QPR 2 – 2 Stoke City
It was almost a perfect homecoming for Stoke City manager Mark Hughes, who had come back to old club QPR amid a frosty reception from the QPR supporters. Stoke City had gone a goal ahead only in the 11th minute with a Mame Diouf finish, and went 2-1 up in the 51st minute with Peter Crouch winning back the advantage for them, after Steven Caulker had levelled scores for the home team. But it wasn’t to be a perfect day for Hughes as Niko Kranjcar of QPR curled in a perfect free kick into the Stoke City net from 30 yards out, giving the goalkeeper rooted to his spot. Kranjcar was a last minute signing by Harry Redknapp, and he definitely came good for his manager.
Talking about Kranjcar’s strike, Stoke City Manager Mark Hughes said: “QPR looked a beaten team but unfortunately we encouraged them somewhat. When you give a player of that ability a chance centrally, there’s always a danger he will score.”
Newcastle United 2 – 2 Hull City
Papiss Cisse probably rescued his manager Alan Pardew from an immediate sacking, getting two goals to make level scores for Newcastle when they were down 2 -0. It was clinical finishing by Cisse, who has come back after a prolonged spell from injury and has scored only once in his last 30 matches for Newcastle. If anything, the Newcastle supporters were disappointed by their team having avoided a loss as they looked desperate to have Pardew sacked, if one goes by the large number of supporters carrying the “Sack Pardew!” or “Pardew Out!” placards. Earlier, Hull City had gone two goals ahead with two spectacular strikers from Nikica Jelavic and Mohamed Diame, both of which should be in the reckoning for the “goal of the week” contest. But the jeering of Alan Pardew went on even after the end of the match, and this is a story that is unlikely to end calmly.
Aston Villa 0 – 3 Arsenal
Much had been said before this match about Aston Villa being genuine contenders against the top sides in the EPL. Not surprising as the coaching team of Paul Lambert and Roy Keane has completely galvanized the Midlands club. But Arsenal are in a class of their own and the gulf between the two teams was obvious midway into the first half, as Arsenal got 3 quick goals, putting them an unbeatable 3-0 ahead. The first goal came after the under fire German football super star Mesut Ozil clinically finished a brilliant through pass from Danny Welbeck. Ozil returned favour soon enough, sending in a glorious cross from the left to Welbeck, who made no mistake. The third goal was an own goal. The three strikes came quickly, and ended any hopes that Aston Villa may have had.
Swansea City 0 – 1 Southampton
This was a match between the two over-achievers of the EPL this season, and surprisingly, considering that both managers, Garry Monk and Ronald Koeman expect their players to go on the attack and express themselves, there was little goalmouth action. Swansea had to play half of the match with just 10 men as Wilfried Bony was sent off after 2 yellow cards. But the win for Southampton came only in the 80th minute with a well taken goal by Victor Wanyama. It’s a great victory for Ronal Koeman’s men, which propels them 2nd on the leage standings.
Burnley 0 – 0 Sunderland
Burnley have had the most number of 0 – 0 draws this season, and we saw yet another. It was perhaps the most boring match of the weekend, and we saw nothing from this game that justified the tag “the most exciting league in the world” when it comes to the EPL. Sunderland manager Gus Poyet offered a slight apology, saying, “I was expecting more than that. Everything we planned didn’t really go as we would like. We played OK but okay is not enough in the Premier League. We need to play better than OK.”
West Ham United 3 – 1 Liverpool
In what was the biggest upset of this Saturday, beleaguered manager Sam Allardyce’s West Ham United beat high flying Liverpool 3 – 1, and actually dominated the entire match, never allowing Liverpool even a whiff of a chance of getting back. It took West Ham only 7 minutes to be 2 – 0 up, with goals from Winston Reid and Diafra Sakha. Liverpool were shell-shocked by the early show of aggression and never quite recovered. Raheem Sterling did get one back in the 26th minute, but West Ham held on, settling the issue in the 88th minute with Morgan Amalfitano laying the knockout blow – a smartly taken 3rd goal, off a brilliant pass from the midfield by Stewart Downing. Liverpool manager Brendan Rodgers would be very worried about his side’s particularly poor start to the season.
Brendan Rodgers: “We know we weren’t at our level. We know we have to do better. We were brilliant last season. But I would say that, at this point last season, we weren’t playing to the level we were in the last three or four months of the campaign. People were asking me whether we’d score enough and we finished the season with 101 goals. We’ve got a bit of work to do, we know we weren’t at our level. We’ll go away and reflect honestly, and we know we have to be better.”
