18 teams in the Premier League had the opportunity to play themselves over the weekend with the exception of Arsenal that takes on West Brom later today.
As if having all their Champions League representatives play on Saturday was not surprise enough, the English FA fixed only one game for Sunday. Despite all the surprises, it was still an amazing weekend of Premier League football.
So, what did we learn after all of the weekend’s action?
- Morata can score… with his feet
Before the game against Stoke City, Alvaro Morata had scored three goals for Chelsea, all coming via headers. He was slowly becoming the Headmaster to Chelsea fans. Even the sole assist he had to his name before the Saturday 3 o’clock kick-off also came via a header.
But by the second minute of the game at the Bet365 stadium, Morata had already scored with his right foot. At the end of 90 minutes, the Spanish striker had scored a hat-trick – all with his right foot!
Morata’s scoring ability has never been in doubt since he set foot in England. But for those who ever doubted his ability to rattle the net with his legs, he proved them wrong this past weekend.
- Ronald Koeman lives to fight another match-day
In football, it can be especially hard to be pin-point specific about when a manager will get the axe. He may be getting the results and still get the axe, no thanks to random club owners. If he’s not getting the necessary results, he’s obviously walking a steep edge and can be sacked at anytime.
The latter was the case for Everton’s Koeman. His side was on a run of 3 consecutive losses in the Premier League. They were already swimming in relegation waters and it seemed the first goal by Bournemouth’s J. King would condemn them to another defeat.
After two goals by Niasse who came on as a substitute, Koeman must have heaved a sigh of relief. Everton have now moved up to 14th on the log and there won’t be any emergency board meeting with the executives for Ronald Koeman, at least not anytime soon.
- Beautiful goals
In the Leicester game, Philippe Coutinho was eased back into the Liverpool team by Jurgen Klopp after the summer transfer saga. And he reminded Liverpool fans what they would have been missing when he curled in a beauty of a free-kick from just outside the Foxes’ 18-yard area.
In Manchester, it was Fabian Delph who was scoring Manchester City’s 5th of the day with an amazing strike that left the Crystal Palace goalie for dead and piled even more pressure on Roy Hodgson’s head.
- A weekend for the away sides
Of all the nine games played over the weekend, there were only three home wins (Manchester City, Everton and Brighton), one draw and 5 away wins (Manchester United, Tottenham, Chelsea, Watford, Liverpool).
Most of them didn’t come easy. Liverpool needed Mignolet to save a penalty while Man. Utd needed to keep the Saints at bay for the most part of the game. The same can also be said about Tottenham who warded off a late comeback by West Ham.
Of course, these results again confirmed the “toughness” of the Premier League and that’s what makes it exciting to watch.
Will the Gooners be able to defeat Tony Pulis’ side to leapfrog them on the league table?
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We have more action in the UEFA Champions League and the Europa League before Gameweek 7 in the Premier League. Sounds like it will be an amazing week of non-stop football action. That being said, which team are you looking forward to seeing this week? Let us know by leaving us a comment.
Great week ahead!
Tags: English premier league, EPL, gameweek 6, gameweek 6 lessons, PL
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