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Premier League Team of the Week XXVI feat. Spurs and Chelsea stars
The top four all played each other this weekend, making for intriguing viewing on Sunday. Since the results, the Premier League title race has been shaken up, and the race to avoid relegation has also intensified, despite a further nail being placed in Aston Villa’s coffin. Read on to relive the most important moments and find out who made The Boot Room’s Premier League Team of the Week.
Having been installed as favourites for the Premier League title by the bookmakers after their 3-1 victory at The Etihad last weekend, Leicester City travelled to The Emirates to take on a team two places below them. Arsenal must have felt in a position that they had to win the game to keep realistic title hopes alive. As expected, The Foxes surrendered the vast majority of possession, content to let Arsenal come onto them before trying to hit them on the break. The first golden chance of the game did fall to the visitors when; after Kasper Schmeichel had come way outside of his area to good effect, the ball worked its way to Jamie Vardy who headed an effort towards the bottom corner, only for Petr Cech to pull off an outstanding save. Alex Oxlade-Chamberlain was Arsenal’s primary supply-line for much of the first-half, using his searing pace to good effect. The Londoners posed a significant threat from corners and set-plays; not usually what you expect from them, but through Kanté’s destructive work, Ranieri’s side were able to avert danger coming from Arsenal’s regular methods. With half-time fast approaching, Jamie Vardy won a penalty from Nacho Monreal’s mistimed challenge and after stepping up himself, the England man thumped the ball home to put his side 1-0 up.
Arsenal came out in an invigorated mood in the second half and but for a lack of composure in the final third, could possibly have drawn level with the league leaders within a few minutes after the interval. Two bookings close together then saw Danny Simpson sent for an early bath and; in arguably their most important game in recent memory, Leicester were down to ten men for the first time in 50 matches. Riyad Mahrez was the man sacrificed to allow The Foxes to return to a formation with four at the back, leaving their attacking threat significantly blunted. Theo Walcott was introduced soon after The Gunners had their numerical advantage and; operating mainly from the right, he was a thorn in Leicester’s side, eventually being the man to equalise with Arsenal’s first effort on target on the day. Moments came and went but none could be converted by Wenger’s team until the dying seconds of injury time. Danny Welbeck; absent from first-team action for a year, was the hero when he flicked in a Mesut Özil free-kick. Leicester City were hit with a moment that was worthy of their own incredible story-line this season but must now kick on again, while Arsenal’s title hopes were handed a significant boost.
Compared to the standard set out by Sunday’s earlier games, the first half of Manchester City vs Spurs was not exactly high on the quality stakes, but it was certainly a closely fought occasion, with the magnitude of the result clearly not lost on any of the players. With the second half less than ten minutes old, arguably the main flash-point of the game took place. Raheem Sterling charged down a cross from Danny Rose and Mark Clattenburg’s decision to point to the penalty spot was a controversial one to say the least. Not only was it certain that Sterling was in the area when he made the block, but the ball appeared to hit him in the lower back before making contact with his arm. Harry Kane thumped the ball home emphatically from 12 yards out and from Spurs’ overall play, the lead was probably just about deserved. Manchester City’s next big thing; Kelechi Iheanacho, came onto the field to try and cause Spurs’ back-line some pain. With a quarter of an hour to go, he did just that, thumping the ball into the roof of the net after finding acres of room in the penalty box. Just when The Citizens appeared to be exerting their dominance and seemed to be destined to grab the winner, it was Spurs who went up the other end and through Christian Eriksen, went 2-1 up on the road. In the final moments, the hosts nearly rescued a point but David Silva could only help a bouncing ball over the cross-bar.
Both Sunderland and Manchester United were enjoying a relatively strong run of form going into the early clash on Saturday. The game was less than three minutes old when The Black Cats strode into a one goal lead after Khazri’s attempted cross missed everybody on the way through to goal, and it ended up beating David De Gea at the far post with the Spaniard slow to react. A few minutes later, confusion in the Manchester United back-line nearly let Jermain Defoe in to double Sunderland’s advantage but the in-form striker could only miskick his effort. As half-time approached, The Red Devils drew level through their main danger-man in recent weeks – Anthony Martial. Vito Mannone could only parry a Juan Mata shot into the path of the Frenchman and from a tight angle, the former Monaco man produced a deft dink to finish the chance with aplomb. Sam Allardyce’s side asserted themselves on proceedings in the second half and a controversial decision did not go their way. Manchester United were never out of the action and could well have bagged a second themselves before a Lamine Koné header trickled into the goal off the back of David De Gea. United’s current struggles with conceding goals in the final few minutes of matches continued and it cost Van Gaal’s side on Saturday. Sunderland on the other hand may well have injected some much-needed energy into their survival efforts.
Saturday evening saw the first Chelsea win at Stamford Bridge during Guus Hiddink’s second spell in charge. In their current plight; especially with their fellow strugglers picking up points this weekend, Steve McClaren would have been particularly disappointed with the way his side handed the advantage to The Blues so early on. Far from keeping the game tight for the first period, Chelsea stunned the visitors on three occasions through Diego Costa, Pedro and Willian. Despite a better second half showing overall, they never threatened Chelsea’s position of supremacy. Through another Pedro strike and a first Premier League goal of the season for Bertrand Traoré, Hiddink’s men held a five goal lead before a late effort from Andros Townsend reduced the arrears ever so slightly. Ahead of the vital Champions League clash with PSG in mid-week, this was a welcome return to form and free-flowing football for Chelsea.