Wood on fire, late goals and Ten Haag’s farewell
Another dramatic weekend in the Premier League drew to a close yesterday afternoon after Arsenal and Liverpool drew 2-2 at The Emirates. Over the weekend, 10 goals in total were scored beyond the 80th minute, with 5 of those coming in second half injury time and all of which changed the result of each game. Friday night’s fixture saw in form Nottingham Forest travel to the King Power stadium to take on Leicester City in an East Midlands clash.
Leicester City 1-3 Nottingham Forest
After we saw Forest beat Crystal Palace 1-0 at the City Ground on Monday night, the next challenge awaiting the Reds were Leicester City who had just come off the back of two confidence boosting wins against Bournemouth and Southampton. Steve Cooper is a popular figure on the red side of the East Midlands, and due to that it has been difficult for him to win over the Leicester faithful. Overall, going into this fixture his side had collected more points than most would have expected, as they found themselves in 14th, having accumulated 9 points from the opening 8 matches which surely would have seen some fans start to warm to him.
Forest travelled in high spirits, still unbeaten away from home this season and the away fans were vocal from the start. After 16 minutes they had something to really get excited about when captain Ryan Yates drilled home a shot from outside of the box after Leicester made a real hash of clearing the initial danger. In the corner where those travelling supporters were housed, an eruption followed the ball hitting the back of the net and the expectation of getting a win away at their East Midlands neighbours started to become a reality. Ryan Yates personifies Nottingham Forest, a player who has been at the club since he was a boy, the club runs through his blood and there is no one that the fans love to see succeed as much as him. A touching moment following the game saw him interviewed by Martin O’Neill who brought Yates into the side during his time as the Forest boss back in 2019, and he spoke extremely highly of the Forest captain.
Yates’ goal looked like it might be a catalyst for Forest to go on and take control of the game, however it was Leicester who managed to get themselves back into it and started to enjoy space in the midfield. Harry Winks was the main instigator for this as he put in a strong first half performance. Leicester got their equaliser after right back Ricardo Pereira inverted into the midfield with the ball and played it to Winks, breaking the lines for Winks to find himself with acres of room to run into. Winks then linked up nicely with Mavididi and Ndidi, drove into the box and produced the type of cross that Jamie Vardy relishes. Vardy got to the ball ahead of Murillo to stab it into the net and give the Leicester fans a goal to shout about, evening the score at 1-1. Hermansen made an excellent stop from Nico Dominguez in the aftermath of a corner not long after the goal and Forest looked dangerous from set pieces all game long. It was Leicester who went into the break with their tails up though as they continued to find space in the midfield, Mavididi curled a shot just wide before half time following some more good work in the middle.
Pereira steps into midfield to set Winks away
The second half though was a much different story and was all about Chris Wood. Just two minutes after half time, some good link up play on the left hand side between Moreno, Hudson-Odoi and Elliot Anderson led to Chris Wood finding himself inside the box with the ball at his feet, facing away from goal. From this position I was shouting at the TV for him to square the ball to Elanga who was just right of him, Wood had other ideas though and produced an exquisite turn and finish to regain the lead for Forest. He ran over and slid infront of an ecstatic away end, setting off chants of ‘Chris Wood’s on fire’.
Those chants could still be heard as Matz Sels pumped a long ball forward on 60 minutes, Wout Faes was underneath it but was being put under immense pressure by the adrenaline fuelled Chris Wood. His header was a poor one and set it up for the onrushing striker to head the ball over the top of Hermansen and make it 3-1, creating even more noise from an already raucous away end.
After the third goal, Leicester looked devoid of any confidence, and with Forest pushing higher up the pitch they started to struggle to play the ball out from the back. On countless occasions Leicester lost the ball in their own half setting up Forest attacks which they couldn’t convert. Hudson-Odoi hit the post, Yates missed a sitter from a corner where it looked easier to score, and substitutes Jota and Awoniyi saw both their efforts go wide. On another day, Forest could have won by an even more comfortable margain signifying the total dominance that they had in the second half. It ended 3-1 nevertheless, which still represented a terrific away win and saw Forest go up to 5th in the table heading into the rest of the weekends fixtures.
