Premier League: Week Two Report

Another lively weekend in the Premier League sees Chelsea, Swansea and Everton topping the table after week two. Here’s the wrap up of all the games from our weekly columnist @j_wattsy.

Liverpool v Manchester City

Brendan Rodgers’ Liverpool side delivered a performance of great promise as they drew 2-2 with reigning champions Manchester City at Anfield.

The opening goal was stunning; Steven Gerrard fired his corner in to the box and the imposing Martin Skrtel leapt like Greg Rutherford and powered an unstoppable header past Joe Hart and in to the net to put his team ahead just before half time.

City levelled just after an hour through Yaya Toure, who poked the ball home courtesy of some sloppy defending by Pepe Reina and Martin Kelly.

Luis Suarez polarizes football fans like few others can and it was he who gave Liverpool their second lead of the match with a beautifully whipped free-kick – even the Suarez-haters would be hard pushed to say it was anything but sublime.

The speed at which you can go from hero to villain in a game of football is frightening and unfortunately for Martin Skrtel, he found out the hard way. With just ten minutes left, Skrtel added an assist to his earlier goal. The Slovakian turned blind and caressed a delightfully weighted pass in to the path of a grateful Carlos Tevez, who took the ball round Reina and stabbed it in to snatch a point.

Despite having failed to secure the win, the Reds will be buoyed by this performance. They metamorphosed from the shaky, nervous and mistake ridden outfit who were thumped on the opening weekend, to a side of creativity, passion and potential, one who deserved to and should have taken all three points.

Manchester United v Fulham

Wayne Rooney has undoubtedly gone home with some bad gash on a Saturday night in his time, but none worse than the deep cut left by Hugo Rodallega’s studs as he was stretchered off during Manchester United’s hard fought 3-2 win against Fulham.

The home looked susceptible at the back from the first whistle and it took just three minutes for Damien Duff to put Fulham in front, as he capitalised on a defensive lapse from a quick-free kick and slotted the ball past David De Gea.

Seven minutes later, Robin Van Persie officially arrived at Old Trafford as he levelled the scores at 1-1. The majestic Dutchman unleashed a gorgeous half-volley from the edge of the box which glanced off his wand-like left boot and past a helpless Mark Schwarzer in to the far corner of the net.

Fellow Manchester United new-boy Shinji Kagawa scored his first goal in the Premier League as he converted an un-missable chance from a few yards before Rafael made it 3-1 with a close-range header from Ashley Young’s cross.

Fulham were gifted a passage back in to the game thanks to yet more uncharacteristically poor defending. This time, De Gea decided he would try and claim a cross off the eyebrows of his team-mate Nemanja Vidic, only to succeed in forcing the Serbian’s head out of the passage of the ball. As Vidic attempted to land after the in-air assault from his ‘keeper, he accidently turned the ball home off his flailing heel and narrowed the advantage at 3-2.

Fulham nearly got something from the game too, but couldn’t convert a succession of chances. The best of which came after Moussa Dembele, who pulled more strings than a harpist in this game, delivered a sumptuous cross for Brian Ruiz whose header was straight at De Gea.

Wayne Rooney put his body on the line in injury time, he charged down Rodallega’s volley only to be landed on by the studs of the Colombian, which made a deep slice in the front-man’s thigh. Rooney’s likely to be out for around four weeks. The incident was best summed up by the immediate reaction of Danny Welbeck, who on sight of the injury sharply spun on his heels as though he may be just a little bit squeamish!

Chelsea v Newcastle United

Chelsea continued their perfect start to the season with a clinical 2-0 win against Newcastle.

Eden Hazard is on a different level and he opened the scoring after he earned (another) penalty and in the absence of the rested Frank Lampard, converted the kick too.

Hazard again was involved in Chelsea’s second, his delightful drag-back fell delightfully in to the stride of the resurgent Fernando Torres, who connected sweetly with his big toe and sent the ball up and in to the top corner of the net.

Newcastle had chances of their own but couldn’t find a way past Petr Cech. It was another solid performance from the Magpies and it’ll be very hard to keep them out of the top six/eight teams in this league come the end of the season.

Aston Villa v Everton

Everton secured their first win at Villa Park for seven years as they beat Aston Villa 3-1 with the minimum of fuss.

