Premier League: Game week 2

Dominick GOAL-vert Lewin and the Spurs deadly duo run rampant in Premier League

This Saturday started game week 2 off with a bang with seven goals being scored in three different games. Saturday kicked off with a bang in Everton v West Brom. The Baggies kicked off the scoring through new signing Diangana after he went on a beautiful run from the half way line to smash it into the top corner past the flailing Jordan Pickford in the 10th minute. West Brom could only hold onto their lead for 21 minutes after the inform Dominick Calvert Lewin back heeled the ball into the West Brom net. The goal was given after a long deliberation from VAR. James Rodriguez fired the ball in to the bottom right hand corner from long range to give The Toffees a goal advantage going into half time. In the dying seconds of the half Kieran Gibbs lost his head and pushed Everton's Colombian midfielder in the face to see him be shown an immediate red card. Once the game broke up for half time, Slavan Bilic went up to speak to the referee, Mike Dean, but was also dismissed quite quickly. I think Bilic being sent off was the wrong decision because he is asking Dean to look at the offside for Calvert Lewin's goal and defending Gibbs. He did this without swearing or being particularly aggressive, so I believe the referee acted hastily. The second half was only two minutes old when Matheus Pereira curled a free kick into the top right hand corner, giving Jordan Pickford the record for most goals conceded from outside the penalty area since the start of the 2019/20 season. Everton proved themselves to be a real fighting force this season as just seven minutes later (54') Michael Keane scored from close range to put Everton back in the lead. A quick fire brace from Calvert-Lewin (62' and 66') gave the striker his hat trick and Everton the win as he killed off any hopes that West Brom had left.

The second 5-2 of the weekend saw Spurs demolish Southampton. Son Heung-min had all 4 of his goals assisted by Spurs strike Harry Kane who showcased his superb range of passing and the fact that he has a lot more to his game than just scoring. The game started off controversially with Harry Kane's 3rd minute opening goal being disallowed for offside by VAR and then Danny Ings having a goal disallowed for handball. However, Ings was able to rectify this after 32 minutes with a beautiful strike following Kyle Walker-Peters' lofted ball. Spurs looked extremely flat throughout the first half with Jose Mourinho describing their performance as "lazy". On the brink of half time, Tanguy Ndombele broke up the Southampton attack, rouletted past the defender and played the ball through to Harry Kane, who then went on to assist Son to equalise . The halftime substitution of Giovani Lo Celso was the catalyst for Spurs' revival as he gave the team a more convincing, attacking line up. This was proven as Son put Tottenham ahead in the 47th minute from a Kane through ball. Son then went on to net in the 64th and 74th minute through very similar passages of play. Son's hat trick goal was beautiful set up through a driven Harry Kane through ball from inside his own half. The English striker got himself a goal after he turned in Lamela's attempt after it hit the post in the 82nd minute to finish off a real Jekyll and Hyde performance. Southampton were able to grab a consolation goal in the 90th minute through Danny Ings after a penalty was controversially given, in Jermaine Jenas' eyes, after the ball hit Matt Doherty's arm from close range. Questions have also arisen over the future of Dele Alli as he was left out of the squad following a poor performance against Everton which saw him be substituted at half time; he has been linked with a loan move to PSG.

"Dominic is in a fantastic moment. Richarlison is really dangerous on the counter-attack and in the box and this is why we had a lot of opportunities. Also on set-pieces we are really dangerous with Michael Keane and Yerry Mina." - Carlo Ancelotti his high flying Toffees

Tariq Lamptey continued his fine run of form as he earned his first man of the match performance as Brighton sailed past Newcastle in a comfortable 3-0 win. Newcastle looked completely off the pace from their impressive performance last week as they were swept aside. Brighton got off to a quick start after Allan Saint-Maximan slid in on Lamptey to give away a penalty in the 4th minute. It was cooly slotted away by Neal Maupay who then went on to double the Seagulls' lead in the 7th minute. It was long deliberated by VAR checking for a potential offside but they survived and the goal stood. Poor defending saw Aaron Connelly have all the time in the world for him to bend the ball into the side netting. There was a final bit of drama in the 90th minute as Yves Bissouma attempted to flick the ball away from Jamaal Lewis but ended up hitting the Newcastle left back with a kick that was closer to Shawn Michaels' sweet chin music that eventually saw him be dismissed. It was an unfortunate ending for the Brighton midfielder as he performed well during the game and had to be sent off for a wild mistake that had no malicious intent behind it.

A Roy Hodgson masterclass saw his Palace side triumph over Man United in a 3-1 at Old Trafford. Poor defending from Man United and Victor Lindelof saw Jeff Schlupp be allowed to cross the ball into the back post for it to be neatly slotted away at the back post by Andros Townsed in the 7th minute. Crystal Palace were awarded a penalty in the 72nd minute which saw Jordan Ayew's attempt saved by David De Gea. However, play was brought back by VAR because of the new penalty taking rules. David De Gea was spotted to be infant of the goal line, which is now not allowed. Wilfried Zaha took over the responsibility and slotted it into the top left corner, above the diving United keeper. New boy Donny van De Beek was able to side foot the ball past the diving Guaita in the 80th minute to bring the stagnant Man United back into the game. However, this resurgence was short lived as Man United's shaky centre-back partnership of Lindelof and Maguire were at fault for Zaha's second as he spun round the Swede and wasn't closed down quick enough by the United captain and fired past the helpless keeper.

