EPL Gameweek 8 Review - Day 1

The wait of the die-hard fans of Club Football finally ended with all the major leagues coming into action. EPL came back to life after a gap of almost 2 weeks, with some mouth watering clashes. This article reviews the big matches.

Tottenham Hotspurs 2-4 Chelsea (Match Report)

The first game of the week was the most sought after match which had its own bit of history. Firstly, both the clubs were from London, thus making up for a derby match. Secondly, the Spurs finished in 4^th Place last season but were still denied a place in Champions League only because of Chelsea making an automatic qualification into it since they won the tournament.

Thirdly, Andre Villas Boas (AVB), the new manager of Spurs, had been sacked by Chelsea last season after serving for about 9 months only.

All these things made up for a clash to watch out for.

AVB caught in his own web

Chelsea, under the management of Roberto Di Matteo, had started the season handsomely by securing the first position and remaining unbeaten. Spurs also had picked up at this stage of the season. The match started with Chelsea’s players shaking hands with their former manager.

The first chance of the match came to Spurs’ William Gallas, who couldn’t find the back of the net after he got a good cross. Gallas can be termed as the match villain for the Spurs.

Chelsea got their first goal because of Gallas, who made a mistake of heading the ball into open space while trying to save it from a corner taken by Eden Hazard. Cahill wasted no time in making contact with the aerial ball and netting in a perfect volley.

At the beginning of the second half, Gallas did try to make up for his mistake by scoring the equalizer and minutes later it was Jermain Defoe who put Spurs ahead with a second goal. But it was Juan Mata who played a heroic spell, scoring two goals within 3 minutes. His first, came from the second mistake of Gallas, who while attempting to clear the ball, gave it as a gift to Mata. The Chelsea midfielder made a spectacular finish at the end.

His second was also a clinical finish, well-assisted by Hazard. The game lost all its pace after Chelsea went ahead. In the dying minutes, Spurs did try to score a point but Cech didn’t let that happen. Instead, Chelsea scored their 4^th goal from Sturridge-Mata linkup. The real goal scorers of Chelsea i.e. Cahill and Mata were actually bought by Chelsea during AVB’s reign, only to score against his new team. Chelsea remains undefeated, with Spurs coping with some jittery play.

Manchester United 4-2 Stoke City

Manchester United started the game at the second position, with 7 points adrift of Chelsea who had already won their match against Spurs. A loss here would have led to a long road of recovery, with other teams too ready to pounce on the second position. A win for Stoke City could have let them enter into the Top 10.

“United always does the hard way”

The game started with all the players wearing the black tops embedded with the wordings “Let’s Kick out Racism” (By the way, this happened during each game’s start). Manchester United started with their best attacking options present in Rooney, Robin Van Persie (RVP) and Welbeck. The defences had their problems with Nemanja Vidic not playing after his knee injury.

The game started with Stoke City’s goal in the first 10 minutes. Well, the goal was a complete gift from Manchester United. Scholes challenged Charlie Adam unnecessarily near the touchline, which provided a free-kick to Stoke. Adam took the free-kick and Rooney headed the ball into his own net after being under pressure from Ryan Shawcross just behind him. United were once again required to come from behind to win the game.

It was Stoke City is making aggressive moves into the penalty box of Manchester United and testing David De Gea too often. Manchester United’s GK once again proved his detractors wrong and made some fine saves. United levelled with the help of Rooney-RVP partnership. Rooney provided a subtle pass to RVP at the left corner, who provided an inch-perfect cross to Rooney, who in the meantime ran into the box and headed the ball into the net. Minutes before the end of the first half, RVP was left unmarked as he made a tight finish from Antonio Valencia’s low crosses.

Just minutes into the second half, Rooney provided a cross into the box and Welbeck scored from a flying header. The game was about to look tame from here on but things brightened up for Stoke City as Kightly scored past David De Gea, even though the penalty box was covered with many Red shirts, thus focusing on Manchester United’s defensive woes. Minutes later, RVP’s corner inside the box bounced onto Rooney’s legs, who was left unmarked amidst the hullabaloo of clearing it. The 4^th goal sealed Manchester United’s 3 points and secured their second position.

Other Results

Fulham 1-0 Aston Villa

Liverpool 1-0 Reading

Swansea 2-1 Wigan

West Brom 1-2 Man City

West Ham 4-1 Southampton

Stats of the Day

• Jermain Defoe and Wayne Rooney scored 200 goals of their club career in the Premier League.
• Wayne Rooney became the first player for Manchester United to score an own-goal as well as a legitimate goal in the same match since David Beckham did it in 2001.
• Today’s goals opened Rooney’s account of scores for Manchester United this season. But he did score an own goal before any goal for his club this time.
• All 4 goals for Manchester United resulted from crosses.