This Midlands derby defeat for Aston Villa, at the hands of West Brom, means that the coming one, against Birmingham in the League Cup, has a significance that it otherwise might not have had. West Brom had come to Villa Park in need of a pick me up and within 60 seconds Rondon had forced a great save from the home team’s keeper. That was the start of a long day for Villa, and that was just what they didn’t want after blowing a two goal lead against Leicester last week (although as the weekend shows, that’s not exactly a…
Author: James Forrest
This result ended a tough week for Manchester City fans. They lost to Juventus in midweek, in another Champions League reversal, and then followed it up with this very poor performance at home to a West Ham team who need no encouragement when it comes to taking on the big guns and getting a result. City remain top of the table, but their manager Manuel Pellegrini will know they can’t afford too many off-days like this one if they’re to stay there and secure another title. Chelsea winning and Utd getting a good result reminds him how tough this environment…
Brendan Rodgers’ team have had a lopsided start to this season, and no mistake, and this was another of those days when he and the Liverpool supporters were left cursing his side’s luck and their lack of a cutting edge. As it stand right now they have taken an anaemic eight points from their first six matches, a dreadful tally which has them sitting at 13th in the table and looking at a long hard slog in front of them. One thing you can’t fault the Liverpool boss for though is creativity in his team selections. After last week’s 4-3-3…
Spurs won the day’s second London derby by a single goal, with Son Heung-min bagging his third in two games to give them a hard fought victory over Crystal Palace at home. The winner came in the 68th minute of an encounter where there were chances at both ends but stout defending had largely succeeded in blocking out the attacking threat of both sides. Palace can count themselves a little unlucky over the piece, as Cabaye had one hit the post and Spurs keeper Hugo Lloris had to make a couple of inspired saves, one in particular from Bakary Sako,…
This five goal thriller was a great advertisement for the EPL, with a few memorable displays and one memorable goal, from Juan Mata after 45 (count ‘em! 45!) passes. It was United’s third, the game’s fourth, and the one that has, perhaps, finally answered some of the questions about the Van Gaal approach and how it’s panning out. United found themselves a goal down in this one after just 13 minutes, when Graziano Pelle pounced on a loose ball after De Gea had saved. At that point, in fact up until the half hour mark, these points were very much…
Leicester are the one team in the EPL who are still undefeated, and this game was a lesson in why that’s the case. This is a well organised side with a manager who wants to play the Beautiful Game in an attacking manner, and who isn’t afraid to change things around. For the second game in a row they came back from 2-0 down, a trick you get the decided impression they won’t be able to repeat indefinitely, although it’s indicative of a manager and a team who know their business and have the quality to turn a game when…
A Bore Draw this one wasn’t, although that’s what people looking back on the score line will remember about it in years to come. In fact, these two teams contested a hard fought and exciting match, one where there were good chances from both side and a lot of impressive displays. Ross Barkley continues to look like a player who’s going to go right to the top of the game, with another accomplished performance in a start to the season that has gone largely uncommented on with first the praise, and then the controversy, surrounding John Stones, and there was…
The weekend’s games opened with a bang, with an amazing match between Chelsea and Arsenal. For Jose’s fan club it was a day to remember. For Arsene’s, it was yet another dismal one to forget, and yet it all might have been so different. Chelsea, let’s not forget, are the side who’ve made the dismal start to the season, and this was only their second win in six. The anger Arsenal fans will be feeling will be coupled with a sense of injustice that Diego Costa stayed on the pitch. What will have made it worse was the role he…