday in a battle of resistible force versus movable object. Wolverhampton’s three goals from their nine matches make them the least dangerous club in the league. Nottingham Forest, meanwhile, has given up the second most goals, after Leicester, this season. Forest, however, is also less than offensive powerhouse as only Wolves have scored fewer times than Manager Steven Cooper’s squad. One can only fear for those supporters feeling obligated to view this Battle Royale between the relegation rivals.

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Premier League in Europe

Champions League

Erling Haaland rested, and Manchester City failed to score in a goalless draw with Copenhagen. Manager Pep Guardiola sat his biggest star in advance of his club’s Premier League matchup with Liverpool this coming weekend. The offensive prospects for the Citizens were further damaged Tuesday when they were reduced to 10 men after a Sergio Gomez red card in the 30th minute. Manchester City, however, clinched qualification for the knockout round with the underwhelming draw in Denmark. Liverpool had no problem scoring goals in a 7-1 rout of Glasgow Rangers in Scotland. The win puts Liverpool in a comfortable second place position behind Napoli in its group while Rangers are yet to take a point in the competition. Mohamed Salah came in as a second half substitute Wednesday with Liverpool already comfortably ahead and proceeded to score the quickest hat trick in Champions League history over a 13-minute span of the second half. Salah now has 38 Champions League goals for Liverpool which surpasses Didier Drogba and Sergio Aguero for most career goals in Champions League by a player for any English club. Liverpool supporters can only hope that Wednesday’s offensive outburst represents a turning point in Salah’s frustrating season. Chelsea completed a double over AC Milan with a 2-0 win at legendary San Siro Stadium. AC Milan failed to score in its two group matches against Chelsea and were doomed on Tuesday by an 18th minute red card assessed against former Chelsea defender Fikayo Tomori. Jorginho converted the penalty and Pierre-Emerick later sealed the match for Chelsea with a goal against a club he once played for . The win moved Chelsea to the top of a very tightly contested group where all four clubs still have opportunity to advance. Son Heung-min scored goals before and after a Harry Kane penalty kick to power Tottenham Hotspurs’ 3-2 victory over Eintracht Frankfurt. The German side refused to surrender easily, however, with an 87th minute goal narrowing the margin amid a frenetic late match attacking storm by the Bundesliga club. Spurs moved top of their group with the victory. 


Europa and Conference League

Arsenal and Manchester United posted 1-0 victories over Bodo/Glimt and Omonia, respectively. The Gunners’ icy visit to the Arctic Circle proved successful when Bukayo Saka scored the winner in the 24th minute to keep Arsenal perfect in Europa League competition. Manchester United’s fortunes remained in the balance against Omonia until stoppage time despite the Red Devils dominating play and taking 34 shots. Scott McTominay’s 93rd minute winner provided a positive result to a frustrating afternoon at Old Trafford against the Cypriot side. Manchester United are a comfortable second in their group to Real Sociedad with two matches left to play. Said Benrahma and Jarrod Bowen gave West Ham a two-goal advantage which survived a late 89th minute penalty conversion by Anderlecht in a 2-1 Europa Conference League victory by the Hammers. West Ham remained perfect in the competition and has now clinched advancement to the knockout stage with two group matches yet to be played. Much of the action Thursday occurred in the London Stadium stands which were the site of chair and flare throwing by overly raucous supporters of the two clubs. The intervention of riot police was required to restore order off the pitch.

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Tuesday, October 11, 2022

Match Week 10 Results: Gunners Remain Top With Defeat of Liverpool; Manchester City Rolls the Saints; Chelsea Returns To Top Four After Slaying Wolves; Ronaldo’s 700th Keys Manchester United Win; High Scoring Newcastle Moves Into Top Six; Palace Makes it Look Eze

Arsenal’s Gabriel Martinelli scored one minute into the match and Bukayo Saka captured victory with his 76th minute penalty as Arsenal posted a 3-2 win over a stubborn Liverpool squad in a tense match at the Emirates. League leading Arsenal proved itself once again by defeating a quality opponent one week after its win over Spurs in the north London derby. Sunday’s match was a tense encounter with Liverpool twice coming back to tie the match. Emotions boiled over and nearly led to chaos on a controversial foul on Gabriel Jesus leading to Saka’s game winning kick. Argument led to some laying of hands and some inappropriate comments between the players in an incident which has been referred to the English Football Association for investigation. Saka’s game winner was his second of the match. Darwin Nunez and Bobby Firmino were the goal scorers for a Liverpool squad which showed grit but failed to win for a sixth time in its eight league matches to date. Arsenal, meanwhile, won its eighth consecutive home match. The two clubs are traveling different paths as Arsenal continues to lead the league and a struggling Liverpool now sits 10th in the table.

