Steven Gerrard seems to be loving life back in the Premier League, whilst Mikel Arteta’s Arsenal continued to gather crucial on an action-packed Saturday in the world of Premier League football. Once again, Liverpool came up trumps in their fixture against Southampton quite ruthlessly to keep themselves within Chelsea’s touching distance.
A struggling Southampton unit who are climbing mountains and trees for each point in the league found themselves in the red hot Anfield crucible, which was too much to handle eventually. It took less than two minutes for Diogo Jota to open the scoring. Andrew Robertson, whose attacking output has been under scrutiny these days, served a delicious ball for the Portuguese to finish from close range.
They made Armando Broja make a couple of good saves before Jota doubled the lead for the side. Mohamed Salah was at the heart of this move alongside Jordan Henderson, and an unmarked Jota inside the box was ready to lash in and make it 2. Thiago Alcantara, having scored a stunner in the Champions League against Porto, finished it beautifully once again on this occasion.
The big man Virgil van Dijk got on the scoresheet as well in the second half, and Liverpool’s merciful show in the final 30 minutes of the game saw it finish 4-0 in Merseyside for those wearing red.
Mikel Arteta’s Arsenal had a tricky fixture against Newcastle United, who just made a managerial change. The Magpies had some control over the ball in the opening 30-35 minutes, and an absolutely dreadful miss from Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang saw the game head into the second half with no goals for either side.
The Londoners broke loose early on in the second half, and it was Bukayo Saka who provided them a relieving lead with a well-taken finish from a tight angle. Takehiro Tomiyasu and Gabriel Martinelli combined beautifully with their aerial play to make it two in a few minutes time, and despite some pressure coming from the workhorses like Miguel Almiron and Callum Wilson, the Gunners managed to keep the 2-0 lead until the end.
Two Premier League legends in Patrick Vieira and Steven Gerrard came face to face at Selhurst Park as Crystal Palace hosted Aston Villa. The hosts have had some positive results this season, and it seemed like they might produce a big performance again but the high-flying Villans managed to have the final laugh.
Matt Targett was waiting at the back post to finish Ashley Young’s corner, which provided Villa a 15th-minute lead. It took them a stringent approach and a lot of discipline with their defensive work to keep up that lead until the final five minutes, where they got the clincher.
John McGinn scored his third goal of the season with four minutes of normal time left, and just when we thought the script was over, Marc Guehi scored very late in stoppage time, but it proved to be just a consolation for the Eagles. Gerrard picked up his second win as manager of Villa, and looks promising to achieve more.
From Villa, who found a new manager, heading to Norwich City, who found Villa’s sacked manager, it seems like a mid-season change is working for a lot of teams. Norwich picked up points once again and have put themselves ahead of the Jordies. They forced out a 0-0 draw against Bruno Lage’s Wolves and are currently 3 points away from 17th positioned Leeds United.
The other 0-0 game on Saturday involved some beautiful football from Graham Potter’s Brighton & Hove Albion, who struggled to find a finish against Leeds United. Neal Maupay skied an open-net finish from six yards and later missed a similar opportunity from more distance, as their hard work received no reward and eventually helped them add another draw to their tally.
