It was another entertaining weekend of Premier League football, and one initiated a plethora of movement in the table. When the first match of the week produces a hattrick hero and the final match produces a 90+6' equalizer, it's bound to be a good round of fixtures.
While there were multiple storylines during this matchweek, two results headlined the bunch. First, in the early fixture on Saturday, Liverpool showed their class as they dispatched a quality Bournemouth side 4-0 at the Vitality stadium.
It was a complete performance for the Reds, but Mo Salah stole the headlines. The Egyptian netted his 8th, 9th and 10th goals of the season, shooting himself up the leaderboards into a tie for the lead in the golden boot race. Other standout contributors included Andy Robertson, who provided an assist and a cross that was turned into the goal by a Bournemouth defender, and Alisson, who kept his league-leading 10th clean sheet of the season.
With Liverpool already having secured three points, all attention turned to the premier matchup of the week — Chelsea v. Manchester City. Last time out, Chelsea fell to Wolves, and City barely held on to gather three points against Watford, so it could be said that neither team was at their best. But everyone fully expected both teams to turn up on the day.
It was Chelsea who came out firing, though. They were able to keep City's powerful attack at bay early in the match, and broke the deadlock via great work from Hazard and a brilliant finish from Ngolo Kante, playing in a newly-advanced role under Maurizio Sarri. It was an impressive performance from all of the Chelsea defenders, but David Luiz stole the headlines as his second-half header off of a corner glanced off of the far post and into the top corner. Chelsea held onto win the match 2-0 and end Manchester City's unbeaten run.
City's loss means that Liverpool sit atop of the PL table on 42 points, one point above City. The win was also important for Chelsea as they look to stay connected with the pacesetters at the top.
After a good result for Chelsea, it was important that Spurs and Arsenal kept pace as well. Tottenham were able to win on the road despite resting Harry Kane ahead of their all-important midweek Champions League match against Barcelona. Dele Alli and Heung-Min Son netted the goals for Spurs as they shutout Leicester City 2-0.
The Gunners were given all they could handle by David Wagner's Huddersfield side, but the London club finally found the breakthrough less than 10 minutes from full-time courtesy of Uruguayan international Lucas Torreira. Huddersfield's defense stood strong for the majority of the game, but it was a brilliant acrobatic finish by Torreira after Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang turned provider. The midfielder has now scored in two straight matches for Arsenal, who go even with Chelsea on points.
Manchester United thrashed Fulham 4-1 at home. Ashley Young opened the flood gates with a brilliant finish before Juan Mata, Romulu Lukaku and Marcus Rashford joined him on the scoresheet. Juan Mata had a historic day, as he provided both his 50th goal and 50th assist for United. Rashford also had a stellar outing, adding two assists to his goal. United move up to 6th with the win, but are 8 points back of 5th.
Everton and Watford played to a 2-2 draw in what was a wildly entertaining match on Monday. Everton found the net first through former-Watford attacker Richarlison and took a 1-0 lead into the break. However, it was in the 2nd half that the game really came to life. Watford was sparked by Ricardo Pereyra, who, in the 63', turned a shot onto the far post which careened off of the post, then off of Everton defender Seamus Coleman and into his own net. Then, just three minutes later, Pereyra again delivered a brilliant ball which saw Abdoulaye Doucouré split two defenders and power a header underneath an outstretched Jordan Pickford. However, it was all threatened to be undone just three minutes after that, when Everton were awarded a penalty. The usual-reliable Gylfi Sigurdsson step up, firing the ball down the middle with pace. Hornets goalkeeper Ben Foster dove to his right, but was able to stick out a strong boot to repel the effort. Watford looked destined to go on and get all three points, but a stunning free-kick from Lucas Digne in the 90+6' broke Hornet hearts with essentially the last kick of the match.
In another wild match, Wolves traveled to St. Jack's Park to take on Newcastle United. In a PL fixture that has never seen a clean sheet, the tradition continued. Wolves found the lead in the 17' through Diego Jota. Newcastle equalized just before halftime, when Ayoze Perez provided a perfectly-placed flicked header to Solomon Rondon's cross, just seconds after his effort direct from a freekick slammed off of the crossbar. With the game finely poised at 1-1, Deandre Yedlin was sent off for dragging down a Wolves attacker who was in on goal. Wolves spent the rest of the match pushing for a winner, and it took until the 90+4', but defender Matthew Doherty provided the dagger, when he headed home after the Newcastle goalkeeper saved Diego Jota's initial shot. This victory moves Wolves back into the top-half of the table with 22 points, as Newcastle falls to 15th.
West Ham United won their third straight match as they saw off Crystal Palace 3-2. Palace scored first courtesy of James McAurther. However, it was a quick-fire response from the Hammers, as Robert Snodgrass scored his first goal of the season, and Felipe Anderson and Javier Hernandez both scored for their second match running. West Ham United are all the way up to 11th.
Cardiff City made sure Ralph Hasenhattl's debut as Southampton manager was a sour one. The Welsh side were able to frustrate the Saints, and capitalized on a moment of pure chaos from Jannik Vestergaard to poach the only goal of the match. Cardiff City have now won four of their last five home matches, and home form will undoubtably be vital if the Bluebirds wish to stay up this season. They are up to 14th, four points clear of the drop zone. Southampton, on the other hand, drop to 19th and are still the only team to have only won one game in the PL this season.
Burnley stopped their winless run at eight on Saturday when they handed Brighton a 1-0 loss. It was Jack Cork who supplied a great strike toward Maty Ryan's goal after a corner, while many bodies were in the area. Ultimately Cork's strike was on target, but center back James Tarkowski got a slight touch to divert in into the net and claim the goal. Burnley won't care who got it, as this win lifts them out of the relegation zone and ends a brutal run of form.
This week's results really did well to intensify the Premier League picture. City's loss not only prevented them from gathering three points, it shows teams that they can be beaten. The general reaction after the Chelsea - Man City result was that "we have a title race now."
With that said, the bottom of the table is extremely tight as well. With Burnley's victory, Huddersfield, Southampton and Fulham have to be careful that they don't get distanced from the rest of the pack. While Huddersfield find themselves in the relegation zone, there is a completely different feel about them compared to Southampton and Fulham. The ladder two clubs are struggling for goals and leaking them as well, while it seems like Huddersfield have seem to have put together some decent performances recently. With that said, the Terriers have lost their last three matches, and all that matters in the end is points.
It promises to be an eventful Christmas period in the Premier League.
Interesting Stat:
— This marks the first week that a team other than Manchester City tops the PL table since matchweek 4 of last season (September 2017).
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