Heroics return for double strikers

Heroics return for double strikers

Wahbi Khazri put relegation threatened side, Sunderland, ahead only for Anthony Martial to level the score for Manchester United. But a late own goal by David De Gea condemned the Red Devils to another defeat.

Giannelli Imbula Wanga, Ibrahim Afellay and Joselu gave Stoke City a 3-0 lead at Dean Court while Matt Ritchie scored a consolation goal for Bournemouth. 
 
Troy Deeney scored from the penalty spot to put Watford ahead but Emmanuel Adebayor equalised for Crystal Palace on the stroke of half time. Troy Deeney then scored his second of the match and Palace's hopes for rescuing a point were dashed when Pape Ndiaye Souare got himself sent off.

Jose Salomon Rondon scored the only goal of the game to give West Brom a 1-0 away victory over Everton.

Robert Brady and Wesley Hoolahan gave Norwich a 2-0 lead over West Ham, but Dimitri Payet pulled a goal back. The comeback was completed three minutes later when Mark Noble made it 2-2.

A second-half goal from Shane Long was enough for Southampton as they left the Liberty Stadium with all three points.

Gus Hiddink unbeaten run as Chelsea's manager continues as the Blues defeated Newcastle 5-1. Diego Costa opened the scoring and Pedro added a second. Willian then made it 3-0 before Pedro scored his second. Bertrand Traore completed the rout with the fifth and Andros Townsend scored a consolation goal for away side.

Jamie Vardy scored a debatable penalty on the stroke of half time. Theo Walcott equalised for Arsenal after Leicester's Danny Simpson got himself sent-off for two yellow cards offences. Danny Welback, on his first game back after a 10 months laid off, headed home the winner with virtually the last kick of the game.

Liverpool got their biggest win of the season at cellar club Aston Villa. Daniel Sturridge, in his first start in two months, opened the floodgate and James Milner added the second. Further goals from Emre Can, Divock Origi, Nathaniel Clyne and Kolo Toure complete a miserable day for the Villans.

In another top of the table clash, Tottenham took the lead through a Harry Kane's controversial penalty. Kelechi Iheanacho levelled the score for Manchester City but Christian Eriksen scored the winning goal after a delightful pass from Lamela.

Top five performing team *

Arsenal: 7.07
Leicester: 7.04
Tottenham: 7.02
Man City: 6.99
Everton: 6.96

Top five performing players *

Riyad Mahrez (Leicester): 7.90
Mesut Ozil (Arsenal): 7.79
Dimitri Payet  (West Ham): 7.67
Mousa Dembele (Tottenham): 7.66
Virgil van Dijk (Southampton): 7.62

* all statistics provided by WhoScored.com

Leicester moved to second while Newcastle condemned to the bottom

Leader Manchester City face an in-form Crystal Palace at Selhurst Park without David Silva or Raheem Sterling. To make thing worse, they lost Sergio Augero on the 25th minute through injury. The game seems to be heading for a draw until Kelechi Iheanacho came up with the winner to preserve Manchester City 100% start to the season.

Champions Chelsea poor start to the season just got worse as they lost 3-1 to Everton at Goodison Park. Steven Naismith scored twice in 5 minutes to give the home team a 2-0 lead. Nemanja Matic gave Chelsea hope of a fightback when he thumped in from distance. However, Naismith hat-trick ensure all three points for Everton.

The game of the weekend sees Manchester United hosting their fierce rival, Liverpool. After an uninspiring first half, Danny Blind opened the scoring 4 minutes after the restart. Ander Herrera added a second from the penalty spot. Christian Benteke scored a brilliant bicycle kick to give Liverpool a glimmer of hope which was extinguished within 2 minutes. Making his debut, Anthony Martial beat three defenders before sliding the ball into the net.

Despite their near total dominance, the Gunners went into the half-time only 1-0 ahead, courtesy of a Theo Walcott goal. Stoke had goalkeeper Jack Butland to thank for keeping the scoreline down but he is unable to stop Olivier Giroud from adding a second.

Two teams who were winless faced off at the Stadium of Light and Tottenham came away with the three points with Ryan Mason scoring the only goal of the game.

In the battle between the newly promoted sides, Norwich defeated Bournemouth 3-1 at the Carrow Road. Cameron Jerome opened the scoring with Wesley Hoolah and Matt Jarvis adding further goals. Steve Cook scored the consolidation goal for the visitor.

Watford got their first win of the season, beating Swansea 1-0. Odion Ighalo scored the winner but the home team had to play with 10 men after Valon Behrami was shown a straight red on 64th minutes.

Leicester completed a remarkable comeback to defeat Aston Villa. Jack Grealish and Carles Gil put the visitor 2-0 ahead. Ritchie De Laet pull one goal back before Jamie Vardy equalised for The Foxes. The comeback was completed when Nathan Dyer scored with 1 minute left.

West Brom and Southampton played out a goal-less draw at The Hawthorns.

Over at Boleyn Ground, Dimitri Payet scored twice to condemn Newcastle to the bottom of the table.

Top five performing team *
Manchester City: 7.23
Arsenal: 7.13
Leicester: 6.99
West Ham: 6.96
Everton: 6.94

Top five performing players *
Riyad Mahrez (Leicester): 8.76
David Silva (Manchester City): 8.03
Aleksandar Kolarov (Manchester City): 7.88
Bakary Sako (Crystal Palace): 7.86
Yaya Toure (Manchester City): 7.86

*Statistics provided by WhoScored.com 

Six new faces to look out for

With the season to start in a couple of days, let us look at some of the new faces that could light up the Premier League.

