The tenth round of the English Premier League season got underway with Saturday’s early match between Manchester United and Spurs at the Old Trafford, a tussle between the second and third placed sides, though Spurs started the game without their high scoring talisman Harry Kane due to injury. In a game where the 2 sides generally cancelled each other out, United claimed the points with a 1-nil victory courtesy of Anthony Martial’s 81st minute winner.
In Saturday’s later games, Crystal Palace hosted West Ham at Selhurst Park, and fell 2-nil behind to goals from Javier Hernandez and a fine Andre Ayew, individual effort by the visitors, before second half goals from a Luka Milivojevic penalty given for a foul on Andros Townsend by Angelo Ogbonna, and an injury time equaliser from Wilfried Zaha when West Ham should have retained the ball rather than give it away, left both sides with a point from a 2-all draw.
Liverpool were 3-nil victors over visitors Huddersfield at Anfield, a first EPL meeting between former Borussia Dortmund coaches Jurgen Klopp and one of his assistants David Wagner, with second half goals from Daniel Sturridge, Roberto Firmino, and Georgini Wijnaldum, helping to erase the memory of Mohammed Salah’s saved penalty from the first half; Arsenal entertained Swansea where the visitors took a lead from Sam Clucas’s goal, before goals from Alexander Kolisinac and Aaron Ramsey secured 3 points from a 2-1 victory for the hosts; Watford hosted Stoke at Vicarage Road where Darren Fletcher’s first half volley gave the visitors a 1-nil victory and the 3 points, though Charlie Adam’s miss late on for the visitors could have made for a more comfortable win.
West Bromwich entertained Manchester City at the Hawthorns, which ended in a 3-2 win for the visitors, but which turned out to flatter the hosts after numerous chances went begging for City which could have led to a much more comfortable margin. City took a 10th minute lead through Leroy Sane, though Jay Rodriguez quickly equalised before Fernandinho restored the lead minutes later, and extended it in the second half through Raheem Sterling’s equaliser, only to see Matt Phillips reduce the deficit once again in injury time.
In the late kick off game, Bournemouth entertained Chelsea at the Vitality Stadium where Chelsea won the game 1-nil with a goal from Eden Hazard, though they will rue the fact that they squandered several chances to have produced a more emphatic scoreline .
Sunday saw Brighton host Southampton at the Amex Stadium, with Southampton taking the lead through Steven Davis’s header from a free kick rebounding from the left hand post, only to be pegged back by Glenn Murray’s headed equaliser with a slight deflection, his third goal in 2 consecutive games; whilst Leicester City entertained Everton at the King Power Stadium, with the game featuring one team being managed by a newly appointed manager in Claude Puel for Leicester, opposing a caretaker manager in David Unsworth for Everton, and Leicester prevailing in a 2-nil victory, the first being a rapid break from an Everton free kick, where Demarai Gray’s sprint left a few Everton players in his wake, before he released Riyad Mahrez on the right to feed into the 6 yard box for a driven finish from Jamie Vardy, followed by Jonjo Kenny’s sliced own goal past goalkeeper Jordan Pickford following Demarai Gray’s left wing cross.
Monday night’s game Burnley hosted Newcastle United at Turf Moor and secured a 1-0 win.
Manchester City lead the table with 28 points from 10 matches, a Premier League record, with Manchester United in second on 23 points from the same games, while Crystal Palace hold up the table with 4 points from 10 matches, and are already a little adrift of the 17th placed team, the one above the relegation places, being 4 points behind.
