We take a look at this week's midweek Premier League fixtures after several games were rearranged due to COVID-10
This week saw Leicester and Tottenham came to blows in what should have been a clash in pursuit of Champions League football, but Leicester have fallen well behind the pack, languishing in midtable.
There was potential for upsets as Chelsea and Manchester United looked to forge some consistency in their results, who took on Brighton and Brentford respectively. The relegation clash between Burnley and Watford was postponed for a second time after a COVID breakout in the Burnley camp.
Leicester vs Tottenham
Tottenham began the game impressively but failed to convert early opportunities. On the 24th minute Leicester took the league after a clumsy piece of defending from Serge Reguilon set Patson Daka the ball and he finished expertly from close range.
14 minutes later who else but Harry Kane provided Tottenham’s equaliser, looking something resembling the hero of old, breaking free of Leicester’s high line and promptly sat Caglar Soyuncu down on his way through to goal. Passing the ball in off his former clubs left goalpost.
Spurs went on to dominate either side of half time generating chance after chance but to no avail.
On the 75th minute Harvey Barnes was introduced in place of Daka and impacted the game almost instantaneously as he slipped through James Maddison to put the foxes 2-1 up with 15 to go.
The 79th minute saw the introduction of Steven Bergwijn, the most important substitution of the evening as it turned out.
Tottenham continued to build pressure, knocking on the door right till the last and in the 94th minute Bergwijn fired home a ricochet off of Soyuncu and Matt Doherty. It seemed Spurs had rescued a point at the death, but this was not enough. Leicester couldn’t keep possession and in a swift two pass counter move, Harry Kane sent Bergwijn through on goal with almost the last kick of the game, who rounded the keeper and crept the ball in off the far post.
The flying clutchman saves the day for Spurs and earns them a massive 3 points on the road.
Leicester 2-3 Tottenham, A Premier League classic.
MOTM – Steven Bergwijn
Brighton vs Chelsea
This clash saw two teams face off who suffer from similar ailments this season, mainly a lack of goals.
Despite Chelsea’s many high profile forward signings, their top scorer is still midfielder Jorginho, entirely scoring from the penalty spot. Their lack of chance creation for the most part giving their forwards little chance to convert.
Brighton on the other hand suffer from a lack of finishing prowess, despite generating copious amounts of xG almost every game this season. The premium goal scorer that would complete their project seems to continue to elude them.
This game was far closer than Chelsea would have liked it to be, in fact Brighton dominated for large parts of the match.
Despite a promising start for the seagulls Hakim Ziyech gave Chelsea the lead on 28 minutes, with a low strike from the edge of the box that in all honesty, Sanchez probably should have saved.
Despite this Brighton did not let their heads drop and continue to play the way manager Graham Potter should be very proud of, going forward though they still lacked that clinical edge.
Every question Chelsea asked of Adam Webster and Lewis Dunk, they answered and they were resolute for the remainder of the game.
Webster put on a clinic at the back, with excellent reading of the game and passing with both feet. He topped off a fine display with a sublime headed goal from a corner as he was left unmarked in the box.
The game ended Brighton 1-1 Chelsea.
MOTM - Adam Webster
Brentford vs Manchester United
Brentford had conceded 7 goals in their last 2 games and struggling to create going forward, while United had dropped points to teams Brentford had already beaten this season in 2 of their last 3 games.
Brentford under the lights this season have produced atmospheres electric enough to take points from Liverpool and Arsenal this already season, an upset could have been on the cards.
The Bees made a great start to this game, making life very hard for a United side who looked out of ideas.
Hitting on the break they made several clear cut chances but Danish playmaker Mathias Jensen failed to convert from close range. Thanks to David De Gea two fine saves, they went in at halftime with the score 0-0.
More of the same required from Brentford in the second half and they may have gotten a result, but they came out poor. Conceding 3 goals in a very poor 20 minutes.
All three goalscorers on the night for United were academy products, Elanga with his first goal of the season, topping off a fine performance all round, followed by Mason Greenwood and late substitute Marcus Rashford who ended a poor goal drought.
It was a testament to the quality coming out of Carrington at the moment, showing they are still rivals to the prolific Chelsea academy down in Cobham.
The goals were all good examples of Rangnick’s preferred tactic of counter pressing and capitalising on defensive errors, perhaps a sign of change for the better for their fans.
Brentford did eventually score as Ivan Toney converted from a long throw which bounced loose in the box, notching his 6th in the league this season.
MOTM – David De Gea