 | « Back to article | Print this article |
IMAGES from the Premier League matches played on Saturday.
Diaz double helps Liverpool to 3-0 win over Bournemouth
A quick-fire double from Luis Diaz set Liverpool on course for a comprehensive 3-0 Premier League home win against Bournemouth on Saturday as the Reds bounced back from last week's embarrassing 1-0 loss to Nottingham Forest.
Diaz was electric in the first half, papering over Liverpool's defensive frailties with a brilliant attacking display from the left wing that overpowered the visitors, with the game effectively over as a contest by halftime.
Arne Slot's side had the VAR to thank for chalking off an early Bournemouth goal from Antoine Semneyo due to offside, with the groans of the home fans who feared another shock defeat turning to whoops of joy as the goal was overturned.
The electric Diaz then went to work, forcing keeper Kepa Arrizabalaga into a fine save in the eighth minute, and he threatened several more times before finally beating Kepa to a long ball and rattling it home in the 26th minute.
Less than three minutes later Diaz had his second goal as Bournemouth were sliced open by a five-on-four break, the Colombian using his left foot to drive the ball between the legs of the advancing Kepa for his fifth goal in five league games.
Darwin Nunez then added a brilliant third, attacking down the right and slowing down before suddenly accelerating again to cut inside and curl home a left-foot shot to make it 3-0.
With the game out of the visitors' reach, there was little of note in the second half save for the Premier League debut of Liverpool's Enrico Chiesa, who came off the bench and provided a glimpse of the talent that prompted the Merseysiders to pay Juventus a reputed 10 million pounds ($13.32 million) for him.
Despite their offensive dominance, Liverpool still looked occasionally vulnerable at the back and keeper Caoimhin Kelleher had to claw away the ball after it hit the bar from a late corner, but Bournemouth could not find a way back into the game and the hosts ran out easy winners.
Solanke opens his account as Tottenham hit back to beat Brentford
Striker Dominic Solanke scored his first goal for Tottenham Hotspur as Ange Postecoglou's team recovered from conceding inside the opening minute to beat Brentford 3-1 in the Premier League on Saturday.
Bryan Mbeumo's acrobatic volley stunned the home crowd but 65-million-pound ($86.59-million) signing Solanke calmed the jitters when he tapped in a rebound in the eighth minute.
Brennan Johnson fired Tottenham ahead after 28 minutes but Tottenham's lead looked vulnerable in the second half until James Maddison was set up Son Heung-min to make it 3-1.
Tottenham's second win of the season lifted them to 10th with seven points from five games with Brentford, who have six points, dropping to 12th.
Jackson stars as Chelsea thrash West Ham
Nicolas Jackson scored twice to help Chelsea to a third straight away win with a 3-0 victory at London rivals West Ham United on Saturday that suggested new coach Enzo Maresca is getting his huge squad to gel.
Jackson capitalised on poor defending to find the net in the fourth minute when he sprinted down the wing, cut inside unchallenged and beat Alphonse Areola with a low shot.
Fourteen minutes later the Senegal striker was left in space by West Ham's defenders to receive a pass from Moises Caicedo and double Chelsea's lead.
West Ham were 3-0 down little more than a minute into the second half when Jackson, on the break, teed up Cole Palmer and the England striker fired home from the edge of the box.
Chelsea, who won 1-0 at Bournemouth last Saturday and 6-2 at Wolverhampton Wanderers in August, moved into second place in the Premier League table before the rest of the weekend's fixtures.
Maresca, the fourth permanent coach to work for Chelsea's American owners since they bought the club two years ago, has faced questions over his ability to create a coherent team following a latest spate of signings.
At the London Stadium on Saturday, he gave first starts to Jadon Sancho in attack and Tosin Adarabioyo in defence and played Wesley Fofana in the unusual position of right back due to injuries to Reece James and Malo Gusto.
But the reshuffling did not knock Chelsea off their stride as they took full advantage of West Ham's own adjustment to life under new coach Julen Lopetegui.
Maresca played down talk of Chelsea putting behind them a disappointing couple of seasons when they finished sixth and 12th in the Premier League, even as he became the first coach to win his first three away games in the Premier League since Pep Guardiola achieved the same feat at Manchester City in 2016.
