Premier League Week 9: Liverpool Triumph in Merseyside Derby, Chelsea and Arsenal Draw

The long-awaited 9th round of the Premier League took place! The round turned out to be dynamic, there were no matches with less than two goals scored. As expected, the Merseyside and London derbies highlighted the weekend, with 8 goals scored in 3 matches.

Chelsea 2 – 2 Arsenal

The first London derby turned out great. No one expected to see 2-0 in favor of Chelsea by halftime. Pochettino’s team took advantage of Arsenal’s mistakes and punished them with goals. The first goal was scored by Chelsea’s young talent Cole Parker from the penalty spot, after the ball hit the hand of Arsenal’s defender. The second goal was scored by another young star, Mykhailo Mudrik, taking advantage of Arsenal’s goalkeeper mistake. It seems that Mudrik has started to adapt to the Premier League, scoring in the second match in a row.

Arsenal did not give up and started attacking more actively after the break. Chelsea defended well until their goalkeeper made a mistake in the pass on the 77th minute, leaving Declan Rice open for a shot on goal. The goal inspired Arteta’s side, and Leandro Trossard scored an equalizer just 7 minutes later. The final unexpected score, as such impetus was not expected from Chelsea by either fans or apparently Arsenal players themselves.

Liverpool 2 – 0 Everton

The Merseyside derby did not bring any surprises. Klopp’s band confidently handled Everton, albeit at the very end of the match. Liverpool seemed like the winner right from the start, as evidenced by the match stats. Everton started the game from defense and tried to play second fiddle, until Ashley Young received his second yellow card on the 37th minute and left the pitch.

This incident forced Everton to sit in a stubborn defense, and Liverpool to pick the locks to build attacks. In the middle of the second half, the ball hitting the hand of Everton’s defender led to a penalty kick, which Mohamed Salah took confidently. After conceding, Everton opened up and began attacking with all their might, in hopes of equalizing, but this tactic did not yield results. And in the 7th minute of stoppage time, Mo Salah scored a double, putting an end to the intrigue of the match.

Nottingham Forest 2 – 2 Luton

Our prediction for the match turned out to be correct. A draw. Very bitter for Nottingham fans. Both teams were in no hurry to pull out trumps, which led to zeros on the scoreboard at halftime. But the second half immediately pleased the Forest fans with a goal by Chris Wood in the 48th minute.

After conceding a goal, the game came to life, and on counter courses in the 76th minute Chris Wood scored a double. It is worth noting that the double assist for Forest was made by former Manchester United player Anthony Elanga. The comfortable two-goal advantage relaxed Forest, and Luton immediately decided to take advantage of this. Already in the 83rd minute, from a free kick, Luton’s player Chidozie Ogbene was more agile than anyone else in the penalty area, after a Forest player’s mistake in the interception, and scored back one goal. The Foresters could not come to their senses quickly, and already in the second minute of stoppage time at the end of the meeting, another mistake in interception in Forest’s penalty area led to a conceded goal. 2-2. Luton showed character at the end of the meeting, and Forest should not lose concentration and give away such matches.

Manchester City 2 – 1 Brighton

City took full advantage of Arsenal’s draw and thanks to the win in this match, came out to the interim 1st place in the table, before the results of Tottenham’s match. The Cityzens actively started the match, and scoring two quick goals, in the 7th and 19th minutes, by Alvarez and Haaland, created comfortable conditions for themselves.

After the disastrous start, Brighton pulled themselves together and did not allow City to score more, although there were dangerous approaches. So, from the middle of the 1st half to the middle of the 2nd, there was a lot of skirmishes in the center from both teams, rather than meaningful attacks. But in the 73rd minute, City failed to deal with Brighton’s counterattack and Barcelona’s former rising star, Ansu Fati, scored one back.

City did not want to take risks and sat back on defense, but until the end of the game, Brighton failed to break the Cityzens’ defense again. And the second yellow card in the 5th minute of stoppage time to City’s central defender Akanji, did not have time to help the Seagulls. It is noted that Manchester City’s backup goalkeeper Stefan Ortega played his 1st match of the season. More interesting football was expected from the match, but it did not happen. The calmly and without error playing City, from the 20th minute of the match, did not allow Brighton to create enough scoring chances, only a lucky bounce gave the Seagulls a chance to score.

