Hello again! It feels great to be back, although the time away was quite enjoyable 🙂 If you missed the previous post–which I hope you didn’t–I mentioned that there would be a halt in Premier League action due to the international break…and there was. However, that break has recently ended, meaning the Premier League resumed action this past weekend! As a result, this post will not cover historic moments in the Premier League; instead, it will cover gameweek 5. Here it goes!
The lesser of the two wildly entertaining games this weekend was the matchup between Manchester City and West Ham. As usual, a dominant performance from City was expected, but those watching realized the game would follow a different path after the first few minutes. A display of world class athleticism from Areola, West Ham’s goalkeeper, parried a flurry of shots from City in the 7th minute. Ten minutes later, West Ham came knocking on City’s door with a corner that Aguero narrowly missed with his head. Many more chances followed, but the score sheet still showed zeroes. With ten minutes left in the half, James Ward-Prowse changed that. Diving across the box on a beautiful cross, Prowse made the head-to-ball connection that Aguero had previously missed. It was 1-0 West Ham.
Entering halftime, West Ham maintained their lead, but then City grabbed onto West Ham with a chokehold that is all too familiar in the Premier League. It took less than a minute for City to even the score on a clinical goal from Doku, a new member of the City squad. Thirty minutes later, after an exhausting defensive effort, West Ham conceded another goal as they watched their dream-start get crushed. Erling Haaland finished the City comeback, scoring his seventh goal of the season. The 3-1-win means continued perfection for City (5-0-0) and heartbreak for an honorable West Ham.
Though the City game was juicy with action, the match between the Tottenham Hotspurs (Spurs) and Sheffield United was even better. After losing Harry Kane, one of the best strikers to ever play in the Premier League, the Tottenham Hotspurs were expected to suffer greatly on the offensive end this season. So far, they’ve proved everyone wrong, scoring a whopping 13 goals in just four games. This success, however, was soon tested. Struggling to get anything going, the Spurs found themselves scoreless against Sheffield United, a team they should easily beat on paper. Disaster struck in the 73rd minute when Sheffield’s Gustavo Hamer beat the Hotspurs’ keeper. As the clock ticked down, the 1-0 score began to seep under the skin of the earlier-optimistic Spurs. At the 90-minute mark, the assistant referee put up the amount of stoppage time there would be: it showed twelve minutes. The Spurs took a sigh of relief. When the clock reached 98 minutes, hopes of even tying the game began to die off for many players on the Spurs team: except Richarlson. In style, Richarlson knocked in a header, one of the latest goals of the season to put the Spurs on the board. The Spurs were not done though. Four minutes later, Kulusevski scored the game-winner, completing the latest comeback in Premier League history. The Spurs are now second in the league behind Manchester City.
The teams in the Premier League fluctuate year-to-year. This means that the worst two team in the league each year get bumped out, or relegated, and are replaced by new ones. Currently, the two new teams in the league are Luton Town FC and Burnley FC. At the moment, Luton Town occupies the bottom spot in the league and are winless. Although it is early in the season, they remain on my relegation watch as a team that could get the boot at the conclusion of the season.
As always, thank you for your time! You are slowly learning how incredible football is (football=soccer) and gaining respect for the wonders that happen in the Premier League on a weekly basis. Until next time!!! Current Standings.
Hi Will. I love the way you dramatize the intensity of the most eventful and energetic games of soccer. I played all my life until the 11th grade and I regret quitting ever since. Since then, I still love the sport. Watching a game of soccer carries a burning energy that is hard to find in other sports(at least for me). I am very glad that we share a similar liking for such a wonderful sport!
Hi Will! I found your post fascinating. I recently got into watching soccer about two years ago by just going to some of my high school’s games. I have even gone to a few soccer games here at Penn State. Have you gone to see any yet? I highly recommend. After reading your blog post though I have discovered that there is a whole entire world of soccer that I have yet to even discover. You write about the premiere league with such enthusiasm and passion that I feel the need to check it out. On what platform do you usually watch the games? ESPN?