Manchester City triumph at Stamford Bridge and city neighbours United continue to click through the gears.
Chelsea 0 – 1 Manchester City
OPTA FACT
- Kevin De Bruyne has scored nine of his last 11 Man City goals from outside the box, including each of the last four.
A game which didn’t quite live up to its billing – not helped, of course, by Alvaro Morata limping off in the first-half with a hamstring injury. After a goalless first-half, Manchester City’s control greatly increased and Pep Guardiola’s playmakers began to make deep incisions into a shuffled Chelsea’s defence.
When Kevin De Bruyne eventually gave the visitors the lead, after a well-timed pass from Gabriel Jesus and scything move, it was a goal they thoroughly deserved. And, ultimately, it was an advantage they protected well: Chelsea mounted a vague response, but all the best chances in the remainder of the game fell to City.
Saturday’s round-up, as Tottenham run over Huddersfield and Manchester United continue to click through the gears.
Huddersfield 0 – 4 Tottenham
OPTA FACT
- Harry Kane now has 13 goals for club & country in September 2017; his best ever goal tally in a single month of his career.
A real lesson. Huddersfield have begun Premier League life well, but this was not David Wagner’s best day: Huddersfield played into Tottenham’s hands, got caught too high up the field three times inside the first half-hour and conceded as many goals in the first half as they had in their previous six games.
Spurs spent most of the second half well within their comfort zone, but two goals from Harry Kane (who is now just 14 goals short of Teddy Sheringham’s Premier League record for the club) and Ben Davies capped a performance in which they played some of their brightest football of the season. Moussa Sissoko added a fourth from close range in second-half stoppage-time.
Goals: Kane 10′, 23′, Davies 16′, Sissoko 90′
Bournemouth 0 – 0 Leicester
Bournemouth certainly started like a side determined pull out of the relegation zone before the international break. Jermain Defoe had the clearest opportunity, but slammed his shot against the crossbar. Eddie Howe’s team were the better of the two and certainly posed the tougher questions but, oddly for two teams who don’t exactly specialise in clean sheets, this proved a stalemate.
Goals: *Tumbleweed*
Manchester United 4 – 0 Crystal Palace
OPTA FACT
- This is the first time that Marcus Rashford has assisted two goals in a single game for Man Utd.
Exactly the start here that Palace didn’t want. Only three minutes had passed when Marcus Rashford knotted up Joel Ward before setting up Juan Mata to open the scoring. Ten minutes before the break, an impressive Manchester United performance was further rewarded by their second, Fellaini scoring after good work from Ashley Young. Fellaini would double his tally just after half-time and Romelu Lukaku scored a late fourth for his seventh goal in as many games.
Goals: Mata 3′, Fellaini 35′ & 48′, Lukaku 86′
Stoke 2 – 1 Southampton
OPTA FACT
- Saido Berahino is now without a goal in 31 hours & 23 minutes of Premier League football (Stoke & WBA combined).
Stoke have quietly begun to go off the boil, having not won a Premier League game since beating Arsenal in August and having not led in any game at all since their 4-0 win over Rochdale in the League Cup. Mame Diouf gave them the lead here, heading in Xherdan Shaqiri’s corner on 40 minutes.
It wasn’t all good news in the first half, though, as there was still time for Saido Berahino to miss a penalty. His wait for a first Stoke goal continues. Fifteen minutes before time, Maya Yoshida acrobatically converted Shane Long’s flick to score only Southampton’s second goal away from home this season. Peter Crouch would have the last word, though, scoring late against his old side to win Mark Hughes three overdue points.
Goals: Diouf 40′, Crouch 85′- Yoshida 75′
West Brom 2- 2 Watford
OPTA FACT
- Abdoulaye Doucouré has scored 3 goals in his last 7 league games, as many as in his previous 57.
Despite losing, Tony Pulis would have been greatly encouraged by the improvement he saw in his side last Monday at Arsenal and West Brom initially built on that here, scoring twice in three first-half minutes through Salomon Rondon and Jonny Evans. A first goal of the season for each and the first time since May 2017 that Pulis’s team had scored more than one in a game. Abdoulaye Doucoure pulled one back before the interval and then late, late into second-half injury time, Richarlison headed in Jose Holebas’s free-kick to steal a point.
Goals: Rondon 18′, Evans 21′ – Doucoure 37′, Richarlison 90′
West Ham 1 – 0 Swansea
OPTA FACT
- Swansea have never kept an away clean sheet at West Ham, conceding 75 goals in 32 games in all comps (W2 D7 L23).
Not a first half that gave anybody great reason for cheer; these really are two sides struggling for confidence. It didn’t really improve in the second period, either, and this game – if anyone chooses to remember it at all – become more notable for Slaven Bilic’s curious substitutions; Javier Hernandez’s withdrawal, in particular, proved unpopular with the home fans.
Still, West Ham mounted a late siege and, after Andy Carroll had hit the bar minutes earlier, Diafra Sakho (remember him?) finished well to snatch the points. A relief for the home fans, less so the ones who (quite understandably) decided to leave early.
Goals: Sakho ’90
