Written B y Contributor: Sean Gallagher
EPL Roundup Matchday 21: Man City Defeat Arsenal in Controversial Affair; Chelsea, Liverpool Tie at Stamford Bridge; Wolves Win Late Over Sloppy Man Utd
The festive period came and went, and the Premier League won’t return for 2 weeks as clubs now prepare for FA Cup action next weekend. Let’s recap 2022’s first round of games!
Manchester United v Wolves (0-1)
That should officially end Ralf Rangnick’s honeymoon period at Manchester United. What a disastrous game for the Red Devils! In the final game of the weekend, Wolves traveled to Old Trafford and simply outplayed Man Utd from start to finish. The concern before the match for Rangnick and co. was the fact that Phil Jones, a defender who hadn’t played in nearly 2 years, was in the starting lineup because of United’s slew of injuries in their backline. Ironically, he might have been their best player on the night.
Wolves have a pattern of making it extremely tough especially when playing against opponents that are better on paper. They make the game slower, defend as hard as possible, and sometimes hardly have an attack the entire game. It was entirely different for Bruno Lage’s side on Monday night, who were coming off over 2 weeks of rest with Covid issues. Daniel Podence led a Wolves front line that were peppering goalkeeper David de Gea throughout the first half. Ruben Neves, who was magnificent all game, nearly scored a wonder goal when he hit a volley in the 12th minute that de Gea was only able to get a hand to.
The game reached a boiling point when Bruno Fernandes subbed on with a half hour left in the game. It was obvious United were crying out for him all game because he immediately made things happen and injected a bit of life into his team. It became clear it wasn’t going to be United’s night when Fernandes had a point blank shot from 7 yards out a few minutes later and hit the crossbar; their only good spell of attacking all game had no end product.
It felt as though Wolves were going to finish yet another game 0-0 and having deserved more. They hit the bar themselves when defender Romain Saiss almost curled in a freekick from the top of the box, and squandered a few other chances. But the substitution that put Adama Traore into the game in the second half proved to be effective when he created the decisive goal in the 82nd minute. Joao Moutinho, unmarked by Mctominay or Fernandes, sat at the top of the box in perfect position to receive the cross from Traore, and finished it into the bottom corner to win the game. It was a famous and thoroughly deserved win for Wolves who hadn’t won at Old Trafford since 1980. As for Manchester United, they have spent an inconceivable amount of money on players and yet look disorganized and uninspiring day in and day out.
Arsenal v Manchester City (1-2)
That is just a brutal one to take if you’re an Arsenal fan. They played about as well as you can against a team like Manchester City, especially in the first half, and still ended subject to a ruthless loss against Pep Guardiola’s team. Very questionable decisions by the referee throughout the game didn’t help Arsenal’s cause.
The game’s first semi-controversy happened 10 minutes in when Man City keeper Ederson, as he frequently does, came flying into a tackle on Arsenal’s Martin Odegaard in the box. VAR checked the collision and determined it was not enough for an Arsenal penalty. The Gunners kept attacking and eventually scored through a beautiful finish by 20 year old Bukayo Saka. It was a perfect start and deserved goal, which you can’t say of many of Manchester City’s opponents this season. The problem for Arsenal, though, was that they couldn’t get a second goal in the half. A 1 goal lead against City is never enough, and you knew that if Arsenal let them hang around, they could be punished in the end.
City got their first breakthrough after being awarded a dodgy penalty early in the second half. Bernardo Silva, who was already going to the ground, got his shirt pulled a bit by Granit Xhaka. This apparently was enough for referee Stuart Attwell to give the penalty which was cooly finished by Riyad Mahrez. Chaos ensued shortly after the penalty went in when Gabriel got a yellow card for arguing. He then abruptly extended his arms to tackle City forward Jesus (who sold it well) to receive his second yellow in as many minutes. Left with 10 men, Arsenal were forced to defend for the rest of the match and escape with a 1-1 draw. They got their heart ripped out of their chest when the ball fell to midfielder Rodri in injury time who snatched a win for Man City.
Chelsea v Liverpool (2-2)
That certainly took some focus off of Romelu Lukaku! The Chelsea forward made all the headlines after declaring his frustrations with Thomas Tuchel and Chelsea in a recently released interview. While the action subsided in the second 45 minutes, the first half of Sunday’s clash between two English giants delivered so much that you forgot about Lukaku by the end of it. While the result didn’t do much good for either team, it was a game you couldn’t take your eyes off.
Sadio Mane, who will be leaving Liverpool for the Africa Cup of Nations (AFCON) soon, opened the scoring early in the game when Trevor Chalobah misplayed a ball into the box. That set the tone for a breakneck, frenetic pace of play. With the poor run of results Chelsea had coming into this match, it felt like the match was over when Mohammed Salah, also departing for AFCON, did what he does best and finished with hardly any angle on goal to give Liverpool a 2-0 lead 25 minutes in. Chelsea were resilient and responded with a wild sequence just before halftime. Mateo Kovacic, who rarely scores for Chelsea, put an absolutely sensational volley into the back of the net. 4 minutes later, the American Pulisic found himself all alone on a breakaway to tie the game, and he did just that with a perfect left footed hit.
Goalkeepers Edouard Mendy and Caoimhin Kelleher took turns making ridiculous saves in the second half to keep the scoreline deadlocked the rest of the way. Liverpool are beginning to hit a speed bump in their season, winless since beating Newcastle a few weeks ago. Chelsea showed good fight to come back and tie the game, but they’ll be wishing they could’ve separated themselves from Liverpool even with a weakened squad.
Quick hits:
- It can be tough at times to beat the smaller teams when games are congested and you’re competing for a champions league spot. Tottenham got away with one against Watford and just managed to save themselves to win 1-0
- That was a big game for Leeds and Burnley for relegation purposes. Leeds finally got a win and put some distance between themselves and the bottom 3
- Another bad loss for Everton, this time to Brighton 3-2. They’re level on points with Leeds and flirting with a relegation fight
- West Ham survived a late Crystal Palace onslaught to win 3-2 and stay on Arsenal’s heels. They’ll need to take advantage of some easy upcoming games to stay above a red-hot Tottenham