Chelsea, Bournemouth, Man City, Brentford, West Ham and Fulham all did their bit on a simply ludicrous evening of Premier League football on Tuesday.
Chelsea 2-2 Bournemouth: Semenyo is Iraola’s man in time of need as Chelsea slip up again
Chelsea’s pre-Enzo Maresca throwback continued on Tuesday night with a surprise home draw against Bournemouth, who went to Stamford Bridge without first and second-choice strikers Evanilson and Enes Unal.
Andoni Iraola – who is destined for a move away from Bournemouth because that’s how the cookie crumbles – used Antoine Semenyo up front at the start of the season and will be leaning heavily on the Ghanaian in the coming months. Unal tore his ACL in training last week and Evanilson recently had surgery on a broken foot. There is a strong chance a striker will be signed this month but Semenyo proved against Chelsea that he might be the man for the job.
The 25-year-old inspired the Cherries, who have not lost a football match since November 23, beating Manchester United and Chelsea on the road and Tottenham at home in the process. It is all very impressive and it comes as no surprise that Iraola is being touted as a future manager at a Big Six club.
Chelsea were by far the better team in the first half and will have been baffled to only be one goal up at the break. Nicolas Jackson… what a good player he can be but f**king hell, he misses some big ol’ chances. His form in the first half of the season quashed the Chelsea new striker narrative but it’s back in full force now, and at an awful time for the player given the transfer window is open again.
Cole Palmer was obviously the man to open the scoring for Chelsea and he did so in an absolutely p**s-taking manner. Jackson actually did extremely well to turn with the ball on the halfway line and his assist was perfectly weighted, putting the Blues’ best player one on one with Mark Travers, who was made to look a right tit as he took a seat following a Palmer fake shot.
Semenyo would inspire a Bournemouth comeback by winning a penalty from a Moises Caicedo foul and putting the visitors 2-1 up with a thunderous left-footed shot that zipped past Robert Sanchez at the front post. Unfortunately, it was Chelsea who had the final say.
Chelsea knocked on the door relentlessly and while Bournemouth looked dangerous on the break, Reece James, who everyone knows has had a very difficult time with injuries, stepped up with a beautiful 95th-minute free-kick to salvage a point.
Had Jackson been more clinical, it would have been a fairly routine victory. Alas he was not, which made it far from routine and in fact very uncomfortable.
The Blues’ Premier League form has dipped as Maresca appears to have gone too literal with his ‘we are not in the title race’ talk and the visit of a beleaguered Bournemouth was ideal, only fpr the Blues to squander the opportunity to get back to winning ways.
Brentford 2-2 Man City: Bees refuse to die as Foden enjoys another Gtech trip
Philip Walter Foden certainly has a happy hunting ground in the Gtech Community Stadium but his brace was not enough for three points in a helluva match.
Brentford tried to contain Manchester City for a lot of the first half before remembering they are a bit crap. When that sunk in, Tuesday’s clash under the lights became ridiculously entertaining.
It was end-to-end stuff and the second half was probably the most entertaining 45 minutes of Premier League football this season, which you might disagree with considering Liverpool 2 Manchester United 2 just happened but it was seriously fantastic.
Kevin De Bruyne had an interesting evening, taking some wildly inaccurate shots while providing some world-class passes to those in front of him. He assisted Foden – who scored a hat-trick at Brentford last season – for 1-0 and when the England forward got his second of the night, it felt like Brentford would give up and accept it was not their night.
They were so wasteful, but so were City. Bryan Mbeumo was not himself and it seemingly took Yoane Wissa 100 chances before eventually finding the back of the net. He halved the deficit after composing himself from five yards out while Nathan Ake played musical statues a couple of yards away.
Brentford pushed for an equaliser and got one in the 92nd minute. Christian Norgaard’s header was too powerful for Stefan Ortega in the away goal. The Bees could have completed the comeback but given City’s equally poor finishing, a Desmond was fair.
West Ham 3-2 Fulham: Pereira, Leno gift Potter first Hammers win with calamitous errors
Fulham beat themselves against West Ham but Graham Potter really won’t care and will be thankful for the helping hand from Andreas Pereira and Bernd Leno.
West Ham are now only four points behind Fulham, which is a very small margin and pretty surprising when you consider the contrasting atmospheres at both clubs. The mood at the former is already much improved following the appointment of Potter as head coach, with the FA Cup defeat at Aston Villa last Friday giving fans faith that this season still has plenty of hope, even if it ended in defeat.
The Hammers gave Fulham a mountain to climb with two quick-fire goals shortly after the half-hour mark. Carlos Soler first capitalised on an awful Andreas Pereira error but his finish was still very smart, although the opposition midfielder did put it on a plate for him. One of the first things you are taught on the football pitch is to not pass the ball across your own box under pressure, which is exactly what Pereira did.
Clearly enjoying themselves, West Ham scored a goal of their own making two minutes later through Tomas Soucek and went into the break full of confidence.
Alex Iwobi’s 51st-minute goal sparked fear but Lucas Paqueta eased nerves 16 minutes later, this time thanks to Leno c**king up on the edge of his own box. It was really nice of Leno and Pereira to be so charitable but Iwobi did not get the memo, scoring his second with 12 to go, setting up a nervy ending with a bizarre brace.
Both of his goals were actually attempted assists and incredibly similar to each other, crossing to Raul Jimenez and Harry Wilson for each, with both attackers failing to get a touch, which caught out Lukasz Fabianski as the ball whizzed past him.
The complexion of West Ham’s season has changed dramatically and Fulham are shooting themselves in the foot too frequently, putting themselves in danger of being On The Beach by February.
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