Forest fans now have a real belief that this season can be a really successful one for the club, after the rest of the weekends results, Forest still find themselves in 7th and although it’s still early days, the progress that has been made from last season is enormous. The questions about whether Forest can sustain this type of form are being asked and the ruthless nature of the Premier League means that any drop off in form can suddenly lead to a slide down the table. Despite this, after two seasons of gruelling relegation battles, the freedom of being 12 points clear of the bottom 3 after 9 games is huge and is starting to see Forest play with a belief and confidence that hasn’t been seen since the Championship promotion season of 2021/22. With two home fixtures coming up against West Ham which we’ll be at, and Newcastle, fans will be in buoyant mood and hoping for even more positive strides in the weeks to come.
Brentford 4-3 Ipswich Town
Brentford are a team who seem to be written off at the start of the season every year but they always find a way to defy expectations and produce consistent results in the Premier League and so far this season has been no different. In Thomas Frank they have a top class manager and have formed a real identity in the way that they want to play, emphasising the use of wide areas to exploit opposition teams and a data driven approach to influence their decisions. Ipswich Town are still trying to find their own identity, but so far have used a direct, counter-pressing style to try and get results in a league they have been absent from for 22 years.
In the first half it looked like Ipswich had produced their best performance of the season, going 2-0 up thanks to goals from Sammie Szmodics and George Hirst, the direct and high octane approach adopted by McKenna was working wonders. Both goals were well crafted, as they were able to get the ball up the pitch quickly and find attacking players in positive areas of the pitch. This exploited Brenford’s defensive vulnerabilities and left space for Hirst, Chaplin and Szmodics to work their magic and slice through the backline to put Ipswich into the driving seat. A win in this fixture would have been a real statement for McKenna whose side are still yet to win, however Brentford are not a team that will lie down especially at home where they are unbeaten so far this season.
Brentford’s fightback was initiated in the 44th minute after some excellent control and movement on the ball from winger Keane Lewis-Potter set up an incisive breakaway leading to Vitaly Janelt squaring the ball to Yohanne Wissa who slotted home. Only moments later and just before the half time whistle things started to really unravel for Kieran McKenna’s men. Brentford’s use of the ball in wide areas was starting to hurt Ipswich, as another move this time started on Brentford’s right side led to a quick interchange of passing, ending with a pinpoint through ball from Mikkel Damsgaard releasing Wissa again who ran through to knock the ball past Arijanet Muric in goal, Ipswich born full back Harry Clarke suffered his first unfortunate moment of the game as he slid in to try and prevent the ball from crossing the line but unwillingly helped it on it’s way, meaning an own goal for Clarke to put Brentford back on level terms.
Clarke tries to keep out Wissa’s effort
Keane Lewis-Potter was pivotal in starting Brentford’s comeback, and he was also involved heavily for the goal that saw the turnaround complete. Again Brentford utilised their wide players effectively, with a ball played into the channel for Lewis-Potter who used his pace to get infront of Harry Clarke. At this point, the defender knew that he was in trouble and dragged the winger down inside the box, leading to a penalty. Mbuemo dispatched the penalty with ease to take his goal tally up to 7, level with Chris Wood.
If Harry Clarke’s day had been bad so far, it was made even worse after Lewis-Potter tormented him again with some more positive attacking movement, leading to a late tackle on him on the edge of the box by the Ipswich full back, who was shown a second yellow card for his tackle and was sent to go and get changed early. At this point, it would have been easy for Ipswich to crumble and concede more goals against a confident looking Brentford attack, however they showed real character to stay in the game. Leif Davis produced an exquisite cross from the left hand side which was neatly flicked in off the boot of Liam Delap to draw Ipswich level with 4 minutes to play, sending their fans in the corner of the stadium into delirium.
A point would have probably been a fair reflection of the game, with Ipswich producing enough positive attacking moments to earn themselves a draw. However, there was to be another cruel twist in this frantic Premier League fixture in the 5th minute of stoppage time. Bryan Mbuemo has been the talisman for Brentford this season and is capable of match winning moments, he found another one late on in this game when he cut in off the right hand side from a long way out, his left footed ball into the box looked like a cross but no one in an Ipswich shirt dealt with it, and no Brentford player attacked it. Inevitbably, the ball sailed past everyone and into the corner past Muric who looked to move too late to be able to get a touch on it. Brentford had their 4th goal to seal a dramatic win, a goal which took Mbuemo up to 8 for the season, moving into 2nd behind Erling Haaland in the Premier League top scorers table.
