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.

The Reds of Merseyside romped their way to the top (temporarily) on Saturday as one of the best attacking pairs in the Premier League opened their scoring against Crystal Palace.

Daniel Sturridge celebrates after scoring the second for Liverpool

Luis Suarez on his return was fed a ball by the overlapping Jose Enrique and rolled it instinctively in within 15 minutes of the game. His partner, Daniel Sturridge, who injury permitting will be partnering Wayne Rooney up front for Hodgson’s England qualifiers, doubled the lead when Enrique in trying to provide a long ball to Suarez sent the ball over their heads to Sturridge, who then locked into a one-on-one battle with Damien Delaney, ultimately winning and tricking Julian Speroni into going the other way thus slotting it home.

The celebration of a robotic dance, not dissimilar to Peter Crouch’s World Cup 2010 goal celebration, brought home to Hodgson who was present at the match after watching City beat Everton in Eastlands, what a talent this young boy was.

The legend that is Steven Gerrard came closer to having scored 100 Premier League goals by slotting home the penalty awarded to Liverpool after referee Anthony Taylor was alerted to Dean Moxey’s pulling of the shirt of Raheem Sterling by assistant referee Richard West, the penalty being his 99th. The Eagles did get some consolation in the second half as Dwight Gayle slotted one past Simon Mignolet to deny the Belgian his fourth clean sheet of the season.

Saturday ended gloriously for the champions of England as they were saved from their 3rd successive defeat, a feat unknown since December 2001, as they romped home to a resounding comeback against the Black Cats who were looking for their first win of the season.

It was a contest that was shown out in the midfield of the Stadium of Light and, while Sunderland got the initial breakthrough after five minutes courtesy of a Nemanja Vidic error allowing Craig Gardner to mop up and take advantage leaving David De Gea no room for a save, the rest of the first half saw many chances by the hosts being squandered including a near impossible save by Manchester United goalkeeper De Gea with Emanuele Giaccherini’s header on target but punched away.

While Nani and youngster Adnan Januzaj kept giving catching practice by feeding long balls straight in Sunderland goalkeeper Kieren Westwood’s hands, Robin van Persie and Rooney were barely able to get any shots on target. The second half began rather troublingly for United as Januzaj was awarded a yellow card for simulation, while Rooney had been awarded one earlier for a clip on the heels of Lee Cattermole.

Another worrisome sight for interim manager Kevin Ball was the sight of his goal scorer Craig Gardener limping after he was booked as well. But David Moyes was rewarded for his patience in giving the Belgian starlet his first start as he opened up the scoring, getting the crucial equaliser for the champions. Januzaj passed the ball with his left foot to Patrice Evra from outside the box, got it back when he ran into the box and on the pretext of passing it to van Persie who was near the far post, smashed it in with full force.

The quiet acknowledgement of his manager’s fist and a pat on the back by Evra did not signal a Persie-esque volley that was the result of a former United man himself John O’Shea mistake which allowed Januzaj to pounce on the ball and volley it much like RvP’s numerous volleys. This winner was not only celebrated by Moyes and camp but also heartily celebrated by Januzaj’s teammates who piled onto him with the camera trying to distinguish his face from other sweaty faces. This put United in 9th place with 10 points, six points behind league leaders Liverpool.

Super Sunday kicked off with Norwich City hosting the Blues who were determined to get back on track before the international break, with none of their strikers getting off the mark. Carrow Road was thus witness to a beautiful opening goal by Oscar, the pass coming from Demba Ba who got down Frank Lampard’s ball from inside his own half.

It seemed with Chelsea controlling that they would comfortably romp away to their first away win of the season. But a second half strike by Anthony Pilkington, who was able to receive Ricky van Wolfswinkel’s ball from Martin Olsson’s cross, deceiving David Luiz and beating Petr Cech, who should have done better to make the save. This brought the hosts back on terms with the visitors and made for a very interesting finish with Chelsea looking desperately for a winner.

Jose Mourinho, the master of substitutions, brought on Samuel Eto’o for Demba Ba, Eden Hazard for an injured Ashley Cole and Willian for Juan Mata thus increasing his attacking options ten minutes before regular time ended. The game paid off because the first winner came when Nathan Redmond was brought on for Robert Snodgrass and won a corner which Cech saved and allowed Oscar to break away quickly.

With Hazard onside, he pushed the ball to the Belgian who shot it into John Ruddy’s outstretched hands and on seeing the ball narrowly cross the line began his celebrations. Ruddy with that fumbled save, didn’t make a case for his selection as England’s no. 1 in front of Hodgson who had been making the rounds of certain Premier League matches.

Hazard was also lurking nearby to punch in the rebound which didn’t happen. Poor Ruddy was then completely flummoxed when a sneaky pass from Hazard found Willian who curled it powerfully into the left corner to score his first Premier League goal and seal Chelsea’s win.

