It’s a mutiny, folks. It's a mutiny.
Arsenal blew a two-goal lead to Crystal Palace on Sunday at the Emirates Stadium, settling for a 2-2 draw despite early goals from centerback pairing Sokratis and David Luiz. While manager Unai Emery has come under intense criticism for Arsenal’s recent displays and for his standoff with the increasingly beloved Mesut Özil, supporter fury today was aimed at club captain Granit Xhaka.
Another start, another full 90, another match without a significant contribution from Newcastle United’s Miguel Almirón. After arriving from Atlanta United for a club-record fee of $27 million last January, it’s now 20 Premier League appearances for the 25-year-old Paraguayan without a single goal or assist.
An hour into Christian Pulisic’s first Premier League start since August, Chelsea fans in the away end at Turf Moor were chanting “USA! USA! USA!” That’s what happens when you become the second American to score an EPL hat trick.
Christian Pulisic hadn’t started a Premier League match since August and many stateside started to wonder why Frank Lampard hates America. Well, Lampard has seen the light shining sea to shining sea and was rewarded with a brilliant Pulisic goal vs Burnley on Saturday. The 21-year-old American added a second as Chelsea led 2-0 at halftime.
Leicester City broke the Premier League record for largest road win with its 9-0 butchering of Southampton on Friday.
After one Leicester goal, Saints midfielder Ryan Bertrand was sent off with a red card. But how many goals do we excuse for being down one?
Jaime Vardy’s Foxes wasted no time scoring in the first 10 minutes just before the red card was issued. From there on, Leicester would toy with the Saints.
UEFA has failed to protect players from racist abuse once again.
It’s not that this is anything new, it's just the players are naturally fed up with the monkey chants, the racial diatribes and having things like water bottles and human spit flung at them. UEFA in the past has levied fines and partial stadium closures and recently put in a new protocol allowing teams to walk off the pitch, but is that really enough of a crackdown?
No. Racism in the stands has always been there but now that there’s a spotlight on it, UEFA looks like the joke that it already is.
The use of Video Assistant Referee finally arrived in England this season, with the Premier League finally joining the rest of the world in embracing video replay. But why does VAR suck so much in the Premier League?
This past weekend saw a number of high-profile VAR decisions in the EPL, almost all of which seemed to be wrong. Why does the VAR in England seem to get things so wrong when the rest of the world has introduced replay with far fewer complaints?
Sheffield United took on Arsenal at Bramall Lane on Monday night. It was a match that would’ve meant Arsenal jumping up to third in the Premier League assuming the Gunners turned up and won. Arsenal’s away form however tells a different tale: four wins in the past 18 matches.
Sheffield United was looking to break its duck as it hadn’t scored a goal since September. Lo and behold, Sheffield United outplayed Arsenal and beat the Gunners 1-0, moving up to ninth in the table.
An 85th-minute equalizer from Adam Lallana — his first goal since May 21, 2017 — earned Liverpool a dramatic point from Old Trafford on Sunday, extending Manchester United’s winless streak in league play to four games. It was a gut punch to the home side, who’d largely dictated the run of play for the entirety of the match.
One can never presume to know what goes through the minds of executives at networks like NBC, Fox, ESPN and TNT who decide which matches to show on TV.