Premier League 2020/21: Saturday Report (31/10/20)
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Three of the top 4 teams of last season played yesterday and each of them won. Manchester City defeated Sheffield United away, while Chelsea defeated Burnley away. Liverpool hosted West Ham United and made a comeback victory to equal their club record of unbeaten home matches.
Sheffield United v Manchester City
Manchester City allowed Sheffield only one shot on target while they failed to finish off their own chances. Starting in place of Sergio Aguero and Gabriel Jesus, Ferran Torres had many chances to score his first Premier League goal. However he was wasteful in front of goal and City were hurt most. Kyle Walker stepped up in the 28th minute and scored from long range and that was the difference between both teams. On the other side John Lundstram failed to score from a low cross by Sander Berge.
Kevin De Bruyne and Raheem Sterling wasted the chances they got. Rodrigo hit a long range shot that Aaron Ramsdale cleared weakly. Arguably the latter produced the save of the match when he stopped Riyad Mahrez’z free kick from going in.
The absence of a natural finisher hurt City and that allowed Sheffield to keep threatening them. However both teams were poor in finishing, with Sheffield the worst. In the end Kyle Walker’s goal against his boyhood club was enough for Manchester City to earn three points.
Burnley v Chelsea
Sean Dyche’s Burnley hosted Frank Lampard’s Chelsea at Turf Moor. Christian Pulisic got injured in warm-up and had to be replaced by Timo Werner. Chelsea comfortably won the match 3-0, with goals from Hakim Ziyech, Kurt Zouma and Timo Werner. This was an excellent attacking display showcased by Frank Lampard’s men. Hakim Ziyech put in a brilliant performance and N’Golo Kante, who slotted into his favoured position was a 9/10
This win takes them to fourth in the table, behind Liverpool, Everton and Wolves. Aston Villa have two games in hand and Leicester is to play yet and that place is up for grabs too.
Frank Lampard needs to stick to a formation now which would accommodate all his signings and favoured players. He hasn’t since the start of the season and a lack of rigidity will definitely cost his team.
Liverpool v West Ham United
Liverpool began this match by trailing to a 10th minute goal from Pablo Fornals. They were very poor in the entirety of the first half. The front three were blocked by a back five while the midfield lacked creativity to unlock an organized defensive structure. Liverpool is suffering through a major injury crisis but the results somewhat differ. Thiago, Naby Keita, Joel Matip, Virgil Van Dijk, Fabinho, Alex Oxlade Chamberlain and Konstantinos Tsimikas are all first team starters and all of them are injured.
Mohamed Salah made the most of Arthur Masuaku tripping him in the West Ham penalty box and scored from the resulting penalty to equalize. They started the second half better and created more chances and pegged West Ham back in their own box. Jurgen Klopp made a double substitution of Diogo Jota and Xherdan Shaqiri for Roberto Firmino and Curtis Jones. It was these two substitutes who combined to give Liverpool the lead and eventually the win.
Xherdan Shaqiri sent a delightful throughball through the legs of Fabian Balbuena and Jota scored the lead goal from there. Earlier Jota had scored a goal, but it was disallowed because of a foul in the build-up.
This win saw Liverpool go top of the table, with second placed Everton playing today. Jota became the first Liverpool player since Luis Garcia to score goals in each of his first three home games. Liverpool next have a tough week as they face Atalanta and Manchester City.
Also read: Liverpool v West Ham United match report
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FS Desk
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