Dango Ouattara struck for a hat trick as Bournemouth dominated Nottingham Forest in a 5-0 win at the Cherries’ Vitality Stadium. The victory extended an 11 match Bournemouth unbeaten run and ended the eight-match unbeaten streak of Nottingham Forest in a match which featured two of the Premier League’s more surprising success stories this season. Bournemouth’s unbeaten run of Premier League success is a club record and has Cherries’ supporters dreaming of a once unthinkable berth in Europe for next season. Jason Kluivert, the author of a hat trick in last week’s Bournemouth win over Newcastle, got the Cherries started early on Saturday with a ninth-minute goal, his 11th of the season. It was Outtara, however, who would take center stage on this day with three second half goals which chopped down the Trees and handed Forest its first loss since December 4th. While the scoreline was embarrassing, Nottingham Forest can take some solace in becoming one of several top clubs which have fallen to the Cherries this season. Bournemouth had already taken down Arsenal and Manchester City this season and just last week dominated fellow European contender Newcastle by a 4-1 margin.
Wins by Manchester City and Newcastle moved both clubs within three points of Nottingham Forest which remained third in the Premier League table. Manchester City capitalized on Chelsea’s goalkeeping problem to notch a fourth win in their last five league matches. While inordinately spending on a variety of similar attacking players, Chelsea has entrusted its goalkeeping to Robert Sanchez, a marginal player who was having difficulty keeping his place for Brighton before taking his gloves to London. He has since regularly unnerved Chelsea supporters with mistakes. Just last week was a goal gifted to Wolverhampton. On Saturday, Sanchez was worse. A weak parry of a Manchester City shot attempt allowed a second attempt to find the net for Manchester City’s equalizer. The go-ahead goal by Manchester City, however, was the most galling to Chelsea supporters. An out of position Sanchez could only flail his arms uselessly as Erling Haaland chipped what would be the winning goal over the beleaguered goalkeeper. It was the fifth time a Sanchez mistake directly led to an opponent goal, joint tops in the Premier League this season. Meanwhile, Chelsea loanee Kepa Arrizabalaga kept a clean sheet this weekend for streaking Bournemouth. Ouch... Robert Sanchez booed by the Chelsea fans!
Enough is enough now pic.twitter.com/KQzcJ4aYrw
After being held by Kepa to a single goal in a home loss to Bournemouth last week, Newcastle’s stalled attack needed a confidence boost which Southampton was more than capable of providing. The Magpies rolled over the Saints 3-1 with Alexander Isak scoring twice. The Newcastle striker, held scoreless last weekend for the first time in nine appearances, rebounded to become the first player in club history to score in five consecutive Premier League away games. Southampton has conceded the most goals in the league, nine in their last three matches.
Ipswich Town, meanwhile, has conceded ten goals in its last two matches after providing some entertainment for Liverpool and its supporters in a 4-1 win by the league leaders at Anfield. Cody Gakpo registered a brace for Liverpool while Mohamed Salah also joined the fun to improve his league leading goal haul to 19, one better than Erling Haaland and two more than Newcastle’s Isak.
Arsenal was hard pressed to keep pace with Liverpool after going down to ten men in the 43rd minute of its match with Wolverhampton on a Myles Lewis-Skelly red card. The cynical foul by Arsenal’s 18-year-old defender on Wolverhampton’s Matt Doherty ignited controversy, those defending the card claiming a rake of the Achilles, those angered by the referee’s decision finding no violent intent on the part of Lewis-Skelly. Ten-man Arsenal would labor until the 70th minute when Wolverhampton earned a red of its own. Four minutes later, Ricardo Calafiore found the net for Arsenal’s winner in a nervy 1-0 outcome.
After a rare three goal outburst last weekend, Everton managed only a single shot on target, three shots in total on Saturday. The Toffees prevailed again, however, defeating Brighton 1-0 on a 42nd minute penalty by Iliman Ndiaye in Everton Manager David Moyes’ 700th Premier League game. The two consecutive victories have removed Everton from relegation peril for the time being as the Toffees have climbed seven points clear of the drop. Brighton controlled almost 70% of the possession but only one of the Seagulls’ 16 shots was on target in a frustrating display which extended Brighton’s winless Premier League run at Amex Stadium to five consecutive matches.
The home support at Tottenham Hotspur Stadium, meanwhile, was not shy in voicing their displeasure with Manager Ange Postecoglou and Chairman Daniel Levy as the Spurs spiral continued with a home loss to relegation threatened Leicester. The Foxes had lost seven straight matches under Manager Ruud van Nistelrooy before coming back from an early deficit to inflict a sixth home loss of the season on Spurs. Only the bottom four Premier League clubs, including Leicester, have lost that many home matches. Of course, Spurs have also lost seven away matches to help put them 15th in the table. A halftime lead on Sunday evaporated for the Londoners in the first four minutes of the second half on goals by the timeless Jamie Vardy and Bilal El Khannouss with Bobby De Cordona Reid assisting on each score. While Chairman Daniel Levy remained stone faced amid the vocal fan outrage, Postecoglou once again showed the stress he is under when he came back out from the tunnel after the match to trade barbs with angry fans. Not a good look for the Australian manager who has become increasingly aggressive with media and fans with the wining of his club fortunes and perhaps his own job security.
Another “Big Six” club whose current table standing belies that description is Manchester United. The Red Devils, however, pulled off a surprise by going to Craven Cottage and emerging with a 1-0 victory over Fulham when defender Lisandro Martinez’s attempt in the 78th minute was deflected into the net. Manchester United moved to 12th in the table, four points removed from 10th place Fulham. Realistically, fortune favored the Red Devils as the Martinez deflection masked another lackluster performance. Manchester United would win the match with just a single shot on target as underwhelming Fulham had only three shots on target of its own in a match which was hard on the eyes. The Cottagers lost for a second time in three matches after an eight-match unbeaten run had raised hopes at the Cottage.
Brentford remained two points above United and closed to within two points of Fulham with a 2-1 victory at Crystal Palace. The Bees secured just their second win in 10 matches with two second half goals to disappoint Crystal Palace supporters at Selhurst Park. The Eagles had been flying high with just one loss in their last eleven Premier League matches entering the match. The crash landing on Sunday began when Brentford was given a second opportunity for Bryan Mbeumo to convert his penalty kick after Palace was whistled for encroaching upon the penalty area too soon on his first attempt. Brentford would add an insurance goal by Kevin Schade before a consolation goal by Crystal Palace proved too little, too late in the end. Aston Villa remained unbeaten at home for an 11th consecutive match.
Suspended Manger Unai Emery experienced some nervy moments watching from the stands, however, as his side needed to survive a late flurry from West Ham which saw the Hammers score a 70th minute equalizer and threaten a winner with near chances right to the ending whistle in a 1-1 draw at Villa Park. The Hammers’ resilience drew kudos for the impact of new manager Graham Potter. Aston Villa, meanwhile, was left to rue not just dropped points but another knee problem for defender Tyron Mings who returned in October after a yearlong absence following an anterior cruciate ligament (ACL) injury.
No comments:
Post a Comment
Please leave a comment: