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Three talking points from the English Premier League weekend

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Manchester United’s Lisandro Martinez (top) celebrates with goalkeeper David de Gea on the final whistle at Old Trafford on Oct 30, 2022. PHOTO: AFP

Arsenal and Manchester City remain out in front, but the Premier League title race is far from a two-horse race after a weekend in which all of the top five won.

Liverpool’s latest embarrassing defeat, 2-1 at home by Leeds, leaves the Reds with an eight-point gap to the top four.

Chelsea were the other big losers on Saturday as Graham Potter was thrashed 4-1 on his return to Brighton.

AFP Sport looks at three talking points from the Premier League weekend:

No more home comfort for Liverpool

Despite Liverpool’s struggles this season a proud record of not having been beaten at home in the Premier League in front of fans for over five years had stayed intact until Leeds’ win on Saturday.

The visitors arrived at Anfield with manager Jesse Marsch clinging to his job after an eight-game winless run saw them fall into relegation danger.

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Leeds’ determination to fight for their boss was clear as they ran 11km more than their hosts.

But a shocking defeat encapsulated the flaws of Liverpool’s season so far.

Leeds were gifted the opening goal by an individual error from Joe Gomez and kept in the game by wasteful finishing from Darwin Nunez.

But Reds boss Jurgen Klopp was most annoyed by the slack defending that allowed Crysencio Summerville to fire in an 89th-minute winner unchallenged.

Klopp again pointed to injuries and a heavy fixture schedule for such a sluggish start to the season.

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The Reds are also clearly suffering a physical hangover from a 63-game campaign last season when they came so close to an unprecedented quadruple.

Currently they are a shadow of the team they once were and desperately need to limit the damage over the next two weeks to limp towards a much-needed break for the World Cup.

Already 14 points behind Arsenal, the title looks long gone but even a return to the Champions League via a top-four finish is becoming unlikely.

Mini Martinez a colossus for Man Utd

Lisandro Martinez’s suitability as a Premier League centre-back at just 1.75 metres tall was ridiculed amidst Manchester United’s disastrous start to the season.

But the Argentine has proved the doubters wrong, with his speed, aggression and poise on the ball more than making up for a lack of height.

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Martinez’s partnership with Raphael Varane has provided a solid foundation for Erik ten Hag to build on, but even without the injured Frenchman, the former Ajax man stood firm to withstand a second-half West Ham onslaught to secure a 1-0 win on Sunday.

United have now kept five consecutive clean sheets at Old Trafford, just one fewer than they managed in the entirety of last season.

No mercy for Potter

Brighton’s fans and players refused to roll out the red carpet for Graham Potter’s return to the Amex Stadium.

The Chelsea boss was subjected to boos and chants of “you’re getting sacked in the morning” by the home support, who remain upset at his decision to jump ship to Stamford Bridge last month.

“I’ve got nothing to say sorry for, I think I did a good job at the club and I think I left it in a good place as you can see today,” said Potter.

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Of more pressing concern for Potter is getting the Blues’ Premier League campaign back on track.

His first defeat as Chelsea manager had been coming after being outplayed by Brentford and Manchester United in draws before the trip to Brighton.

Victories for Tottenham, Newcastle and United mean Chelsea slip to sixth, three points adrift of the top four, and 10 behind Arsenal, who they face next weekend.

AFP

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Kunle Solaja is the author of landmark books on sports and journalism as well as being a multiple award-winning journalist and editor of long standing. He is easily Nigeria’s foremost soccer diarist and Africa's most capped FIFA World Cup journalist, having attended all FIFA World Cup finals from Italia ’90 to Qatar 2022. He was honoured at the Qatar 2022 World Cup by FIFA and AIPS.

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Premier League

Joe Aribo’s goal not enough to Southampton’s suffering

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Premier League - Southampton v Leicester City - St Mary's Stadium, Southampton, Britain - October 19, 2024 Southampton's Joe Aribo in action with Leicester City's Stephy Mavididi Action Images via Reuters/John Sibley

Joe Aribo scored a goal for Southampton on Saturday,but it was not enough to curb the club’s miserable run as they succumbed to a last-minute defeat by Leicester who snatched victory by 3-2.

Leicester scored three second-half goals to come from behind and stun 10-player Southampton, denying them a first Premier League win of the season.

The result means Saints have set a club record for the longest winless run in their entire top-flight history, having failed to emerge victorious from any of their last 21 Premier League encounters.

Inside five minutes, Joe Aribo had crashed a header onto the crossbar and inside seven minutes, the hosts had taken the lead. Kyle Walker-Peters led the charge after a quick free-kick and dropped the ball off to Ryan Manning, who squared for Cameron Archer to coolly slot in and send a wave of both relief and belief around St Mary’s.

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Premier League

Leicester fight back to clinch 3-2 win and extend Southampton’s suffering

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Jordan Ayew scored in the 98th minute as Leicester staged a second-half comeback to earn a 3-2 win at Southampton in the Premier League on Saturday, with the 10-man hosts setting a club record of 21 matches without victory in the English top-flight.

Leicester moved up to 13th in the standings with nine points from eight matches, while Southampton fell to 20th – level on points with Wolverhampton Wanderers, who face champions Manchester City on Sunday

“It’s just unbelievable, that’s why we play football. We didn’t have a good first half,” Ayew told Sky Sports.

“Second half we got ourselves back together and attacked the game properly. It’s just an unbelievable feeling.

“It’s a good step forward to move up the table. We’re going to continue fighting and it’s not going to be easy so well done the lads and everyone.”

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Having failed to win in their last 13 matches in the 2022-23 season when they were relegated, Southampton are without a win in the Premier League since they beat Leicester in the same fixture in March 2023.

Southampton shot out of the blocks and took the lead in the eighth minute when Ryan Manning squared for Cameron Archer to finish a sweeping counter-attack, before midfielder Joe Aribo added to their tally with a side-footed effort.

Leicester defender Wout Faes nearly scored a spectacular own-goal five minutes into the second half by sending a diving header straight at his own keeper Mads Hermansen, who spared the Belgian’s blushes with a deft save.

The visitors grew into the contest in the second half and created some half-chances before pulling one back in the 64th minute.

Buonanotte turned in a cross after a driving run from substitute Abdul Fatawu and the goal signalled the beginning of Southampton’s unravelling.

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Minutes later, Vardy was denied on the line by an excellent Aaron Ramsdale save, but Leicester were awarded a penalty after a VAR review found that the forward was held back by Ryan Fraser.

Fraser was sent off and Vardy stepped up, blasting his effort past Ramsdale to equalise.

Leicester smelled blood and pushed forward in their quest for a winner, which came deep into stoppage time when Ayew’s low shot went through a sea of bodies and crept into the bottom corner, breaking the hearts of home fans at St Mary’s Stadium.

-Reuters

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Manchester United ease pressure on Erik ten Hag with win over Brentford

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Argentinian winger Alejandro Garnacho celebrating after scoring the equaliser in a 2-1 English Premier League home win over Brentford at Old Trafford on Oct 19. PHOTO: EPA-EFE

Manchester United eased a bit of the pressure on their embattled manager Erik ten Hag with a 2-1 come-from-behind English Premier League victory over Brentford at Old Trafford on Oct 19.

The Red Devils had come into the match in 14th place on eight points with just two wins from seven games – their worst start to a campaign since 1989-90.

Reports had suggested the United hierarchy, including co-owner Jim Ratcliffe, chief executive officer Omar Berrada, sporting director Dan Ashworth and technical director Jason Wilcox had a long meeting earlier in the week, with ten Hag’s future on the agenda.

In the pre-match press conference on Oct 19, the Dutch manager accused segments of the media of “creating stories, creating fairy tales, bringing noise, bringing lies” regarding his future.

But things looked iffy for him again when Brentford opened the scoring in the fifth minute of first-half added time, when centre-back Ethan Pinnock lost marker Diogo Dalot and powered in a ferocious header past Andre Onana from a Mikkel Damsgaard corner.

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Ten Hag and Matthijs de Ligt remonstrated with the touchline officials after the defender was made to leave the field before the set piece as blood was pouring out of his head. He had sustained the injury after a coming together with Kevin Schade after 10 minutes.

Ten Hag and his assistant Ruud van Nistelrooy were later booked for their protestations.

But when all was said and done, it marked the seventh time United had failed to score in the first half in eight Premier League matches this season.

The Red Devils’ best chances in the first period had fallen to Alejandro Garnacho.

Once, he forced a near-post save by Mark Flekken, but with his two other opportunities, more could be expected from the Argentinian winger after he was picked out by a lovely cross-field pass from Marcus Rashford and some good hold-up play from Rasmus Hojlund.

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But the 20-year-old Garnacho remained confident and two minutes after the break, he finally found the net to register his second league goal of the campaign.

Rashford produced another excellent delivery for his fellow winger, this time his deep cross found Garnacho at the back post and he responded with a first-time side-foot volley into goal.

It was the marked the start of a second-half resurgence from the Red Devils which kept Flekken very busy.

But he could not deny United their second. United captain Bruno Fernandes played a neat round-the-corner flick to Hojlund, who dinked the ball over Flekken and into goal on 62 minutes.

It was his second goal in three starts this term, after missing the start of the campaign owing to a hamstring injury he picked up in pre-season.

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United could have gone 3-1 up six minutes later, when Onana’s goal kick found an overlapping Dalot bear down on goal, but Flekken managed to foil him.

But in the end, the Red Devils did not need the cushion of another goal as they got their first win in six matches.

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