As of today, the Premier League is postponed until April 30. This is the newest update that we have received since the league was postponed at the beginning of March.
The Premier League, like may leagues, are trying to figure out the best way to carry out the final third of the season. As a result, they are all hoping for the best and will resume play in May. There have been a few ideas of finishing the season where it is, first place gets first place and the bottom three get relegated. There are a lot of ethical decisions involved in this situation that needs to be made.
One of the key issues at hand is the payment of matchday employees. This is tragic as there are no games which means no pay for a large number of employees within clubs. One of the greatest things to come out of this situation is the fact that clubs, players, and owners have all donated to most of the club’s matchday employees.
This is a tough time for everyone, the sports world or not, and it is fantastic to see everyone come together in order to come out stronger.
Finally, the Premier League has resumed its normal times and dates. This week was a high scoring one as 6 games had 3 goals or more. Typically, 3 goals in a football match are considered a high scoring game.
The first game that caught my eye was the battle for the top four and the mighty Champions League spot. Chelsea, the current fourth place holders, hosted Tottenham. Both teams are arguably in a poor run of form. Chelsea was all over Tottenham on the scoresheet, literally. All three goals in this thrilling 2-1 Blues victory came from a Chelsea player. After Tammy Abraham’s poor run of form and tweak in his leg, the league vet, Oliver Giroud, stepped up to clean up a sloppy mess in the Spurs penalty area. Alonso added one more right after the half to make it 2- nil. Tottenham under their new manager, Jose Mourinho, has been insurmountably unimpressive and quite toothless in attack. Although injuries have struck them, they still have quality in their side that should be filling the void. To make things interesting, Antonio Rudiger scored an own goal to make it 2-1 late on. Chelsea was able to ward off anything that the Spurs threw at them and retained a grip on the coveted Champions League position.
Alonso strikes the ball cleanly past the defender and goalkeeper into the far corner.
The second game of note was the 5-goal thriller between the two midtable teams, Arsenal and Everton. This game was exciting as you never know what you’re going to get from these two sides. Defensive errors, forwards shooting blanks in front of goal and an overall lapse in concentration have plagued these two sides all season. To make matters more interesting, they both have relatively new managers with polar opposite playing styles than the manager before them. This game started off with a bang. In the 2′ minute, Everton took the lead through an acrobatic finish worthy of a watch. After that, Arsenal responded with two quickfire goals only six minutes apart. On the brink of halftime, a goalmouth scramble saw Everton’s Riharlison sneak the ball over the line to make it 2-2 going into halftime. Arsenal said whatever you can do Everton I can do better. The start of the second half saw Arsenal’s in-form Aubameyang score just one minute after play resumed. His second goal of the day saw off Everton moving the gunners 5 points off of European football.
Calvert-Lewin narrowly misses Luiz’s head as he scores a stunning opener.
This week was blessed with high scoring games, but the most anticipated game was between second-place Manchester City and third-place Leicester City. This was not a goal-fest, in fact, it was quite a cagey affair. The two sides were locked in and did not want to give up the first goal. In the 62′ minute City was awarded a penalty as a result of a Leicester handball- after being reviewed by VAR, of course. City’s penalty woes continued as Sergio Aguero stepped up and missed it going down the middle. City has missed 5 of their last 7 penalties which is nothing short of a calamity. Luckily, Jesus their second striker was subbed on late in the game and received a perfectly timed pass from the former Leicester city man, Mahrez, and beat Schmeichel at the near post. Jesus was only on for 3 minutes before finding the net. City completed the double over Leicester this season giving them a vital 6 points against the closest team in the standings.
Jesus and Mahrez embrace after a moment of individual brilliance from both of the players.
That’s all for this week’s roundup! Let’s see what next weekend brings…
Hi all- this past match week was a little unsettled. The games were not played at their normal times as they are finally getting into the busiest time of the season.
As a result, we were gifted a game on Friday between Wolverhampton Wanders, Wolves for short, and Leicester City. This game particularly was a snooze fest and ended 0-0. Leicester went down to ten men as a result of two yellow cards to their midfielder Hamza Choudhury. Luckily for the city, they were able to ward off the Wolves and share the spoils.
Saturday saw the league leaders, Liverpool, take on the bottom feeders, Norwich. Now Liverpool has been unbeaten all year with only dropping two points. Their tear of the Premier League continued by winning 1-0. But have they started to show cracks? As of late, they haven’t been as convincing in their wins. More and more 1-0 and 2-0 wins are a result. Yes, they are winning, but will they burn out and fall short of being crowned only the second-ever “invincibles?” The only other team to complete this feat was Arsenal back in 2003-2004 season winning 26 games and drawing 12 games. Currently, Liverpool is one game off of tying the “Invincibles” on wins in a single season. This is a miraculous feat in itself, but can they go until May without losing? I don’t think so, but that’s just me.
Sunday did not hold back and blessed us 9 goals in two games. Arsenal won by a fantastic score of 4-0 over struggling Newcastle United. Tottenham Hotspur, better known as Spurs, is looking for a spot in the Champions League Qualifications for next year, was given a temporary boost by beating out Aston Villa by a score of 3-2. After Alderwireld gave Aston Villa the early lead by conceding an own goal, he quickly corrected his mistake by putting it in Villas net the next time around. Son Heung-Min netted two goals, but at what cost? Son fractured his forearm and may be out until the end of the league in May. More injury woes for Spurs as Son is the latest star to go down with a long term injury alongside Harry Kane and Moussa Sissoko.
Son’s injury appears to be much worse than initial observations.
On Monday we saw Manchester United play Chelsea. A top table battle. United ended up winning the game 2-0, but not after controversy. Video Assistant Review, better known as VAR had its handprints all over this game. VAR is new to the sport and is far from perfect. As a result, dodgy calls were made as Harry Maguire escaped a red card early in the game when it was a clear and obvious red card offense. Manchester United benefitted heavily from VAR in this game. Chelsea had two goals ruled out, one for a foul in the buildup to the goal and an offsides call. To make matters worse for Chelsea, Harry Maguire, who escaped a red, went on to score the match-winning goal- his first after his mega-million transfer to United making him the most expensive defender in the world.
Maguire towers over two Chelsea defenders on a United corner kick.
Lastly, Manchester City won neat and tidy at home to West Ham United by a score of 2-0. City has been in the spotlight a lot this week as they recently were banned 2 years from the Champions League for breaking rules within UEFA and the financial rules that are in place. Certainly, this puts a damper on all of the incredible feats that they produced over the last two years. City is set to appeal the ban and aim to be back in the Champions League next season.
Overall, another busy week and nothing short of pure entertainment in one of the most entertaining leagues in the world.
As it stands after 26 matchweeks, the table looks as such. Will there be changes? Can Liverpool go unbeaten? Who takes the Champions League spots? Keep watching and reading next week to find out more twists and turns!
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