Saturday’s fixtures: 5 Things We Learned

From red cards to big upsets, it’s been an exciting day in the Premier League

In a day where 5 out of last season’s top 6 were in action, the Premier League’s fixtures certainly weren’t short of action. Here are 5 things we learned from Saturday:

1) All is not right at Chelsea

One win from four games for Chelsea, the Champions are off to a very rocky start.

With all the controversy surrounding the club after the incident with Eva Carneiro, the pressure is already starting to build on Jose Mourinho. Despite new signing Radamel Falcao managing to grab a goal for the Blues in their 2-1 loss, Chelsea were far from impressive and something needs to change. Fast.

Whether it’s Mourinho patching things up with his physio, a change in formation or even another signing before the transfer window closes, Chelsea need inspiration from somewhere.

2) Liverpool’s current style just doesn’t suit Benteke

When you sign a target-man style striker for £32.5million, you need to make sure he delivers. A player like that needs service, and Liverpool‘s playing style just isn’t providing. On a day where Liverpool were poor all over the pitch, their attacking lacked real creativity and flair, as they really struggled to break down a West Ham side who only needed to defend after taking the lead early on in a 3-0 win for the Hammers.

Benteke‘s only chance of the match came in the 93rd minute as Liverpool’s service into the box was just not good enough. And now, with Philippe Coutinho out suspended for the Reds‘ trip to Manchester United in two weeks time, Liverpool will need to be more creative in order to try and avoid a repeat of today’s bad day at the office.

3) Mitrovic is the new Balotelli, and red cards are officially in fashion

There were a total of five red cards in the seven Saturday afternoon kickoffs today, and the first of those came in lunchtime game between Newcastle and Arsenal.

When the Toon‘s new young striker Aleksandar Mitrovic arrived at St. James’ Park, he arrived with the tag of being aggressive and being a liability, and he has certainly proven that in the opening stages of his career at Newcastle. On his debut for the club, the striker was booked after just 15 seconds. In their away game at Swansea, he received a yellow after two minutes, and today, he was sent off after just 16 minutes.

The Serbian is only 20-years-old, but desperately needs to calm down and learn the ways of the Premier League. He missed the next three games against West Ham, Watford and Chelsea after a challenge on Arsenal’s Francis Coquelin was deemed worthy of a sending off by referee Andre Mariner.

Stoke had two men sent off in the space of six minutes in their home game against West Brom, with Ibrahim Afellay being the first to go after flicking his hand in frustration at Craig Garnder after being fouled by the Baggie‘s midfielder. Shortly afterwards, Charlie Adam saw red for stamping on West Brom’s Craig Dawson, with the referee relying on his linesman for information following a clash between Adam and Dawson taking place by the touchline.

At Anfield, Liverpool saw Philippe Coutinho sent off for two bookable offences in their 3-0 defeat to West Ham, meaning he will miss their trip to face Mancheser United at Old Trafford in two weeks time. Meanwhile West Ham themselves saw one of their goalscorers, Mark Noble, shown a straight red. Referee Kevin Friend blew for a foul on Noble as he tried to clear the ball from the edge of his box, however, Noble continued to slide in and beat Danny Ings to the loose ball and was given his marching orders as a result, the sending off was incredibly harsh.

4) Callum Wilson can score in the Premier League- and will become hot property

24 minutes into Bournemouth‘s home clash with Leicester, Callum Wilson, who scored a hattrick away at West Ham just a week ago, scored another beauty to give the home side the lead.

Wilson fired home an excellent overhead kick after Charlie Daniels‘ low cross found its way into his path via a deflected Max Gradel header.

It seemed like it was going to be enough to give Bournemouth their second successive Premier League win, and their first home win of the season, but Jamie Vardy‘s penalty kick five minutes from time secured a point for Leicester, and keep the Foxes unbeaten so far this season.

5) Manchester City are going to take some stopping

Four wins out of four, and all of them pretty convincing too, Manchester City are the team to beat so far this season.

Despite a home win at Watford expected to be pretty standard procedure for a side with City‘s class, and despite the score being tied 0-0 at half-time, City eventually ran out convincing 2-0 winners over the newly promoted side.

New signing Raheem Sterling bagged himself his first goal of the season to solidify a very good performance from the young winger. The win follows convincing against West Brom, Everton, and possibly most importantly at this stage, Chelsea, leaving City sitting pretty at the top of the table and yet to concede a goal.

By Ben Kelly – Follow me on Twitter for more articles! @benkelly_10