PL MATCHDAY 13 REVIEW: Arne Slot in dreamland as Guardiola loses six in seven
By Esosa Osa
It was another action-packed weekend in the Premier League. Controversy at the Amex, dominance from the Blues at the Bridge and a sixth defeat in seven games in all competitions for Pep Guardiola.
Brighton opened the weekend at home against Southampton. They came close to opening the scoring through Kaoru Mitoma but he put his effort wide after a mistake by compatriot, Yukinari Sugawara. Mitoma made up for his miss with a superb header to make it 1-0. Flynn Downes equalised in the 59th minute for his first Premier League and breathed new life into his side. Southampton were wrongly denied a second goal as VAR judged Adam Armstrong to be interfering with play for Cameron Archer’s goal. But it certainly looked like the Englishman had no part to play.
Nottingham Forest got back to winning ways with a 1-0 victory over Ipswich Town thanks to a Chris Wood penalty which made him Forest’s Premier League leading goalscorer, tied with Bryan Roy on 24 goals. History was made in Molineux Stadium as Justin Kluivert became the first player to score a hat-trick of penalties and Evanilson, the first player to win three penalties in a 4-2 away win over Wolves which also featured a first goal for Bournemouth for Milos Kerkez and a brace by Jørgen Strand Larsen for Wolves.
Brentford compounded Leicester’s woes with a 4-1 victory. Facundo Buonanotte opened the scoring for the Foxes. Still, a hat-trick by Kevin Schade and a tap-in by Yoane Wissa leave Leicester one point from the relegation zone with much to do for the newly-appointed Ruud Van Nistelrooy who watched the drubbing of his side from the stand. There was drama at Selhurst Park as Daniel Muñoz equalised in stoppage time to hand his side a draw against Newcastle.
Arsenal put five past West Ham at the London Stadium in a 5-2 thriller with all the goals coming in the first-half. Set-piece FC struck when Gabriel Magalhães got on the end of Bukayo’s Saka’s corner kick to make it 1-0. The floodgates opened as Arsenal increased their lead to 4-0 with Leandro Trossard, Martin Ødegaard from the spot kick and Kai Havertz all on the scoresheet.
West Ham attempted to shake things up with 2 goals in 2 minutes. A brilliant finish from Aaron Wan-Bissaka and a spectacular free-kick from Emerson Palmieri but Saka’s penalty for number five and a marvellous performance from the Englishman rounded off a deserved win for the Gunners.
Ruben Amorim made a dream start to life at Old Trafford in the league with a 4-0 demolition of Everton. There were two goals each for Marcus Rashford and Joshua Zirkzee, and Amad Diallo put up a man-of-the-match display with his assists
Tottenham failed to build on their 4-0 against Manchester City as they were held to a 1-1 draw at home to Fulham. Brennan Johnson grabbed his 10th goal in all competitions in the 54 minute but Fulham Captain, Tom Cairney who was later sent off grabbed the equaliser in a disappointing display from the hosts.
Chelsea put up a dominant display in a 3-0 victory over Aston Villa. The Blues opened the scoring through in-form Nicolas Jackson and doubled their lead from another player on fire, Enzo Fernandez. Villa Talisman, Ollie Watkins failed to get his team back in the game, missing two big opportunities. The victory was sealed late on with a lovely curled finish by Cole Palmer.
Man City went into the game at Anfield with everyone expecting them to lose and that is what they did. Cody Gakpo gave his side a dream start inside 12 minutes and Liverpool dominated the first half, relegating City to one shot.
City got more comfortable in the second half but could not create anything of value and Erling Haaland rendered completely ineffective. Mo Salah missed a golden chance to make it 2-0 after a mistake at the back but got his chance for redemption from the spot, which he took brilliantly to extend his side’s lead at the top to nine points.