Newcastle 4 – 0 Crystal Palace

As expected, Palace could not oppose anything to Newcastle, who are in great shape, unlike their opponent. The first goal in the 4th minute, by Jacob Murphy, looked very bizarre and seemed it would not count due to offside, but the VAR system decided otherwise.

Newcastle did not stop there, and continued to press. However, they only managed to convert at the end of the first half, in the 44th and 47th minutes. I think Palace players were happy for the break to pull themselves together, because it seemed that if they continued the match, the score would have been much bigger.

In the second half Palace came out with the intention of fighting back, but for that, the team needs to hit and score goals against opponents. Having an advantage in shots in the match, Palace hit the target less than half as much. Attacking play did not yield results for Palace, but Newcastle’s piercing counterattacks tested Palace’s ability to quickly sit back on defense, which at first, albeit thinly, they managed to do. But the strength quickly ran out for Palace, and in the 66th minute with a quick build-up from their own goal, in 3 passes, Callum Wilson scores Palace the 4th goal. It can be said that the game ended at that, Newcastle calmed down and no longer rushed to score more, and Palace, without strength, almost did not attack anymore. 4 – 0, a big win and joy for Newcastle fans.

Brentford 3 – 0 Burnley

The game did turn out to be a power play, as evidenced by 9 yellow cards and 1 sending off in the match. However, I wouldn’t call it equal in any way. 24(10) – 6(1) on shots in the match. Burnley’s defense was like a revolving door and only the heroic saves of James Trafford allowed the score to stop at 3 goals conceded.

The first goal could have happened early in the meeting after a free kick, but offside. However, Brentford didn’t stop, and in the 25th minute Yoann Wissa scored the opener. Brentford attacked a lot and sharply, but as described above, the Burnley goalkeeper held on well and thanks to him the first half ended with one goal conceded.

But in the second half the game continued in the same vein, Brentford attacked while Burnley’s defense did not know what to do about it. As a result, two of the most beautiful goals from outside the penalty area were scored by Bryan Mbeumo and Saman Ghoddos in the 62nd and 87th minutes of the meeting. Burnley had a chance to score, the only shot on target was struck with a swerving shot from a free kick, but the goalkeeper dealt with it. Burnley will go collecting dust in the Championship next year if the club maangement won’t address the existing issues.

Bournemouth 1 – 2 Wolverhampton

The game did not turn out to be easy for the Wolves. Perhaps if Bournemouth’s crossbar had not saved them from Neto’s shot at the start of the meeting, the game would have gone differently, but we have what we have.

The Wolves actively attacked, but could not get the job done to take shots on goal. In the 17th minute after one of the attacks that led to nothing, Wolves players were in no hurry to return to defense, which Bournemouth took advantage of. In a few passes getting to the Wolves penalty area, and a back heel shot from Dominic Solanke, after not the strongest cross from the flank, upset Wolverhampton’s defense. After conceding a goal, Bournemouth did not sit back on defense, but tried to meet Wolverhampton high up the field, which the Wolves actively used by switching to long passes and as a result, without losing the initiative in attack, but no more goals followed before the break.

Second Half

But the second half started with a goal scored. Taking advantage of the fact that Bournemouth did not immediately switch on at the start, in the 47th minute, Neto once again dribbled the ball to the opponent’s penalty area and passed it to Matheus Cunha, who put it in the net. The Wolves caught inspiration, Bournemouth woke up, and the game began to heat up.

This led to the sending off of Bournemouth player Lewis Cook in the 54th minute of the meeting. Cook did not appreciate that Hwang was dribbling past him too easily and in the traditions of old English football, hacked the striker down with his leg like a scythe. Hwang turned out not to be timid, a small scuffle ensued in which Cook headbutted Hwang in the head. As a result, he let his team down and recieved a red card.

Having lost a player, Bournemouth sat in a deep defense, trying to counterattack, which could have yielded results, but the Wolves defenders and goalkeeper had no intention of losing the match. And so, when there were a couple of minutes left of regular time, a careless playout from the back by Bournemouth led to a loss of the ball and Sasa Kalajdzic hammered it into the Bournemouth net. The result, 1-2 in favor of the Wolves, and a scolding for Bournemouth players from the coach for such mistakes at the end of the meeting.

