Premier League wrap – Gameweek 7

Gameweek 7 blew the title race wide open with Manchester City dropping their first points of the season at Wolves while Manchester United suffered another shocking defeat at Old... Read more
Premier League wrap - Gameweek 7

Gameweek 7 blew the title race wide open with Manchester City dropping their first points of the season at Wolves while Manchester United suffered another shocking defeat at Old Trafford.

 

The first game of weekend saw two in-form teams face-off with Aston Villa hosting Brighton.  Brighton were favourites going into this fixture with many writing Villa off before kickoff.  Villa blew Brighton away.  Unai Emery’s side were three goals up inside half an hour and the Seagulls struggled to respond.  Ansu fati made it 3-1 in the 50th minute but the onslaught continued.  Three more Villa goals in the second half secured a dominant 6-1 victory.

The MoneyMan, Oliver and Dylan all understandably did not see this result coming.  The MoneyMan backed a draw while Oliver and Dylan believed Brighton would leave Villa park with three points.

The Gunners travelled to Bournemouth looking to extend their unbeaten run to seven.  Unsurprisingly Mikel Arteta’s side were dominant.  Starboy Saka opened the scoring in the 17th minute before Martin Odegaard made it 2-0 just before the break.  The second half was more of the same with Kai Havertz scoring his first goal in an Arsenal shirt after converting a penalty to make it 3-0.  Ben White turned dominance into humiliation in the 93rd minute when he scored the fourth.  Arsenal won 4-0.

The MoneyMan, Oliver and Dylan all correctly predicted an Arsenal win.

Everton were hoping to build on their first win of the season when they hosted Luton at home.  This did not come to fruition.  Luton Town took the lead in the 24th minute thanks to defender Tom Lockyer.  Everton’s woes continued when Carlton Morris doubled the Hatters lead just after the half an hour mark.  Dominic Calvert-Lewin pulled a goal back just before halftime it ultimately wasn’t enough.  Luton got their first win of the season.  Everton are surely going down this season.

Few could have seen this result coming, but that is the nature of the Premier League.  The MoneyMan and Oliver predicted a draw while Dylan was made a fool by for the Toffees incorrectly predicting a Merseyside win.

The only consistent characteristic about Manchester United’s season so far is that they have been consistently terrible.  Crystal Palace travelled North to Old Trafford and managed to take all three points from the Red Devils.  Danish center-back Joachim Andersen scored a screamer to make it 1-0 in the 25th minute.  Manchester United dominated statistically with 77 percent possession and 19 shots on goal, however there was zero penetration from Erik Ten Hag’s side.  Crystal Palace won 1-0.

The MoneyMan and Oliver both backed United at Old Trafford but were let down by the home side.  Dylan was closer to the result but incorrectly predicted a 1-1 result.

Newcastle United have found their feet after a shaky start to the season and hosted Burnley at St James’ Park.  It did not take long for Eddie Howe’s men to make the breakthrough.  Miguel Almiron scored in the 14th minute to put the Magpies ahead.  Burnley did not give up and managed to stay in the game until the 76th minute when Alexander Isak scored to make it 2-0.  Newcastle won 2-0.

The MoneyMan, Oliver and Dylan all correctly predicted this result but were just off with their 3-1 scoreline.

West Ham United looked to bounce back after their heavy defeat at Anfield in gameweek 6 when they hosted a humiliated Sheffield United.  Jarrod Bowen continued his goalscoring run, making it five so far this campaign.  Tomas Soucek doubled the Hammers lead in the 37th minute.  Sheffield were not out of the game and continued to attack West Ham until the final whistle.  West Ham won 2-0.

Oliver and Dylan both correctly predicted a 2-0 West Ham win while The MoneyMan correctly the result.

Manchester City travelled to Wolves where the defending champions looked to continue their 100 percent record.  It was a nightmare start for the visitors, Ruben Dias turned the ball into his own net in the 13th minute to give Wolves a one goal lead.  City were dominant and managed to equalize thanks to Argentinian Julian Alvarez just before the hour mark.  Despite their dominance, City could not stay level.  Wolves forward Hwang Hee-Chan scored in the 66th minute to make it 2-1.  Wolves pulled off this seasons ultimate smash and grab, scoring two goals with just a single shot on target.

The MoneyMan, Oliver and Dylan all got this call wrong.  This result is what makes the Premier League such a great competition.

Tottenham Hostpurs faced Liverpool at the Tottenham Hotspur stadium to close off Saturday’s fixtures.  A game between giants that was engulfed by controversy has raised serious concerns regarding the future of Premier League officiating.  Liverpool were down to 10-men after Curtis Jones was given a straight red card.  The Reds continued to stay in the game and believed they went ahead after Luis Diaz finished a Mohamed Salah through ball.  This was not the case, a “Significant Human Error” in the VAR box resulted in the goal wrongly disallowed for offside.  Son Heung-Min then put the hosts ahead minutes later.  Cody Gakpo equalized in the 44th minute, promising a second half fight despite the events of the first.  Liverpool were down to nine-men with half an hour to play after Diogo Jota got a second yellow card.  Spurs pinned Liverpool back but could not break through.  A 96th minute Joel Matip own goal ended up being the difference.  Spurs won 2-1.

The MoneyMan was close with his scoreline prediction of 1-1 while Oliver and Dylan backed the wrong horse, predicting a 3-2 Liverpool win.

Sunday saw only one fixture take place.  Nottingham Forest hosted Brentford in what was set to be an exciting mid-table clash. The first 45 minutes was by no means exciting, it was looking like a classic 0-0.  Brentford started the second half well and took the lead thanks to Christian Norgaard in the 58th minute.  Seven minutes later Nicolas Dominguez equalized for Forest in what would be their only shot on target throughout the 90 minutes.  The final score was 1-1.

The MoneyMan correctly predicted a draw for this fixture.  Oliver incorrectly predicted a Brentford away win while Dylan incorrectly backed Forest

 

The final game of the round was a London derby.  Fulham would look to pour salt into a one-billion pound Chelsea wound at Craven Cottage.  Chelsea were dominant in the first half.  100-million-euro January signing Mykhailo Mudryk scored his first Premier League to put the Blues ahead in the 18th minute.  Just one minute later, Armando Broja scored his first goal in nearly a year after recovering from a serious knee injury to put Chelsea two goals ahead.  Fulham dominated possession but could not threaten Robert Sanchez consistently.  Chelsea won 2-0.

The MoneyMan and Oliver will be dissappointed Fulham were sloppy so early with both predicting a draw.  Dylan took a gamble on a 2-0 Fulham win and missed out.

This week was not friendly to The MoneyMan, Oliver and Dylan’s predictions.  The MoneyMan came first with four correct results while Oliver and Dylan only managed 3.  Oliver maintains his lead and now sits on 41, The MoneyMan is still in second with 39 and Dylan is in third with 36.

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