Written by Contributor: Sean Gallagher
Premier League Roundup Matchday 13: Chelsea held by Man. United; Man City Cruise; Benitez on the Brink?
Matchday 13 saw the title race intensify even more, more headlines created by Manchester United, and some brutal weather!
Chelsea v Manchester United
A Manchester United team in limbo visited Stamford Bridge on Sunday looking for any positives to take away, and that’s what they got. The weekend’s headliner ended in a 1-1 draw, with Chelsea surely the team who will feel they deserved all 3 points. The drama didn’t wait for the match to start, when interim manager Michael Carrick benched Cristiano Ronaldo in a move that turned many heads among fans and pundits. With Ralf Rangnick reportedly soon to take over, it seems as though Carrick was trying to employ Rangnick’s trademarked heavy-pressing style in advance, apparently feeling as though Ronaldo was not fully capable of this compared to teammates Jadon Sancho and Marcus Rashford. This dilemma will be one for Rangnick to contemplate all year: opt for the goal-scoring but “lazy” Ronaldo, or for forwards who would “work hard” and buy into his style. But would Sancho and Rashford play THAT much more intense than Ronaldo? I don’t buy it.
The action came thick and fast early in the game, as Callum Hudson-Odoi had a golden scoring opportunity just 3 minutes in that forced an impressive David de Gea save. Chelsea controlled much of the rest of the match, but were frustrating in the final third. The match’s first breakthrough came a few minutes into the second half, when Chelsea’s Jorginho wildly misplayed a ball that was cleared by Bruno Fernandes. This left Jadon Sancho all alone to give the Red Devils a miraculous 1-0 lead. Chelsea persisted, and fortunately for the Italian, he was able to avenge his mistake when Thiago Silva was fouled in the box by Aaron Wan-Bissaka. Jorginho calmly put away the penalty, and despite consistent pressure by Chelsea, they had to settle for a 1-1 finish.
In a weekend where the other title contenders won easily, Chelsea will definitely want that game back. Especially after Antonio Rudiger had as best a chance as you can get with seconds to go in the game, but skied it over the bar.
Man City v West Ham
Manchester City are continuing their relentless dominance of Premier League opponents in style. Pep Guardiola and company showed up to a very snowy Etihad and outclassed West Ham from start to finish. Ever since a disastrous 2-0 loss against Crystal Palace nearly a month ago, City have won three straight league games and two Champions League fixtures, almost all of which were never in question or remotely close. A season ago, when City lost around this time of year to Tottenham 2-0, it triggered a remarkable 28-game unbeaten streak that sealed their Premier League title and run to the Champions League final. Could the Palace game have been this year’s Tottenham loss?
We recently saw West Ham play Liverpool perfectly, winning in a wild 3-2 game that put them on notice throughout the league. Unfortunately for them, none of their counter-attacking magic could be found on Sunday in Manchester. City nearly took the lead a quarter of an hour the way into the game, when Rihyad Mahrez, barely offside, slotted it into the bottom corner. Eventually, Bernardo Silva tapped in a classic City type of goal, which started with a beautiful pass by Cancelo and subsequent cross by Mahrez. The result was never in doubt from there, as Man City took the sting out of the game and for the most part didn’t let West Ham sniff a chance. The Hammers did manage, through Lanzini, to get a goal back with seconds left in injury time, but it was not enough to alleviate the 2-0 deficit created by Fernandinho scoring a few minutes prior.
It’s scary to think that Man City were missing stars like Kevin de Bruyne, Phil Foden, and Jack Grealish in this game. The win now puts them just a point behind Chelsea, and their schedule through December looks very forgiving.
Brentford v Everton
Bad giveaways, clumsy fouls, getting caught in counter attacks. It’s getting ugly now for Rafa Benitez’s Everton. The Toffees visited Brentford on Sunday looking for an uplifting result before an intimidating Merseyside Derby against Liverpool on Wednesday. Instead, they left losers for the 7th time in their last 10, with little to be excited about.
It all seemed to go wrong for Everton from the kickoff. The game’s lone goal occurred midway through the first half when Andros Townsend’s high kick caught Brentford’s Onyeka in the face, enough to award a penalty. Ivan Toney then easily slotted home the penalty into the bottom left corner. A quick response was needed from Everton to quell the home side’s momentum, but Brentford were the ones with concrete chances throughout the first half. Early in the second half, the absence of Dominic Calvert-Lewin was evident when the Toffees were starting to create opportunities, but lacked the cool finisher they had before his injury. Brentford were able to keep Everton at bay and see out the win, increasing their chances of staying up after getting promoted to the Premier League last year.
Everton now face the task of hosting Liverpool, a rivalry that the Reds have dominated in recent history. With more and more tension building between Benitez and, well, everyone involved at Everton, this very well could be the game that cements his fate if his side can’t produce some sort of fight.
Quick Hits:
- Steven Gerrard is 2 for 2! Villa defeated Crystal Palace and are already improving from their form under Dean Smith a few games ago
- Speaking of Dean Smith, he’s also had success at his new job with Norwich, where the Canaries drew Wolves 0-0 and really could have won the game. Smith’s got 4 points in his first two games with the club
- Arsenal took care of business against Newcastle and are now in 5th, tied with West Ham on points. Hard to believe they’re contending for top-4 after the start they had
- Liverpool demolished Southampton 4-0 with Jota scoring twice. That’s two 4-0 wins in a row for the Reds; Between them and City’s current form, Chelsea will need to be impeccable to stay at the top
- It snowed so hard in Burnley that their game against Tottenham was called off!