The last week of Premier League action before the international break, and there were goals galore in this one. Only seven games were played owing to some of the teams being in FA Cup action, and we had a total of 29 goals in those fixtures, averaging more than four per game.
Nottingham Forest (Macron) 1-2 Newcastle (Castore)
Aston Villa (Castore) 3-0 Bournemouth (Umbro)
Brentford (Umbro) 1-1 Leicester (Adidas)
Southampton (Hummel) 3-3 Tottenham (Nike)
Wolves (Castore) 2-4 Leeds (Adidas)
Chelsea (Nike) 2-2 Everton (Hummel)
Arsenal (Adidas) 4-1 Crystal Palace (Macron)
The game week started with Nottingham Forest at home against Newcastle. Somewhat interestingly, the Magpies wore their away kit- one would ordinarily think there would’ve been no clash between their regular black and white striped shirt and Forest’s red home top. However Newcastle fans weren’t complaining too much as striker Alexander Isak scored in stoppage time in both halves to give them a 2-1 come from behind victory.
NUFC have now won all four PL games played in this away strip so far this season- previous victories at Fulham, Southampton and Spurs to go with this latest triumph away at Forest.
Spurs were in their blue third kit against Southampton. Antonio Conte’s side however turned in another frustrating performance as they squandered a two-goal advantage to draw 3-3 away at bottom of the table Saints. THFC supporters who also do betting online would’ve assumed three points to be a given in the 75th minute, with their side leading 3-1, but they had to go home with only a single point instead. Given their inconsistency this season, fans of the Lilywhites might be better served playing at the likes of Virgin Games rather than having a punt on their side to finish in the top four come the end of the season.
Everton were in their pink away kit away at Chelsea and came from behind twice to pick up a valuable point at the Bridge. CFC were good in the first half, but Everton improved after the interval and Ellis Simms scored a late equaliser for the Toffees to frustrate Graham Potter’s Blues.
Only two teams were able to win at home this week- one was Aston Villa who beat Bournemouth 3-0. Arsenal were the other, beating Crystal Palace 4-1 at home. Several Gunners fans might have been worried about a potential new manager bounce performance from Palace, who had sacked Patrick Vieira coming into this game, but Bukayo Saka’s brace gave them a comfortable win. Saka also became the first Arsenal player to register more than 10 goals and assists in a single league season since Alexis Sanchez back in 2016. Palace were in their black third kit for the second game in a row, having also worn it in the 1-0 loss to Brighton a few days ago.
Wolves v Leeds was a match with both teams wearing their home shirts and it provided real entertainment. Wolves fought from 3-0 down to make it 3-2, but went down 4-2 at the end. Three players- Jonny and Matheus for Wolves, and Rodrigo for LUFC, were given their marching orders by the ref in the second half.
The only draw of the week came at Brentford where Mathias Jensen and Harvey Barnes traded goals as the Bees had to settle for a point against Leicester.