Premier League Gameweek Five Round-Up: Liverpool Leave it Late, Man United Bounce Back and Haaland Does it Again
It may be early into the season, but some Premier League betting markets are certainly becoming a little clearer after five weeks of the current campaign. The first midweek round of English top-tier matches did not disappoint, and there were many talking points that emerged from the gameweek.
Take, for instance, the race to be the Premier League’s top-scorer; well, that seems like it may become something of a one-horse race given the incredible start that Norwegian international Erling Haaland has made to his time in English football.
Crystal Palace 1-1 Brentford
Some teams just refuse to lie down, and Thomas Frank’s Brentford side are fast becoming just such a proposition. Once again, the Eagles had Wilfried Zaha to thank for the cutting edge in their attack, with the Selhurst Park hero scoring a cracker to put the home side ahead.
Unfortunately for Patrick Vieira’s side, the South London club couldn’t keep hold of the lead and super sub, Yoane Wissa, scored in the 88th minute to give the Bees a point from their short trip to face Palace.
Zaha chose to voice his disappointment after the game;
“We literally just had to keep it tight. As soon as we went into the lead, we just started to defend. I don’t see why we do that.”
“If we’d just continued to press on, I feel like we could have got a second and ended the game. We just killed ourselves in the end.” He added.
Fulham 2-1 Brighton
Marco Silva’s newly promoted side edged past Brighton in a game that could have gone either way. Fulham, who had lost narrowly to Arsenal in their last fixture, went ahead through yet another Aleksandr Mitrovic goal, his 100th for the club and fifth of the season, and a Lewis Dunk own goal a few minutes later put the Cottagers in control.
A penalty from Alexis Mac Allister halved the deficit, but Graham Potter’s side were unable to secure a draw and therefore suffered their first defeat of the season.
Southampton 2-1 Chelsea
Thomas Tuchel’s side are struggling for consistency, and having only just seen off bottom-of-the-table Leicester City in their last game, they appeared to be continuing their run of form when Raheem Sterling bagged his third Blues goal of the season.
Somewhat surprisingly levelled through Romeo Lavia and the Saints then pushed for a winner, and they got it late in the first half when Adam Armstrong’s deflected effort went past Edouard Mendy. Tuchel will need to regroup and has some transfer window business to complete, and the pressure is now definitely on the German.
Leeds United 1-1 Everton
For the second game in succession, Frank Lampard’s side led through Anthony Gordon, only to see the Toffees pegged back. This time the level for Leeds United came early in the second half from Luis Sinisterra.
The stalemate at Elland Road was a hard-fought and entertaining one, and a draw is a result Lampard will have taken given the amount of work the home side gave Everton keeper Jordan Pickford, the England man most certainly keeping the Merseyside club in the game.
Arsenal 2-1 Everton
Mikel Arteta’s side made it five wins from five, and now talk of a potential Premier League title challenge is very much being discussed. The Gunners laid siege to Emiliano Martinez’s goal through the first half, but the only reward the North London club had to show from it was a Gabriel Jesus effort.
Gabriel Martinelli came closest to giving Arsenal a two-goal lead, but his spectacular effort was tipped away by Martinez in astonishing fashion. Douglas Luiz scored directly from the corner just four minutes after coming on, though Aaron Ramsdale did appear to be impeded.
However, this Arsenal team has resilience, and they scored a winner three minutes later when Bukayo Saka laid the assist on for Martinelli to score his third of the season.
Following the loss, Villa’s fourth of the season, Steven Gerrard had an honest assessment of his future in charge of the Midlands’ side.
“If I stood here and said I wasn’t concerned, I think you’d look at me as though I was from a different planet,” Gerrard stated before adding.
“I am being honest and critical of myself. I will do my job the best I can do.”
AFC Bournemouth 0-0 Wolves
Two struggling sides played out a drab draw at the Vitality Stadium. The result gives the Cherries a point from their first game without Scott Parker at the helm. The Bournemouth boss was sacked after the south-coast side were thumped 9-0 at Anfield, and Gary O’Neill is in charge on an interim basis.
The draw doesn’t do much for Wolves boss Bruno Lage, with his team still without a win in what might prove to be a very long, arduous campaign.
Manchester City 6-0 Nottingham Forest
Given the success that young forward Erling Haaland has already achieved in his fledgling career, it was always likely that the powerful forward would make it in the physical confines of the Premier League. However, the speed with which the former Borussia Dortmund man has adapted to life in the English game is quite astounding.
Having scored his first hat-trick for Man City during their 4-2 home win over Crystal Palace, Haaland did so again during Pep Guardiola’s thrashing of newly promoted Nottingham Forest.
Fellow forward, young Argentine Julian Alvarez, signed from River Plate, also scored twice, and Joao Cancelo got himself on the scoresheet during his somewhat predictable drubbing.
West Ham 1-1 Tottenham
David Moyes will be the happier of the two bosses after these arch-rivals produced an entertaining stalemate at the London Stadium.
Antonio Conte was left incensed after referee Peter Bankes’ reversed his penalty decision after being asked to take another look via a VAR check, but Spurs still took the lead when Thilo Kehrer scored an own goal.
West Ham fought back and had already seen Mikhail Antonio’s superb effort hit the post before Tomas Soucek scored ten minutes into the second half, but Conte was still reeling at the referee’s behaviour once the final whistle rang out.
“It is incredible that VAR looked again, called the referee; he can see it was the right decision, and the call from VAR was strange. I can tell only that the referee has taken the right decision. Usually, the VAR calls when the call is not right.”
Liverpool 2-1 Newcastle United
Jurgen Klopp will be delighted to see his side continue their fightback from a poor start to the season, but their win over a solid Newcastle United side was left late, very late. New signing Alexander Isak thumped in a debut goal late in the first half, and Liverpool looked well off the pace for much of this Anfield clash.
Brazilian Roberto Firmino, who had had a hand in five of Liverpool’s nine against Bournemouth last weekend, equalized for the home side on the hour, but efforts to score a winner seemed dead and buried until younger Fabio Carvalho scored in the 98th minute to send the crowd wild.
The win helped to push Liverpool back up the table and consigned Eddie Howe’s battling Toon Army to their first defeat of the season.
Leicester City 0-1 Manchester United
What a difference a few weeks make. New Man United boss Erik ten Hag looked forlorn after his team had lost opening matches to Brighton and Brentford, where their performances were every bit as bad as the results that they led to, but now the Dutchman is on something of a high.
Against a very poor Foxes side that are bottom of the table, Man United dug deep to edge out their hosts and won thanks to a calm finish from Jadon Sancho. The win is the club’s third in a row and showed ten Hag that things aren’t as desperate as they appeared two games into his tenure.
On his side’s display, the coach was happy and cautiously optimistic;
“It is another step forward, so I am happy with that,”
“We showed good team spirit. We had 11 players on the pitch who fought for each other and scored a lovely team goal. Still, there are improvements to make, but that is normal at this stage of the season.”
