Tuesday 1 November 2016

Three front runners



Week 1 - Champions Leicester City began the new season with a 2-1 defeat at Newly promoted Hull City while in a thriller at the Emirates runners-up Arsenal took the lead against Liverpool, who hit back with 4 goals in quick succession with 2 from Coutinho, but ended up 4-3 losers after an unsuccessful fightback. Pep Guardiola’s Manchester City needed an early penalty and late own-goal to overcome Sunderland 2-1 at the Etihad while Mourinho’s Manchester United returned from Bournemouth with a 3-1 victory putting them on top of the table on goal difference after week one. Single goals gave Swansea and West Bromich Albion wins at Burnley and Crystal Palace respectively while there were 1-1 draws between Everton and Tottenham, Middlesbrough and Stoke; and Southampton and Watford who were the first team to see red this season. On Monday evening Chelsea scored to last minute 2-1 winner at home to West Ham United.
Week 2 – Zlatan Ibrahimovich scored both goals for Manchester United as they sent Southampton back with a defeat in the first ever Friday night Premier League match. On Saturday, last season’s runners-up, Arsenal, played out a goalless match at champions Leicester while Nolito added 2 late goals to an Aguera double to give Manchester City a flattering 4-1 win at Stoke and Chelsea came from behind with late goals to win 2-1 at Watford. Liverpool were stunned 2-0 at Burnley and Hull City won by the same scoreline with late goals at Swansea while West Brom lost their early lead and the match 2-1 at home to Everton and Crystal Palace fell to a late goal at Tottenham. On Sunday Middlesbrough were 2-1 winners at Sunderland while Bournemouth were defeated 1-0 at West Ham.
Week 3 – Leicester City and Arsenal picked up their first wins of the season with the champions overcoming Swansea 2-1 at home and Arsenal winning 3-1 at Watford while Manchester United broke the deadlock in stoppage time to continue their perfect start with a win at Hull. Chelsea also made it 3 wins out of 3 as they brushed Burnley aside 3-0 at Stamford Bridge, but Manchester City lead the way on goal difference after Raheem Sterling struck twice to dispose of West Ham United 3-1 at the Etihad. Crystal Palace scored their first goal of the season in the 90th minute to earn a 1-1 draw at home to Bournemouth and there were also 1-1 draws for Liverpool at Tottenham and Sunderland at Southampton. Stoke were defeated 1-0 at Everton and Middlesbrough played a goalless match at West Bromwich Albion.
Week 4 - Watford came from 2 Michail Antonio goals down to sensationally win 4-2 at West Ham while in the Manchester derby City won 2-1 at United and champions Leicester City were taken apart 4-1 at Liverpool with Roberto Firmino scoring twice for the Reds. Heung-min Son scored twice as Stoke were swept aside 4-0 at home to Tottenham while Arsenal came from behind at the Emirates to win 2-1 with a stoppage time penalty against Southampton and Crystal Palace picked up their first win of the season with a 2-1 victory at Middlesbrough. A single goal gave Bournemouth 3 points at home to West Bromwich Albion while Hull City earned a 1-1 draw with a late goal at Burnley and on Sunday Diego Costa scored the first and last goal of the match as Chelsea drew 2-2 at Swansea. Romelu Lukaku scored all 3 goals of the match for Everton in the space of 11 minutes at Sunderland on Monday evening.
Week 5 - On Friday evening Liverpool enjoyed a 2-1 win at Chelsea. At the weekend, for the second week in a row West Ham United were defeated 4-2 having scored twice after going 4 down at WBA while Manchester City battered Bournemouth 4-0 at the Etihad and there were 4-1 wins for Crystal Palace at home to Stoke City and Arsenal away to Hull City with Alexis Sanchez netting a brace. Everton continued their good start to the season with a 3-1 win at home to Middlesbrough and Leicester won 3-0 at home to Burnley with 2 goals from debutant Islam Slimani while Manchester United were beaten 3-1 at Watford and Sunderland fell to a single goal at Tottenham as did Swansea at Southampton.