Sheffield United 1 – 2 Manchester United

What could the bottom league team, without a win in 8 games, really oppose to a team like Manchester United? It turned out to be quite a decent resistance. At the start of the match, there was no impression that opponents of different levels were playing, the Blades attacked with fire in their eyes, not at all afraid of the Manchester players. The Devils’ defense coped with the attacks, and if it came to a shot, Onana was in place.

Manchester’s attack, on the other hand, again failed to impress, there were approaches to the goal, and in those moments when the top players should decide the episode, it did not happen. Looking at this, in the 28th minute, central midfielder Scott McTominay once again took on the role of striker and found himself in the penalty area, beating the defender to score a goal in such a way as if he had been playing in the box all his life. The Blades, however, did not hang their heads and continued to attack, so one of the crosses into the Manchester penalty area made McTominay the anti-hero of the meeting. Oliver McBurnie scored from the spot in the 34th minute. At the end of the first half, Bruno Fernandes could have put Manchester United ahead with a free kick, but the crossbar played for the goalkeeper.

Second Half

The match restarted after the break just as it had ended. Mutual attacks, predominantly by the Manchester team, but not as sharp as Sheffield’s, which made Onana sweat at the goal. But one of Manchester’s many attacks did lead to a goal. In the 77th minute, center-back Lindelof, who joined the attack down the flank, provided an assist for the far post shot to right-back Dalot, who struck it well to put his team ahead. This game was another match in which Manchester United’s attack cannot produce results. There were many approaches to the opponent’s goal, many shots, but no goals.

Aston Villa 4 – 1 West Ham

Surprisingly, there was no intrigue in the game. Nominally the teams were equal, but Villa showed a masterclass in finishing. The match started evenly, both teams looked decent and created dangerous moments. But in the 30th minute, Douglas Luiz put Villa ahead. Not the most difficult shot crept into the net due to a slight deflection off the defender.

The game continued evenly until the end of the first half. In the 51st minute, West Ham defenders played carelessly, bringing down Diawara. And from the 11-meter mark, it was the same Luiz, completing his brace. The Hammers had something to respond with, and just 5 minutes later Jarrod Bowen scored from outside the penalty area. And it seemed that West Ham was about to equalize, but Watkins disappointed Villa with a beautiful goal from a tight angle into the top corner, in the 74th minute.

This goal clearly undermined the Hammers and they no longer attacked as actively. Near the end of the meeting, Leon Bailey took the stage, elegantly dealing with the defender and scoring a goal in the 89th minute. The win in this match allowed Villa to pull away a bit from their competitors. The match did not create intrigue, but was the highest scoring this round.

Tottenham 2 – 0 Fulham

The second London derby of the round. The match turned out to be very tense with an abundance of struggle and fouls on the verge of conflict. But surprisingly, the referee limited himself to just 2 yellow cards for the entire match.

First Half

As expected, Tottenham started pressuring from the first minutes of the match, had several good approaches to the goal and several dangerous free kicks, but a quick goal did not happen, the guests’ defense held up decently for a long time. The first really dangerous moment was created by the guests, with a corner kick Panninya could have scored but Vicario made a great save. The game went on counter attacks, both teams actively pressed each other, which in the 25th minute gave Fulham a chance when Vicario, with an inaccurate pass, gave the ball to the opponent, but they still could not take advantage of it. But Son Heung-min could, in the 36th minute of the meeting. Tottenham’s pressing led to the ball being won near the guests’ penalty area and Son’s tricky shot put his team ahead. And until the break, the score did not change.

Second Half

The teams came out just as charged up for the second half and the struggle continued all over the field, but Fulham’s strength clearly began to run out. And in the 54th minute, the situation was exactly the same as with the first conceded goal. Pressing, interception and the ball in Fulham’s net, scored by Maddison, who shared the ball with Son. Leading by 2 goals, Tottenham calmed down and started to play lower. Fulham had the clearest chance to score was Raul Jimenez’s 1v1, but he could not beat Vicario and bring the intrigue back into the match. The last 15 minutes were calm, Fulham wanted to score but could not, and Tottenham was in no hurry.

Archi Fernando

Archi is our passionate football expert.