Chelsea Win While Arsenal, Man City Lose

The Barclays Premier League has seen a number of topsy turvy results post-international break with Leicester City climbing to the top of the league standings for the first time since 2000.

Chelsea played out a hard-fought 1-0 win against Norwich City at home, finally ending their run of three consecutive losses. In a disastrous domestic campaign so far, Chelsea looked close to their incisive best for the first time with Eden Hazard, Willian and Cesc Fabregas turning on the heat on Norwich.

Jose Mourinho handed out Kenedy his full Premier League debut and it turned out to be a masterstroke as the Brazilian was immensely influential on Chelsea’s left wing. Manchester United had earlier won against Watford 2-1 in a game which had seen Troy Deeney score late goals on either side.

Arsenal fell to a 2-1 defeat at the Hawthorns as West Bromwich Albion pulled off a memorable win as Santi Cazorla missed a penalty. Mikel Arteta had earlier scored an own goal. It was a demoralizing loss for the Gunners who could have moved to the top of the table if they had earned three points.

The moment of the Super Saturday of Premier League came when James Vardy helped Leicester City to a 3-0 victory, equalizing Ruud Van Nistelrooy’s ten match goalscoring streak in the process. Twelve months ago, Leicester City had hit the bottom of the table in 2014/15 season. At a similar stage this season, after thirteen matches, the club sits atop the Premier League table, one point ahead of Manchester City.

Jurgen Klopp’s Liverpool helped Leicester City by beating Manchester City 4-1 at the Etihad. The Martin Demichelis-Elaquim Mangala backline completely dismantled in front of Philippe Coutinho’s technical ability and Roberto Firmino’s directness.

First half goals from Coutinho and Firmino put the Kops past the reach of Manchester City after an own goal in the seventh minute had boosted Liverpool’s confidence. The match was all but over when Sergio Aguero scored just before halftime, but Liverpool asserted their dominance in the second half. They had only one more goal through Martin Skrtl to show for their efforts though.

“I am more than angry, it is difficult to understand why we played so poorly. In defence, in attack and in possession I have never seen my team play in the way they played tonight. It was not one name or another name who was to blame it was the whole team. I was not happy with the performance of all 11 players. It was a complete disaster.”

– Manuel Pellegrini, Manchester City.