Brentford find a way to win
The late goal was a devastating blow for Ipswich Town who need every point they can get in their hunt for Premier League survival. Despite the result though I think a lot of Ipswich fans felt proud of the performance that their players put in and will have taken some positives, particularly in the success they had in the first half where the quick, direct, counter-pressing style implemented by McKenna looked to be paying off massively. The hope will be that if they can continue to attack like that they will see a win sooner rather than later, with a home game against Leicester presenting a big opportunity for them to do exactly that. The defensive issues will be a big cause for concern though, and goalkeeper Arijanet Muric has not covered himself in glory either since his move to East Anglia.
Another positive result for Brentford mean that they are now sat in 9th place with a trip to Craven Cottage coming up. Is a potential European finish for Brentford too big of an ask? If Thomas Frank stays at the club and continues to exploit opposition teams in the way that he is doing, then it could be a more realistic target than some may think.
Brighton and Hove Albion 2-2 Wolves
The theme of late goals this weekend in the Premier League continued in this game as we saw a dramatic finish at the Amex which no one would have seen coming. Brighton have started the season very well under new boss Fabian Hürzeler and came into this game off the back of two great wins either side of the international break, beating Spurs at home 3-2 and Newcastle away 1-0. The win against Newcastle was dampened slightly with in form veteran striker Danny Welbeck coming off injured prompting me to take him out my FPL team, that proved to be a big mistake as the injury wasn’t as bad as it initially looked and he was in the line up to face Wolves on Saturday. Welbeck has been influential for Brighton so far this season and having him back was a big boost for them.
Wolves were sat in the bottom 3 ahead of their trip to the Amex and Gary O’Neill was under real pressure, in need of a performance and a positive result to help them start to move in the right direction after a turgid start to the season. The first goal of this game came from a poor piece of distribution from Jose Sa, his goal kick which didn’t even make it out of his own half fell straight to Ferdi Kadıoğlu who played a neat ball to Georginio Rutter, Rutter then played a through ball to Welbeck who finished ruthlessly to continue his rich vein of form and put the Seagulls 1-0 up just before half time. The attacking duo of Welbeck and Rutter has started to really blossom in recent weeks and that combination will excite Brighton fans, as it looks like they’ve made an excellent signing in Georginio Rutter who struggled in his first couple of appearances following his move from Leeds United.
Evan Ferguson is full of massive potential but hasn’t featured much this season thanks to the form of the Brighton attackers who Hürzeler has trusted, however he came on in the 73rd minute in this game and made a big impact. Tariq Lamptey was another subsitute who came on and is a player who has also struggled for game time despite his potential, he came on for Rutter and used his pace to carry the ball deep into the Wolves half on 85 minutes, he then found Evan Ferguson just inside the area who produced an oustanding shot on the turn, smashing the ball past Sa to get what looked like the goal that would seal the win for the home side.
Two minutes later however, Wolves were handed a way back into the game as the ball fell kindly to Ait-Nouri inside the box as Brighton failed to clear their lines from a corner. He took the chance and smashed the ball home to cut Brighton’s lead back to just 1 with 3 minutes to play of normal time.
Matheus Cunha was Wolves best player throughout the game, creating a chance for Tommy Doyle in the first half which wasn’t converted, he also played a key role in Ait-Nouri’s goal with a flick on that caused the Brighton defenders to panic. In the dying minutes he would get his rewards for his endeavour in the most dramatic way possible.
In the 92nd minute, Wolves were desperate to get forward to try and salvage an equaliser, Ait-Nouri tried to run with the ball down the right flank but was well tackled by Bryan Gruda, leading to this 4 on 1 scenario where it seemed certain that they would go on to score a third:
However, Tommy Doyle, the only outfield player who was back defending ended up winning the ball back following an awful piece of decision making by Mats Wieffer (on the ball in the above picture) who was spoilt for choice. This then led to Doyle producing a crucial pass to perfection in the circumstances, getting Wolves into an attacking position of some real promise:
Cunha went on and carried the ball into the box, hit a shot which was then deflected fortuitously into the back of the net via the underside of the crossbar:
Which then sparked some unreal scenes in the away end, some of the best that I’ve seen for a long time:
It is one of those moments that makes you realise why we watch football. It was a game that had seemingly gotten away from Wolves but they managed to claw it back in a moment of pure drama. It’s a precious point for Gary O’Neill’s side, even though they still sit in the bottom 3, to be 2-0 down in the 85th minute and then find yourselves drawing level in the 92nd minute is something you have to cherish and it is a result that will mean a lot to those that travelled down to the Amex on Saturday. Wolves fans will be hoping that this moment can now help them push forwards and find a win, they have two home fixtures to come against Crystal Palace and Southampton which are must win ties for O’Neill. Brighton will be kicking themselves after that late Cunha goal, a win would have seen them go level on points and goal difference with Aston Villa in 4th. However, perspective is needed after they still remain 6th and within touching distance of those clubs. It’s a result that they will be disappointed with the nature of how it happened but looking at the bigger picture, it isn’t as damaging as it may have seemed directly after the full time whistle.
