After experiencing a total of 30 goals in the past week, the Premier League was back with a bang. Surprising and shocking results are something that is usually expected in this league. A total of 17 goals were scored in 7 games that took place on Saturday. One of those seven was played on Friday night. Only one game ended in a goalless draw.
Aston Villa 0 – 1 Manchester United
Friday night football kicked off in the Premier League as Aston Villa hosted Manchester United. Both, the hosts and the visitors had won their first game of the season, had kept a cleansheet and won by a single goal.
Adnan Januzaj was a surprise starter and played right behind Wayne Rooney as Memphis Depay was shifted to the left wing and Ashley Young was on the bench. The defence was unchanged and the fans still worried about the Blind-Smalling partnership at the back. Sergio Romero started his second game in a row, as David de Gea was left out yet again.
The only goal of the match came just before the half hour mark as Juan Mata picked out Januzaj inside the box, at the near post. The young Belgian pulled off a dummy on Micah Richards and slotted the ball into the net with the help of a slight deflection. The original shot was on target so Adnan Januzaj did claim the goal as United went to the top after the fulltime whistle.
Southampton 0 – 3 Everton
Back to the normal Premier League weekend. Saturday – matchday. An early kickoff at St. Mary’s Stadium saw Southampton face-off against Everton. Just like the previous game, both these teams had seen the same result last weekend. Both had a point from their respective 2-2 draws last weekend.
Everton had just one victory in 14 previous visits to this ground, making Southampton the favourites to win.
Regardless of that, Everton was the most threatening side and deservedly took the lead in the 21st minute following a beautifully executed counter attack as Romelu Lukaku headed in from Arouna Kone’s cross. The Toffee’s doubled their lead on the stroke of half time as Southampton lost the ball in their own half and Ross Barkley set up Romelu Lukaku who scored past Stekelenburg.
Southampton was the threatening side in the second half, but they just couldn’t penetrate Everton’s defence. The third and final goal came in the 83rd minute as Ross Barkley calmly curled the ball into the far post to seal the 3 points for Everton.
West Ham United 1 – 2 Leicester City
West Ham came into their first home game of the season on a high after coming away with all 3 points after a shock 2-0 win at The Emirates against Arsenal last weekend. Leicester was also upbeat and ready for their first away challenge of the new season after a convincing 4-2 victory over Sunderland at home last weekend.
Ranieri’s men maintained their top form and took the lead courtesy of Shinji Okazaki’s first goal for the club in the 26th minute. Just a little over 10 minutes later, Riyad Mahrez, who already bagged a brace on his debut, struck again to make it 2-0. West Ham pulled one back through Dimitri Payet just 10 minutes after the break as expectations rose. West Ham came close to getting an equalizer on various occasions, but to no avail.
Hammer’s goalkeeper Adrian was sent off in bizarre circumstances as he went up for a corner and fouled Jaimie Vardy.
Watford 0 – 0 West Bromwich Albion
Premier League newcomers Watford came into their first home game of the season after a tricky 2-2 draw at Goodison Park. Their opponents, West Brom, had already lost their first game of the season at home to Manchester City.
The goal drought for West Brom continued as they failed to score. But they did not concede as well. The cagey game between these two sides ended in a stalemate. This was the only goalless draw of the weekend and it came as a bit of a surprise because many predicted Watford to win this game as it was in their own backyard and they were very impressive against a strong Everton side last weekend.
West Brom stayed strong and came away with a point from Vicarage Road.
Tottenham Hotspur 2 – 2 Stoke City
Premier League football returned to White Hart Lane as Tottenham hosted Stoke. Both teams came into this one after disappointing 1-0 losses. Tottenham lost to a Kyle Walker own goal at Old Trafford, while Stoke lost at home to Liverpool after Philippe Coutinho’s late goal.
New Stoke City signing Xherdan Shaqiri was ineligible to play due to his ban in Serie A. Hugo Lloris was back in the goal for Spurs.
Tottenham opened the scoring just before the 20th minute after Eric Dier headed in a Christian Eriksen cross from close range. Nacer Chadli doubled the advantage after slotting in a cross from Ben Davies on the stroke of halftime.
Spurs came out confidently in the second half with a two goal lead. It was all comfortable for Spurs until the 77th minute when new signing Toby Alderweireld conceded a penalty and Marko Arnautovic converted it. Just 5 minutes after Stoke pulled one back, White Hart Lane was stunned and silenced as Mame Biram Diouf headed in the equalizer from close range in the 82nd minute.
The score did not change till the full-time whistle as The Potters managed to scupper a crucial point from White Hart Lane.
Swansea City 2 – 0 Newcastle United
Swansea City hosted Newcastle United at the Liberty Stadium after getting a crucial 2-2 draw at Stamford Bridge against 10-men Chelsea. Newcastle themselves had started the season with a draw against Southampton last weekend.
Swansea took the lead inside 10 minutes after a brilliant pass from Jonjo Shelvey went through the shaky Newcastle defence and found Bafetimbi Gomis, who dummied the keeper and slotted into an empty net to make it 1-0. Things went from bad to worse for Steve Mclaren’s men as Daryl Janmaat was shown a second yellow just 5 minutes before half time.
Newcastle rarely posed a threat as Swansea were playing against 10-men for a second successive weekend. 6 minutes after half time, Andre Ayew scored his second goal in two games to make it 2-0 to Swansea. It remained 2-0 till the final whistle as Swansea earned their first home win and cleansheet of the season.
Sunderland 1 – 3 Norwich City
Sunderland came into their first home game of the season after a disappointing 4-2 loss to Leicester last weekend. Norwich had lost their first game of the season to Crystal Palace at home. Both sides were desperate for a win.
Troubles for Sunderland did not end as Norwich took the lead in the 25th minute of the match after Russel Martin slotted the ball in from close range after a corner. Steven Whittaker doubled The Canary’s lead after beating the keeper at the near post in the 37th minute.
Nathan Redmond then scored his 2nd in two games to make it 3-0 and that was surely game over for the Black Cats. Debutant and second half substitute Duncan Watmore scored a consolation for Sunderland as the game ended 3-1 in favour of Norwich.
Sunderland has now conceded 7 goals in 2 matches as their defensive problems go on.