"I think we are improving in many things, even if today we could attack better, we could defend better," he told reporters. "Especially we could manage the game much, much better... But overall I think we deserved to win the game."
Boos from the home fans rang out at half time and also when Lopetegui replaced winger Crysencio Summerville - who provided some much-needed spark on his first start for the Hammers - with Michail Antonio in the second half.
The hosts had a penalty claim denied after Summerville went down in a tangle with Fofana after half an hour but they did not seriously threaten Chelsea goalkeeper Robert Sanchez.
West Ham have won only one of their first five league games of the season.
"We were never in the game which is an awful thing to say," West Ham captain Jarrod Bowen told TNT Sports television.
"The goals that they scored were easy on our part - two gifts. You have to be switched on in every moment. On the pitch it felt quite easy to play through (us)," he said.
"A disappointing day all-round."
Fulham end Newcastle's unbeaten run
Fulham's Raul Jimenez, Emile Smith Rowe and Reiss Nelson all scored in a 3-1 victory over Newcastle United at Craven Cottage on Saturday, giving Eddie Howe's team their first defeat of the Premier League season.
Newcastle, whose solid start to the campaign came to a screeching halt, are sixth in the table on 10 points after five games, while Marco Silva's Fulham are eighth with eight points after their second victory this season.
"Sticking together and staying patient at times, we know Newcastle are a really strong team so we had to sit at times and be patient, get the ball and score," Smith Rowe said.
"Happy we took our chances, first few games we struggled to take our chances, so we're happy with our three goals. It starts off the pitch, it's like a family in there and we know we want to do everything for each other and want to work and want to win."
Newcastle briefly celebrated what they thought was an early lead in the fifth minute through Joelinton but his goal was ruled offside. Fulham capitalised on the visitors' error just 44 seconds later when Adama Traore found Jimenez inside the box and the Mexican fired home.
Smith Rowe extended Fulham's lead in the 22nd minute when Alex Iwobi threaded a pass to the former Arsenal midfielder, whose shot hit the hand of keeper Nick Pope before trickling over the line.
Smith Rowe has been in fine form at Fulham after a couple of injury-plagued seasons.
The Magpies kicked off the second half with far more urgency and shortly after the restart Harvey Barnes latched on to a through ball from Jacob Murphy and finished with a low shot to the far corner.
Howe's men squandered a bagful of chances at equalisers with Anthony Gordon, Jacob Murphy and Fabian Schar all going close. Schar missed an absolute sitter when he intercepted a short pass from Fulham keeper Bernd Leno to an unsuspecting Smith Rowe but fired his short-range shot wide of the net.
Nelson, a late-game substitute, put the match to bed in injury time with his first league goal, pouncing on Newcastle's defensive blunder to fire home from close range.
Everton secure first point of season in draw with Leicester
Struggling Everton missed the chance to win their first Premier League game of the season when they were held to a 1-1 draw at promoted Leicester City on Saturday, with Iliman Ndiaye's first-half strike cancelled out by the Foxes' Stephy Mavididi.
Jesper Lindstrom spurned a golden chance to put Everton ahead inside the opening four minutes but attacking midfielder Ndiaye spared his blushes eight minutes later to give the visitors the lead with his first Premier League goal.
Ndiaye, who moved to Merseyside from French club Olympique de Marseille in July, finished off a slick Everton move in the 12th minute, receiving a return pass from Ashley Young and weaving through two defenders to slot the ball past goalkeeper Mads Hermansen.
Dominic Calvert-Lewin, who has two Premier League goals this season, saw his shot on a counter-attack thwarted by Hermansen before Harry Winks's corner led to a scramble in the Everton box and Mavididi fired home in the 73rd minute.
Everton, who squandered a 2-0 lead in two successive Premier League matches before playing Leicester, are in 19th place alongside Wolverhampton Wanderers with one point from five matches and identical records.
Leicester sit in 15th spot with three points from their five matches. Leicester were relegated to the Championship on the final day of the 2022-23 season after they finished two points behind Everton, who ensured their survival in 17th place.
While Leicester struggled to manufacture any sense of urgency in their play in the first half, they put on a much-improved performance after the interval and kept up the pressure after drawing level.
Leicester manager Steve Cooper said his side had deserved the one point.
The start of the second half was delayed due to torrential rain at the King Power Stadium.
