Man City 4-0 Bournemouth
Man City, barring one completely brain-dead moment from Nolito, were absolutely awesome. Their performance was absolutely terrific, as they ran the game with energy, tempo and precision.With David Silva, usually their metronome, out, new signing Ilkay Gundogan slotted into their midfield and did a perfect job filling the gap. Against a bigger and better team it might not have looked quite so seamless, but Bournemouth are not a good enough side to threaten City.
What struck me most about City's performance were the striking resemblances to the performance of Barcelona earlier the same day. Whilst it's very easy to say "it's only Bournemouth", it's just as easy to say "it's only Leganes" to the side that Barca beat 5-1. And in any case, it's not so much the levels of quality involved, as certainly Barcelona are a class above everyone right now, City included, but the style of play. The way that City dragged Bournemouth left and right, scoring goals through clinical passing rather than clinical finishing, is exactly the way that Barcelona finished off Leganes. Pep Guardiola is the master of utilising space, dragging defenders into areas of the pitch that they don't want to be and ensuring that his teams can create space to work goals. Even City's first goal, a clever free kick under the wall from De Bruyne, indicates that Pep is a stickler for attention to detail. He highlights little things, key areas that others miss and uses them to his advantage.
And of course, once again, at the heart of everything good City produced was that man Kevin De Bruyne. His execution of the first goal was terrific, and he was very much involved in every other goal. His vision and passing execution for the second and third goals was absolutely faultless, picking out Iheanacho and Sterling effortlessly and picking the correct pass to all but guarantee a goal. And he also clocked up an assist of his own with a wonderful pass into Gundogan for the fourth goal. In the absence of Silva, he was the man pulling all of the strings, and though Iheanacho and Sterling deserve a lot of credit for their movement, their runs and their unselfishness, the man running the game was the man behind them.
Pep Guardiola laughed off suggestions that City are on for the quadruple, and he was right to do so, but there's absolutely no reason why they shouldn't make good runs in both the FA and League Cups, and make the Champions League semi-finals. What's most important, however, is that at this point they are firm, firm favourites for the Premier League title (although they were at this point last season too and we all know how that turned out).
Watford 3-1 Man United
As mentioned, I want to address United properly at a later date, so I think I'll focus on how seriously impressive Watford were in this game. They were just the better side on the day, full of energy and creativity and pressing United high up the field. Capoue was excellent as ever, scoring a wonderful goal, Daryl Janmaat was a constant attacking outlet down the right, Troy Deeney was a menace and Pereyra looks an excellent signing. Naturally, the back three were all very impressive too, as even nowhere near their best, Man United still tested the Watford back line.
And the three goals that Watford scored were quality goals, catching United out of position and off-guard defensively and scoring with excellent finishes; the quality of chances created by both sides indicates that Watford very much deserved to win the game. Watford's second goal in particular was brilliantly worked and substitute Zuniga completely changed the game, scoring that second with a wonderful finish, before winning a penalty by bulling Bailly and rolling the abject Fellaini, who was at least partially at fault for all three goals.
Overall, after a very shaky start, Watford have turned in two dynamic and brutal attacking performances, and exposed both West Ham and Man United. It's early days yet, but they've been very impressive since the international break, and will be looking forward to playing Burnley next Monday.
Crystal Palace 4-1 Stoke
This was a truly horrific game to watch, even from a neutral point of view, let alone a Stoke point of view, such was the level of ineptitude on display. It would be unfair to suggest that Palace played badly, given that they dominated the game and thoroughly deserved to win it, scoring four and it could easily have been more. Andros Townsend in particular was undeniably excellent throughout, scoring a wonderful goal to cap a brilliant performance. However, even though Palace played well, defensively they were all over the place at times, and only an even greater ineptitude in Stoke's front line, as Jon Walters and Wilfried Bony both played as well for Palace as any of Palace's own players except Scott Dann and Townsend.