Manchester City remains a point behind Arsenal as Erling Haaland continues to break records. The Citizens easily defeated Southampton 4-0 as Haaland scored his 15th goal of the season to make him the fastest to that mark in Premier League history. Manchester City as a team has accounted for 33 goals in nine league matches, 10 more goals than next highest scoring Arsenal. Kevin De Bruyne has been integral in fueling the City attack with his assist of a Phil Foden goal against the Saints giving the Belgian midfielder nine for the season versus the four assists of the league’s next nearest set up man. Joao Cancelo and Rodri also contributed goals in the demolition of Southampton as Manchester City remained the only undefeated club in all four divisions of English football. The Saints, meanwhile, lost a fourth consecutive match and seemed entirely focused on just keeping the score down Saturday versus the Manchester City juggernaut.

Tottenham Hotspur responded to its loss in the north London derby last week by downing Brighton 1-0 on a header by Harry Kane. The English captain has now registered a goal in four consecutive Premier League appearances.

Spurs emerged from an emotional week which saw the passing of fitness coach Gian Piero Ventrone. Brighton fell to seventh in the table with the loss.

Replacing Brighton in the top four, four points behind third place Spurs, is a resurgent Chelsea side. The Blues had little difficulty in a 3-0 win at Stamford Bridge over goal poor Wolverhampton. Chelsea’s starting  lineup saw seven changes from the side that defeated AC Milan midweek. US Men’s National Team star Christian Pulisic started for just a second time this season and delivered his first Premier League goal of the current campaign. Pulisic has struggled for playing time and his goal could make the case for further minutes under new manager Graham Potter. Kai Havertz, starting as Potter rested Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang, notched the opener for Chelsea in first half stoppage time. Second half substitute Armando Broja scored his first goal in a Chelsea shirt. Wolverhampton failed to score for a sixth time in its last nine matches and came away without a victory for the fifteenth time in their last sixteen matches.

Manchester United are fifth in the table, just a point behind Chelsea, after the Red Devils’ 2-1 win at Everton. Cristiano Ronaldo’s 700th career goal in club competition provided the winner for Manchester United.

The Portuguese legend was fittingly assisted on his goal by former Real Madrid teammate Casemiro who made his first Premier League start for Manchester United. An opening goal by Everton’s Alex Iwobi was earlier negated when Antony scored for a third time in three league appearances for the Red Devils.

Newcastle has now scored nine goals in two matches after a resounding 5-1 home win over Brentford which moved Manager Eddie Howe’s side to sixth in the Premier League table. A Bruno Guimares brace and tallies by three other Magpies overwhelmed a Brentford side which lost for a second time in three matches. The Bees winless run versus Newcastle at St. James Park now extends to 88 years.

Nottingham Forest moved off the bottom of the table as  Manager Steve Cooper celebrated his new contract by watching Forest end a five-match losing run in a 1-1 draw with Aston Villa. Aston Villa has exceeded one goal in only one match this season as stars such as Philippe Coutinho, Danny Ings, and Ollie Watkins have failed to produce.

Leicester’s 2-1 loss to Bournemouth dropped the Foxes back to the league’s basement while the Cherries extended their unbeaten run to five matches since the appointment of interim manager Gary O’Neil. Bournemouth has moved from 17th to 8th in the table under O’Neil’s stewardship.

Fulham fell to ninth in the table after sustaining its third loss in four matches in a 3-1 defeat at West Ham. West Ham’s London derby win was a second consecutive victory for the Hammers who have moved up the table to 13th after spending much of this season in the relegation zone. Gianluca Scamacca and Jarrod Bowen each scored for a second consecutive match while Michail Antonio sealed the win over Fulham with a stoppage time goal.

Crystal Palace secured a much needed 2-1 victory over Leeds when Eberechi Eze scored in the 76th minute for his first goal of the season. The Eagles had fallen behind early on a goal by Leeds’s Pacal Struijk before Odsonne Edouard began the Palace comeback at Selhurst by scoring for a second consecutive league match. Crystal Palace won for just a second time this season and are level on points with Leeds and Aston Villa, just three points removed from the drop zone. Leeds lost for a third time in a five-match winless run.

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