PL MATCHDAY 15 REVIEW: Arteta in a tight corner as Palmer calms Storm Forster

By Esosa Osa

Football fans were gifted with another action-packed weekend in the Premier League which saw more suffering for Ruben Amorim, heartbreak for Ipswich and a London derby that never fails to entertain between Tottenham and Chelsea.

The weekend’s early kickoff between Everton and Liverpool was postponed due to severe weather, so proceedings began with a three-game goal rush.

Manchester City arrived at Selhurst Park hoping to revive their title race hopes. It took four minutes to dispel those thoughts further when Daniel Muñoz fired his effort brilliantly past Stefan Ortega. City kept their cool despite some dangerous Palace attacks and were rewarded with a header from Erling Haaland 30 minutes in.

However, 11 minutes after the break, Maxence Lacroix put Palace ahead with a brilliant header for his first goal for the club. Rico Lewis equalised for his side before the 70th-minute mark to set up a thrilling final 20 minutes. City pushed on but were wrongly reduced to 10 men after Rico Lewis was shown a second yellow card for a foul on Trevor Chalobah. However, the replays showed the Palace defender actually fouled Lewis. Unfortunately, VAR does not review second yellow card decisions. It proved costly for the Citizens as they shared the points.

Brentford saw off Newcastle in fine fashion, winning 4-2. Goals for Brentford by Bryan Mbeumo and Yoane Wissa. Alexander Isak and Harvey Barnes for Newcastle levelled matters before the break. The home side was more relaxed in the second-half and saw off the game with two brilliant finishes from Nathan Collins and Kevin Schade. No team has picked up more points at home than Brentford with 22 points. Jhon Duran’s first-half finish was enough to grab the three pints for Villa despite his side missing a flurry of chances.

There was more suffering for Ruben Amorim as his side fell to a home defeat at the hands of Nottingham Forest. Nikola Milenković opened the scoring 90 seconds in, heading home a corner. The home side equalised through Rasmus Højlund from a rebound. Forest struck early in the second-half through Morgan Gibbs-White after poor judgement by Andre Onana.

Not long after Onana and the United defenders were guilty of not clearing Chris Wood’s simple header. Bruno Fernandes got one back for his side but it was not enough to prevent defeat against Forest for the first time in 30 years. Ipswich were left heartbroken as two late goals from Enes Ünal and Dango Ouattara cancelled Conor Chaplin’s first Premier League goal to continue their winless home run.

Leicester City pulled off a late show to draw 2-2 at home against Brighton. Tariq Lamptey’s superb curler from outside the box set things in motion for the Seagulls who extended their lead through Yankuba Minteh. But two late goals by Veteran Jamie Vardy and Bobby Decordova-Reid earned Leicester a hard-fought draw.

Arsenal were disappointingly held to a draw away at Fulham. The Cottagers opened the scoring early through Raul Jimenez. The Gunners completely dominated proceedings from there on and found the equaliser through William Saliba, unsurprisingly, from a set-piece. They continued to push and thought they were in the lead through Bukayo Saka but Gabriel Martinelli was judged to be offside in the build-up and at the final whistle, the score remained. Arsenal now find themselves six points from Liverpool who have a game in hand.

Tottenham versus Chelsea showed again why it is one of the most entertaining fixtures in Premier League history. In arguably the season’s most entertaining fixtures thus far, Chelsea beat Tottenham 4-3 away at North London. But it didn’t look that way from the beginning. Two slips by Marc Cucurella led to two Spurs goals inside 11 minutes. One from Dominic Solanke and the other by Dejan Kulusevski which saw a boot change for Cucurella.

Shortly after, Jadon Sancho got one back for the Blues with a spectacular effort from outside the area. The Blues started to exhibit more control and were disappointed to not get the equaliser after the break. The best player of the first-half, Romeo Lavia had to be substituted at the break due to a hamstring problem which saw the introduction of Malo Gusto and a tweak in the system with Cucurella joining the Midfield. It proved significant as the Blues increased their dominance.

Moises Caicedo won a penalty which was easily dispatched by Cole Palmer to make it 2-2. In the 73rd minute, the man on red-hot form, Enzo Fernandez sent his left-footed shot past Fraser Forster to lead 3-2. Later on, Cole Palmer won a penalty which he took in mind-blowing fashion, opting for the panenka to the astonishment of many. He now has the most penalties without missing in Premier League history, 12 from 12.

Tottenham scored late through Heung-min Son but it was all only mathematical as the scores ended, 4-3 for Chelsea. The question of Chelsea’s participation in the title race continues to be thrown off by Chelsea Manager, Enzo Maresca and his players but one thing is sure, this is a different Chelsea.

In Monday night’s showdown, West Ham triumphed against Wolves, 2-1. Tomáš Souček and Jarrod Bowen goals were enough to suppress Matt Doherty’s equaliser in a win dedicated to West Ham Captain, Michail Antonio who was recently involved in a car accident. Our thoughts are with him and his family.