EPL 2020/21 - Game Week 3

In Game Week One of the new season, it produced 23 goals in eight  matches. Game Week Two was even more furious where Everton, Leeds and Tottenham gave us 7-goal thrillers and  total of 44 goals in ten matches with high scoring matches being the theme. Not only that, there have been a quite a number of hattricks - Salah, Calvert-Lewin and Son but Son bested them all with four goals and Harry Kane provided an incredible four assists and a goal setting a new record of a player providing four assists to another who scored four times. If you aren't tuned in you don't know what you are missing. Long may it carry on! Wow!

I have also noticed the fashion statement. Like Leeds have the most number of players with the hair thingy - brushed back and up into a bundle at the finish. That bun was what some memes on social media likened to those black trash bag tied up into a bun to prevent rodents and scavengers from ravishing. Even Ronaldo, Bale and now Harvey Elliot and before that ancient Chinese Swordsmen sported them. 

The other is the team kits. Arsenal's home kit is nice but the away looks like marble floor.ing. Chelsea's look like plain old tees while their 3rd kit looks like recycled from Crystal Palace. Crystal Palace have really smart kits. The Blue and red is like fighting fish colours. Blue at home with three disjointed vertical strips, two down the sides and one in the middle. The away is as good - white with two blues vertical strips down the sides and red in the middle. The 3rd kit is black with the same two blue strips and a red one. Liverpool's home kit has a good collar that form a V front and black with green and white which are part of the colour of their logo. The away kit is "teal" a kind of blue/green with some kind of motif running all over. I wonder how it looks on the pitch. While Arsenal have marble, City have mosaic in the home blue kit. The away is really nice but the 3rd looks like your old neck tie design with a colour run and faded. 

The worst kit could be Manchester United's third - its like a hybrid zebra in an experiment gone wrong, a zebra with disjointed stripes. Southampton's Under Armour design is a throwback classic - red with a bold white sash across. 135 years ago when founded, their players wore a real physical sash over their shirts. Very nice. Their 3rd kit is the direct opposite of the home kit. All three WBA kits are bar codes. If you wear that to go shopping you may get scanned, not scammed. Wolves' classic black with golden orange is always unique but the away kit looks like a Chinese travel agency's brochure. Don't believe me, check it out yourself. Ok, back to soccer...

Carlo Ancelotti has finally found a solid midfield and a potent attack so Everton must be considered a contender for top six or more. Leeds are big scorers but also conceded many. Manchester United's 14 match unbeaten run towards the end of last season which gave them hope crumbled incredibly in their opener at Old Trafford. Arsenal continued their winning run, Spurs produced some good old magic bringing Southampton to their knees with a two-men spectacle. The real Newcastle returned with a humbling trouncing at the hands of Brighton. Chelsea was one dimensional as Liverpool bossed their way to a 2-0 win at Stamford Bridge. This is significant for both teams. Leicester are now top of the table, number one after two matches notching a 4-2 win over Burnley. Aston Villa surprised with a win over Sheffield United and it seemed the Blades second season in the top tier is not as enjoyable. Manchester City showed clearly why I said they could be champions with an emphatic 3-1 win over Wolves at the Molineux. This week will give us two top matches - Manchester City v Leicester and Liverpool v Arsenal. Can't wait for the next matches. Bring it on!

Brighton v Manchester United - It is going to be a hazard predicting this one. The Seagulls were unlucky at Chelsea but Graham Potter showed he could also do some wonders like Harry with that 3-0 win away at St. James Park. The Red Devils will come into this game with trepidation given the way they have lost 1-3 to Crystal Palace at Old Trafford in their first game. Palace outclassed them kudos to Roy Hodgson and Wilfried Zaha got 3 goals in two matches scoring twice against his old club and tormenting them the whole game. They must have regretted having sold him. The knives are out for Solskjaer and United as Palace scored only 31 goals last season which is a premier league record low. United got back some cheer as Mata, Rashford and Greenwood scored in a 3-0 win over Luton in the EFL Cup. In last season's tie here United won 3-0 but Brighton seemed to have improved. So far, they have only lost to Chelsea 1-3, beaten Portsmouth (cup), Newcastle 3-0 (league) and Preston 2-0 (cup). United is not exactly poor but Graham Potter is a strategist who creates of defence and opposing weaknesses and gain something if United are still as sluggish. Will Dean Henderson snatch the gloves from David De Gea? United have too much quality but Brighton can get a point if they could hold out long enough. 1-1.

