Match Day 3 is in the books! Our first Top 2 match up of the young season, and it wasn’t Liverpool v. Manchester City….that’s the first surprise of the year. It was Liverpool v. Arsenal.
It was also the week of Top 6 meltdowns and disappointments. Manchester United looked like they had found a way to scrape out a late draw versus Crystal Palace with a goal in the 89th minute. I must say, I was bummed when I saw that…too bad for Crystal Palace. But fate intervened and Palace fired in a extra time winner in the 93rd minute….wow.
And then there is Tottenham,. An early season draw against Manchester City showed signs they were a contender. They had the talent to compete against the leagues best on the road and secure a draw. Maybe Tottenham was signaling they were ready to compete for a Title. They are a vewry talented team….but with a history of being a bit of a head case with strange losses. games where they disappear, etc. So, they are playing Newcastle, off to a terrible start and in the relegation zone with 0 points in their first two games. You know the end of the story already, of course, Tottenham fires a dud and is outplayed by Newcastle and loses 1-0. Their was a VAR shout for a penalty that did not get called and VAR did not reverse, but sounds like Newcastle was deserving. Tottenham does a very Spursy thing and loses.
Liverpool faced off against Arsenal in the Game of the Week. Arsenal is another strange club. A ton of talent, but just can’t find a way to win the big games and challenge for trophies or Titles lately. In a big early match up, Arsenal fell behind near half and never really challenged. Down 3-0 and getting a late goal to make it a little more respectable. It was just a rough day for Arsenal….Liverpool showed their class and dominated the game. It didn’t help that new defender David Luiz gave up a silly, sloppy PK against Salah early in the second half and then got beat badly by Salah later in the half. Here are some highlights.
Race for the Title & Champions League Top 4
We had 9 winners for the week:
- Aston Villa with a 2-0 win over Everton.
- Liverpool with a 3-1 win over Arsenal.
- Chelsea with the first win of the Lampard era, 3-2 over Norwich City.
- Crystal Palace late goal for the 2-1 win over Manchester United.
- Southampton 2-0 over Brighton.
- West ham with a 3-1 win over early disappointment., Watford.
- Leicester, an early surprise team, with a 2-1 win over Sheffield United.
- Manchester City with a solid 3-1 win over Bournemouth.
- Newcastle United with thwe stunner of the week, 1-0 over Tottenham.
Top of the Charts Win-Tie-Loss
- Liverpool 3-0-0. 9 Points.
- Manchester City 2-1-0 7 Points.
- Arsenal 2-0-1 6 Points
- Leicester City 1-2-0 5 Points
- Manchester United 1-1-1 4 Points.
- Burnley 1-1-1 4 Points.
Tottenham, Brighton, Sheffield United and Crystal Palace each with 4 coming in in spots 7-8-9-10.
Relegation Zone
Early days but someone has to be at the bottom. Now just one team that has not earned a point. Here are the teams that bring up the 18-19-20 spots.
18. Southampton 1-0-2 3 Points
19. Newcastle United 1-0-2 3 Points.
20. Watford 0-0-3 0 Points
Match Day 4 Preview
Game of the Week. #3 Arsenal v #7 Tottenham. In the Head Game Derby this week, we’ve got the two teams both looking for an early season win after both having very disappointing games last week. Who will gain some confidence and who will sink further into the abyss with a loss. It should be interesting.
High School soccer is fast approaching. More to follow in the coming weeks!