St Mary’s stadium lit up on Sunday when their team not only secured another clean sheet, becoming the one team to concede only two goals in their opening seven games, but also moved up into 4th place at the end of the weekend. Both teams, the Saints and the Swans, known for their flowing and attacking play were in full display as Swansea showed no signs of fatigue following their impressive European showing.

Wilfried Bony, Michu and Jonjo Shelvey along with Saints academy graduate Nathan Dyer were unable and unlucky to find the back of the net courtesy of some good saves from Artur Boruc. But it was Southampton who got the lead in the first 20 minutes as Morgan Schneiderlin found Steven Davis who chipped a delicate ball in for Adam Lallana, beating the Swans’ Dutch goalkeeper Michel Vorm and hitting the back net.

The game went on with each side testing the other’s defense. Mauricio Pochettino’s side were unable to deal with the fast and swift passing of Swansea that had sides like Valencia troubled in the Europa League with Shelvey, Bony and Michu all producing some brilliant and amazing saves from Boruc.

The home fans thought that their side was 2-0 up when a James Ward-Prowse corner, which shouldn’t have been given, was prodded in by Victor Wanyama who raced to the corner flag in celebration. But referee Mike Dean disallowed the goal amidst confusion of the fans. But they didn’t have to wait for long.

Ten minutes later, just four minutes before regular time ended, Chico Flores failed to clear a ball from over the top and Jay Rodriguez, coming on for Rickie Lambert, took advantage and steered the ball home for the Saints to secure all three points.

It was despair all around at White Hart Lane as Andre Villas-Boas’ side slumped to a massive defeat, their biggest under the Portuguese’s reign, by a spirited West Ham side in the London derby. It took 14 years for the Hammers to come away with a victory in Tottenham’s own backyard and silence all their critics who have complained about the lack of their goals.

Ricardo Vaz Te celebrates scoring West Ham’s second goal

With the injured Andy Carroll still out, it took three unknown stars of the Premier League to conjure three goals in 13 minutes as West Ham romped away with the three points. Winston Reid and James Tomkins provided Jussi Jasskelanien with good cover as Spurs lacked the biting edge that had supported them in the game against Anzhi Makhachkala in the midweek. Roberto Soldado, who still hasn’t scored a Premier League goal from open play disappointed, while Christian Eriksen and Jermain Defoe, looking to make the England cut, were kept at bay by the West Ham defense.

With Spurs controlling possession, it was in vain as Ricardo Vaz Te and Ravel Morrison continued to threaten the Spurs goalkeeper, Hugo Lloris. But the breakthrough came with 25 minutes left as Kevin Nolan mistakenly cleared Reid’s header on target but the New Zealand defender was present to push home the rebound.

With roars ringing from away fans, they continued cheering as their side made it 2-0 in five minutes after the Portuguese Vaz Te was able to collect the rebound from Lloris’ legs to send it home with a Nolan pass that slid through the Spurs defense with ease. The home side’s worries were tripled (mind the pun) when five minutes later, after AVB putting on Soldado, Ravel Morrison, a former Manchester United man, picked up the ball in his own half and locked into a one-on-one battle with Michael Dawson, sent him the wrong way and shot home to seal three wonderful and very important points for the away side.

The weekend ended with giant killers West Brom looking to complete a double after beating Manchester United, when they met Arsenal at home. The Gunners were looking to sit comfortably at the top of the table while setting a precedence for their 10th away win. But the battle at the Hawthorns was one that was fought in the midfield with the referee opting for an old fashioned approach, brushing aside most challenges and allowing the flow of the game to continue.

With the focus on Jack Wilshere, who started the game amidst mid-week reports of pictures of him smoking a cigarette, he was arguably the best player on the field for the Gunners as Mesut Ozil and striker Olivier Giroud failed to make an impact. Mathieu Flamini impressed greatly while continuing his penchant for rash challenges, earning another yellow while another Frenchman who was prolific in the last game against United, earning a goal and an assist, Morgan Amalfitano set up the first goal of the game after his corner was cleared but collected up by Youssouf Mulumbu.

This time, the Congolese made no mistake sending in a bullet cross for Claudio Yacob to head in his first Premier League goal with three minutes to go till half time. The second half saw a couple of chances being missed especially by former Gunner Nicolas Anelka, who fired a Thierry Henry-esque shot wide to the relief of Wojciech Szczesny. But it was Wilshere, who having being squashed in a number of times and poked in the eye much to the despair of watching Hodgson by the Baggies goalscorer Yacob, slotted home the equaliser.

Giroud was able to get into the game by creating the goal after holding the ball enough to back heel pass it to Tomas Rosicky, who came on for a slightly injured and unimpressive Aaron Ramsey. Rosicky needed one touch to pass to Wilshere and the latter needed an ever so slight deflection off Jonas Olsson to beat Boaz Myhill, who had been prolific so far in saving.

This result, while satisfactory for both Arsene Wenger and Steve Clarke finally, ends Arsenal’s winning streak of away matches though they are still unbeaten in 11 away matches.

This brings a two week break for the Premier League and other domestic league fans as footballers go for international duties. Two weeks without regular weekend football? How will we ever survive?