Premier League Roundup: Week 6
The marquee match of the weekend featured a surging Arsenal side, who had won it's previous 3 Premier League matches in a row, taking on a Chelsea team hoping to rebound from their first league loss of the season against Liverpool. The Gunners were quick to eliminate all doubts about the outcome in this one as they jumped out to a 3-0 halftime lead behind goals from Alexis Sanchez, Theo Walcott, and Mesut Ozil, respectively. Chelsea were completely outclassed by Arsenal all game, and only mustered 2 shots on goal. Arsenal cruised through the second half and secured their 4th consecutive league win and currently sit 3rd in the league table, 1 point behind Spurs. They face a midweek Champion's League test from Basel, before they try to extend their league winning streak against Burnley on Sunday. Antonio Conte's triumphant 3-0 start in London has been marred by 2 consecutive losses by the Blues, in which they were outscored 5-1. Chelsea have now only earned a single point from their last 3 league matches and have dropped to 8th in the table, just behind Crystal Palace. Chelsea will attempt to snap their losing streak on Saturday against a struggling Hull City side.
Speaking of Hull City, they were on the wrong side of 5-1 bludgeoning at the hands of Liverpool on Saturday. The red hot Reds opened the scoring in the 17th minute with a goal from in-form Adam Lallana, before Ahmed Elmohamady was sent off in the 29th minute for an intentional handball on the goal line to block a Philippe Coutinho chance. Jurgen Klopp's side showed no mercy on their undermanned opponents as James Milner converted on his first of 2 goals from the penalty spot, and Sadio Mane and Coutinho each added their names to the score sheet before Hull was finally put out of their misery with the final whistle. Liverpool have now won 3 league matches in a row, outscoring their opponents 11-3 over that span, and have climbed to 4th in the league table. With the loss, Hull have dropped to 14th and face another tough challenge against a Chelsea team anxious to snap their 2 game slide.
Liverpool's cross-town rivals Everton dropped their first league match of the season on Saturday, falling 1-0 on the road to Bournemouth. After their improbable unbeaten streak to start their Premier League campaign, the Toffees failed to score for just the first time in league this season. Thanks to Junior Stanislas's 23rd minute goal, the Cherries were able to rebound from their 4-0 drubbing at Man City last weekend and their midweek 3-2 League Cup defeat to Preston North End. Their second win of the season has helped Bournemouth climb to 15 in the league table and they will look to create some momentum when they face an enigmatic Watford side on Saturday. With their first loss, Everton dropped to 5th place in the league with 13 points, and they will look to get back to their winning ways on Friday against a surprising 7th place Crystal Palace side.
Everton's loss over the weekend means that there are no 2 unbeaten teams remaining in the Premier League and Tottenham Hotspur are one of them. Spurs extended their league winning streak to 3 in a row after defeating Middlesbrough 2-1 on Saturday thanks to a first half brace by an extremely hot Son Heung-Min. Spurs dominated possession 58%-42% and held a decisive edge in shots on target in a game where they were clearly the better team. They will put their record, and 2nd place standing, to the test on Sunday when they challenge 1st place Man City in a colossal tilt of the last two remaining unbeatens.
Manchester City continued their perfect start to Pep Guardiola's inaugural campaign with a win over Swansea for the second time in 4 days on Saturday. Behind a brace from Sergio Aguero, in his first game back from a suspension, and a tally from a resurgent Raheem Sterling, City were able to pull off the 3-1 victory and improve to 6-0-0 on the season. City have hardly had a wrong step so far and their offense is firing on all cylinders, but they will be challenged on Saturday when they travel to North London to face 2nd place Spurs. Swansea are now winless since their opening day match against Burnley and have fallen to 17th in the league table. Their mini-gauntlet continues this weekend as they face a red hot Liverpool side.
City's cross-Manchester rivals, United, were able to quell a riot on Saturday by crushing Leicester City 4-1 and snapping their 2 league game losing streak. Chris Smalling, Juan Mata, Marcus Rashford, and Paul Pogba all etched their names on the score sheet in the first half to give the Red Devils a commanding 4-0 lead at the break. Demarai Gray was able to get one back for the Foxes in the 59th minute, but by then the damage had been done. Pogba's first goal since his return to Old Trafford will be encouraging for supporters who had been questioning his form. United now sit in 6th place with 12 points, just a point behind 3rd place Arsenal and 2 points behind 2nd place Spurs. After a midweek Europa League matchup they will take on 19th place Stoke City where Jose Mourinho will be expected to grab 3 more points. With the loss, Leicester has fallen to 12th place in the league and will attempt to get their Premier League campaign back on track this weekend against an inconsistent Southampton team.
At the bottom of the league table, Stoke City and Sunderland continue to chase their elusive first league victories. 19th place Stoke drew 1-1 with West Brom over the weekend to earn just their 2nd point of the season. They may have to wait another week to get their first league win as they face a Manchester United side on Sunday fresh off a blow out victory over Leicester. Sunderland was eager to retain their spot at the very bottom of the table, for at least another week, as they blew a 2-0 lead to lose 3-2 to Crystal Palace. They have only a single point so far this season and their crowning achievement to date has been only losing to City by a goal in their opener.
West Ham continued their fall from grace on Sunday as they were throttled 3-0 by Southampton. The Hammers have now officially entered the relegation zone at 18th place in the league and things will only continue to sputter out of control if Slavan Bilic doesn't figure out how to fix his woeful defense soon. West Ham have conceded a league high 16 goals and have the second worst goal differential at -9. The Hammers have looked awful lately and will try to right the ship this weekend against Middlesbrough.