Crystal Palace v Everton  - Both sides have a flying start to the campaign with two wins and are firing. So this will not be like all their previous encounters. The Eagles are soaring into unfamiliar territories and must be full of confidence. Can Everton breach their defence even when United could not do so? After that 5-2 win over WBA, they repeated another 5-2 win over Fleetwood in the Cup. Palace are now scoring and tight at the back and Everton have not been scoring so freely for a log time. James Rodriguez has been key to it. Dominic Calvert-Lewin had his best season last year as Ancelotti worked on him and he had a hattrick on open in the second match. To stop Palace, they have to stop Zaha. Everton looked a proper team and can find a way past their host. 1-2.

WBA v Chelsea - WBA can score as they hit Everton twice. Big name Kai Havertz failed to spark at Anfield but Time Werner did enough. WBA scored five in two cup games and in betwwen got a handful (2-5) by Everton. Chelsea with much promise collapsed at Anfield (0-2) but biunced back with a 6-0 cup win over Barnsley where new signing Kai Havertz got a hattrick and Tammy Abraham scoring one with 2 assists. That is not good news for the home side as Chelsea could spark a rout. 1-3.

Burnley v Southampton - Burnley lost 2-4 in their opening match to Leicester. The Saints have a rotten start with two defeats, the last one was a crushing 2-5 home thrashing by Spurs. It has been a tough start. Burnley played only their first but there must be early anxiety at Southampton. Can they pull themselves together as another defeat would make things very difficult so early on. It is an opportunity for Burnley to seize the day against the tentative Saints. 2-1.

Sheffield United v Leeds - Sheffield United's great promise of last season seems to have dissipated. They have often played well, defend stoutly, get their odd goal and win but they have struggled since lockdown and continued in the same path into the new season. Leeds were held 1-1 by Hull in the cup and KO by penalties but the 4-3 win over Fulham continued their trend with high scoring but leaking 3 goals to Fulham is not that common so Marcelo Bielsa needs to fix that. The Blades have lost to Wolves 0-2  and 0-1 to Aston Villa and while being held 1-1 by Burnley they were KO by penalties in the cup. They have not been the same since returning from lockdown. Leeds could smell blood but will face a good test with their free scoring nature. Will their wingers Jack Harrison and Helder Costa tearing down the wings open up their opponents' defence to allow Patrick Bamford to prosper? Though Leeds have been playing well they have also been a bit lucky including their host this time who have not scored yet. The second season syndrome for promoted teams. That is where Leeds will be if they got past this one. 1-2.

Spurs v Newcastle - Spurs came alive especially in the second half at the St. Mary's and Southampton were left stunned. Two superb players exchanged roles as Harry Kane provided four assists and a goal while Son scored four times. I feel this was because Joe Mourinho has liberated them and the team and players responded. This is more like the Spurs we know. When Gareth Bale is ready, they could form a deadly strike force and terrorize defenses. If they keep this momentum, they could go far. Newcastle's 0-3 defeat to Brighton must be bad but the reacted with a 7-0 win over lower division Morecambe. Mourinho has to beat Newcastle and play a convincing game to build on that 5-2 win as anything less would bring them back to square one. Spurs need to be careful not to let their guard down as sometimes just one unexpected result gets down to several others. 3-1.

