Week four of the Premier League season has wrapped up with three teams still sporting perfect records. Most predicted Chelsea would be there, and many thought Manchester City had a chance, but Tottenham has to be considered one of the surprises early in this Premier League season. The teams now head into an international break and FPP takes a look at who is feeling good and who has work to do before games begin again on September 12th.
The Good…
A win is a win, and no one needed one more than Liverpool. Many people will point out the Reds struggled to beat a winless Bolton, but I’m talking the glass half full approach. Liverpool was under tremendous pressure to win this game, and found themselves behind twice, but the Reds were able to overcome those deficits and secure the much needed 3 points with Stephen Gerrard’s beautiful strike to the top corner in the 83rd minute. This is the type of win that can get a team rolling in the right direction.
Special attention is always played to matches between the ‘top four’ and Manchester United will be pleased with their 2-1 win over Arsenal. Actually, Manchester United should be elated with the victory as it came with a bit of luck after being outplayed by Arsenal at Old Trafford. Wayne Rooney was able to tie the game on a questionable penalty and a fortunate own goal put the Red Devils ahead for good. Hey, they’ll take the 3 points!
Chelsea looks good, very good! The Blues increased their record to a perfect 4-0 with a very tidy 3-0 win over Burnley. The question coming into the match was: could Burnley keep their surprise start going with another shocking upset? The answer was NO. Chelsea dominated the match from the opening kick and goals from Anelka, Ballack, and Cole sent Burnley home with zero points. Once again the duo of Drogba and Anelka were a force and Frank Lampard was superb throughout the match.
Tottenham Hotspur made sure Chelsea was not the only team entering the break with a perfect 4-0 start to the season. Spurs used a late goal in the 4th minute of injury time to secure a 2-1 win over Birmingham at White Hart Lane. Aaron Lennon is playing the role of ‘Mr. Clutch’ for Spurs. He has scored two goals this season, and both have been game winners coming late in injury time. Crouch also looked in very good form as he had his way with the Birmingham defense in the penalty area on numerous occasions, and eventually scored his first goal as a member of Spurs. However, the wins should be tougher come by now with the loss of Modric.
Perfect starts will keep you on the good side. Manchester City followed their usual script as Adebayor scored their lone goal in a 1-0 win over Portsmouth. The City defense is proving very solid thus far with another blank sheet, but there are still a number of players on this team being paid to score goals. Someone other then Adebayor has to start scoring soon, or one goal wins will eventually turn into draws and losses.
Dave Kitson scored his first goal in a Stoke City uniform and it was a big one. Stoke City was able to pick up their second win of the season with a 1-0 victory over Sunderland. Stoke must be feeling quite good about themselves at the moment with just one loss in their first four matches.
Congratulations Everton! You’ve managed to collect your first win after a horrific start to the Premier League campaign. Everton dominated Wigan at Goodisen Park to pull out a nice 2-1 win. Similar to Liverpool, Everton fell behind early in the second half, but they managed to come from behind. Something they had not managed to do so far in this early season. Everton still has a lot of work to do, but it is a nice way for them to head into the break.
Aston Villa made it two straight wins in the Premier League. Villa is starting to see signs of life from both Ashley Young and Gabriel Agbonlahor. Agbonlahor scored his first goal of the season in the 59th minute to ensure Villa a much needed three points. Villa fans can take heart in today’s victory after being eliminated from Europa League play earlier in the week.
One final good note came earlier in the week courtesy of the Champions League Draw. All four English Premier League clubs competing in the tournament were the benefactors of a favourable draw. All four should be able to advance past the group stage of the competition and it would not be shocking to see all four win their respective groups.
And now for the Bad….
It’s not everyday that a team finds itself on both the good and bad side of the article. Tottenham Hotspur have managed to do it by winning their game (good), but losing Luka Modric to a broken leg in the process (very bad). Spurs have a number of strikers who can put the ball in the net, but Modric is usually the one supplying them with perfect passes in space. Could this be the start of the FPP curse? I stated in the preview that Modric would become a household name with a breakout season, but he know finds himself out of action with a broken leg after week 4. Modric is expected to miss the next eight weeks, and it will take a lot for Spurs to overcome this loss.
Saturday was tough day for Arsenal, despite the strong early start to the season and a solid performance at Old Trafford. The Gunners played so well yesterday that leaving with zero points has to feel pretty deflating. The feeling only gets worse after losing the lead on a Rooney penalty, and squandering the potential draw on an own goal. The sending off of Arsene Wegner in the final seconds should leave the Gunners manager in sour mood over the break.
Portsmouth has to hope that new owner Sulaiman Al Fahimbrings with him more funds to Fratton Park. This team has seen too many players leave over the last couple of seasons to remain competitive. It will be a season of relegation barring a major shakeup.
Bolton is another team that has to start winning games soon. Fans can take some heart in the fact the team did manage to score its first two goals of the season against Liverpool, but Bolton still managed to lose the game 3-2. Their next contest takes place on September 12th at Portsmouth. A must win game for both teams.
The EPL season just keeps getting more and more interesting. The transfer window will close on Monday and managers will then have close to two weeks to try and create winning gameplans. The moves in the transfer window are coming fast and furious, so I’ll have a more in-depth report about the transfers on Tuesday. Instead of leaving you with ’other news’, I’ll just leave a link of Arsene Wenger doing his best Don Cherry impression.