The latest set of league fixtures belonged to Manchester, courtesy of their title rivals Liverpool, Spurs and Chelsea being held at home (Arsenal are there for the party, but not the after party). The heavyweights of Manchester continued their two-way fight for the Premier League by steamrolling through their opponents. With 16 league goals between them, can anybody shut them out?
Last weekend fixtures were kicked off with Bournemouth hosting Brighton & Hove Albion on the err… Friday. At the 11,360 capacity Dean Court (Still waiting on that stadium expansion), it was Jordon Ibe who came off the bench bestowed with confidence and played a massive part (think Ryan Fraser vs Liverpool last season) in ensuring Eddie Howe’s job was still safe. As we all know, football management is a nonsensical job in terms of what is expected and understanding different situations at different clubs. Bournemouth legend Eddie Howe’s position was under scrutiny before the match after their poor start to the season, such is the glorious and fun job that is football management where it’s easier to sack the manager (Unless you’re on the board at Arsenal) than to sack the players.
It was also a week where we saw Diego Costa’s future at Chelsea reach its inevitable end, thereby bringing an end to Diego Costa and Antonio Conte’s topsy-turvy relationship. Atletico Madrid re-signed their former talisman, who will do their best to help Diego become ever more tranquil. If that doesn’t work, he can let off some steam by sparring with Rio Ferdinand while waiting to make his debut in January. The Manchester United legend and respected pundit has announced he will be taking up professional boxing, which bodes well for other footballer’s post-retirement such as Wayne Rooney.
Stars of the acting and music scene came together last weekend to watch the best of what English football had to offer. At Vicarage Road saw Elton John once more take up the opportunity to witness his stand named after him in person, and he also took in the Football as well. Supporting the away team (Man City) was Noel Gallagher, no doubt seething Oasis was probably not picked on the stadium’s music playlist. Watford supporters could be forgiven for starkly believing the game could not be as bad as last season’s 5-0 drubbing fixture. They were wrong, the extra goal meant it was even worse. The merciless Sergio Aguero scored a hat-trick, with Otamendi, Sterling and Gabriel Jesus also getting on the scoresheet. It was West Brom next up for City in the League Cup, who won by two goals to one. Speaking of West Brom, do you think Tony Pulis ever combined a suit with his baseball cap? The height of fashion and sophistication.
Lucky enough to see Chelsea and Arsenal’s 0-0 draw was NBA star Stephen Curry and the stars of The Kingsman: The Golden Circle, including Mark Strong and Channing Tatum. All this is of course highly irrelevant, however, there was only the rightly disallowed goal and the red card to David Luiz to create the talking points. Incidentally, it was later confirmed that the once £50m David Luiz had broken his wrist and carried on until his sending off, further exemplifying the positively barmy nature of his character. If the celebrities wanted to see goals, then the League Cup in midweek at home to Nottingham Forest would have offered better viewing in a game that saw Chelsea rack up 5 goals with one consolation for the reds. Elsewhere in the cup, there weren’t any real monumental shocks. Crystal Palace scored their first goal (really) since round 2 against Huddersfield, Stoke City were knocked out by Bristol City, and Manchester United eased past Burton Albion.
One final point to make. Pep Guardiola was quoted as saying that the league cup is a “waste of energy”, not to the vast majority of the football league clubs it isn’t.