Week 10

Aston Villa v Brighton

With Brighton firmly battling relegation here they needed to have luck on their side to get anything from this game. Villa game to press high and take their opponents apart however the plan didn’t quite work, Fabregas being a major weakness in this set up, really struggling to get close enough to Kondogbia quickly enough, and the french midfield was often able to brush him aside and bring the ball forward. From these positions the Brighton wingers got a lot of joy getting into the space behind the oppositions FBs. At the other end though Villa were equally dangerous, opening up lots of gaps in Brighton, who despite having two DMs, were unable to stop Fabregas and Modric finding space. The game was end to end until the 72nd minute when Kondogbia was sent off, from here Ludy’s subs won them the game, taking advantage of the spaces that the 10 men of Brighton just couldn’t cover.
Aston Villa 4-2 Brighton
Villa scorers: Benzema(Fabregas) 17, Reus(Mkhitaryian) 32, Cavani(B.Silva) 80, Cavani(Walker) 89
Brighton scorers: Alcacer(Walcott) 44, Payet(FK) 65
MOTM: Edison Cavani
Red Card: Geoffrey Kondogbia 72

Leicester v Tottenham
Two sides challenging at the top of the league today, both in with a shout of making a long lasting title challenge. Whilst Leicester were the better side in possession, off the ball Tottenham had a slightly more energy to their game, perhaps down to their harder working forwards and it made for an interesting battle. Midfield wise they all but canceled each other out today, Verratti and Kante especially, as they spent the day chasing each other about, neither getting any room to really effect the game in any way other than stopping each other, whilst Marchisio and Bakayoko gave Koke and Thiago a good physical battle that never really allowed either midfield to truly control the game. It left it as a game of forwards vs defence then and even that was tight, a sure sign of just how far Tottenham have come. Hazard and Asensio caused more problems than their counter parts, both Tottenham FBs having to really concentrate throughout the game which limited both of their attacking opportunities and at time left the Tottenham forwards a little isolated, which couldn’t be said of Ronaldo, although Van Dijk and Kompany were outstanding on the day. At the other end when Tottenham did get the ball to their forwards they were well marshalled, Sane getting no change from Azpilicueta and Willian often having to come inside to find space, which he did well, but again for the most part Morata was well defended by Otamendi and Ramos. Leicester looked the biggest threat, Tottenham though have a striker who can score goals in a blink with a good bit of movement and he did that to get Tottenham a hard fought draw, although Leicester will see themselves as a little unlucky today.
Leicester 2-2 Tottenham
Leicester Scorers: Asensio(Ronaldo) 26, Ronaldo(Hazard) 61
Tottenham scorers: Morata(Willian) 4, Morata(James) 78
MOTM: Marco Asensio

Hull City v Arsenal
Two teams down fighting at the bottom whilst also looking to build for the future. Arsenal came into the game looking to throw numbers forward and make it really hard for Hull to get any time on the ball, whilst they did really swamp the Hull half, they never full succeeded in keeping Hull out of them, with Ibrahimovic’s hold up play always giving Hull a chance to break out, and Dahoud was crucial in beating the Arsenal press. At the other end the attacking FBs caused a lot of problems for Hull as it allowed the Arsenal wingers to move into the middle and really overload Hulls defence. Two contrasting styles, neither really coming out full on top today and in the end the match ended in a draw.
Hull City 2-2 Arsenal
Hull scorers: Mahrez(Ibrahimovic) 51, Ibrahimovic(Forsberg) 85
Arsenal scorers: Aubameyang(Lallana) 26, Hamsik(Aubameyang) 71
MOTM: Zlatan Ibrahimovic

Chelsea v Portsmouth
Two more title challengers and two very different styles again. Whilst Chelsea were more measured and considered when they had the ball, Portsmouth were much more direct and aggressive. It was very hard to split the two today. Portsmouth pressed well from the front with lots of energy in the attackers to do so but whilst they did succeed at times to force Chelsea longer, Chelsea eventually got to grips with them, with Bonucci and Busquets managing to get Chelsea motoring forward. Once they did Portsmouth had to settle for playing deeper, but with Wanyama and Vidal in midfield they were able to defend well. Really this game became a battle of the flanks which was impossible to separate, the wingers having much more joy than the FBs today. Both managers had strong benches to call on, but again neither bench could fully swing the game in their favour and in the end the points were shared.
Chelsea scorers: Aguero(Mbappe) 41, Jesus(Callejon) 76
Portsmouth scorers: Lewandowski(Sanchez) 13, Mertens(De Bruyne) 82
MOTM: Sergio Busquets

Wolves v Stoke

Stoke go in with dreadful form, whereas Wolves have been decent, Wolves took control early on with a goal from Higuain after a lovely cross from Cancelo, they doubled the lead near half time when Higuain again scored from a Silva through ball.
Stoke came a bit into the game but were hit with a sucker punch when Higuain was brought down in the box, he got up and scored himself.
Boshilia got a late goal for the visitors but was a pure consolation goal

Wolves 3 - 1 Stoke

Higuain x 3 (Hat trick) 7,(Cancelo) 45(Silva), 56(Pen)
Boschilia 83
MOTM - Higuain