With Chelsea away in Japan and Manchester City reeling from their first league defeat of the season to bitter rivals Manchester United, now seemed like the perfect time for the rest of the pack to close up to the top sides.
However, it was at the foot of the table where we saw the most action this week.
Good Week For:- QPR (Grabbed their first win of the season), Aston Villa (Notched a superb win over Liverpool in Anfield), Norwich (Continued their winning streak)
Bad Week For:- Sunderland (Another loss and now lost their main striker), Liverpool (Lost a very winnable game at home), Newcastle (Continue to struggle with loss at home)
Last week I said that Liverpool were hitting a purple patch of form and that the way they were going they would be a danger to the top teams in no time at all. Something else I’ve been saying for a while now in these roundups is that Christian Benteke is going to be a superstar in a few years’ time. This week my two predictions had a chance to prove themselves as Liverpool faced Aston Villa at Anfield. It was very much a typical Liverpool display, lots of possession and no conviction in front of goal and soon after it became more of a typical display as they fell behind to a beautiful counter attacking goal from Christian Benteke. Benteke was involved again as Villa doubled their lead before half time through Andreas Weimann and then scored himself again in the second half to send Liverpool crashing to a 3-1 defeat. It’s nice to see such a young squad do well and hopefully this’ll be the moment Villa kick-start their season.
Another two teams looking to kick-start their season were QPR and Fulham and they faced off at Loftus Road. QPR were looking to drop their unwanted record of having no wins in 17 games whereas Fulham were looking to find their feet again after a difficult few weeks. The home side had found a bit more form under Harry Redknapp but were just waiting for their breakthrough to set them on their way and they got that this weekend with a 2-1 win where the enigmatic Adel Taarabt shined for the home side.
Sunderland ran out 3-0 winners in midweek over Reading but this weekend faced a much tougher task in the form of a trip to Old Trafford. Sunderland hadn’t won a game at Old Trafford in almost 40 years but Manchester United’s stumbling defence may have given the visitors some confidence. However the long-awaited return of team captain, Nemanja Vidic will have eased defensive worries before the game for United and with the defensive shackles off, the Reds concentrated fully on attacking. Arguably the league leaders’ best 60 minutes of football all season put them 3-0 up and cruising to victory despite a consolation goal from Sunderland. Second placed Manchester City also ran out 3-1 winners against North East opposition in the form of Newcastle. Again, arguably the Manchester side’s best show of flowing football all season saw them take a deserved 2-0 lead before a Newcastle fight-back was stopped by Yaya Toure who helped secure the City win.
Elsewhere in the league, Everton experienced some controversy as Marouane Fellaini escaped punishment (for now) despite blatantly head-butting Stoke defender Ryan Shawcross. It was a rare moment of interest from an otherwise ordinary fixture between the two sides as they took a share of the spoils in a 1-1 draw. Norwich City continued their impressive streak after securing their fifth win in a row at home in a thoroughly entertaining clash against Wigan. A 2-1 win for Chris Hughton’s side saw the Canaries leap into the top half of the table and can be considered a big achievement to be ahead of such established sides like Liverpool at this stage in the season. West Brom and West Ham played out a dire 1-1 draw at the Hawthorns. It’s a step in the right direction for Steve Clarke’s side as they stopped their losing streak but with a trip to the league leaders coming up in two weeks, they need a good result in their next game to gain some momentum. With Chelsea away in Japan, Tottenham had the chance to close the gap on the Blues with a fixture at home to Swansea. In a tight encounter, the better team just about came away with the win thanks to a nice goal from Jan Vertonghen; the Belgian centre-back has settled in extremely well to AVB’s team and is playing a key role in taking them in the right direction. Another foreign star with a key role in their team is Santi Cazorla. The Spanish star scored a delightful hat-trick against Reading to lead Arsenal to a much more emphatic 5-2 victory than these two sides last encounter in the Capital One Cup.
With Chelsea back in action next week, the Champions League draw on Thursday and a busy Christmas period to look forward to how do you think your team is going to fare in the coming weeks? As always, we’d love to hear your thoughts so let us know in the comments section!
Results:-
Liverpool 1 – 3 Aston Villa
QPR 2 – 1 Fulham
Manchester United 3 – 1 Sunderland
Newcastle United 1 – 3 Manchester City
Stoke City 1 – 1 Everton
Norwich City 2 – 1 Wigan Athletic
West Bromwich Albion 1 – 1 West Ham United
Tottenham Hotspur 1 – 0 Swansea City
Reading 2 – 5 Arsenal