Man City v Leicester - City are hot favourites as you could see from their 3-1 away win at Wolves in their opening match. Leicester are having a great start and have already scored seven goals and top of the table. Last seaon, City won 3-1 at the Emirates and 1-0 away and Leicester were also showing great promise. Will Leicester still come out short? The season before that the Foxes did get a 2-1 win. Its more a test for Leicester than City. Kevin De Bruyne, last season's PFA Player of the Year (voted by fellow pros) is probably the best and most complete midfielder in the world. He makes any team ticks, scores loads and assist plenty. This was the player that Chelsea and Jose Mourinho discarded as not being able to make it. So, in life believe in yourself even when others don't including those seemingly experts or important people and despite his greatness he is no prima donna like so many others. He is totally grounded. What a player! What a person! Though Leicester could try and may get a result against City or Liverpool here and then, they need more time to build up to that level. 3-1.

West Ham v Wolves - The Hammers lost narrowly at Arsenal but had 14 shots at their opponent (double of their opponent) and created ten chances. In the EFL Cup they hit Hull 5-1 with Sebastian Haller and Yarmolenko scoring twice each. It's important for the Hammers, at least they are scoring. West Ham need to be up to speed with their attack to keep Wolves at bay otherwise they would be swarmed. Perhpas Antonio and Haller could provide some trouble to Wolves. West Ham have not beaten Wolves in four meetings without a goal in those four. 1-2.

Fulham v Aston Villa - Fulham scored three times against Leeds. Villa surprised with a 1-0 win over Sheffield United in their first outing. Villa's newly signed goalie Martinez immediately paid back some of his transfer fee with a penalty save. Fulham did win 2-0 against Sheffield Wednesday while Villa won 3-0 against Bristol City. There is a bit of steel in Villa these days. While Villa have been the only team not to have conceded a goal this season, Fulham have scored more than them. I say 1-2 to Villa.

Liverpool v Arsenal - Thiago Alcantara made his debut for the Reds in the second half and looked like he has been there a very long time. He went on to make 75 passes more than any Chelsea player for the entire match and was the most by any player for 45 minutes since Opta stats were available since 2003. Fabinho was fabulous. He was auditioning as centre back as a midfielder as both Gomez and Matip were out injured. Many might have felt nervous for him. His telescopic legs were often there to retrieve balls from opponents and Timo Werner met his match. Sadio Mane was of course MOTM. That first goal was great with the passes between TAA and Firmino who made the perfect corss for Mane to head home. He was a thief for the second. Of course Alisson Becker made a fine penalty save at the other end. Big performance and big result for the champions. 

The Gunners trounced Fulham 3-0 away but in their narrow 2-1 home win over West Ham, the visitors created more chances than them and took more shots. Only a late goal by Nketiah sealed a win. Liverpool are unbeaten in 51 games at Anfield since 2017 but Arsenal won 2-1 at the Emirates after lockdown so Arteta's tactics could bring some problems to the Liverpool backline especially if they could forced errors and here is where Thiago could play a role. The Reds have made a history of comebacks - losing the Europa and going to the Champions League final the next season and doing it again to be crowned Champions in the Champions League and the next season winning the EPL title by a record 18 points. Klopp's unique way of bringing in certain type of players and blooding them in carefully and introduction of their own youth players are a lesson for many. Naby Keita has not yet show his complete ability but getting better. Takumi Minamino has started scoring and look very much part of the team and can bring something else for them. There are many gifted and talented young players like Rhian Brewster, Harry Wilson, Neco Williams and Harvey Elliot but it is Curtis Jones who has been stamping his class. He scored twice and was MOTM in their 7-2 win over League One leader Lincoln. Minamino scored two as well and so did Origi. Diogo Jota is technically as good as Mane, Firmino and Salah and can play anywhere up front and every bit a pressing machine. This season, Liverpool's strength will come from quality from the bench. Their quality players will be taking turns to seal games like Salah v Leeds and then Mane v Chelsea. More to come as now the Reds have unpredictability aplenty. 3-1.