Written By Contributor: Sean Gallagher
EPL Roundup Matchday 23: Spurs Storm Back to Beat Leicester; Wolves Continue Good Run of Form vs Bees;
The Premier League continues to bring relentless action! Let’s delve into what happened on the last matchday before the international break.
Leicester v Tottenham (2-3)
Wow. I need a breath after that finish! It was frustration we heard from Antonio Conte’s press conferences in the days leading up to the match, after multiple postponements were thwarting Spurs’ season and club owner Daniel Levy continued his failure at bringing in any notable transfers. That frustration for Conte was reaching a boiling point when his side were finally going to lose a league game for the first time in his reign. That’s until the impossible happened.
Leicester have been plagued by injuries this season and it’s evident in their standing in the bottom half of the table. Their defense has been ravaged all year, but losing goalscorer and club legend Jamie Vardy in early January to an ugly hamstring injury further cemented a decline from their 5th place finish last year. It was the first game for the Foxes since late December and it looked like a switch had flipped. Young emerging star, Patson Daka, opened the scoring 25 minutes in when a clumsy Sergio Reguilon practically handed him the easy chance. Tottenham went full throttle though and the lead didn’t last long for Leicester when Harry Kane clinically put away a breakaway chance off the post just over 10 minutes later. The game really started to open up and both teams had a good amount of chances to score. The scoreline stayed level until the 75th minute when it looked like James Maddison had won it for Leicester after some beautiful set-up play with Harvey Barnes.
Then came Steven Bergwijn. The Dutchman subbed on right after Maddison’s goal in a last-ditch effort by Conte to get something out of the game for Spurs. It looked like it was for naught; after all, the clock hit 94:50 with 5 added minutes and Tottenham were still trailing 2-1. With seconds left in the game Hojbjerg sent in a ball that somehow ricocheted off a Leicester defender right into the foot of Bergwijn, who was there to put it away. Total disaster for Leicester, who had spent the last 20 minutes defending their heart out to put away the win. It was another failure for them to only come away with a point. Then came the ensuing kickoff. What should’ve probably been the last kick of the game. Youri Tielemans suddenly gave it right back to Tottenham who had numbers. It was that moment that Brendan Rodgers probably wanted to cover his eyes and hope he woke up from a bad dream. Bergwijn caught all the Leicester defenders napping and Kane played a perfect ball to the substitute who’s shot just managed to go in off the post. The traveling Spurs supporters were sent into sheer pandemonium and Leicester could only hang their heads in shame after another miserable collapse. No doubt this was one of the greatest Premier League finishes I’ve ever seen. That rivaled with all the endings in the NFL divisional playoff round over the weekend!
Brentford v Wolves (1-2)
Will we ever get one normal day in the Premier League? Saturday’s under-the-radar game truly had it all. This was an important game for Wolves, who have a tough run of fixtures upcoming in February when the league returns to play. Playing away at Brentford is always a tough game and this was no exception. Thomas Frank’s Bees were looking to right the ship after getting crushed at home by Manchester United the previous Wednesday.
There was frankly not much to see from either team in the first half with the action constantly being halted. The home side started off attacking and really putting pressure on Wolves, but 20 minutes in there was an unfortunate clash of heads between Brentford players Nico Henry and Mathias Jensen that caused a long stoppage. Both players had to exit the game and Brentford were forced to use 2 early subs. Things subsided again 10 minutes later when… well… an unidentified drone was flying above the field. Only the Premier League. It took nearly 20 minutes for this ridiculous stoppage to end and both teams then played another drab 20 minutes before the halftime break. By this point Wolves and Brentford both had to sit through so much stop and start that it felt like the game was never going to really break through.
The second half definitely made up for the shenanigans we witnessed in the first 45 (or um 70) minutes. Both sides looked refreshed and it only took 3 minutes for a goal to come. Joao Moutinho played a perfect give and go with Nelson Semedo, and the 35 year old Portuguese midfielder used the outside of his foot to give Wolves a 1-0 lead. Brentford didn’t give up and continued to cause problems for Bruno Lage’s men. 20 minutes after Moutinho’s goal, young defender Toti Gomes for Wolves nearly got himself sent off for a rash challenge, but the red card initially given was changed to a yellow after VAR checked the incident. What seemed like a relief for Wolves turned into anger when the ensuing free kick saw Brentford equalize; striker Ivan Toney was left completely unmarked at the back post and hit an impressive volley to even the score.
Brentford have been conceding far too many goals in recent games, and Wolves didn’t hold back going for a winner. 24 year old star midfielder Ruben Neves won it for Wolves when his strike from the top of the box (that probably should’ve been saved) went off Lössl’s hands and in. As Wolves continue their quiet climb in points this season it’ll make the 2+ week wait for games to come back that much harder. They will face off against Arsenal and Totttenham when the league returns who are both directly above Wolves in the table. Could they make a push for top 4? Probably not. Especially if new players aren’t bought in January. But don’t count out Lage’s men as contenders to at least qualify for the Europa League.
Quick Hits:
- Another one bites the dust! As Watford so often do they’ve sacked Claudio Ranieri, a manager who only just took charge a few months ago. It’ll be interesting to see who they replace him with, because who on earth wants that job?!
- Oh Everton. Interim manager Duncan Ferguson couldn’t change the tide as the Toffees lost to Aston Villa 1-0 on Saturday. I mentioned a couple weeks ago that they’re flirting with a relegation fight and here they are still on 19 points and demoralized going into the break. They’ll surely hire a new full time manager soon and hope that whoever it is can turn things around. Quickly.
- Just like that, Norwich would not be getting relegated if the season ended today. It shows you just how fast things can change in this league if you string together a couple of wins. That’s now 2 wins in a row for Norwich and both opposing teams (Everton & Watford) would go on to fire their coach because of it! Shoutout to American Josh Sargent for scoring twice for the Canaries in their 3-0 victory over Watford.
- I’m not saying we have a title race back on our hands… But we might actually. Maybe. Liverpool are now 9 points back (with a game in hand) from Man City after Guardiola & Co. stumbled against Southampton. If they beat City the next time they play and win their game in hand, that’s only a 3 point margin!
- Speaking of Liverpool, they defeated Arsenal in the Carabao Cup on Thursday and will play Chelsea in the final on February 27. You’ll definitely want to mark that one in your calendar.