Game Week 2

Brighton 3-2 Stoke City
Paco(Bernat) 34, Paco(Payet) 52, Payet(FK) 80; Rashford(Lemar) 12, Lemar(Martins) 67

MOTM: Paco Alcacer - just for taking his chances.

A crazy game between two teams playing very high lines. Brighton attempted to play high up and counter attack whilst Stoke looked to use more well thought out build ups, but the end result in this game was one thing, poor defending, pace pace pace and wasteful finishing. The centre of the pitch was where Stoke looked for their platform but they were unable to really control this area as they would have hoped, the pairing of Krychowiak and Kondogbia giving Brighton the necessary muscle to make this a difficult game. The movement of the Stoke players did cause a lot of trouble to the Brighton high line though, particularly Rashford and Martins constant movement which really troubled David Luiz who was often too aggressive in his approach and left space in behind, space which Stoke got into but didn't always make the most of. David Luiz made up for some shaky defending with his passing though, Stokes attempts to press high often negated by his ability to pick out raking passes with Walcott and Iwobi both benefitting. Again though the two Brighton wingers were very poor in front of goal. Payet attempted to provide some creativity in midfield but Diawara was always close by, whilst Diawara's own attempts to be the creative spark didn't really come to fruition, a combination of limited passing and limited support from his midfield partners keeping him quiet in an attacking sense. It was largely left down to defensive errors then to create chances, some inexperienced and some over aggressive defending leading to what looked like being a 2-2 draw, that until Dimitri Payet stepped up late on to do what Dimirtri Payet does best, curling an unstoppable free kick to give Brighton an important early 3 points.

Hull City 1-2 Birmingham

A tight game, but the pace and aggressive attacking style of Birmingham’s forward line proved too much to handle. Hull’s best successes came down their right flank as the ever moving Bernardeschi capitalised every time Alonso drifted away from the left back spot. The midfield battle was a close one, but the Birmingham wing backs ended up playing a pivotal attacking role in countering with pace and taking advantage of the inexperience in the Hull City back line.

Scorers: Bernardeschi (Forsberg); Vardy (James), Jesus (M. Alonso)


Chelsea 2-2 Leicester

A very difficult game to call; both teams are incredibly well-stocked in each position and have talent to spare. The choice to put Asensio and Thiago alongside Kante in the centre was a bold move which, though I can see the reasoning behind, struggled to click against one of the stronger midfields in the league. Likewise, the narrow attacking trident of Leicester caused a number of problems to the Chelsea defence, with the midfield occupied for large swathes. Ultimately, it’s hard to find any areas in which either team has a clear advantage over the other, and a high scoring draw was always going to be a stark possibility.

Scorers: Aguero (Sterling), Neymar (Aguero); Ronaldo (Mkhitaryan), Ronaldo (Hazard)

Portsmouth 1-0 Liverpool

Liverpool set up to spoil the Portsmouth hype job but that attack is scarily potent, and Liverpool’s defence did well to limit their chances. Though Azpilicueta led the line well, which he had to do given the fact that Umtiti and Lindelof are currently centre backs without the ability to defend, and Conti and Pereira performed remarkably well against Sanchez and Dembele, the rest of the attacking talent, combined with a powerful midfield engine that even Fabinho and Tielemans couldn’t suppress, simply had too much in store for the young reds. However, victory was a very tough fight to achieve, and came late on, which will be a promising sign to the Liverpool manager.

Scorers: Lewandowski (Eriksen)

Arsenal 0-1 Aston Villa

Tino’s vocal nature came to bite him on the backside as Ludy employs different tactics for the first time since he stole Rof’s tactics. Clearly preparing for the trademark Villa Gegenpress (trademarked in Germany), the tactic of looking to chip the ball over a high defensive line really didn’t help against a team content to sit back when not in possession. However, this style also meant Villa were slow getting out of the blocks themselves, and the game was an utter bore until Hamsik received a 2nd yellow card, after his manager ordered he get himself around the pitch. With the key man out of the way, Arsenal found it tough going to stop the Villa offensive.

Scorers: N’Zonzi (Fabregas)
Red Card: Hamsik

Tottenham 1-1 Wolves

Two teams that have shown an upturn in fortunes and quality under their respective managers, with the attacking talent on both sides of the pitch being noticeably potent; Spurs perhaps had the better of the game and, on paper, are the slightly superior side, but they couldn’t make their advantages tell this evening.

Scorers: Lukaku (Mahrez); Higuain (Mata)

Everton 0-1 Newcastle

Everton’s tactically approach to this game helped to stifle Newcastle’s blistering pace for the most part, with their centre back trio and wing backs in particular looking the part against their esteemed counterparts. They also had a few good chances of their own with their pace causing problems. Unfortunately, these chances generally fell to Welbeck rather than Lacazette, who constantly forgot how to kick a ball when presented with the chance to score.
Eventually, it was the tricky close dribbling of Mane that would break the deadlock, with him weaving his way into the box and curling a shot in at the far post.

Scorers: Mane (Pjanic)