By Jonathan Gault
Last week in this space, I wondered if anyone could stop
Liverpool’s dynamic strike partnership of Daniel Sturridge and Luis Suarez.
After 90 minutes on Saturday at the Emirates Stadium, we have an answer: Yes. In
a matchup of the top two teams in the Premier League table, Arsenal limited
Liverpool’s chances while creating several of their own through their
impressive stable of attacking players. Santi Cazorla and Aaron Ramsey scored
the goals in the 2-0 win and while both were well-taken efforts, Mesut Ozil,
Olivier Giroud and Tomas Rosicky were all dangerous moving forward as well.
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| Laurence Griffiths/Getty Images |
Mikel Arteta helped engineer the victory from the midfield,
completing 100 of his 106 passes on the day and leading all players in
successful tackles (seven), per FourFourTwo’s Stats Zone. Ramsey’s goal was
particularly impressive as the Welshman took his time to collect a bouncing
ball on the edge of the penalty area before firing a beautiful swerving shot
over the outstretched arms of goalkeeper Simon Mignolet. The 22-year-old Ramsey
has always shown potential, but he’s reached another level in 2013-14 and has
been among the very best in the Premier League through 10 games.
There were a lot of exciting fixtures this weekend, so let’s
take a quick lap around the league and examine the goings-on.
Newcastle 2 Chelsea 0
– This year’s Premier League has been about parity, and no club better exemplifies
that than Newcastle over the past two weeks. After losing to then-winless
Sunderland last Sunday, Newcastle turned around and beat second-place Chelsea
on Saturday at St. James’ Park. The Magpies’ second goal came courtesy of
French forward Loic Remy, who has been one of the Premier League’s best new
additions this season. Remy, currently on loan from Queens Park Rangers, scored
for the sixth time on Saturday and helped move Newcastle into ninth place with
the win.
Fulham 1 Manchester
United 3 – Don’t look now, but heavily criticized Manchester United have won
three of their last four and are just three points out of second at the season
reaches the quarter pole. They played arguably their best game of the season on
Saturday, going 3-0 up within 22 minutes at Craven Cottage to hand Fulham their
sixth loss in nine matches. Wayne Rooney and Robin van Persie – who are right
with Sturridge and Suarez when it comes to attacking duos – both scored in the
contest as Fulham sank to 16th with the loss.
Manchester City 7
Norwich 0 – Blues boss Manuel Pelligrini benched starting goalkeeper Joe
Hart in favor of Costel Pantilimon, but we’ll have to wait until at least
midweek to see if the decision was worthwhile. Pantilimon faced just one shot
on target as seven different City players scored in a rout at the Etihad
Stadium. City have now won all five home games and have scored 28 goals on the
season – six more than the next team, Arsenal. But until City’s defense and
away form (they’ve taken just four of a possible 15 points on the road)
improve, they’ll struggle to make up ground on leaders Arsenal.
Everton 0 Tottenham 0
– The winner of this match could have moved up to second in the league table,
but neither team seized the opportunity in a rather disappointing fixture.
Cardiff 1 Swansea 0 –
In a frenzied atmosphere at Cardiff City Stadium, Cardiff won the first-ever
Premier League version of the South Wales derby behind a header from captain
Steven Caulker. Swansea had the better of possession, 55% to Cardiff’s 45%, but
the home side were able to limit Swansea to just three shots on target by
clamping down in the final third. Caulker outleaped Chico Flores for the only
goal off a corner in the 62nd minute, and though both sides had a few other
chances, neither could add to the scoring. The match ended on a sour note, as
Swansea goalkeeper Michel Vorm was sent off after leaping at substitute Fraizer
Campbell in the first minute of stoppage time. Having used all three
substitutes, the Swans had to put defender Angel Rangel in goal for the final
minutes. Rangel did well to save the ensuing free kick but was not tested
further as Cardiff spent most of stoppage time in the corners as they closed
out a much-needed win.
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