Game Week 9 of the Premier League, the first after the international break, was an interesting one- both in terms of results as well as kits worn. It started and finished with third kits- Chelsea wore their “Crystal Palace” strip to Newcastle on Saturday afternoon and so did Southampton, who were in their sash uniform for the game at Molineux on Monday night.
Both home and away sides won an equal number of fixtures in this round of fixtures- four each, with two other games (Leeds v Arsenal and Wolves v Saints) ending in draws. Leeds’ game was a goalless draw, but saw plenty of action, with Marcelo Bielsa’s side hitting the woodwork thrice in the fixture against the ten-man Gunners, who had Nicolas Pepe sent off.
The biggest margin of victory came from defending champions Liverpool, who wore a kit with a special charity sponsor for their game against Leicester City. The Reds had the logo of Futuremakers- banking giant Standard Chartered’s charity initiative on their shirts here, just as they had done against Tottenham Hotspur last year.
The special jersey seemed to inspire the Reds- despite missing several first choice players, they produced perhaps their best performance of the season so far to brush aside Brendan Rodgers’ Leicester. Ahead of the game, Liverpool were marginal favourites to win at Genting but ended up totally outclassing the Foxes, who, one must not forget, had won at both the Etihad and the Emirates before this trip to Anfield.
Speaking of Leicester, they chose to wear a white strip in this clash, something that puzzled us and several other kit enthusiasts. If you were watching the league for the first time, you could be forgiven for thinking this was Leeds in action against Liverpool, rather than the Foxes. Perhaps that was the plan- LUFC, after all, gave Liverpool a real run for their money in the opening round, and should’ve perhaps gone on to win that game as well (they ended up losing 4-3 in the end).
The Reds’ Merseyside rivals Everton also scored three goals, but theirs was a less convincing win- a 3-2 one over a Fulham side who also missed a penalty. The Toffees were also guilty of wearing a change strip when it wasn’t exactly required- they played in yellow against the Cottagers.
Manchester City also wore their away kit, but were less successful than Everton as they fell 2-0 to Tottenham Hotspur. Spurs were clinical and once they got an early goal through Heung-Min Son, played a typical Mourinho game that City were unable to break down.
Brighton were the only team to wear their home kit as an away team in this round- they ran out 2-1 winners against Aston Villa, but not without controversy- VAR overturned a late penalty for the Midlands outfit.
GW 9 results & away side’s uniforms
Newcastle 0-2 Chelsea (third kit)
Aston Villa 1-2 Brighton (home kit)
Tottenham 2-0 Man City (away kit)
Man Utd 1-0 WBA (away kit)
Fulham 2-3 Everton (away kit)
Sheff Utd 0-1 West Ham (away kit)
Leeds 0-0 Arsenal (third kit)
Liverpool 3-0 Leicester (third kit)
Burnley 1-0 Palace (away kit)
Wolves 1-1 Southampton (third kit)