West Ham United 2-1 Manchester United
Erik Ten Haag managed his final game as Manchester United boss on Sunday following a 2-1 defeat to West Ham. This morning, the news broke that he’d been sacked after months of ongoing speculation about his future at the club. In his tenure, Ten Haag managed to win two domestic trophies, winning the Carabao cup in 2023 and the FA Cup in 2024. It was the final of the FA Cup, where his team put in the best performance of his entire tenure to beat their Manchester rivals 2-1, that saved his job initially as there were many rumours circulating that a defeat in that game would lead to his sacking back in May.
It was ultimately Manchester United’s dismal league performance last season, finishing eighth in their worst ever Premier League position and recording 14 defeats along the way, that led to this moment. This season has so far been the same story, with no improvements made from last year, they currently sit 14th after 9 games. The West Ham defeat on Sunday was their 4th defeat already this season and there was an air of inevitability about the sacking, although I’m sure some Man United supporters who wanted him gone felt like the day would never come.
The game itself was shrouded in VAR controversy, as West Ham were awarded a penalty in second half injury time following a coming together between Matthijs De Ligt and Danny Ings inside the box. It looked like De Ligt was pulling out of the challenge and barely made contact with Danny Ings, it also appeared that Danny Ings handled the ball on his way down as well. The on field decision was given as no penalty, however upon review it was given and in our opinion, West Ham were wrongly awarded a penalty. Jarrod Bowen went on to score and put the final nail in the Ten Haag’s coffin, sealing what was an important victory for West Ham who’ve been underwhelming so far since the start the start of the season.
Referee David Coote goes to the VAR monitor to review the penalty incident
Even without the late penalty, Manchester United’s overall performance wasn’t good enough and that is the main issue that has been apparent for a long time. With the size of the club, the quality that they have in the side and the amount of money that they have spent on transfers in the past few seasons, United should be doing a lot better than they are. Overall, the players look void of confidence, ideas and often rely on Garnacho, Rashford or Bruno Fernandes hopefully producing a moment of quality. There’s not been any clear style of play or game plan that indicate that Ten Haag is a top level head coach and suitable for the role of Manchester United boss. When you compare him to other managers that we have spoken about such as Thomas Frank, Fabian Hürzeler and even our own Nuno Espirito Santo, the difference is that you can watch Brighton, Brentford and Forest and see a clear plan, an identity and a style. That has never been clear with Ten Haag and some fresh ideas are desperately required.
Erik Ten Haag gives his last post match interview as the Manchester United boss
Ruud Van Nistelrooy will take over as interim boss until a new head coach is appointed. Whether it is Van Nistelrooy or a new face, their first job will be to establish a recognisable style of play that suits the current squad of players that they have. The players need a confidence boost as well, and a new manager will have to try and start getting the best out of them.
Another issue at United has been recruitment, and that is also an area that will need to improve if the head coach is given any control over that, a clear transfer strategy must be implemented at the club where they know exactly what profile of player they are looking for based on their playing style. It will be a tall order to get United winning games consistently again, and we all wait with intrigue to see who they decide to go for. A potential appointment could have massive ripple effects across the Premier League, especially if they choose to appoint a current Premier League manager. One name that has been reported by The Athletic today is Sporting Lisbon manager Ruben Amormim. Other names that have been rumoured with no concrete evidence include Gareth Southgate and Thomas Frank.
