English Premier League: Matchweek 22 Saturday Review

Liverpool maintain 1st place with gritty win over Brighton: 1-0

Well, we hear it every season, but no title-contending side is going to cruise through every match. We see title-winning character in the less-blockbuster matches against teams that are tough to break down. Liverpool showed their character on Saturday in a 1-0 win over Brighton, who are a physical team that prove difficult to penetrate. The Reds were coming off a tough loss to Manchester City 2 weeks ago, and needed to win to get back on track. Salah’s 50th minute penalty was also the Reds’ 50th goal of the Premier League season, as they look to still be on track to win the title, or at least challenge.

As for Brighton, they may feel quite hard-done by the result, but can be proud of their performances regardless. They’ve played well against essentially every top 6 team this season and sit in 13th.

10-man Southampton hold on to upset Leicester City: 2-1

Wow, what a strange, strange 90 minutes at the King Power. A tightly-contested match right from the off should have been decided in Leicester’s favour after Southampton’s young, hotheaded right-back Yan Valery picked up his 2nd yellow on the stroke of halftime. At that point, the Saints were 1-0 up thanks to an Armstrong penalty. Despite being a man down, Southampton added to their tally just 2 minutes after Valery’s sending-off, with a goal through Shane Long, gifted to him by Nampalys Mendy and Kasper Schmeichel. The 2nd half was unbelievable. Leicester piled on the pressure throughout the entire half, and although they pulled one back through Ndidi, they ended up on the losing side regardless. The Foxes had a ridiculous 85% possession in the 2nd half along with 19 total shots, in a losing effort.

Leicester miss a glorious opportunity to jump into 7th, while Southampton’s win pulls them out of the drop zone.

Chelsea pick up much needed win over Newcastle to go 6 points clear of Arsenal: 2-1

The Blues hit a bit of a dip in form in recent weeks, as rumours of a potential transfer ban heat up rapidly. The front 3 of Willian, Pedro, and Hazard had another go on Saturday, as it seems both of the clubs centre-forwards, Alvaro Morata and Olivier Giroud, are completely out of favour. Chelsea got out to a great start against Newcastle, as a beautiful lofted ball from David Luiz (who was in his own half), found the feet of Pedro, who proceeded to lob the keeper. It was an exquisite goal and a promising start to the match, but similar to many of their recent fixtures, the rest of Chelsea’s play was dying out as the move entered the final third. Ciaran Clark pulled one back for Newcastle on the stroke of halftime, but a great goal from misfiring Willian in the 57th minute sealed a much-needed victory for Chelsea.

It was a massive win for the Blues, as they go 6 points clear of Arsenal in 4th place. Newcastle on the other hand, sit in the relegation zone.