Premier League weekend roundup – Gameweek 7

Sergio Aguero (C) scores his team’s second goal past Everton’s goalkeeper Tim Howard

With the international break looming over managers’ and players’ heads alike, it was vital for teams to get the result that they desired. And with most fixtures going off the way as expected, the results were usual. But with this particular season and the way they began, it would not have been usual had there not been an upset or two.

First up was an early afternoon kickoff for City at home versus the only unbeaten side in the Premier League – Everton. Manuel Pellegrini and his Blue boys of Manchester were under tremendous pressure to show up for the occasion after successive defeats at the hands of Aston Villa and Bayern Munich. More so, Joe Hart, England and City number one was under fire for his lacklustre and shoddy play in the two defeats.

The Toffees were looking to extend their dream run under Roberto Martinez and were put ahead with a wonderful strike from Romelu Lukaku after a long ball from defender Phil Jagielka beat the City defense assisted by captain Vincent Kompany, who had to be substituted with an injury 10 minutes before half time. But the home side quickly recovered as less than a minute later Yaya Toure played a ball in for Alvaro Negredo whose strike beat Tim Howard for the equaliser. An interesting fact – City have won all the 30 games in which Sergio Aguero scored and this game was no different.

First David Silva played a precise pass to allow the Argentine to tap the ball in past the American shot stopper. Then in the second half all hell broke loose. A couple of injuries to Aleksandar Kolarov having collided with Matija Nastasic because of Steven Naismith and the Pablo Zabaleta suffering a bloody nose kept up the tempo that City brought into the second half.

Zabaleta’s injury made referee John Moss point to the spot after having denied one against Nastasic for a challenge on Lukaku earlier. This is where things start to go terribly wrong. Aguero stepped up to take the penalty which was blocked on the post by Howard. The rebound unfortunately bounced off the Everton goalkeeper’s head and into the back of the net ensuring City recover from their disastrous week and Everton’s first loss under Martinez.

Alan Pardew can breathe a sigh of relief as his loan star Loic Remy proved his worth, redeeming his manager’s selection with a mouth-watering brace in the first half to seal the Magpies’ victory over hosts Cardiff City. The hosts’ defense were unsure of how to deal with Papiss Cisse and Remy, while troubled midfielder Yohan Cabaye looked strong at the helm of the midfield in the first half. This simply set up the two goals as Remy was offered a number of chances.

First though he opened the scoring with a lovely ball from Moussa Sissoko and then provided all the room in the world by the Bluebirds defense to simply slot it in home. Eight minutes later he was there to collect the rebound that David Marshall saved from Cisse’s shot after Cabaye cut through the home defense and slot it home to make it five goals in three appearances for Newcastle United.

Peter Odemwingie pulled one back in the second half for the hosts, when Aron Gunnarsson nicked one to Jordan Mutch who played a dummy allowing the former West Brom Albion man to slot it past Tim Krul. While the second half saw more Cardiff chances, Newcastle were able to pull away from Wales with three points.

For another out-of-favour manager, it was a nerve-wracking win as nine minutes away from regular time, another loanee scored to give Martin Jol and his Fulham side three points, while also winning only their 2nd game since the opening game of the season.

Darren Bent came on for the former Manchester United striker Dimitir Berbatov in the 67th minute and rewarded his under-fire manager three points with an 81st minute strike with help from Robert Huth deflecting Pajtim Kasami’s shot straight to him and slotted it home. While Craven Cottage rejoiced at the win, the lack of chances for Stoke City were despairing as a couple of penalty appeals were turned down by the referee.

What do you get when two teams playing against each other do not have their star strikers? A stalemate at the KC Stadium is what you get. Hull City Tigers were missing their four goal scorer Robbie Brady and Aston Villa were missing their Belgian front man Christian Benteke.

While Gabriel Agbonlahor and Danny Graham tried to fill their counterparts’ shoes respectively, the former squandered a chance after Andreas Weimann’s cutback provided him an opportunity to break through and the latter’s lack of chances gave Brad Guzan a rest for the entirety of the match.