Premier League weekend roundup – Gameweek 7

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.