Everton were missing defenders Jarrad Branthwaite, Seamus Coleman, Nathan Patterson and Vitalii Mykolenko, as well as striker Armando Broja through injury, but manager Sean Dyche said it was a positive display from his side.
Late Morsy strike earns Ipswich 1-1 draw at Southampton
Sam Morsy’s deflected shot after 95 minutes arrowed into the top corner of the net to rescue a point for Ipswich Town in a 1-1 draw with Southampton at St Mary's Stadium on Saturday to leave both teams without a win in the Premier League this season.
A strike after five minutes from 18-year-old Tyler Dibling put the hosts ahead as Ipswich failed to clear the ball in their box and it was worked to Dibling, who beat a defender and coolly shot into the back of the net from 10 metres for his first goal in senior football.
Southampton also hit the post but the better chances fell to the visitors, who were wasteful with their finishing and found Aaron Ramsdale in good form in the home goal.
They managed to get an equaliser when a corner was cleared to Morsy deep into injury time and his fierce drive took a deflection off a defender and flew into the top corner.
"If you're away from home and score in the 95th minute it's a great feeling and great to celebrate with our fans and a hard earned point," Morsy said.
"I thought we were the better team today. It keeps the momentum going and the spirit we have built over the last couple of seasons and we never say die."
Ipswich rose to 16th place, having taken three points from a possible 15 at the start of the season, while Southampton are in 18th with their first point of the campaign.
While there will be relief all round, Ipswich remain winless, the first time they have failed to pick up a victory in their first five games of the season since 1984.
Southampton striker Ben Brereton Diaz extended his unfortunate record of Premier League games without a win to 19.
Ipswich’s tally of six shots on target was double that of their hosts and they will feel their point was deserved.
Sammie Szmodics wasted an excellent early chance at the back post and then headed straight at Ramsdale from eight metres.
Southampton came close to doubling their advantage against the run of play when Cameron Archer beat two defenders and rounded the goalkeeper but fired his shot on to the post.
Archer had another chance to score early in the second period but shot too close to the goalkeeper, and Southampton’s failure to kill the contest when they had the chance left the door open for Ipswich to claim a point.
Aston Villa score late to consign Wolves to bottom of table
Aston Villa denied Wolverhampton Wanderers their first victory in the Premier League this season after they came from behind to win their West Midlands derby 3-1 at Villa Park with two late goals on Saturday.
Matheus Cunha gave Wolves hope of overcoming their winless start to the season but three second-half goals from Villa leaves the visitors joint-bottom with Everton while Unai Emery's side are third with 12 points.
A debate has raged on about whether Emery should start Ollie Watkins or Jhon Duran -- or both together. But it was Watkins who scored the equaliser before Duran gave them a two-goal cushion with his fourth strike as a substitute this season.
"It shows the character and the togetherness we have here. We knew we were not good enough in the first half. We came out firing in the second half and punished them," Ezri Konsa, who gave Villa the lead, told BBC.
After a lively start, Wolves took the lead when Matheus Cunha anticipated a pass from Diego Carlos and timed his run to perfection to nick the ball and skip past a challenge before shooting from outside the box to beat Emi Martinez in goal.
While Villa looked lethargic after their midweek Champions League win away at Young Boys, Wolves played on the front foot and their players were lining up to shoot but Martinez came to the home side's rescue with smart saves.
At the other end, Wolves keeper Sam Johnstone was hardly called into action as Villa went into the break without a shot on target.
But Villa stepped up the pressure in the second half to peg Wolves back and it finally paid off when they levelled the game in the 73rd minute.
A scrap for the ball outside Wolves' box saw it fall to Morgan Rogers and he immediately released Watkins into the box where the English striker's shot deflected off Craig Dawson to beat the keeper for his third goal of the season.
"We want to win matches easier than we did... We were suffering in the first half but the second half was completely different," Emery said.
"I'm very happy because we won. It was very important we changed our energy and we played to win in the second half."
The goal put a spring in Villa's step and the winner came in the 88th minute when Youri Tielemans put in a delightful cross to the far post where Konsa fired home to bring the home crowd to their feet.
With the three points sealed and 13 minutes added on to account for an earlier injury to Yerson Mosquera, Villa added a third on a counter-attack when Rogers claimed his second assist by finding Duran unmarked in the box for an easy tap-in.