Man City got their hard work out of the way with a superb first half performance. Kevin De Bruyne opened up the scoring after 20 minutes with a wonderful penalty fired into the bottom right hand corner which seemed to put the club's pst woes of failing to score penalties behind them. Kevin De Bruyne showed no signs of letting up on his electric form from last season as he hit the ground running with a goal, assist and man of the match performance. He also had the most shots (4), chances created (6), crosses (6) and tackles (5) out of anyone. Raheem Sterling then went on to get his first assist of the season, which equals his tally for last season, in the 32nd minute which saw Phil Foden run through and slot the ball past Rui Patricio. It looked like the game was going to turn into a routing with Foden and Sterling both being stopped by good saves from the Portuguese keeper. Once the teams came out for the start of the second half, it was as if the roles had been reversed. Daniel Podence came close to netting twice and Kyle Walker was forced to clear the ball off the line following a scuffed Ruben Neves shot. Then, in the 78th minute Wolves were finally able to convert one of their chances with Raul Jimenez heading the ball into the top right corner to give Wolves hope. However, they were unable to repeat last season's heroics as in the 95th minute Gabriel Jesus' shot, deflected off the underside of Connor Coady's leg, killed off the home team's hope of a comeback.

Chelsea crumble as Thiago shows why he's a European champion whilst Mental health in football NEEDS to be highlighted once again

Lampard's Chelsea team showed clear signs of defensive improvement from last season with them looking a lot more comfortable at the back. However, these improvements could not stop Liverpool from delivering a powerful statement about their continued quality and desire to retain the Premier League trophy. Before the half time whistle went, Chelsea would have been pleased going in un-scathed with the second half to build off a positive performance. However, a long ball from Jordan Henderson saw Sadio Mane go through in on goal with Kepa to beat and Andreas Christensen hot on his heels. In a calamity of errors, Kepa comes rushing out to tackle Mane and the Danish centre back pulls Mane down giving away a free kick and being booked by the referee, Paul Tierney. VAR took one look at the challenge and changed the decision from a yellow to a red card meaning Chelsea will finish the game with ten men. At half time, academy graduate Fikayo Tomori is brought onto the pitch, replacing Kai Havertz, to allow Chelsea to play a back four. The half time break also saw an introduction to new Liverpool signing, Thiago Alacantara. 5 minutes into the second half Liverpool see themselves go ahead through a well worked goal which ends up in Sadio Mane heading the ball into the far left corner. Just four minutes later, a calamitous error at the back from Kepa Arrizabalaga, where his pass is intercepted by Mane who slots the ball home for 2-0, gives Liverpool the win and probably sees him lose his number one spot to Edouard Mendy, who was announced by Frank Lampard today. However, there is hope for Chelsea as Timo Werner wins his second penalty in two games as he is brought down by Liverpool's Thiago. I would have liked to see Werner be allowed to take the penalty because he is yet to score his first goal for the club and I thought his effort's deserved rewarding but, understandably, Jorginho took the penalty. Alisson read the Italian's penalty technique and dived the right way to save the penalty; by having the penalty saved, Jorginho lost his 100% conversion rate of Premier League penalties. This saw an end to Chelsea's hopes of a comeback as Liverpool went on to use their man advantage to control the game and cruise to victory. Thiago impressed on his Liverpool debut by setting the record for the most amount of successful passes made in a half of Premier League football (75) and out passed every single Chelsea player. Someone else who stated a claim for making more appearances was Fikayo Tomori, who hasn't made an appearance since February. The English centre back made 8 clearances (twice as many as Christensen), 2 tackles, 2 interceptions (Christensen made no tackles or interceptions), blocked 1 shot and won 2/3 of his duels.

Something that has once again been highlighted is the abuse that players get on social media and the lack of thought that goes towards their mental health. This was highlighted, for me, with the mistakes of Kepa Arrizabalaga. I went onto his Instagram to look at his comments and saw that they had been limited, meaning that he can choose who comments on his posts in order to stop bullying or harassment. I then went onto his Twitter to see what people were saying and he was being absolutely berated by anyone and everyone, this ranged from calling him a clown, people demanding him leave the club, or at an extreme level to kill himself. He was also being criticised by a lot of people saying that he only posts when Chelsea win, but even when he does post he still gets abused. It is very common knowledge that the biggest reason for Kepa's sudden drop in form is a complete loss of confidence after being dumped by his long term partner. Having non-stop abuse thrown at him from people who claim to be Chelsea 'fans' is not going to helping. People are also forgetting his brilliant debut season which ended up in him being nominated for the Yashin Trophy, an award that is the goalkeeper's equivalent of the Ballon d'Or because keepers rarely get a look in for the overall best player award.

Mental health in football is becoming a lot more prevalent with Andre Schurrle retiring at the age of 29 because of his depression and Alejandro 'Papu' Gomez seriously considering retirement after his mental health took a sudden dive after finding out his wife was having an affair. The most recent player to come out and talk about depression is Jordan Ibe. Once tipped to be the 'next big thing' Ibe never really lived up to the hype and his career fell fairly stagnant after being sold to Bournemouth (from Liverpool) and struggling to make an impression there. He said on Instagram: "I lost my passion for the game I love due to mistakes that were made and also suffering from depression. My family have been strong for me and I thank each and everyone of my family. But most importantly my motivation for climbing out of the darkness and into the light has been my daughter, who I love dearly and care so much about". It is yet to be announced but pictures have surfaced of him signing for Derby so here's to hoping that this move can help to get his career back on track.