Arsenal 2-2 Liverpool
In the weekends feature game on Super Sunday, Arsenal took on Liverpool at The Emirates in a game that saw 2nd take on 4th going into the start of the match, and gave Liverpool the opportunity to go to the top of the table. It was a highly anticipated fixture that would prove to be a marker for where both teams were at at this stage. Arsenal were coming off the back of a damaging defeat to Bournemouth which we covered last week, which saw yet another red card for a key player. William Saliba was missing due to that red card that he suffered, and Martin Odegaard was still out through injury.
One player who was back in the Arsenal team was Bukayo Saka, much to the delight of the home fans. It was Saka who produced the first impactful moment in this game, as he ran Andy Robertson ragged down the right channel and sat him down with a quick shift of direction before producing a trademark left footed shot that flew past Kelleher in goal. With Arsenal on the front foot early on in the game, there was an expectation inside the stadium that they would go on to take control of the game and win it.
Liverpool had other ideas however and got themselves back into the game following a set piece which was cleverly flicked on at the near post by Luis Diaz and fell perfectly for Virgil Van Dijk to score a stooping header, the ball crashing into the net in front of the Arsenal fans in the North Bank.
One big change for Arsenal was Thomas Partey playing at right back, after Saliba’s suspension Ben White had to move across to centre back and therefore Partey came in to fill his position, favoured ahead of Zinchenko. Arteta definitely got that decision correct, as Partey put in an excellent defensive performance, helping to deal with Liverpool’s threat out wide. The makeshift right back completed 5 successful tackles, more than anyone else on his team and won 4 aerial duels.
Arsenal’s set pieces were a threat once again, to no one’s surprise. We have seen the success that they have had from Bukayo Saka’s corners so far this season, but against Liverpool it was Declan Rice’s deliveries that were striking fear into everyone of a Liverpool persuasion. In the 43rd minute, his perfectly whipped free kick was met by a diving Mikel Merino, his head made a pure connection with the ball to score Arsenal’s second of the game and put them back in front just before half time.
Merino connects with Rice’s free kick
The game was very even throughout and was constantly on a knife edge, neither team really pushed enough or took enough risks to go onto win the game, the stats back this up too. Both sides recorded 9 shots, Liverpool edged the possession stats with 55.7% which is probably due to them chasing the game for much of the second half, Arsenal had a slightly higher total xG, 0.92 compared to Liverpool’s 0.81, but a negligible difference in the grand scheme of things.
It was no surprise then when Mohamed Salah equalised for Liverpool in the 81st minute. The goal was well crafted by Trent Alexander-Arnold who played an exquisite ball over the top of the Arsenal defence for Darwin Nunez to run onto, he did well to get his head up and find Salah in the middle who inevitably found the finish to secure a point which Liverpool deserved.
Overall, in a game where one of these sides could have made a real statement, the main take away was that perhaps it is too early in the season for either side to want to take the required risk to win. A loss for Arsenal following defeat at Bournemouth would have been a disaster and would have seen them fall 6 points behind City at the top, a loss for Liverpool would have been less disastrous but with City still unbeaten, a second defeat for Slot’s side may have had a psychological impact and knocked their momentum. A draw represents a good enough result in the end for both teams, nothing ventured nothing gained.
The rest of the weekends action:
Manchester City 1-0 Southampton
Erling Haaland scores the only goal of the game to add more misery for the Saints.
A spirited performance from Russell Martins side but it’s points that they need.
Aston Villa 1-1 Bournemouth
Ross Barkley scores what he must have thought was the winning goal after 76 minutes.
Evanilson gets a dramatic equaliser in the 6th minute of stoppage time to steal a draw for Iraola’s side.
Everton 1-1 Fulham
Iwobi scores a great goal to put Fulham ahead.
Beto comes on to score a late equaliser and is visibly emotional at full time, a big moment for the Portuguese striker.
Chelsea 2-1 Newcastle
Palmer produces the pass of the season to create the chance for the first goal, Jackson provides the finish from Neto’s cross but all the credit must go to Cole Palmer’s brilliance.
Newcastle equalise through Alexander Isak after a good cross from Lewis Hall but it’s another underwhelming performance from Eddie Howe’s men.
Chelsea win it through Palmer’s individual run and shot after Chelsea win the ball back in the midfield.
Crystal Palace 1-0 Tottenham Hotspur
Mateta’s goal seals huge win for Crystal Palace who move out of the relegation zone.
Spurs xG of 0.41 tells the story, lacking creativity and productivity.
Written by Joe Horne
