Gameweek 5 of the Premier League featured plenty of exciting football and thrilling drama. We take a look at the major talking points from the action.
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If you needed a minute to compose yourself after a frenetic round of Premier League action, you are not alone. The fifth gameweek saw goals galore, as well as a few shock results that few saw coming. Aside from that, the top of the table is starting to get a little crowded whereas the relegation contenders are becoming more and more evident. As such, this was a week where quite a few things became clear to fans and experts. Manchester United, Liverpool and Chelsea now sit firm favourites but of course, it’s still early days. Things can and will change in the coming few weeks.
☝️ @ChelseaFC and @LFC share identical records atop the #PL table after Matchweek 5 ☝️ pic.twitter.com/dJ0sApD4KF
— Premier League (@premierleague) September 19, 2021
With that in mind, let’s take a look at the five major talking points from Gameweek 5.
Manchester United and West Ham United ended 2-1 in favour of the former, but the scoreline does little justice to the nature of the match. Especially the ending of the match. Jesse Lingard, whose errant backpass consigned United to a defeat in the mid-week Champions League fixture against Young Boys, redeemed himself with a well-taken winner. That it came against the side he was on loan at last season would have only made things sweeter.
But the chaos that defined the match came about only in the last few minutes. United thought they had a penalty when Cristiano Ronaldo – who scored their equaliser – was tripped. No bueno, said the referee. West Ham then got a penalty for which Mark Noble was subbed on. His shot was saved by David de Gea, sparking delirious celebrations among the away fans and team. Phew. To quote Sir Alex Ferguson, “football, bloody hell”.
Before the game, Chelsea and Tottenham Hotspur fans united to say goodbye to Jimmy Greaves – an English football legend who turned out for both clubs. The hostilities were back on once the whistle was blown and Tottenham actually had the better first half. They pressed relentlessly and denied Chelsea much room to attack. Spurs were also unlucky not to score at least once.
Come the second half, however, and Blues boss Thomas Tuchel made a change that defined the game. He brought on N’Golo Kante, whose harried pressing pushed Spurs back. This gave Chelsea room to dominate and they were ruthless in front of goal, scoring thrice and ascending to the top of the league. Whisper it for now, but everything about this side screams “title contenders”.
Liverpool are currently second in the league based only on alphabetical order. Yes, really. Them and Chelsea are level on points, goal difference, goals scored and goals conceded. Before Chelsea went out and beat Spurs, Liverpool handed out a 3-0 drubbing of their own to Crystal Palace. In doing so, they showed that the title win of 2019-20 was not something they want to be a one-off.
Jurgen Klopp’s men suffered massively from a slow start last season. They appear to have taken that lesson to heart, coming out roaring in the early fixtures and showing an edge missing at times last season. The key to a title challenge will be to sustain this form in the long run.
Literally no one expected Brighton and Hove Albion to be in the top four even in the early parts of the season. Yet, a magnificent run of form sees them sit ahead of defending champions Manchester City – who played out a goalless draw against Southampton at home. The fact that Brighton beat Leicester City, however, was something of a geniune surprise.
The Foxes are a team on the up and, under Brendan Rodgers, have won an FA Cup and a Community Shield. Yet Brighton beat them in a tight game thanks to taking their chances. Given Brighton underperforming the xG (expected goals) was a running gag last year, is this the season they outdo those expectations? Time will tell. But there’s no denying the wonderful job Graham Potter has done with the side.
Aston Villa’s results have been all over the place so far this season. They started out with a 3-2 loss to Watford, then beat Newcastle 2-0. A 1-1 draw against Brentford followed, before the 3-0 loss to Chelsea. Now they went and beat Everton 3-0. Aside from this being a harsh reality check for Everton, it further underlined their unpredictable form to start this season.
In some sense, it is understandable. They lost their best player in Jack Grealish and the newer signings will take some time to adapt. Furthermore, that 3-0 loss to Chelsea is more a case of the Blues being clinical than Villa being poor. But Dean Smith’s men continue to look a solid unit capable of beating anyone, even with the unpredicatble results. Once consistency kicks in they will be even more dangerous.
That’s it for now everyone. See you next week.
