Another weekend of Premier League footy done and dusted, and it was the home sides that dominated this round of fixtures. Only one away team emerged victorious, and that was a very unlikely one in the form of injury hit Leeds, whose youngsters stunned European hopefuls West Ham at the London Stadium.
The North London derby was to be the fixture of the round, but it was postponed due to Covid.
Brighton (Nike) 1-1 Crystal Palace (Puma)
Man City (Puma) 1-0 Chelsea (Nike)
Newcastle (Castore) 1-1 Watford (Kelme)
Norwich (Joma) 2-1 Everton (Umbro)
Wolves (Castore) 3-1 Southampton (Hummel)
Aston Villa (Kappa) 2-2 Man United (Adidas)
Liverpool (Nike) 3-0 Brentford (Umbro)
West Ham (Umbro) 2-3 Leeds (Adidas)
Ralf Rangnick took his Manchester United side to Birmingham, and the Red Devils wore the same away kit that they had donned in the 4-1 loss to Watford (OGS’ last game in charge). This didn’t end in defeat though, but the result very much felt like one- United lead 2-0 midway through the second half, only for Steven Gerrard’s Villa to net twice. The equalising goal came from new Villa signing Philippe Coutinho, on loan at AVFC from Barca.
Chelsea’s slim title hopes took a major hit as they went down 1-0 to Man City. The Blues were leapfrogged into second by Liverpool, who beat Brentford 3-0. The Bees, who stunned Arsenal in their opening game of the season, were sporting their third kit here and ended up shipping three unanswered goals at Anfield. It was a rare outing for the white kit- the only previous time Brentford have worn it in the league this season was against Wolves (which they won)
The week was one to forget for Umbro teams. Everton were beaten 2-1 at Norwich, resulting in the Toffees sacking manager Rafa Benitez. West Ham were also the only home team to taste defeat with David Moyes’ side suffering a shock 3-2 loss against struggling Leeds. The Whites, missing several key players, fielded a youthful lineup, but the XI on the field implemented coach Marcelo Bielsa’s tactics perfectly- their pressing harried West Ham into mistakes (see the Nikola Vlasic one for Jack Harrison’s third goal as an example), and their relentless pressure meant that the Hammers were rarely able to string more than 2-3 passes together. Nevertheless, West Ham could’ve picked up a point but in-form winger Jarrod Bowen missed an easy chance in second half stoppage time.
Brazilian Raphinha was fantastic for Leeds, creating as many as seven chances as West Ham struggled to cope with him. It was a welcome win for Bielsa’s men, and a disappointing one for West Ham, whose defensive frailties were clearly exposed, and David Moyes needs to dip into the January transfer market if they are to retain their fourth spot in the league standings.
