Beefy Bites: Bournemouth topple Newcastle United and Leeds United triumph in Yorkshire derby
The clash of the Premier League’s in-form teams not called Liverpool goes the way of Bournemouth
There’s no shortage of excitement to revisit from the weekend just gone.
In the Premier League, Manchester City emptied their clip at Ipswich Town on Sunday in a performance that had a slight whiff of the false dawn about it but might just as easily have played their forwards into scoring form at last.
But this week’s Monday round-up takes in AFC Bournemouth, derby days in Wales and Yorkshire, penalty chaos for Sunderland and a statement win for title-chasing Napoli.
Don't sleep on the Cherries
On Saturday afternoon, my friend showed me the results in her prediction league for the first Premier League game of the weekend. Every single person had Newcastle United to win at home against AFC Bournemouth.
I was also surprised that Bournemouth went to St James’ Park shorthanded and knocked off an in-form Newcastle team on a long winning run. But not that surprised.
Andoni Iraola’s Bournemouth were fantastic. They often are. But this win was a thumping reminder that they can be effective as well as aggressive. They went into this game still massively under-performing their xG; they’re succeeding this season by creating enough that it hasn’t really mattered.
The imperious Cherries won 4-1 and Justin Kluivert was the star man. He followed two deadly finishes from inside the box with a wonderful third from further out before Milos Kerkez added some gloss with a cracker of his own. Days like those don’t come along often.
Cardiff’s Riza dismissed in lairy derby
Back in August, Swansea City and Cardiff City played out a thrilling South Wales derby. Cardiff were on a bad run and Erol Bulut eventually paid with his job but a draw at Swansea was a rare positive.
The reverse fixture was the high point of the Bluebirds’ season and it was just as spicy as the first. Like Bulut in the previous game, Cardiff boss Omer Riza was sent off at the Cardiff City Stadium. I really don’t blame him. Irrespective of the exacerbating circumstances, Swansea’s Goncalo Franco is lucky Riza didn’t kick his teeth in.
The football itself delivered for Cardiff, and just as well – the three teams immediately below them picked up points too. The evergreen Callum Robinson came up with two gorgeous finishes in the space of five minutes after the break. Dimitrios Goutas rounded off the rout in the middle of the second half.
Leeds take their chances
Sunday’s football bonanza started with a lunchtime derby in Yorkshire, where Leeds United beat Sheffield Wednesday 3-0 in the Championship. It was a closer game than that in truth, but the Owls were chasing the game as soon as Leeds took an early lead through Manor Solomon after James Beadle failed to gather the ball.
Josh Windass and Yan Valery had chances for the visitors, who were allowed plenty of the ball in the first half because Leeds had so quickly put themselves into a strong position.
The second half took a while to get going but eventually flared up as Wednesday pushed hard for an equaliser and the tackles started to fly in, much to the delight of the Sky Sports commentary team.
Leeds were flattered by the extent of the scoreline but the goals that made it 3-0 late in the day were both terrific. Largie Ramazani’s tenacity and sharp finish doubled the lead with a couple of minutes to go. Deep in stoppage time, a beautiful instinctive flick from Ao Tanaka sealed the deal to take Leeds to the top of the division.
We need to sort out penalties
Burnley and Sunderland drew 0-0 in the Championship on Friday night and all the drama happened in the last five minutes of normal time and beyond. It was a bizarre state of affairs as the same sequence played out twice.
First, Sunderland were awarded a penalty that wasn’t a penalty. Second, Burnley goalkeeper James Trafford fannied about and delayed the kick by more than two minutes. Third, Trafford dived low to his right to keep out Wilson Isidor’s penalty.
The only difference was that Trafford was shown a yellow card the second time around having inexplicably avoided one the first time. Sure, Sunderland could have handled the situation differently both times. But Trafford shouldn’t have been free to take the piss before the second spot kick.
Here’s the thing. Penalties are unfairly weighted against goalkeepers. It’s right that they’re expected to stay on their lines and they shouldn’t be given free rein to disrupt the kicker. But let’s demand a clean run-up for takers too, shall we?
Napoli take flight in the Scudetto fight
Antonio Conte and Napoli went six points clear at the top of Serie A on Saturday. Inter Milan beat Empoli on Sunday to close the gap back to three points and the Nerazzurri have a game in hand, but the Neapolitans’ win was away at third-placed Atalanta. The difference between those two is now seven points.
More importantly, Napoli went to Bergamo and planted their flag after losing Khvicha Kvaratskhelia.
Mateo Retegui put La Dea in front early before Matteo Politano’s equaliser. In-form midfielder Scott McTominay smashed in his fifth Serie A goal to put Napoli in front just before half time. Ademola Lookman pegged them back just after it.
Romelu Lukaku glanced in the winning goal with twelve minutes left. The Belgian is scoring at a rate of half a goal every 90 minutes in the league this season and now has eight to his name in a Napoli shirt. He leads the team for assists too.
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