Premier League weekend roundup– Gameweek 9

Southampton’s Argentinian manager Mauricio Pochettino

Southampton registered their best ever start in a top flight season as they raced to third place on Saturday after soundly beating Fulham who were on course to regain their winning ways. The Saints kept pushing the Cottagers’ defense and goalkeeper Maarten Stekelenburg, who was credited with keeping Fulham in the game, barely, before the opener was scored at the 20th minute. James Ward-Prowse’s corner was flicked on the right by Jay Rodriguez which found Rickie Lambert who headed it in powerfully to give Saints the lead. But the home side weren’t finished as numerous shots by Lambert, Victor Wanyama and captain Adam Lallana went wide or were saved. But with three minutes to half time, Saints sealed the Whites’ fate as Lallana’s cross found Lambert who headed the ball to Rodriguez to finish the game off before the first half was completed. The only real shot created by the visitors was when Steve Sidwell attempted to carry off an acrobatic effort of his own, but other influential names like Pajtim Kasami, Dimitar Berbatov and Darren Bent were unable to create the magic that was evident in last weekend’s thumping win at Selhurst Park.

It was the lesser team who prevailed in the Tyne-Wear derby when bottom place Sunderland grabbed their first win of the season and their second against their more successful neighbours Newcastle United, who looked spirited in last weekend’s encounter with Liverpool, but lacked that fight and cohesion to stifle their struggling arch rivals. The Black Cats were quick to pounce on their first chance when Adam Johnson played a pass into Sebastian Larsson who found Steven Fletcher to smash the ball in past Paul Dummett and Tim Krul. Earlier Fletcher along with his American striker partner Jozy Altidore were creating all sorts of problems for Dummett and his defensive partner Mike Williamson. The Magpies struggled with a proper centre half pairing which had Magpies boss Alan Pardew stumped. Fabricio Coloccini and Steven Taylor both weren’t able to fill the gap that suspended Mapou Yanga Mbiwa left. This put more pressure on Dummett who was left stranded. But the Magpies equalised when Hatem Ben Arfa received Yohan Cabaye’s pass to set up Mathieu Debauchy for goal. Keiren Westwood had no chance but was barely troubled after that as Fabio Borini collected Altidore’s lay-off to smash in a stunner past the Dutchman Krul to grab the three points in the dying minutes of the game.

An interesting but goalless encounter between hosts Swansea City and West Ham United in Wales showcased various faults of both teams. The Swans looked weak and unsettled defending set pieces, while the Hammers’ boss Sam Allardyce played without a main striker preferring Ravel Morrison and Ricardo Vaz Te as his two men upfront. Jussi Jaaskelanien produced two point blank saves to deny Chico Flores and Wilfried Bony any chance at goal. Michel Vorm produced some good saves himself to stop West Ham from scoring. The only talking point was a potential penalty for a handball by Joe Cole on a Nathan Dyer cross that referee Phil Dowd denied for the Swans and to give a point each to the teams.

It was another goal from penalty spot, again scored by Roberto Soldado to give Spurs the three points in what can only be described as a raggedy match. Steve Bruce sent in Yannick Sagbo, a lone striker and put in five defenders to contain the speed and accuracy of Spurs wingers Andros Townsend and Aaron Lennon. The first half produced a save from France captain Hugo Lloris off a Tom Huddlestone shot, while Soldado went down in the penalty box when Paul McShane was trying to apply pressure on the former Valencia man. Referee Michael Oliver was not impressed but later awarded a penalty for Ahmed Elmohamady handling the ball off a Jan Vertonghen cross, after Andre Villas-Boas had sent in Christian Eriksen and Jermain Defoe to create more chances. Soldado converted his third penalty of the season to allow Spurs to see off Hull City’s spirited play.

It was the battle of the two richest clubs in the Premier League as Russian owned Chelsea beat Emirati owned Manchester City in a thrilling display of attack and defense that went down to the final minute at Stamford Bridge. In true fashion, Fernando Torres was the man of the match by missing a clear cut shot at goal, then assisting the opener for Andre Schurrle and then grabbing the opportunity to maintain the Blues’ undefeated opening home record while extending Jose Mourinho’s unbeaten Premier League home run to 65 games. The first chance for the home side came when Ramires provided the cross for Torres to coolly slot it in past a listless Joe Hart. Unfortunately, the Spaniard blasted it over the bar. He quickly made up for it when Branislav Ivanovic sent the ball long from a goal kick for Torres to beat Gael Clichy and rush to the byline, where Schurrle received the ball for the opener. Five minutes after the second half began, Sergio Aguero equalised, when Samir Nasri’s through ball caught Gary Cahill off guard to allow the Argentine to ghost past him and beat the Czech goalkeeper Petr Cech with a powerful shot in the top corner. It took another Torres touch to finish the game off and allow Mourinho to breathe easy when the substitute Brazilian Willian attempted put in a lofted pass which landed Matija Nastasic and the troubled England goalkeeper Hart into each other allowing Torres to slot in his second league goal in 2013 after the winner at Everton on the last day of last season. This game was so important that the winning manager jumped into the crowd to celebrate with the fans, while the losing manager Manuel Pellegrini walked off into the tunnel without shaking hands with his counterpart.

Indeed a world of thrilling action during this weekend!