Football

Round Four – Premier League Review (Sunday)

Sixteen goals were scored on Saturday in the Premier League. Another six were scored on Sunday in the two games that took place. We had already seen five red cards on Saturday, and we saw one more on Sunday. The unpredictable Premier League action continues as we head into the final fixtures before the International Break.

Southampton   3  –  0   Norwich City

Venue – St. Mary’s Stadium

Southampton-v-norwich-premierleagie

Southampton came into this one, desperate for a win. They had a very poor start to the season after losing their opening game and then drawing the next two, including the one last weekend against newcomers Watford. Apart from the first game of the season, Norwich were in a decent form with one win and a draw against Stoke last weekend. The odds were against Norwich as they had just beaten Southampton once in the previous five meetings between these two. However, two of those games had ended in draws.
With Stekelenburg in goal, Southampton’s center backs were Jose Fonte and Maya Yoshida. Martina was benched as Cedric started at right-back. Steven Davis and Oriol Romeu were in the midfield with Ward-Prowse. Sadio Mane, Dusan Tadic and Graziano Pelle were the attackers.
Nathan Redmond retained his place in the starting line-up along with Jonny Howson. Lewis Grabban was left out due to disciplinary issues. Dutch striker Ricky van Wolfswinkel was on the bench amidst rumours suggesting that he was set to leave the club this summer.
As the match started, Steven Whittaker got himself booked two minutes before the half hour mark. He was shown his second yellow and given the marching orders just three minutes later for a foul on Tadic as things started to look gloomy for The Canaries. The first goal of the match came in first half injury time as Pelle added to his tally of goals thanks to a decent pass from Sadio Mane.
The second goal came in the second half after 65 minutes. Mane again the creator and this time Tadic was at the end of his pass to make it 2-0. Tadic struck again just three minutes later to wrap up a comfortable 3-0 win for the Saints.
No more goals came in the game as Southampton finally got a well-deserved win which they were so desperate for. This victory sees The Saint’s move up to 10th place in the table, one point ahead of Chelsea. Norwich are now 14th in the table, one point ahead of Tottenham.

Swansea City   2  –  1   Manchester United

Venue – Liberty Stadium.

swanseavmanchesterunited-premier-league

Both teams were unbeaten as they headed into this game. Swansea had drawn two and won one, while Manchester United had two narrow victories and a goalless draw. United had won five out of the previous ten against Swansea. But Swansea’s recent form against the Red Devil’s was great as they completed the double over United last season with 2-1 victories in both the fixtures.
Swansea were dealt a blow as Jefferson Montero was injured and had to be replaced by Wayne Routledge in the starting line-up. That was the only change The Swans made. Ki Sung-Yeung, who scored against United last season, was also back from his injury, but did not start as he was named as a substitute.
Louis van Gaal was also forced to make a change as injured Adnan Januzaj was out and Ander Herrara started in behind Wayne Rooney and ahead of the midfield duo of Morgan Schneiderlin and Bastian Schweinsteiger. With Marcos Rojo and Phil Jones still not in the squad, Chris Smalling and Daley Blind retained their positions in front of Sergio Romero. Wayne Rooney, once again, led the attack.
Manchester United made a bright start as Memphis won and took a free-kick on the edge of the box, but it was saved by Fabianski. Swansea had chances of their own, as Gylfi Sigurdsson put the ball wide after a well worked free-kick. Bafetimbi Gomis struck the upright after twisting and turning around the United defenders. The first half ended without a single goal being scored.
United were off the mark just three minutes after the break after Luke Shaw put in a delightful cross which was smashed in by Juan Mata at the far post. They almost had another goal after a couple of minutes when Memphis’ cross picked up a nasty deflection but Lucas Fabianski made a spectacular save to deny it. Swansea finally got their equalizer as Manchester United conceded their first goal of the season courtesy of Andre Ayew’s header from Sigurdsson’s cross. United were left shocked as Swansea completed the comeback just five minutes later as Bafetimbi Gomis netted his fourth goal of the season after poor defending and goalkeeping from Romero.
Manchester United tried for an equalizer but they were denied time and again as the game ended 2-1 in favour of Swansea. This is the third consecutive time that Swansea have won 2-1 against The Red Devils. The victory takes the Swans straight up into fourth place, one point ahead of Manchester United, Arsenal and Liverpool.

Oumar Aga

His name is Oumar Aga, he is neither the fastest man alive nor was he stuck on a hellish island for five years only to return and save his city. He is merely a student of Pharmacy, residing in Pune, Maharashtra. He is involved in various social and extracurricular activities - Content writing being one of them. He is a part of the admins panel of Manchester United Fan Club Pune and an organiser for regular football meets and tournaments.
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