The English Premier League was interrupted a week ago as a result of the passing away of her majesty, Queen Elizabeth II, leading to the postponement of all the games initially scheduled for the weekend (9 September to 11 September, 2022).
Seven games took place last weekend, while three games were postponed as a result of the Queen’s burial rites.
Arsenal headed into the international break at the top of the league table following seven rounds of games, and here are the results and talking points from matchday seven, however City continued their great start to the season with Erling Haaland again on the scoresheet.
Friday, 16 September.
Aston Villa 1 Southampton 0
Jacob Ramsey’s 41st-minute opener after Gavin Bazunu initially turned Ollie Watkins’ header onto the bar was enough to hand Steven Gerrard’s side their second win of the campaign.
Villa could have made it 2-0 late on in the game after the Southampton goalkeeper had come out to challenge for a corner in the hosts’ box, but they were not able to take advantage of the situation.
Both teams have won two games, drawn one and lost four of their opening seven games of 2022-23, with the Saints in 14th place, while the Villans are in 15th.
The result would have come as a relief for Gerrard after their struggles so far this term, and he will be hoping his men can continue from where they stopped when action resumes in October.
Nottingham Forest 2 Fulham 3
Forest’s suffered their fifth loss of the campaign in front of their home fans as Fulham secured their third victory to continue their fine start to life back in the top-flight.
Nigerian international striker Taiwo Awoniyi opened the scoring for Steve Cooper’s side 11 minutes into the game but the visitors bounced back shortly after play restarted, with Tosin Adarabioyo drawing the London side level with a header from Willian’s corner.
Joao Palhinha’s right-footed curler from the edge of the box put Fulham ahead three minutes later, and Harrison Reed sealed all three points for Marco Silva’s side three minutes later to put his side 3-1 up.
Lewis O’Brien pulled one back for the Reds with 13 minutes left on the clock, but it was too little, too late.
The result leaves Nottingham in 19th place in the table, while Fulham are now sixth.
Cooper’s men are struggling despite the massive recruitment they made in the summer, and maybe overhauling their whole squad was not a very good idea.
Saturday, 17 September.
Wolverhampton Wanderers 0 Manchester City 3
Wolves’ woeful start to the season continued when defending champions Man City came visiting, with the hosts suffering their third loss of the 2022-23 campaign.
Jack Grealish and the unstoppable Erling Haaland (who has now bagged 11 league goals – five clear of others) put Pep Guardiola‘s side two goals up in the first-half before Phil Foden wrapped things up in the second half.
City remain unbeaten, and their fifth win of the campaign leaves them in second place, a point behind Arsenal, while Bruno Lage’s side are 17th in the table, with only a win to their name so far.
The Portuguese is finding it tough to get the best out of his men, and that could come with consequences, sooner or later.
Newcastle United 1 AFC Bournemouth 1
The Magpies are struggling in front of goal, and it is affecting their chances of winning games, with weekend’s draw against the Cherries their fifth of the campaign, more than any side in the Premier League.
Brazilian goalkeeper Neto continually thwarted their efforts in the first-half, and they soon found themselves behind after Philip Billing put the visitors ahead with a cracker.
VAR came to Newcastle’s rescue some minutes later as replays showed that Jefferson Lerma handed the ball in his box, and Alexander Isak calmly put the ball into the net from the subsequent penalty kick to grab his first goal at St. James’ Park since joining from Real Sociedad in the summer.
Newcastle are 10th in the table after a win and a defeat, while Bournemouth are 12th, with two wins, two draws and three defeats so far.
Eddie Howe’s side could be challenging for the top-seven this season if they covert more chances on a regular basis.
Tottenham Hotspur 6 Leicester City 2
Heung-min Son was the star of the weekend with his astonishing performance off the bench against the Foxes.
The South Korean had failed to score in the opening six games of the campaign but bagged a 13-minute hat-trick to help Spurs maintain their unbeaten start to the Premier League season.
Youri Tielemans put Leicester ahead from the spot six minutes into the game but Harry Kane drew the hosts level two minutes later.
Eric Dier put Antonio Conte‘s men in front much later before James Maddison drew Brendan Rodgers’ men level heading into the break.
Rodrigo Bentancur restored Spurs’ lead two minutes after play restarted before Son ran riot after coming on as Richarlison’s replacement.
The result leaves Tottenham in third place, level on points with Man City after five wins and two draws, while Leicester are rooted to 20th after six defeats and a draw.
Rodgers does not have a lot of time left to turn things around, and it would not surprise many if he is gone before Premier League action resumes after the international break.
The former Liverpool manager is experiencing
the longest losing league run of his career after six successive defeats, and both parties may need to do something drastic to arrest this slide.
Sunday, 18 September.
Brentford 0 Arsenal 3
The Gunners continued their fine form, quickly putting the loss to Manchester United behind them to secure their sixth win of the season.
William Saliba and Gabriel Jesus put Mikel Arteta’s men into a comfortable lead in the opening 45 minutes before Fabio Vieira opened his account with a fine strike outside of the box four minutes after the restart.
The North London side lost their game of the opening weekend against Thomas Frank’s men last season but have improved significantly since, and many are tipping them to mount a strong title challenge this term. Could they?
Meanwhile, the loss leaves Brentford in ninth place following two wins, three draws and two losses so far this term.
Everton 1 West Ham United 0
Frank Lampard’s men finally picked up their first win of the campaign following four draws and two defeats, securing a hard-fought 1-0 win over the struggling Hammers at Goodison Park.
Neal Maupay’s 53rd-minute strike was enough to condemn David Moyes’ men to their fifth defeat of the season, with the result leaving them in 18th place, while Everton are now 13th.
While the Toffees boss would have been relieved to finally get a win and steer clear of the relegation places, pressure is surely starting to pile on his West Ham counterpart, and nothing can be ruled out where David Sullivan and David Gold are concerned.