Another weekend of Premier League football is in the books — and with the ever so exciting international break upon us yet again, let’s take a look at all of the results from game week eight:
Brighton 3-0 Tottenham
Burnley 1-0 Everton
Liverpool 2-1 Leicester
Norwich 1-5 Aston Villa
Watford 0-0 Sheffield United
West Ham 1-2 Crystal Palace
Arsenal 1-0 Bournemouth
Man. City 0-2 Wolves
Southampton 1-4 Chelsea
Newcastle 1-0 Man. United
Check out the individual team ratings below:
Brighton: 10/10
The ongoing drama at Tottenham aside, that is a fantastic result for Brighton who picked up only their second win of the season. The other took place on opening day, meaning it was a huge relief for the Seagulls to get back into the win column. The performance was also there. The hosts overwhelmed the struggling Spurs, pouncing on all of their mistakes and securing a potential momentum shifting win.
Tottenham: 3/10
No matter what is going on behind the scenes, it is unacceptable for a team with Tottenham’s talent to lose in the fashion that they did. The heat that is coming down on them from the media is far from what it should be. But on the other hand, this could be a case of that squad under Mauricio Pochettino simply reaching its peak. Perhaps this is the end of the road for the Spurs gaffer and many of their players, and serious changes may be required in order for the North London side to take the next step.
Burnley: 8/10
New season, same old reliable Burnley. Sean Dyche really has the recipe for success with that side. The Clarets are enjoying yet another terrific start to their season, and they put in yet another solid, gritty performance, this time against Everton, to secure the three points and the clean sheet. Their home ground has become a very tough place to go to in recent years.
Everton: 3/10
The Toffees invested a bunch of money this summer, but Marco Silva’s side has absolutely nothing to show for it, currently sitting atop of the relegation zone after eight games. Disappointing would be an understatement to describe their start to this season. They should really be doing better with their squad, and you have to feel that Marco Silva may be the first manager to get the axe in the coming weeks if things don’t change at Goodison Park.
Liverpool: 7/10
It is beginning to look like it might just be their year even though there is still 30 games to go. Their rating for this past week reflects that. The Reds did not have to put in a 10/10 performance to get all the three points, and they certainly have that “championship” luck on their side.
Leicester: 6.5/10
Brendan Rodgers certainly had the right game plan in place to stop the league leaders. The Foxes had a very good showing at Anfield, and they will be fuming to come away from Merseyside with nothing. A silly foul in the dying embers of the game gifted Liverpool a penalty, and the win, but Leicester can definitely go into the international break with their heads held high after that valiant effort.
Norwich: 2/10
It’s been that kind of a season for the Canaries so far. Intertwining decent performances with absolute calamities will not cut it in the Premier League, and fellow newcomers in Aston Villa really put them to the sword this past weekend. Although it’s still early doors, Norwich have to act fast to get out of the relegation zone as soon as possible.
Aston Villa: 9/10
A near flawless performance from Dean Smith’s side, blemished by a lapse in concentration by Tyrone Mings and Tom Heaton which took away their clean sheet. But aside from that, Villa have looked the best out of the promoted teams by far in terms of playing style, and you have to feel like the results will start coming more regularly for them with time. They were really ruthless in front of goal against Norwich.
Watford: 5/10
Just not good enough from Watford, particularly in front of their home fans against a newly promoted side. They missed some decent chances to take all the three points, and those dropped points against the “weaker” opposition are the ones that kill you in the end if you find yourself in a tight relegation battle. The Hornets sit bottom of the league heading into the break.
Sheffield United: 6.5/10
The Blades will take that result all day long. The least you can do in your first season back in the top flight is go away from home and come back with a point. At that rate, the currently 13th side will be sitting pretty come the end of the season if they can add some wins at home.
West Ham: 4/10
As good as West Ham’s teams look on paper heading into almost every season in recent years, they just always lack that consistency that would see them reach a new level. They can put in a blinding performance one week and get a fantastic result against a “big” team, just to go and lose to Crystal Palace at home the following week. An opportunity to break into the top four wasted for the Hammers.
Crystal Palace: 8/10
After going through a rough period to start their campaign, Palace suddenly find themselves in sixth place after eight games. That is quite impressive from Roy Hodgson’s side, and another terrific result away from home for the Eagles. And you can only feel like they might get even better when Wiflried Zaha inevitably starts firing on all cylinders at some point during the season.
Arsenal: 7.5/10
The performances may not be quite there just yet for the Gunners, but there results certainly are. This was a very good, hard earned victory against an always tricky Bournemouth side. And for all of his faults in defence, David Luiz came up big with the goods on the other end to seal the three points for Unai Emery’s men who will be delighted to find themselves in third place at this point of the season.
Bournemouth: 6/10
The Cherries will feel hard done by having to leave the Emirates empty handed. It was a good effort from Eddie Howe’s side, and on any other day you do feel like they may have been able to take something from this game. There was certainly plenty of positives to take home from North London for the visitors.
Man. City: 5/10
You can’t say City’s overall performance was a shocker. The defending champions had plenty of chances to put this game to bed before Wolves even got on the scoresheet, but it was just one of those days in front of goal for Pep Guardiola’s men. The most disappointing part about this loss will be the fact that City are now eight points behind the league leading Liverpool who look unstoppable at the moment.
Wolves: 7/10
The performance from Wolves wasn’t breathtaking by any means, but they were deadly in front of goal when the chances presented themselves down the stretch, and that was enough to get a huge win at the Etihad. Adama Traore pounced on two opportunities on the counter, and Wolves are slowly starting to look like themselves again after a turbulent start to their domestic season.
Southampton: 4/10
You could say that this was a Southampton’esque performance, but also credit has to be given to Chelsea for being so dominant going forward. The Saints defence was simply not good enough to deal with all of Chelsea’s attacking threats, resulting in a humbling defeat in front of their home fans.
Chelsea: 9/10
Frank Lampard’s young side has come leaps and bounds since their opening day loss to Man. United. The potency of their attack is too hot to handle for the majority of Premier League sides, and you can add Southampton to that list. With the return of wonder-kid Callum Hudson-Odoi, Chelsea have a wealth of options in midfield and attack. And in spite of their defensive struggles at times, they seem like they could just outscore most teams on any given day.
Newcastle: 8/10
Considering the hammering that the Magpies received just a week ago at the hands of Leicester, this was an out of this world performance for the hosts. They were resilient at the back, although against a side that couldn’t buy a goal at the moment, and they eventually managed to take one of their chances down the other end to secure a desperately needed three points, and stay above the drop zone heading into the break.
Man. United: 3/10
The only reason Ole Gunnar Solskjaer’s United aren’t getting a 1 for this past weekend is because yet again, the performance overall wasn’t completely terrible. Despite all the criticism, the team had plenty of chances to scrape the three points out of Tyneside. But that’s no excuse. You have to be able to grind out results at this level, no matter how bad the team may be. And the performances in recent weeks as a whole just have not been good enough — and to sit two points above the relegation zone after eight games is unacceptable.
