All Saints Down at Southampton

Leicester too hot for Saints

The Premier League matches this week gave another reminder of why it’s considered the best league in World Club football. Lets forget about the previous week’s snooze fest of games and celebrate the return of action and great entertaining spectacles. And where best to start than the thrilling game between Southampton and Leicester (in fairness it was a one-sided affair).

Leicester are performing like they did in their championship winning 2015-16 season and are showing that same level of consistency that got them to the summit of the League. Even with that being said I don’t think Southampton anticipated that they would be up against a ruthless Leicester side. Chillwell opened the scoring for the visitors after 10 minutes after much pressure from an attacking Leicester side.

Southampton knew they’d be in for a tough night after Ryan Bertrand was red carded in the 12th minute of the game (that’s the last thing you need against a fully confident attacking team). As predicted, in no less than 5 minutes after Bertrand’s sending off, Leicester found the net again through Tielemans in the 17th minute. From this point on the flood gates opened and the Saints fell to pieces (you have to feel for their fans….nobody wants to see their team lose in that manner).

Leicester would find the net on three more occasions before the second half thanks to goals from Vardy and Perez. They both added another three more goals in the second half with Maddison also getting in on the act. The game ended 9-0 to Leicester who set a new premier league away win record for goals scored in a single game and tied with the all time record for goals scored in a match (hope that makes sense hehe!!). Credit to Brendan Rodgers for getting this crop of players performing to a high consistent standard (I’m sure Solskjaer can learn a thing or two….ouch!).

Remember this is a Leicester side without Maguire, Kante and Mahrez. Yet they are sitting 3rd in the table and have every ambition to finish in the top four (and why not). As we have learnt from history you cannot rule out a Leicester team, especially a team playing with such confidence and great believe. However, does this mean I’ll be putting money on Leicester to win the league? errr NO!!! Definitely not. I’ve tipped Liverpool from the start and I’m sticking with the Reds. Besides the odds aren’t as favourable as they were in 2015-16 (I’m just saying).

Meanwhile, Liverpool who are still searching for that elusive (very elusive) first Premier League title took on Spurs at Anfield. Harry Kane was on hand to put Tottenham ahead after 48 seconds when he headed in a rebounded effort from Son’s shot. Liverpool didn’t give Spurs any room to breathe and were relentless in their attacking display. Tottenham stand in goal keeper Paulo Gazzaniga earned his keep with some remarkable saves to deny the Liverpool front trio.

Liverpool equalised in the second half through club captain Henderson in the 52nd minute before Salah converted a very contentious penalty in the 75th minute. Liverpool remain 7 points clear at the top and head to the next round of fixtures with an unbeaten record. Spurs however do have a lot of positives to take from the game. They were very energetic, pressed well and who knows, if Son’s shot hadn’t hit the crossbar Tottenham would have been two goals up at that stage and the game may have had a different outcome (but nooooo he just had to blast the ball).

On the other side of North London, Arsenal threw away a 2 goal lead against Crystal Palace having been put ahead by Sokratis in the 7th minute and Luiz in the 9th minute respectively. Palace fought back and pulled one back through Milivojevic in the 32nd minute before Ayew grabbed the leveler in the 52nd minute of play.

The game itself will be remembered for Arsenal fans sarcastically cheering for their team captain Xhaka before loudly booing him off when being substituted. Xhaka was visibly frustrated and retaliated by tossing the captains arm band on the floor before mouthing some explicit contents at the home supporters and for a moment looked like he was going to throw his shirt on the ground too but thought better of it (Me, well I loved every minute and moment of the drama hahaha!!!). Check out AF TV on YouTube for Arsenal fans reaction, it’s absolutely comical.

There were wins for Manchester United who beat Norwich 3-1 and Manchester City who comfortably dispatched Aston Villa 3-0 at the Etihad. Brighton defeated Everton 3-2 in a closely contested game with Digne rabbing a late winner in injury time. Chelsea and Lambard maintain their current form after another impressive display away to Burnley with a 4-2 win. Pulisic netted a hat-trick whilst Willian contributed the other goal. West Ham drew 1-1 with Sheffield United as did Newcastle against Wolves and Watford drew 0-0 against Bournemouth.

xhaka 1