Premier League
It's safe to say that Newcastle United had not had the best start to the season. Newcastle have been on a downward spiral since January of this year and pressure has been mounting week by week, defeat by defeat for Alan Pardew. His side have not won a game yet this season after a summer of spending on even more foreign recruits. Despite it not being the only reason for their spectacular dive in form, the loss of Yohan Cabaye has hit Newcastle hard and the men that have come in since have not lived up to expectations, like Emmanuel Riviere and Remy Cabella. The fans have revolted and it'd be hard to find many Newcastle fans who are right behind Alan Pardew at the moment. A 'sackpardew.com' has been advertised in the stands through leaflets and banners. The Geordie faithful are not the easiest bunch to please and rightly have a standard they expect from their club, which they are far from after their most recent set back. Stoke City on Monday was the latest defeat for the Toon Army to witness. A trip to the Britannia is the tough for the best sides in the league never mind a side bottom of the league and wit unrest flowing through the club. A Peter Crouch header was the difference but Newcastle were better than they have been in recent weeks. There was more effort shown and a real danger going forward once Gabriel Obertan was introduced. Obertan hasn't started for 18 months, but was arguably one their better players on the night and created the best chance which Jack Colback manage to somehow miss from six yards out. Newcastle have not had a consistent goal scorer for a while either, Loic Remy missed a majority of last season through injury whilst Papiss Cisse has failed to ever recapture the form of when he first arrived at St James'. There is indeed a lot of problems at the club which needs to be addressed. Mike Ashley has never got rid of the cloud of uncertainty over his head after his takeover. Relegation in 2009 caused a mutiny against him, yet since they have returned they have consistent in top half finishes under Chris Hughton and then Pardew. But, now it seems Pardew may have ran his course and taken this team as far as he can, new personnel is needed on and off the pitch.
As for the rest of the Premier League fixtures it was routine wins in the end for Manchester City and Chelsea. City's much tougher at a hard-working Hull City who came from 2-0 down to make it 2-2 at half time. But Edin Dzeko delivered for Pellegrini's men who ended their three game winless run. Chelsea coasted to a comfortable 3-0 win over Aston Villa with Diego Costa in the goals again. Chelsea face Arsenal this Sunday, hopefully it won't be a repeat of last season's humiliation. Arsenal had a North London Derby to deal with and it wasn't the routine Arsenal home win. Spurs went to the Emirates with a game plan and nearly pulled it off to perfection. They sat back, soaked up the pressure and hit on the counter. Arsenal were vulnerable to this and it was mistake from their own doing that led to Spurs' goal. Mathieu Flamini dallied on the ball too long and was dispossessed. Christian Eriksen worked it across to Erik Lamela who put Nacer Chadli through and he finished confidently. Arsenal had rested Alexis Sanchez, but the Chilean did come on in the end and made an immediate impact. He added purpose to Arsenal's attack and provided a fresh spark needed to press Arsenal's domination into a goal. It was Alex Oxlade-Chamberlain who found that goal. Santi Cazorla's cross shot was missed by Danny Welbeck and The Ox was waiting and smashed the ball high past Hugo Lloris. Arsenal couldn't complete the comeback and in the end were left ruing not being able to turn their overwhelming control into goals. Yet, it was Southampton who came out of this weekend as the impressive outfit. The Saints have won four games back to back and new man Ronald Koeman has bedded his new men in well to an already well organised team. A 2-1 win over QPR wasn't as easy as first assumed as QPR put in a better showing of themselves than in previous away trips. It took an outstanding effort from Graziano Pelle to win it for the home team to edge to three points.
The Rest
Crystal Palace 2-0 Leicester City
Manchester United 2-1 West Ham
Liverpool 1-1 Everton
Sunderland 0-0 Swansea City
West Brom 4-0 Burnley
Champions League
It was an improved week overall for the English teams in Europe. Chelsea got a hard-fought 1-0 win in Lisbon against Sporting thanks to a Nemanja Matic header. Chelsea showed their pedigree as they held out a Lisbon barrage in the second half for a crucial win. Arsenal responded to a bad day in Dortmund by thumping Galatasaray 4-1. A sparkling attacking display from the Gunners blitzed the Turks away as Danny Welbeck starred with a hat-trick as he announced himself as Arsenal's main man up front. Supported by Alexis Sanchez, Mesut Ozil and Oxlade-Chamberlain, Arsenal fast, fluid and clinical, albeit being down to 10 men in the second half after Woijiech Szczesny's red card. Manchester City were frustrated by Roma as Francesco Totti became the oldest scorer in the history of the European Cup or Champions League at the tender age of 38 years and 3 days. City seem to lack the belief needed to take them to contenders pedigree and don't convince people with their performances and now find themselves having to win against one of Bayern or Roma to get through. Finally, Liverpool continued their slump by losing in Basel, the fourth English team in a row to do so following in Spurs, Chelsea and Manchester United's footsteps.
Goal of the Week (Graziano Pelle vs QPR)
This week, the winner is that incredible goal by Saints number nine Graziano Pelle against QPR. It was a wonderfully crafted goal which was technically superb. Enjoy!
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