Another Saturday of Premier League action is in the books, let’s review what was good and what was bad:
The Good
- Where else to start but The Etihad and Sergio Aguero. A simply phenomenal performance by the Argentine yesterday as Manchester City bounced back from two straight league defeats and also being a goal down to hammer Newcastle 6-1. Aguero had 1o touches of the ball in 20 minutes and set a record equaling 5 goal haul, were it not for the fact he had a slight niggle then he surely would have completed his double hat-trick. Manchester City and certainly Sergio Aguero are back.
- Heurhelo Gomes with a draw clinching penalty save and a piece of marvellous acrobatic goalkeeper to keep out Steve Cook’s outrageous bicycle kick from the edge of the area. Much maligned at Tottenham, he’s quietly starting to build his career back up again. Turns out there is a Goalkeeper in there after all.
- Southampton won their first game at Stamford Bridge in 13 years. The Saints and Sadio Mane ran Chelsea ragged yesterday. You wouldn’t necessarily call it a smash and grab as Southampton fully deserved their win. A slow start to the season is now starting to pick up pace, they’ll now look to build on this and continue their rise up the table.
- Leicester secure another win and Jamie Vardy celebrates another England squad call up by continuing his scoring run this season, the Tinkerman raised a few eyebrows by dropping Riyad Mahrez to the bench but his decision was fully justified as The Foxes moved up to 4th in the table and with every point they pick up they get further away from their usual relegation worries, an incredibly impressive start by Leicester and Ranieri.
- If Leicester in 4th is impressive then Crystal Palace in 3rd could be considered even better. Wilfred Zaha ran West Brom ragged yesterday as The Eagles looked full of vibrancy, it took them a while to get in front but once they did they were never concerned. Alan Pardew’s decision to leave Newcastle looks incredibly inspired now, what price him being the next England Manager?
The Bad:
- Newcastle, to be honest they looked good in the first 45th minutes and could quite honestly been 2 or even 3 up before Sergio Aguero ran riot. But the second half performance was so awful that there has to be massive concern now on Tyneside that this could be the season that sees them return to The Championship. If Steve McClaren was the answer, then you have to ask yourself what questions where the board actually asking?.
- Chelsea. I would have put them at Number 1 but with every new defeat that happens this season it becomes less and less of a surprise. Gary Cahill and John Terry looked below average and Branislav Ivanovic looked like he needed to be put out of misery, if he was a race horse he would have been sent to the glue factory. Cesc Fabregas looks like he’s been kidnapped and replaced by a body double this season and Pedro had to make do with the bench yesterday, although spare a thought for Nemanja Matic who as a sub then got subbed off himself. For all of Jose Mourinho’s talk of being the “Special One” he now has to show has special he is but managing a club that isn’t competing for a title. Alien territory for Mourinho, the big question has to be if he has the appetite for it?
- Sunderland, managed to turn 3 points into 1 as they threw away a 2 goal lead as West Ham capitlised on their second half numerical advantage to secure a point. With Dick Advocaat refusing to confirm whether he was staying after the game, it surely has to be a matter of if not when the Dutchman steps down before they get cast too far adrift to allow another firefighter in to salvage what’s left and save their season. The more things change at Sunderland the more they stay the same.
- Aston Villa another defeat and now 4 points off safety. Still a lot of Football to be played but as I said last week with a team so young I don’t who the leaders there are. No win since the opening day and now 4 defeats in a row, it’s commendable that Tim Sherwood is trying to blood youngsters but the balance seems to be wrong, maybe Villa are finally going to have drop down a league to be better off in the medium-long term as the mumbling of discontent is just starting to get a little louder at Villa Park.
- Bournemouth not a particularly bad day at the office but they were victims of their own downfall yesterday, a very sloppy mistake from an experienced Artur Boruc lead to Watford’s leveler while Glenn Murray missed a penalty which would have secured a win. The table doesn’t lie and at the moment there are definitely 3 teams worse off than them, but with Callum Wilson out for 6 months there maybe a slight concern as to where the goals will come from certainly up until January when they can get a new face in. It could be a nervy autumn for The Cherries.