EPL round up: Manchester United, Liverpool, Chelsea win while Arsenal lose; Leicester City go top of the table
A gameweek that has seen a whole lot of action saw Manchester United and Chelsea both registered narrow wins. Arsenal weren't so lucky though as they suffered a shock loss to West Brom. The highlight, however, was Liverpool’s shockingly easy 4-1 win at the Etihad against Manchester City.
Jamie Vardy and Mesut Ozil reached Premier League landmarks in contrasting results for their sides, but surely a special weekend from this season.
Manchester City 1-4 Liverpool
In a weekend filled with some scintillating action, none precede’s the events at the Etihad where Manchester City saw themselves going down 3 goals before even mounting a reply. An own goal from Eliaquim Mangala after some good play from Coutinho was followed by his fellow Brazilian Roberto Firmino getting on the scoresheet. Coutinho himself would then score to make life even more miserable for the Citizens.
Aguero then pulled one back for the home side, but it would prove to be just consolation in the end, but not before Skrtel made it 4 for Liverpool to make the scoreline more imposing.
Watford 1-2 Manchester United
It was a dream start for Louis van Gaal’s men at Vicarage Road as they went ahead early through Memphis Depay’s strike. They were in control for large parts of the game but Watford always carried a latent threat. It would come to the fore when Troy Deeney put them level from the penalty spot in the second half.
It wouldn’t be till late in the game that Bastian Schweinsteiger’s cross would come off a Watford defender to end up behind the line, though it did not stop the United players from celebrating because they had sealed the 3 points.
Chelsea 1-0 Norwich
The Blues’ poor run of form was halted at Stamford Bridge as Diego Costa gave his side the winner in the second half after he was fed in by a superb all over the top. It wasn’t all rosy for the striker though as he could easily have had more had his positioning and finishing been better.
Nonetheless, Chelsea put in an improved performance, Hazard particularly impressing in this one. Norwich had their chance to get back in the game but John Terry was on point to block Bassong’s close range effort.
West Brom 2-1 Arsenal
A disappointing night at the Hawthorns all round for Wenger’s men. They took the lead predictably from a Mesut Ozil assist and an Olivier Giroud finish. In doing so, the German became the first player to get 7 assists in 7 consecutive games in the Premier League marking his splendid run.
Other than that though, no positives for the Gunners from this game. Francis Coquelin picked up an injury to add to their already long list of players on the treatment table. He was replaced by Mikel Arteta who was about to have a terrible night.
Wenger’s men would concede from an indirect freekick finished well by James Morrison, following that, an own goal by Arteta would put the home side ahead. Then Arteta would succumb to injury to be replaced by Flamini.
Things started to look up when Arsenal won a penalty, but it was not to be as Santi Cazorla slipped and blew his freekick over. All in all, no a too great night for the London club.
Swansea City 2-2 Bournemouth
A tale of the first half in this one. Lets go ahead and divide that up into 2 halves as well, because Eddie Howe’s side would roll ahead with goals from Josh King and Gosling. But then it would be a massive swing of momentum in favour of the Swans.
Ayew started the comeback with a goal of his own only to be backed up by Jonjo Shelvey who scored from the spot after his team earned a penalty.
Everton 4-0 Aston Villa
Two players stood out for the Toffees at Goodison Park, Ross Barkley and Romelu Lukaku, each scoring a brace on the day on the way to a rampant win against Remi Garde’s Aston Villa. The Villians looked a wholly different side than the one that earned a draw in their last game.
Martinez's side though was in inspired form scoring some great goals in the process.
Newcastle United 0-3 Leicester City
A landmark game for the Foxes who went temporarily top of the table as Arsenal and Manchester City lost. They took the lead at the half time mark with Jamie Vardy’s splendid goal that put him equal with Ruud van Nistelrooy on a record of scoring in 10 consecutive games.
Ranieri’s men face Manchester United next and if the Englishman scores then, he will break the record against the team Nistelrooy made the record for.
Ulloa and Okazaki were also on target in a good performance form Leicester against a tame Newcastle team.
Southampton 0-1 Stoke City
A solitary goal from Bojan was enough to give the away side all three points. Koeman’s men were lacking the incisive play they have shown in previous games and Stoke took advantage of one of the few chances they created in the game to get ahead and stayed there.