Steven Pienaar’s sweet strike from 20 yards paved the way for two more first half goals for Everton. Phil Jagielka’s mazy dribbling down the right hand side was followed with a Beckham-esque cross on to the in-form Fellaini who connected with his nest and directed the ball past the flapping hands of Shay Given. Nikica Jelavic made it 3-0 with a smart, first time finish after good work from Leighton Baines.

Villa were reduced to 10 men just before the hour when Ciaran Clark clipped heels with Jelavic. After viewing the replay though, a red card seemed incredibly harsh as the contact was entirely accidental.

There was a small consolation for the home side as Karim El Ahmadi scored Villa’s first Premier League goal under Paul Lambert.

You can read Editor-in-Chief @gwoffer’s thoughts after another Villa loss here.

Swansea City v West Ham United

Swansea made it eight goals in two games under Michael Laudrup as they despatched West Ham 3-0 with ease.

The Hammers were awful and fell behind when Angel Rangel’s shot was deflected in to his own net by Jussi Jaaskelainen. James Collins then sold Jaaskelainen short with a back-pass and gifted the ball to Michu who poked home Swansea’s second. Danny Graham scored the third after a lovely team move.

West Ham were outplayed from the very start and will need a few more new faces as the might of Matt Jarvis may not be enough to keep them up this season on his own.

Southampton v Wigan Athletic

In the space of seven days, Southampton fans have gone from being vocally confident about their prospective campaign to quietly nervous after their side slumped to a 2-0 defeat at home against Wigan.

Franco Di Santo opened the scoring with a powerful finish early in the second half and Arouna Kone sealed the win after he mugged Jose Fonte on the half-way line, surged towards Kelvin Davis and stroked his finish past the ‘keeper.

Wigan are in danger of piecing together a strong season if they can continue this run of form; they were impressive in defeat against Chelsea and again at St Mary’s. On the other hand, Southampton must discover the art of defending soon or they’ll find themselves continually punished.

Tottenham Hotspur v West Brom

Tottenham Hotspur crumbled in the final minutes as they threw away the lead to draw 1-1 with West Brom at White Hart Lane.

Benoit Assou-Ekotto gave Spurs a deserved lead after 74 minutes with a deflected volley, which ignited a strong spell of West Brom pressure.

Jan Vertonghen’s last ditch block stopped Romelu Lukaku’s shot before the goal-scorer Assou-Ekotto was called in to action down the other end of the pitch as he cleared Gareth McAuley’s header up on to the cross-bar and off the line. William Gallas then cleared another West Brom effort off the line, but the goal was inevitable.

James Morrison found himself in space in the box and made no mistake with his finish as he diverted a square pass coolly off the inside of his foot and in to the bottom corner after 90 minutes.

Spurs are yet to register a win after two games this season but shouldn’t have too much trouble against Norwich at home next weekend. As for West Brom, they’ve picked up four points from two tough games and will be delighted with the start they’ve made.

Norwich City v Queens Park Rangers

Both sides were slammed 5-0 on the opening weekend of the season, and couldn’t be separated at Carrow Road as they drew 1-1.

Simeon Jackson bundled the ball over the line put the home side in the lead following a smart passing move, before Sebastian Bassong unnecessarily brought down Djibril Cisse in the box to give QPR a penalty. Cisse’s spot kick was saved, but an encroaching Bobby Zamora converted the rebound. Quite how the referee, who had a perfect view, missed Zamora gaining an unfair advantage as he charged in to the penalty area well before the penalty was taken, is baffling.

Had either team improved or were they simply as bad as each-other?

That’s difficult to determine. Norwich had the majority of the possession and the more attempts at goal with 14 (just three on target) compared to QPR’s six (also with three on target).

Ultimately, Norwich will see this as an opportunity missed. You must beat the teams that are around you at home or you’ll struggle in this league. Queens Park Rangers will be happy with an away point, but their manner of performance wasn’t overly encouraging and that needs to change quickly.

Stoke City v Arsenal

For the second week in a row, Arsenal are last and least in the weekend review, after Sunday afternoon’s woeful 0-0 draw against Stoke.

One side tried to play rugby (Stoke) and the other was about as threatening as a cap gun (Arsenal).

Admittedly, the home side would have been delighted with a point, but for the sake of football – I sincerely hope there aren’t too many more Stoke games scheduled for live television. As for the Gunners, two games played and zero goals scored tells you all you need to know.