Week 6 - Champions Leicester City were taken apart 4 times in the first half and were beaten 4-1 at Manchester United while Arsenal put Chelsea to the sword with a 3-0 victory they achieved before the break and ten-man Hull City were demolished 5-1 at Liverpool with James Milner netting twice from the spot. Aguero scored twice at Swansea as leaders Manchester City ran out 3-1 winners while Tottenham won 2-1 at Middlesbrough with Son scoring both goals for the visitors and Everton lost 1-0 at Bournemouth. Crystal Palace came from a Defoe double down to win 3-2 in stoppage time at Sunderland and a goal in stoppage time gave West Bromwich Albion a 1-1 draw at Stoke while on Sunday West Ham suffered another demoralising defeat losing 3-0 at home to Southampton and on Monday evening Burnley enjoyed a 2-0 home win over Watford.
Week 7 - Tottenham ended Manchester City's 100% record with a 2-0 win at White Hart Lane while Arsenal broke the deadlock with the last kick of the match at Burnley to keep up the pressure at the top and Liverpool came from behind to win 2-1 at Swansea while Chelsea struck twice at Hull. The week saw 6 draws starting on Friday night with Crystal Palace drawing 1-1 at Everton and there were 1-1 draws for West Brom at Sunderland, Middlesbrough at West Ham and for lowly Stoke City at Manchester United. Leicester City played a goalless match at home to Southampton and Watford shared 4 goals with their visitors from Bournemouth.             
 Week 8 - Maarten Stekelenburg saved 2 penalties for Everton who drew 1-1 at Manchester City and a last-minute goal gave Tottenham the same result at West Brom while 10-man Arsenal beat Swansea 3-2 with the help of a double from Theo Walcott at the Emirates to move into 2nd place behind City on goal difference. Stanislav scored twice as Hull were humiliated 6-1 at Bournemouth while Chelsea were 3 goals too strong for Leicester at the Bridge and a brace from Joe Allen gave Stoke 3 points at home to Sunderland. Ten-man West Ham held on to their single goal to win at Crystal Palace and Watford achieved the same scoreline at Middlesbrough while Southampton defeated Burnley 3-1 with Charlie Austin finding the net twice against his old club. On Monday evening Liverpool and Manchester United played out a goalless match.
Week 9 - Liverpool joined Manchester City and Arsenal at the top of the table separated by goal difference after a 2-1 home win over West Bromwich Albion as Manchester City drew 1-1 at home to Southampton and Arsenal were held to a goalless draw at home to Middlesbrough. Mourinho's Manchester United were taken apart 4-0 at Chelsea and Crystal Palace fell 3-1 at champions Leicester while Tottenham played a goalless game at Bournemouth and Watford settled for the same result at Swansea. Xherdan Shaqiri's brace gave Stoke a 2-0 victory at Hull while Burnley scored a last minute 2-1 winner at home to Everton and West Ham broke the deadlock with the last kick of the match in front of their home crowd against bottom-of-the-table Sunderland. 
Week 10 - The top three all scored 4 away from home and are still only separated by goal difference. Sergio Aguero and Ilkay Gundogan scored 2 apiece as Manchester City brushed WBA aside while substitute Olivier Giroud scored with his first 2 touches and Alexis Sanchez netted a brace as Arsenal buried Sunderland 4-1 and despite James McArthur heading 2 equalisers for Crystal Palace, Liverpool ran out 4-2 winners in South London. Chelsea won 2-0 at Southampton while Leicester drew 1-1 at Tottenham and ten-man Manchester United were held to a goalless draw at home to Burnley. Bournemouth lost 2-0 at Middlesbrough and Hull City fell to an own goal at Watford while Everton defeated West Ham 2-0 at Goddison and on Monday evening Wilfred Bony scored twice against his former club as Stoke City enjoyed a 3-1 home win over Swansea City.