Five things learnt from game-week 6
Five things we learned from the Premier League this weekend
SillySeason mulls over the main talking points from the latest round of matches in the Premier League.
Chelsea bounced back from defeat against Everton last week with a 2-0 win against London rivals Arsenal whilst West Ham further cemented their claim as giant killers with a 2-1 victory over Manchester City at the Etihad during yesterday’s action.
Today, Tottenham entertained Crystal Palace in the early kick-off, whilst Norwich and Manchester United travelled to Liverpool and Southampton respectively.
Below are five of SillySeason’s highlights from the latest round of Premier League fixtures.
5) Sunderland and Newcastle yet to win
The two North-East clubs are still in search of their first victories this season as Newcastle were beaten 2-1 at home to Watford whilst Sunderland supporters made the 700 mile round trip to Bournemouth and were treated to a 2-0 defeat.
Much has been made of the Black Cats defence this season, and Younès Kaboul’s sending off only compounded their woes – the Frenchman has been dismissed a total of six times in the Premier League.
The absence of John O’Shea through illness forced Sunderland manager Dick Advocaat to pair Kaboul and Sebastian Coates in the heart of defence.
They last played together during Sunderland’s opening two matches and conceded seven goals in the process.
Going forward, they didn’t test Arthur Boruc once after the 40th minute and subsequently prop up the Premier League table with two points.
Also on two points are Steve McClaren’s Newcastle who lacked the cutting edge to carve Watford open at St James’ Park.
The former England manager admitted before the game that the task of rebuilding the club after narrowly avoiding relegation last season was “a little bit like a car crash”.
Their attempts to break the Hornets down proved fruitless in the first-half and the withdrawal of Papiss Cisse at half-time left them fresh out of ideas going forward.
Defender Daryl Janmaat’s goal temporarily boosted the Mapgies, but the it was largely a stroll in the park for the Watford defence.
The thought of relegation for either side is unimaginable and it must surely be just a matter of time before one manager is shown the door.
4) Is Costa the ultimate wind-up merchant?
Chelsea striker Diego Costa is well known for his fiery temperament and the tendency to get underneath defender’s skin.
Arsenal’s Gabriel was the latest victim yesterday, being shown a straight red for kicking out at the Blues striker.
The Arsenal defender was reacting to Costa’s treatment of his team-mate Laurent Koscielny, who was shoved three times in face before being pushed to the ground.
Gabriel immediately confronted the Spain international and a lengthy argument culiminated in him lashing out with his foot.
The game was turned on its head following Gabriel’s sending off and the Gunners were unable to mount a serious fight back afterwards.
Santi Cazorla was also dismissed, being shown a second yellow for a foul on Cesc Fabregas.
The big question is: how did referee Mike Dean conclude Costa’s treatment of Koscielny was fair?
3) Martial continues to justify his price-tag
The world’s most expensive teenager continued to impress scoring two goals to help his side pull off an impressive 3-2 victory against Southampton at St Mary’s.
Fellow Manchester United striker Wayne Rooney recently became the all-time leading goalscorer for his country, but he has yet to find the back of the net for his club this season.
Meanwhile Anthony Martial continued to showcase his talents, first producing a cool finish to draw United level before capitalizing on a poor back-pass from Mayo Yoshida and slotting the ball past Martin Stekelenburg.
The 19-year-old made a dream debut last weekend, scoring a sensational goal against Liverpool just 21 minutes after coming on.
The strike has left people comparing him to Thierry Henry and with a bright future predicted for the former Monaco striker he could one day be mentioned in the same breath as the Arsenal great.
2) Leicester City: The comeback experts
Stoke City opened up a two-goal lead inside 20 minutes, with Bojan Krkic and Jonathan Walters getting on the scoresheet for the Potters.
However, Leicester showed real character once again to salvage a point and maintain their unbeaten run in the Premier League.
Riyad Mahrez continued to shine for the Foxes, scoring his fifth goal this season from the penalty spot – he only managed four in the whole of last season.
Jamie Vardy, who recently earned a call-up to the England side for his impressive performances, also got on the score-sheet to earn a hard-fought point at the Britannia Stadium.
Claudio Ranieri’s side looked to be heading for defeat against Aston Villa at half-time last weekend but an inspired second-half performance, culminating in a brave header from Nathan Dyer in the final stages saw them run out 3-2 winners.
Three wins and three draws this season see Leicester occupy the Champions League positions in fourth place and they will be gunning for all three points against the Gunners next Saturday.
1) West Ham add City to their list of giant killings
The Hammers recorded an impressive 2-1 victory against Manchester City at the Eithad, securing maximum points in all their away games so far this season.
Those other two matches just so happened to be against Arsenal and Liverpool and ended in similarly impressive fashion, with the Hammers winning 2-0 and 3-0 respectively.
Slaven Bilic’s men took the game to City and opened up a 2-0 lead thanks to goals from Victor Moses and Diafra Sakho.
And despite record-signing Kevin De Bruyne pulling a goal back on the stroke of half-time and City throwing the kitchen sink at their opponents with 27 shots at goal, West Ham emerged victorious.
Up next in the league is a home tie against Norwich City, whilst Manuel Pellegrini will be desperate to avoid a third straight defeat in all competitions as they travel to White Hart Lane to face Tottenham next weekend.
And that concludes SillySeason’s five big talking points from the latest round of matches.
What are yours?
Written by Jack Wynne – @JackRobertWynne