The Truth About Man United vs Chelsea and Arsenal vs Man City.

The Fallout.

On The Fallout this week:

•⁠ Liverpool vs Everton

• Man United vs Chelsea

• Fulham vs Brentford

• Sunderland vs Aston Villa

•⁠ ⁠Arsenal vs Man City

Liverpool vs Everton

Ryan Gravenberch and Hugo Ekitike scored the goals for Liverpool today in the Merseyside Derby as they made it five wins out of five maintaing their perfect record, even if the performance once again wasn’t up to the standard expected.

A strong start from the Reds

Liverpool started the game well, specifically with combination play on the right-hand side with Dominik Szoboszlai, Conor Bradley and Mohamed Salah causing massive issues for Everton, with each player happy to move out wide or drift inside, varying the positions they took up, keeping the Blues guessing.

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This was highlighted during Gravenberch’s goal, with Szoboszlai playing the pass into Salah, with Bradley’s underlapping run dragging both James Garner and Jack Grealish out wide leaving acres of space for Gravenberch to run into as he volleyed it home.

Gravenberch the Great

Ryan Gravenberch won the man of the match award in the game on the back of an imperious performance. The Dutchman won five tackles, won six of nine duels and made seven recoveries, while becoming the youngest player ever to score and assist in a Merseyside Derby.

Gravenberch, who has added goals to his game this season, has continued to show how important he is for the Reds, staking his claim as one of the best midfielders in the league, if not the world, excelling for Arne Slot’s side.

How Everton Got Back Into The Game

Having gone two goals up, Liverpool dropped deeper, inviting pressure, which has been a running theme for them this season, despite only seeming to lead to goals conceded.

Everton took advantage of this, with both Vitaliy Mykolenko and Jack Grealish coming deeper out wide, dragging Gravenberch across and leaving Bradley man to man with Grealish and freeing Kiernan Dewsbury-Hall to make the run in behind to cut it back, which was the Blues’ main way of creating chances in the first half.

Liverpool did manage to solve this issue, with Gravenberch more alert to the runs from Dewsbury-Hall, however, the Reds’ performances continued to drop following an impressive first half an hour, struggling to keep possession, allowing Everton to get at them on the wing, as well as Jake O’Brien given plenty of opportunities to take his long throw-ins.

The Reds for the most part handled the danger well, however, with Jack Grealish a constant threat, he beat Bradley on the edge of the box and played the cross over to Iliman Ndiaye, who cut it back for Gueye to make it 2-1 just before the hour mark.

How Liverpool Saw The Game Out

Curtis Jones coming on for Liverpool did make the difference, as he replaced Alexis Mac Allister who hasn’t looked fit this season so far. Jones, who helped Liverpool win it against Arsenal, today brought calmness to Liverpool, completing all his passes bar one, helping Liverpool in midfield where they were being overrun prior to the change.

With Liverpool staying atop the Premier League, it can only be seen as a positive sign that despite not looking like they’ve clicked fully as a team with the new signings, they have won every game this season.

For Everton, they showed positive signs, and with players like Grealish and Ndiaye, they pose a threat going forward as well as their solid defensive unit could see them continue their impressive season, even if the result didn’t come for them today against their Merseyside rivals.

Manchester United vs Chelsea

Manchester United bounced back from a loss against Manchester City as they beat Chelsea at Old Trafford, with both sides going down to ten men in the first half, with Casemiro and Robert Sanchez being sent off.

Sanchez Sees Red And Sesko Uses His Head

The start of the game will go down as one of the most bizarre in Premier League history, with Robert Sanchez’s sending off immediately a dramatic twist early on.

The lead up to the red card showed a very positive sign for Manchester United, with Benjamin Sesko winning the header, flicking it on to Bryan Mbeumo who was kicked by the Chelsea goalkeeper.

A flick on isn’t the most complicated or special action in the world, but it’s these sorts of basics that United have lacked for years and it could be something to build off going forward at Old Trafford.

Poor Crisis Management For Chelsea

Chelsea had very few positives to take from the first half, with the subs from Enzo Maresca raising questions, as he took off Estevao for Jorgensen to go in goal, as well as Pedro Neto for Tosin Adarabioyo.

