Prior to GW24, the main online talking points revolved around several different topics. Namely:
“Will Sanchez/Fabregas play”?
“Will Agüero score at least 4 goals against Hull”?
And, “Is it actually worth Aston Villa bothering to turn up to play Chelsea”?
Well, it's now Saturday evening, with the dust settling on Part One of this week's action , and we have some answers. “Neither”, “None” and “Not Really”.
Let's take a look at how the day unfolded.
With two big derbies on the Saturday programme, we began at lunchtime in North London with Tottenham taking on Arsenal. With both teams in formidable goal scoring form - Spurs with 5 in their last 2 games, and the Gunners with 7 in the same period - we were assured goals. Arsenal seized the advantage with Mesut Özil grabbing his second goal since returning from injury last weekend. Spurs continued to plug away, and were arguably the better team on the day. They were rewarded with first an equaliser, then a late winner from the most in-form striker in the Premier League. There is a reason why Harry Kane is now the highest owned player in the game (over 40% and rising) and that is his 12 goals in the 15 games he's played since manager Pochettino bowed to fan pressure to play him in the League. The Arsenal assist was provided by Giroud with only one assist being credited for Kane's brace; from Nabil Bentaleb. The match ended 2-1, and the week's popular transfer targets, Cazorla and Walcott provided a disappointing 2 and 1 point respectively. Bonus points were awarded as follows:
The 3pm kick-offs were upon us before the dust could settle. Leicester took on Crystal Palace in a game that finished with the points going back to South London. Pardew is proving that perhaps the Palace job was made for him, after being a square peg in a round hole up at Newcastle. A first half injury saw Scott Dann fail to turn out for the second half, but Palace managed to see the match out and win by a single goal courtesy of Joe Ledley. The assist was from former Fulham man Brede Hangeland, who had replaced the unfortunate Dann at the interval.
After both winning in GW23 following defeats in GW22, it was almost inevitable that Swansea vs Sunderland would be a draw. With this being only his third game back in the Premier League following his extended holiday in Toronto, Jermaine Defoe opened the scoring, latching onto the assist from Liam Bridcutt. That made it 2 goals and 1 assist since returning for Defoe, who will probably single-handedly rescue the Black Cats from the drop. He has already overtaken Jozy Altidore on the all-time goal scorers list. Swansea were not to be beaten though, and in his first game back from Asian Cup duty, Ki Sung-Yeung scored his 4th of the campaign. Former Spurs defender Kyle Naughton set him up, in only his second game for the Swans. He looks to be settling in well.
In the first game post 'Arry, QPR faced a Southampton side fresh from an unexpected home defeat to Swansea in the Super Sunday game last week. A risky inclusion by the interim regime at Loftus Road saw Adel Taarabt put his cakes and pies down to try and inspire a win by supporting Charlie Austin. It didn't pay off. The game was heading towards a goalless draw until Sadio Mané popped up with an injury time winner from Maya Yoshida's delivery. Cruel on Rangers? Perhaps. But let's remember; it was Southampton who were tipped for relegation prior to the start of the season, but they are proving time and time again to be a force to be reckoned with, and fantasy gold - certainly the defensive element of Koeman's team. The 0-1 win keeps the Saints in the Champions League places for the time being.
In an almost unheard of captain selection whitewash, it was Sergio Agüero and his Manchester City team mates who set out to rack up a cricket score against a terrible Hull City side who had come along just to make up the numbers. 93.4% of the Top 1000 managers had the Argentine as their captain. So what that he had failed to score in his 3 games since returning from injury. He was just saving all those goals up to unleash hell against Steve Bruce's boys surely? Er...no. With Hull failing to stick to the script, they opened the scoring in the first half with David Meyler picking up the rebound after Jake Livermore's effort struck Joe Hart's post. Hull then not only held on, but looked good for all 3 points. It wasn't to be as James Milner curled in a free kick in the 92nd minute following a foul on Sergio Agüero - so at least he provided some points! No goals in four games, but this was his second assist in the last two games so it's not all doom and gloom. Hull hearts were broken, but at least they climbed out of the bottom three (at the expense of Burnley) for at least 24 hours.
While the drama was unfolding at the Etihad, Mourinho's troops were down at Villa Park looking to help Aston Villa break more records. Not that they particularly wanted that accolade of going for 20 years without scoring a goal. Or something like that. The game kicked off, and barely 8 minutes in, Willian (with a nervous eye on new signing Cuadrado sat on the bench no doubt) assisted Hazard who scored his third goal in six games. All of these have come away from home, in a reversal from his previous six goals this season, which had all been scored at Stamford Bridge. As the clock ticked on, the dreaded “11 hours without a goal” milestone grew ever closer. Then, with just 40 seconds left before that 660th minute was reached, the impressive January window signing, Carles Gil, swung a cross in which was met by Jores Okore. A huge sigh of relief was (probably) heard around Villa Park. The equalising goal wasn't enough to halt the inevitable procession to the title by Chelsea though; full-backs Cesar Azpilicueta and Branislav Ivanovic combined, with the latter scoring what proved to the winner. Ivanovic has now scored 5 goals in his last 6 games against Villa. Not a bad statistic for a defender. What is surprising to note though, is that this was his first goal since GW3.
The final game of the day was the Merseyside derby, which saw an under-achieving Everton side take on a rapidly improving Liverpool, who have been boosted by the return to fitness of Daniel Sturridge. However, a place on the bench is all he could manage, while a non-reported injury to Leighton Baines saw the Toffees robbed of one of their best attacking threats. In what will no doubt be the last derby for Steven Gerrard (although he may get chance to sample the Manchester derby next year when he signs for City on loan), the game promised to be anything but a drab goalless draw. But as we know, some people break promises, and that's exactly how it ended. Good news for those with blue or red defenders, bad news for those relying on their attacking players.
There we have it then, halftime in GW24, with the 7 games delivering a pretty disappointing 12 goals. Blanks for Agüero, Silva, Sterling, Cazorla and other high ownership players. The red-hot form of Harry Kane continues unabated. The return of Jermaine Defoe who is proving that he has lost none of his sharpness since making a u-turn on his decision to semi-retire in the MLS.
Chelsea go 7 points clear, Man City continue to struggle with 3 points from 12 available. Hull scramble clear of the trapdoor, QPR look doomed regardless of any changes in circumstance (and with the news tonight that Austin looks to have picked up an injury which could spell disaster).
Some tasty fixtures to come tomorrow. Burnley take on West Brom at midday, hoping to disprove the “Pulis Effect” theory. Newcastle face Stoke straight after, with both teams full of confidence after convincing wins last time out. Finally, a decent West Ham unit host a Manchester United side hoping to leapfrog Southampton into third place. If they manage it, rivals City will be nervously looking over their shoulders; only 3 points will separate them with United playing Burnley at home on Wednesday night while City face a tricky trip to Stoke.
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