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Jordan Ayew
Striker, Aston Villa

The man tasked with replacing Christian Benteke has goals in him. He scored 13 times in the Ligue 1 for FC Lorient.

His pace will offer Villa options on the flank as well.

Appearance: 29
Goals: 11
Assist: 5
WhoScored.com rating: 7.07

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Yohan Cabaye
Midfielder, Crystal Palace

Possibly the transfer coup of the summer, Cabaye will be linking up once again with manager Alan Pardew, after the pair enjoyed a successful stint together at Newcastle United from 2011 to 2014.

A great passer of the ball, Cabaye will also be adding goals to the London club. He scored 18 times in 93 appearances for Newcastle.

Appearance: 13
Goals: 1
Assist: 1
WhoScored.com rating: 7.06

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Memphis Depay
Forward, Manchester United

One of the most promising young players in the world, Louis Van Gaal was so eager to sign him up that a deal was done before the end of last season.

Top Scorer in the Dutch Eredivisie with 22 goals, Depay is a good dribbler with plenty of pace and packed a power long shot.

Appearance: 30
Goal: 22
Assist: 5
WhoScored.com rating: 7.92

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Georginio Wijnaldum
Midfielder, Newcastle

Newcastle third most expensive player, after Michael Owen and Alan Shearer, Wijnaldum captained PSV to the Eredivisie title last season and was crowned Dutch Footballer of the Year 2014/15.

The attacking midfielder had 19 caps for Netherlands and scored 56 goals in 152 appearances for PSV before arriving on Tyneside.

Appearance: 32
Goal: 14
Assist: 3
WhoScored.com rating: 7.47

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Dimitri Payet
Midfielder, West Ham

A sensational swoop. Payet was the star in the Marseille side that finished four in the Ligue 1 last season.

He topped the Ligue 1 assist chart with 17 assists and wasted no time in winning the fans over with his man-of-the-match performances in the pre-season friendlies against Southend United and Norwich.

Appearance: 35
Goals: 7
Assist: 17
WhoScored.com rating: 7.62

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Roberto Firmino
Forward, Liverpool

Firmino will add creativity and goals to Liverpool.

Known for his attacking prowess and dribbling ability, Firmino will add creativity and goals to a Liverpool side who was very dependent on Coutinho as a playmaking outlet last season.

The Brazilian can play across the front three.

Appearance: 33
Goal: 7
Assist: 10
WhoScored.com rating: 7.79

Chelsea crowned Champions.

When Chelsea hosted Crystal Palace on Sunday, the equation is simple. Win and Chelsea will be crown champions.

Win they did, 1-nil (what other scoreline will one expect). Arsenal should hand over their famous chant "1-nil to the Arsenal".

While clubs in similar situation will put up a good show, to win the game in style and reward the fans, this is not in the DNA of Jose Mourinho.

Remain tight, grab a goal and close out the game.

Thou I hated to say as much, it works and they are the "best" team during the course of the season. "Best" in churning out results, low on entertainment value.

Not that it matters to Mourinho, as long as there are trophies at the end of the season.

Anyway, kudos to Chelsea.

Now that this is settled, the top four should be done and dusted, with position to be decided, the focus will be on the relegation battle.

Barring a miracle, Burnley will be relegated. Two among Aston Villa, Newcastle, Hull City, Leicester, Sunderland and QPR will be joining The Clarets.

Who will face the drop? My picks, Newcastle and QPR.

Wembley, here we come. Arsenal FC

After a nine years wait, Arsenal finally broke their run without a trophy when they won the English FA Cup in 2014. Many have predicted that this could be the start of a golden era but that was put in place after quite a disastrous start to their new season.

Out of the Champions League, Capital One Cup and out of the league title chase (thou they could still mathematically win it), FA Cup is their last hope of a silverware, if one exclude the “top 4 trophy” that manager Wenger so craved.




Like last year, they had a tough semi-final against supposingly lower quality opposition. But unlike last year, they settled the issue in extra-time without having to go through the lottery of a penalty shootout. They took the lead in the 40th minute only for Reading to equalise within nine minutes of the second half. Try as they might, Arsenal could not find a winning goal. It took a mistake by Reading’s goalkeeper, letting Sanchez shot slipped through his legs, to eventually settle the issue.



Aston Villa now stand in the way of Wenger of equaling the most FA Cup won by a manager. Many clubs would love to be in this situation of winning the oldest cup trophy, but for Arsenal fans, I suspect they would rather trade it for either the League title or the Champions League.



Without doubt, Arsenal will be favourites to retain the trophy, but this is Arsenal that we are talking about. A club that has the tendency to either screw things up at the big stage or make things difficult for themselves. Not to forget, the “strange” tactics of Wenger. In the semi final, he replaced both full backs, Debuchy and Gibbs coming in for Bellerin and Monreal. Both are able replacements, in fact, the first choices but they have not seen much actions lately. Also, he decided to start with Welbeck instead of the in-form Giroud. Puzzling indeed.

In any case, I am looking forward to a great final at the Wembley Stadium. While I am quietly confident, something tells me that the result might not be as what I have hoped for.