Almanac Soccer: English Premier League Matchweek 25 Highlights

 

Premier League Matchweek 25 Highlights 24/25

 

Premier League Matchweek 25 saw its usual amount of goals and drama after a weekend off for the FA Cup. The most entertaining games of the week consisted of Brighton hosting Chelsea at the Amex on Friday night, Manchester City playing Newcastle at the Etihad on Saturday afternoon, and Tottenham hosting Manchester United on Sunday which was a must win for both sides.

 

 

Brighton Hove & Albion v Chelsea

 

The first game of Matchweek 25 played on Friday night saw Fabian Hurzeler’s Brighton host Enzo Maresca’s Chelsea at the Amex Stadium. After an evenly contested opening 25 minutes Brighton took the lead, scoring one of the best goals of the season. Seagull’s keeper Bart Verbruggen played a long ball over the Chelsea backline and into the path of Japanese winger Kaoru Mitoma. Mitoma’s first touch was a thing of beauty, very delicately cushioning the ball away from Chelsea defender Trevoh Chalobah before he chopped the ball onto his right foot. Mitoma then fired the ball into the bottom right corner exquisitely, scoring probably the best goal of his career so far. Chelsea then had a goal of their own disallowed after Enzo Fernandez headed Malo Gusto’s cross into the top right corner, only for it to be ruled off immediately as Fernandez had clearly shoved Joel Veltman in the back. Minutes before the break, Brighton doubled their advantage after Georginio Rutter made a dancing run into the penalty area. Rutter then fired the ball across the 6 yard box which caused confusion between Chelsea keeper Filip Jorgensen and defender Levi Colwill. The ball then popped out to Danny Welbeck who was very unselfish in flicking it backwards to Yankuba Minteh. Minteh set himself up before drilling the ball into the bottom right corner, making it 2-0. The first half finished with Maresca needing a huge 2nd half showing from his players if they were to stay in the top 4 of the Premier League.

 

Less than 20 minutes into the 2nd period, Brighton all but sealed the 3 points scoring in the 63rd minute. Minteh received the ball down the right wing where he played a sharp 1-2 with Welbeck. Minteh then chopped back onto his left foot, completely fooling Marc Cucurella, before he smashed the ball into the bottom near corner. The Seagulls continued to dominate the rest of the game and successfully saw out a comfortable 3-0 win at home. After their 2-1 win in the FA Cup at home to Chelsea last weekend, Hurzeler makes it 2 wins against Chelsea in his last 2 games. Brighton remain 10th in the league while Chelsea drop out of a Champions League place and into 6th after another terrible performance.

 

 

Manchester City v Newcastle United

 

The following game of Matchweek 25 saw Pep Guardiola’s Manchester City host Eddie Howe’s Newcastle United at the Etihad Stadium. After a dominant start to the game by the Citizens, they found a fully deserved lead in the 19th minute. Goalkeeper Ederson created a bit of Premier League history when he played a long ball over the Newcastle defence and into the path of new boy, Omar Marmoush, who then flicked the ball over Newcastle keeper Martin Dubravka. This was Ederson’s 6th assist in his Premier League career and 3rd of the season as he now becomes the most prolific goalkeeper ever in the league in terms of assists. The next Egyptian star of the Premier League, Marmoush, then secured his brace after he received the ball inside the penalty area from Ilkay Gundogan. Marmoush chopped onto his right foot before firing a shot at Dubraka, watching as his effort took a deflection en route to the bottom left corner. Marmoush then registered his first ever Premier League hat-trick inside the first half after the Brazilian Savinho made a darting run down the right wing. Savinho outpaced Newcastle full back Lewis Hall before he drilled the ball across the penalty area, serving the ball up on a plate for Marmoush who smashed it past Dubravka. The half time score stood at 3-0, with Marmoush’s first half heroics leaving the Magpies with no route back into the game.

 

Manchester City had much less fire in their bellies for the 2nd half, which was fair enough given the damage was already done. They did eventually find a 4th in the 84th minute after Gundogan whipped in City’s latest corner. Erling Haaland did well to flick the ball over to the back post where local boy James McAtee stood his ground and poked the ball into the back of the net. The full time score finished 4-0, with City, and Marmoush in particular, putting out a statement performance to retain their place in the top 4 (4th). Newcastle drop into 7th in the league after a rare disappointing performance from Howe’s men.

 

 

Tottenham Hotspur v Manchester United

 

The curtain draw of Matchweek 25 on Sunday afternoon saw Ange Postecoglou’s Tottenham Hotspur host Ruben Amorim’s Manchester United at the Tottenham Hotspur Stadium. Manchester United came out the blocks quickly at Spurs, with the returning Guglielmo Vicario forced to make a huge save from Alejandro Garnacho’s curling effort before the rebound from Diogo Dalot had to be cleared off the line by new signing Kevin Danso. Totally against the run of play in the 13th minute, Spurs took the lead after Lucas Bergvall picked up the ball with his back to goal in the United penalty area. The Swede spun and shot, watching as his effort was saved by Andre Onana. Unfortunately for Onana, all of his defenders were caught ball watching as James Maddison followed up the shot and smashed the ball past Onana to silence his critics. United continued to play the more attacking football for the remaining minutes of the half though, with Garnacho missing an absolute sitter in the 23rd minute, smashing the ball over the crossbar where he clearly should have placed the ball. The score at the interval stood at 1-0 with Tottenham lucky they were not pegged back on level terms.

 

Manchester United continued their positive and attacking football in the 2nd period but lacked a real poachers awareness and touch inside the penalty area. It also didn’t help that Vicario was having a stunning game in goals for Spurs, blocking every shot that was fired at him. Tottenham then started to punish Manchester United in the 2nd half who had no experience on their bench. Amorim’s substitutes consisted of all academy teenagers, all of them lacking any Premier League minutes. Tottenham had a few chances to seal all 3 points in the last 15 minutes but it didn’t matter in the end. When the full time whistle was blown, the score finished 1-0. Tottenham finally picked up a win at home, their first in over 100 days, as they moved into 12th on the table. Manchester United continue to drastically underperform as they drop to 15th in the league.

 

 

Written by Ollie Wade – Read the rest of Matchweek 25 at Premier League Matchweek 25 24/25 – Kickoff chronicles

 

 

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