Premier League: The Saints go marching on & Hughton’s reprieve. (Review).

/ November 11, 2013

Gus Poyet Sunderland Wil V City

Before the weekend a quick glance at the fixture list was all it needed for fans of the top sides to assure them that their club would take the three points needed, with the exception of Gunners supporters who had tougher opposition.

Come Sunday night it was a completely different story for a whole host of sides gracing the upper echelon of the league as points were dropped. Three of the top eight sides won and made individual strides forward to the their own objectives.

Mauricio Pochettino led his Saints side to a 4-1 victory over Hull who before the game had it well documented that their away form needed to improve. Southampton gave them no reprieve as two of the trio called up to Roy Hodgson’s England squad found the net. Ricky Lambert from the penalty spot with an emphatic finish, now 33 from 33 from 12 yards.

Adam Lallana took the superlatives for a solo goal of the highest quality. Picking up the ball thirty yards out, a quick turn that would have pleased Yohan Cruyff, a driving run forward and a finish to match which was all witnessed by the England manager himself.

The opener from Morgan Scheiderlin and Steven Davis sandwiched the goals from their team-mates and Hull City’s Yannick Sagbo got one back for the Tigers to make it 3-1 on 55 minutes.

Brendan Rodgers needed his Liverpool side to bounce back after last weekend’s defeat and they didn’t disappoint him. Martin Jol wanted his Fulham side to be more resilient and stronger at the back after conceding goals in quick succession last week.

Fulham lasted until the 23rd minute until three goals in thirteen minutes put paid to any hope of taking anything back from Anfield. Luis Suarez thought he had opened the scoring with a header but credit, or discredit to him, was given to Fernando Amorebietta who would have known little about the goal.

Martin Skrtel scored Liverpool’s second with a bullet header from a Gerrard corner before Suarez got his first ten minutes later, collecting the ball from a threaded through ball by Jordan Henderson.

Liverpool had numerous shots throughout the match (32 in total) and could have made Fulham’s day extremely painful, but stops from Martin Stekelenburg kept the game at three until five minutes after half-time when Suarez grabbed his second with a delightful goal at his former team-mates near post.

Martin Jol doesn’t fear the sack but in todays irrational football world, with new owners just in, five wins in five would cost you your job at times. Fulham have played a rejuvenated Manchester United, high flying Liverpool and Southampton in their last five and lost, which many sides would struggle to do much better. They have also beaten Stoke and Crystal Palace in their last five, teams in or around them in the table.

Take it back further and Jol’s side have taken points from Everton and West Brom who have both started the season excellently. Add Chelsea to the losses and it’s clear that Fulham are losing to sides that they’re expected to lose to, but winning and competing against the rest. Some perspective is needed at Craven cottage.

The other big winners at the weekend were Manchester United and David Moyes. After a much maligned start to the season they’ve got back on track and are hunting down the pack. Three points behind second and five behind top paints a different picture to a month ago.

A solitary goal from Robin Van Persie was enough to take the win for United against a side emerging victorious in midweek against Dortmund. Arsenal would have been high in confidence going into the game but reports have suggested a bug may have seen Arsene Wenger’s side depleted in numbers after Tomas Rosicky and Per Mertesacker were deemed to ill to play.

David Moyes’ side leapfrogged his old side Everton, Tottenham and Manchester City to go fifth while Arsenal had their lead trimmed to two points.

Roberto Martinez said his side were a little frustrated at Selhurst Park against Crystal Palace. The Toffees fans that travelled to London will have made their way down from Merseyside expecting to take three points back up with them when they left. But Keith Millen’s side had other ideas and made a good fist of it.

Kagisho Dikgacoi had a glorious chance to frce a save at least from Tim Howard with a free header, only to see his effort go completely the opposite way to where it should have. Marouane Chamakh had another effort but headed wide, and Cameron Jerome tried to chip Howard but couldn’t execute it.

Everton missed an opportunity to stay with the top sides but get a chance to make up some ground in the Merseyside derby when they next play.

For Palace though this is a vital point and breaks a losing streak of eight however in the context of the league table they slipped a further two points behind Sunderland above them as the Black Cats recorded a surprise win against Manchester City.

Gus Poyet’s gleaming smile and fist pumping celebrations spoke volumes at the end of the match, this was a much needed win and a step in the right direction for Sunderland.

Phil Bardsley scored the only goal of the game. Running into the penalty area at a relatively tight angle to City goalkeeper Costel Pantilimon, Bardsley hit his shot early and maybe caught the City ‘keeper by surprise. It was a great finish but Joe Hart will have been sat on the bench thinking if that was him in goal, how much criticism would he have got?