And Stoke's shoddy performing did not extend to just their attack but to their defence as well. Their defending for Palace's two early goals, both off set pieces was alarmingly bad, Tomkins pealing away unmarked at the back post and Jon Walters caught on his heels trying to defend it, before nobody tracked the run of Scott Dann, making it very easy for him to head home.
And Stoke had a few more moments of shambolic defending let in them, as they conspired to time and again make life easy for Palace. Although the third goal was unfortunate, as McArthur's shot took a huge deflection past Given, it had certainly been coming, as Palace threatened to run riot. By the time Arnautovic, Stoke's best player by a country mile on the day, rifled home a consolation goal, Stoke were well beaten, and on this evidence, look like serious relegation candidates.
Spurs 1-0 Sunderland
The scoreline is suggestive of the fact that this was a close game, and certainly it was a game that could have gone either way, as Sunderland missed one or two glorious chances on the counter-attack, but on the whole it cannot be argued that Spurs didn't deserve to win this game. Across the 90 minutes they absolutely battered Sunderland, taking shots from left, right and centre. Once again, Son was very impressive down the left hand side and Spurs certainly benefited from having Mousa Dembele back in the team, but the lack of cutting edge from Spurs can be pinpointed to another poor performance from Dele Alli, who flitted around on the peripheries of the game, and to the missing Eric Lamela and Christian Eriksen. Lamela certainly added something to Spurs' game when he came on, forcing a world class save from Sunderland keeper Jordan Pickford.
But the biggest question for Spurs after this game is once again their depth, as injuries threatened to run rampant. Dier and Dembele both limped off, but neither appear to be seriously injured, whilst Harry Kane's ankle injury does look very very bad news for Spurs. If he's out long term then Spurs' good start to the season (overall good although their form has been patchy) might come crashing down.
Team of the Weekend
This seems to be a popular idea elsewhere so I thought I'd try it, even if it's a little bit similar to some others...
GK: Jordan Pickford: Phenomenal save to deny Lamela kept Sunderland in the game. He was faultless.
RB: Seamus Coleman: Scored a wonderful and crucial goal but more importantly looked defensively solid for Everton. He's a really key player for them.
CB: Joel Matip: Matip was different class against Chelsea, bullying Diego Costa with his strength, but also reading the game brilliantly and covering for his central defensive partner Lovren who often puts himself in strange positions.
CB: Sebastian Prodl: In terms of defensive performances, it's hard to look past Prodl, who was excellent for Watford as they saw off United, and was a genuine man of the match contender.
LB: Christian Fuchs: Another who combined defensive solidity and assurance with an increased attacking threat, as he offered an outlet down the left for a resurgent Leicester.
CDM: Jordan Henderson: Henderson was the best player on the pitch against Chelsea, controlling the play, full of energy and capping it off with a stunning solo goal.
CDM: Etienne Capoue: A man who is hot goalscoring form. A great goal against United, but an all-round excellent display from Capoue. Couldn't just include one Watford player.
RM: Raheem Sterling: Sterling's movement, invention, running and passing all make him deserving of a spot. Brilliant this season, rejuvenated under Pep.
CAM: Kevin De Bruyne: As already mentioned, De Bruyne ran the show against Bournemouth. Fantastic player.
LM: Nacer Chadli: Two goals, two assists, what more is there to say as Chadli eviscerated a desperately poor West Ham side.
ST: Iheanacho: Every bit as impressive as Sterling, with terrific running off and on the ball, awareness of what's around him and the positioning of a clinical goalscorer.
Bench:
GK: Heurelho Gomes
CB: Scott Dann
CB: Scott Dann
RB: Daryl Janmaat
CM: Idrissa Gueye
CM: Idrissa Gueye
CAM: Georginio Wijnaldum
LM/RM: Andros Townsend
ST: Islam Slimani.
The Hard and Fast Section
- Wasps scored a whopping 70 to pummel Bristol.
- Saracens turned over Northampton Saints
- Yorkshire and Middlesex battle for the County Championship
- And it was heartbreak for GB in the Davis Cup.
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