Manchester United are the MOST in-form team in the league despite their struggles, Villa Park is becoming a fortress under Unai Emery and Cole Palmer is showing City what they are missing.
10 THINGS WE LEARNED
The Premier League produced an exciting weekend with a number Man City and Chelsea played out a thrilling 4-4 draw at Stamford Bridge City had their pants dropped by the development team – It all started.
The final weekend of the Premier League before the international break brought more dazzling entertainment and surprising results.
Manchester United manager Erik ten Hag temporarily calmed the club’s chaotic form by beating Luton 1-0 at Old Trafford to move three points into the top four.
Chelsea and Man City played out A classic in England’s top flight as Cole Palmer scored in stoppage time at Stamford Bridge to salvage a 4-4 draw for the home team.
While Tottenham were beaten for only the second time this season, Wolves fought back to claim a famous win over Ange Postecoglou’s side at Molineux.
Mail Sport looks at the big talking points from another action-packed weekend of Premier League action.
Manchester United moved closer to the Premier League’s top four by beating Luton at Old Trafford
- Are Manchester United really in crisis?
Manchester United have been in a bleak situation since virtually the start of the season.
They are bottom of their Champions League group and at risk of crashing out, while also being eliminated from the Carabao Cup and currently outside the Premier League’s top four.
To make matters worse, their forward line is playing poorly with just 1 goal in the Premier League between strikers Marcus Rashford, Antony, Alejandro Garnacho, Rasmus Hojlund and Anthony Martial.
However, after defeating Luton 1-0, Erik Ten Hag’s team is in their best form in the last 5 matches in the Premier League with 4 wins and 1 loss.
Although these wins came from opponents in the bottom half of the table, their run showed their ability to get over the finish line – with United the only remaining team not to draw this season.
2. Villa Park turns into a fortress Aston Villa extended their home winning streak to 13 matches after defeating Fulham 3-1.
Unai Emery has led his team to 14 Premier League wins at Villa Park this year, as many as the previous two seasons combined.
John McGinn produced an outstanding performance against Fulham after a fine goal and won the most duels of any Villa player this season in the game (15).
England coach Gareth Southgate, who was on hand to watch Villa beat Brighton 6-1 earlier this season, praised the club’s form by rewarding midfielder Ezri Konsa with his first was called up to the England team.
Aston Villa extended their home winning streak to 13 matches after beating Fulham 3-1 Villa’s excellent home form left them fifth in the table ahead of the international break
3. Palmer shows Man City what they are missing For just the fifth time in Premier League history and the first time since 2009, fans at Stamford Bridge witnessed four equalizers tied in a thrilling 4-4 draw.
Man City academy product Cole Palmer – who joined Chelsea in the summer for £43m – showed great composure to score the final goal of the match from a stoppage-time penalty now and was also rewarded with his first call up to the England team.
However, despite the youth of the Chelsea team, Thiago Silva became the club’s oldest goalscorer at the 39 years old.
Cole Palmer equalized in injury time for Chelsea against his former club in a decisive match
4. The Nunez/Salah relationship is unparalleled Exclude Son Heung-min and James Maddison because Darwin Nunez and Mohamed Salah have created the most chances by combining (19) and provided more assists than any other duo in the league this season.
Throughout his career at Liverpool, all seven of Nunez’s assists have belonged to striker Salah.
The Egyptian reached 200 goals in English football with a brace in the 3-0 win over Brentford and joined Thierry Henry and Alan Shearer in scoring or assisting in 15 consecutive Premier home games League.
5. Sheffield United’s lucky goalscoring record Only Burnley have scored fewer goals than Sheffield United this season and as a team who have struggled to score, it always helps when their opponents score table at your place.
The Blades claimed a solid point against Brighton at the weekend and were aided by Adam Webster’s own goal, shortly after Mahmoud Dahoud was sent off for the home side.
This is the third time this season Sheffield United have benefited from own goals, accounting for 30% of their total, making them one of the teams to benefit the most from goals.
own goal in the Premier League.
Sheffield United earn a point against Brighton thanks to Adam Webster’s own goal, the third time they have benefited from an own goal this season
6. Good performance from set pieces always results in points in the Premier League The modern game is dominated by an increasing emphasis on free, open football.
But a good set-piece attack is still a resilient talent, capable of turning the tide of a match.
In West Ham’s 3-2 win over Nottingham Forest, they came back from 2-1 down thanks to two James Ward-Prowse corners that were converted into headers from Jarrod Bowen and Tomas Soucek.
Since the start of the 2020/21 Premier League season, Ward-Prowse has registered a remarkable 17 assists and is joined by only one other player, Aaron Cresswell, in providing more than 10 assists.
West Ham’s weekend win over Nottingham Forest was completed thanks to two corners from James Ward-Prowse
7. Bukayo Saka was extremely difficult to stop After contributing to Arsenal’s 3-1 win Against Burnley, Bukayo Saka has now scored or assisted against all 24 teams he has faced.
Premier League.
The winger’s header set up Leandro Trossard, who nodded as he headed home his 1,000th goal for the Emirates in all competitions.
The Arsenal star has developed a strong relationship with Trossard and has contributed to all three of the Belgian’s goals this season.
The chemistry between them could be very important when the Gunners’ number one striker, Gabriel Jesus, is having a hamstring problem.
8. Super sub Sarabia shows how it’s done Coming off the bench is a skill and subs around the world can watch Pablo Sarabia’s tapes this weekend after he played in Wolves’ 2-1 win over Tottenham Hotspur to see how it went.
The Spaniard came on in the 87th minute and scored four minutes later.
If the equalizer wasn’t enough, Sarabia then brought on Mario Lemina to seal the win.
He becomes the latest substitute introduced to score and assist in a Premier League match.
Pablo Sarabia featured for Wolves this weekend after coming off the bench to score and assist in the home win over Spurs
9. Dominic Solanke’s form After scoring two goals this weekend to help Bournemouth to a 2-0 win over injury-plagued Newcastle, Solanke took his league tally to six, with Erling Haaland and Callum Wilson the only strikers played better than the Cherries star.
His brace was the first time he has scored twice in a league match since facing Leicester in 2020, while Solanke equaled his league tally from last year.
Dominic Solanke scores twice against Newcastle to match his goalscoring tally from last season
10. Sean Dyche improves Everton Everton record an impressive 3-2 win over Crystal Palace, with a late goal from Idrissa Gueye, who left them four points better than at the same time last season.
Wins over Brentford, West Ham and Bournemouth also helped them improve their performance and points against Sheffield United and Brighton.
The Toffees also benefited from an increased attacking threat with Abdoulaye Doucouré scoring four goals, Dominic Calvert-Lewin in good form and summer signing Jack Harrison providing a goal and three assists in six games.
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