Manuel Pellegrini will be worried about the away form of City which is a stark contrast to their results at home. The forward line of Sergio Aguero and Alvaro Negredo has been full of goals in recent weeks but City, despite 24 shots, only managed to get four on target. Sunderland look like a side that has started to take on Poyet’s style of play at Brighton, quick fluid passing.

With results of teams around them going in Sunderland’s favour they are now three points from getting out of the bottom three. Whilst Pellegrini watches his side slip to eighth just two points ahead of Newcastle in ninth.

The Magpies were victorious against Tottenham, the another top side to slip up this weekend. Scoring goals has been an issue for Spurs and it was the same story again this weekend. When you play the way Andre Villas-Boas’ side plays, tight at the back and as tight upfront, one slip up and you’re close to defeat and you have no threat to turn the game in your favour, especially when your strikers have no form to build on.

That being said this was a game Spurs tried to turn that lack of form upfront around, forcing 14 saves from Newcastle goalkeeper Tim Krul. The 14 attempts were somewhat forced in desperation as the match went on after Loic Remy had given the away side the lead on 13 minutes.

Tottenham move to seventh and Newcastle bridge the gap between top and bottom, three points ahead of the side below them.

It’d be very harsh to imply that West Bromwich Albion are one of the bottom sides despite being three points behind Newcastle above them, they’re only four points above the bottom three, but in a tight pack of nine clubs.

Student almost beat teacher in the game at Stamford Bridge as Chelsea struggled to impose themselves on Steve Clarke’s side.

Samuel Eto’o gave the home side the lead after Edin Hazard returned to the side and had an effort parried over to Liam Ridgewell who was preparing to clear the ball. Eto’o stealthily crept up on the defender and prodded the ball into an open net, a classy poachers goal. But then two goals from WBA added pressure on Jose Mourinho’s side.

Shane Long capitalised on the Chelsea defence ball watching. As a corner came over Gareth McCauley had a a header saved by Petr Cech, as the defenders watched the ball rise in the air, all flat footed, Long proved the more hungry player and nodded the ball in.

Petr Cech will do well to escape any criticism after conceding the second. Stephane Sessignon struck a speculative grass cutter which skipped off the surface and under Cech who was looking to collect the ball as simply as possible, it was almost too simple.

The two goal lead was carried all the way into the last minute and looked to be enough to ear Clarke three points over Mourinho, until Andre Marriner concluded that Ramires was fouled by Steven Reid as the two ran alongside each other. The Chelsea man looked to be already going down as Reid came across, but Hazard calmly slotted home the penalty to salvage a point.

Aston Villa earned three vital points at home to Cardiff to go tenth and move Malkey Mackay’s side three points above the the sides at the bottom.

Over seven hours of football had passed without Villa scoring, the game looked to be heading the same way, no goals either way in the first half but ten minutes into the second  it was an opener worth waiting for as Leandro Bacuna curled in a beautiful free-kick. The lead was doubled when Libor Kozak headed home with then minutes remaining.

Norwich took three points against West Ham at Carrow Road with a 3-1 win. Like Martin Jol, Chris Hughton has come in for some unfair criticism of late, his side have been losing games, but to sides they aren’t expected to beat, and like Fulham they have taken points against sides they should compete against. This is another example of that.

A 7-0 loss last week against Man. City was bad but it is how you react to that defeat that is key. Norwich supporters will have feared the worst as West Ham largely dominated the first half and took the lead with a goal from Ravel Morrison.

The Canaries rallied after the break and Gary Hooper converted a penalty to equalise before Robert Snodgrass gave them the lead with a fantastic free-kick curled into the net. Leroy Fer put the game to bed on 90 minutes with a strike from eighteen yards. The win saw Norwich climb out of the bottom three, and above their opponents into fifteenth.

Mark Hughes’ Stoke City surrendered a two goal lead against Swansea to almost lose the game. Jon Walters and Stephen Ireland gave the Potters the lead the first half, But goals from Wilfried Bony and Nathan Dyer got Swansea back into the game. A draw was beckoning until the 86th minute when Bony scored his second to give the Swans the lead, side footing home from a Jonjo Shelvey cross.

But it was a controversial penalty in stoppage time that would save Stokes blushes as referee Robert Madley deemed that Wayne Routledge handled the ball in the area much to Swansea’s dismay. Charlie Adam took the spot kick and took a gift wrapped point home to the Brittania stadium.

It was a finish to a weekend that summed up the Premier League so far this season, unpredictable and tight.

Related articles:

Contact us via twitter @afvws or leave us a message. Email: afansviews@gmail.com

Related posts

Leave a comment