The weekend witnessed plenty of action in the Premier League, with Liverpool and Manchester City both winning their fixtures, whilst other big clubs failed in their fixtures. Here is a look at some of the winners and losers. Bet on football here.
Winners
Title hopefuls
Manchester City put their Norwich nightmare behind them as they blew away Watford at the Etihad. Kevin De Bruyne, Sergio Aguero, Bernardo Silva and Riyad Mahrez were all unplayable. This should instill some much-needed confidence in their rejigged back four and you can take it that this was a real statement of intent to their title rivals. Elsewhere, Liverpool went five points clear at the top of the Premier League with a 2-1 win over Chelsea at Stamford Bridge. The Reds always looked fragile at the back, but they have the experience to grind out a result even when they are not playing very well.
Brendan Rogers’ project at Leicester City
With six games into the new Premier League season, Leicester City are looking pretty in third spot ahead of Arsenal in the table. Brendan Rogers has been able to transform this team and nothing typifies that than their home win against Tottenham. James Maddison’s fine strike completed the comeback for Leicester after they went 1-0 down in the first half.
West Ham United
West Ham continued their fine start to the campaign with a 2-0 victory over Manchester United. The result ensured that Manuel Pellegrini became the first manager to win league games against four different Manchester United managers (David Moyes, Louis van Gaal, Jose Mourinho and Ole Gunnar Solskjaer). They have now moved to fifth in the table – 12 places and seven points better off than at the same stage last season.
Unai Emery
Arsenal orchestrated a comeback to win 3-2 with ten men on the pitch against Aston Villa at the Emirates Stadium. There were more than a few questions asked about Unai Emery after they failed to protect a 2-0 lead against Watford last week. However, he managed to dispel fears whilst confirming that he is a coach who can react quickly when things are not going well.
Losers
Manchester United
Manchester United produced another uninspiring performance as they went down 2-0 against West Ham United. The visitors looked lethargic from the off and this allowed their opponents to dictate the tempo of the game. Their situation was worsened when Marcus Rashford limped off to become the latest name on a lengthy list of absentees.
Watford
Watford conceded five goals in the first 18 minutes when they played Manchester City in what became the most embarrassing defeat so far in the league. Quique Sanchez Flores was forced to make a change in the 33rd minute bringing on Roberto Pereyra for Dimitri Foulquier who had a debut to forget. They were completely outplayed and they will want to move on from this result soonest.
St. James Park faithful
The Newcastle faithful continued their protest over the weekend as the club recorded their lowest Premier League attendance for nine years. The situation was not made any better by the fact that the home side struggled to string a pass together and did not look sharp in attack. This could just be the beginning of another frustrating season if nothing is done.
Marco Silva
Pressure continued to pile on Everton manager Marcos Silva who saw his side lose 2-0 at home against Sheffield United. This was their third defeat in four league games and they have dropped to 14th in the table. Silva has limited time to turn things around or we could be in for a change of manager soon should the trend continue.