Maresca was more concerned about staying defensively sound and seeing the game out for a draw, though they could only stand firm for seven minutes after the substitution before Bruno Fernandes got on the end of Patrick Dorgu’s header and slotted home.

It only got worse for Chelsea as a poor clearance from Reece James only saw the ball come back down with the defence seemingly confused.

Luke Shaw then won the header, finding Casemiro at the back post to nod home.

The Chelsea defence will be questioning why Filip Jorgensen didn’t come to claim the ball as it hung in the air for quite a while, but Shaw’s eagerness to win the header was rewarded as they went 2-0 up.

The first half showed that Chelsea would have been better off keeping Neto on as his blistering pace could’ve offered them an option to get up the pitch and possibly get a goal on the counter, instead every opportunity they got to go forward fell flat quickly.

A Lacklustre Second Half

Following Casemiro’s second yellow nearing the end of the first half, United were more than happy to defend their lead, allowing Chelsea possession as they sat back looking to hit them on the counter, with Manuel Ugarte now on for Sesko.

Chelsea made very little of their 72% possession in the second half, with very little threat going forward despite bringing Tyrique George on in attack, as they seemed to pass it side to side, unable to get into the final third and do anything of notice.

The biggest threat from the Blues was a few promising crosses from Reece James, which did lead to a Trevoh Chalobah goal to make it 2-1 in the 80^th minute, but not much else as United dealt with them well, and even the goal would likely have been dealt with better if Harry Maguire was still on the pitch.

After making it 2-1, Chelsea would have hoped to put the Red Devils under real pressure as they chased an equaliser, however, there was never really that feeling that Chelsea could go on and level the game, with United able to see the game out quite comfortably.

In a game that was essentially decided in the 6^th minute with Robert Sanchez sent off, it felt more as though it was about how bad Chelsea were on the day, rather than how good Amorim’s side played.

The lack of pace in the side killed any hope for Chelsea in progressing up the pitch, coupled with poor defending for the goals, it always looked as though United would win the game.

Manchester United fans will definitely take the positives though, as they did look the better side, and taking three points against another ‘big six’ side is certainly something that could be used as a turning point for Ruben Amorim.

Fulham vs Brentford

The West London derby ended 3-1 as Fulham move into 7^th with Alex Iwobi winning man of the match, handing Keith Andrews’ Brentford their third away defeat as they sit just above the relegation zone.

Damsgaard Delight

Brentford started the game well despite Fulham’s control, looking particularly threatening from Michael Kayode’s long throw-ins, though Fulham did handle them well.

Iwobi admitted that they worked hard in training on defending these situations and reacting to second balls in his post-match interview.

The goal came for Brentford from Fulham playing out of defence, as they pressed man for man, with Josh King coming deep to receive the ball, who looked for the more progressive option in Kenny Tete rather than the safer Joachim Andersen.

Mikkel Damsgaard anticipated this, as he left his man and intercepted the pass, before coolly slotting in the bottom right corner to put Brentford a goal to the good in the 20^th minute.

Iwobi Hits Back

Fulham made their dominance count as Sasa Lukic’s blocked shot caused issues as it came into the box, with Rodrigo Muniz using his strength to throw Nathan Collins off balance as he failed to clear the ball.

Sepp van den Berg failed to get it clear as well, with his clearance taking a bounce off both Kayode and Muniz.

Iwobi reacted excellently to hit the ball between Collins’ legs into the back of the net, showing that their work in reacting to second balls had paid off even outside of dealing with the throw-ins.

Iwobi wasn’t done there, as he received the ball from Muniz outside the box, playing a perfectly weighted pass to Harry Wilson who had found space in behind both Pinnock and van den Berg.

Wilson’s decision to take the shot first time proved vital, as it didn’t allow the defenders time to get back into position to close him down as the Welshman found the bottom left corner beautifully, making it his seventh goal against Brentford in his career.

Fulham Finish Brentford Off

The Cottagers’ third goal came early in the second half as Joachim Andersen’s long ball found Ryan Sessegnon in space out wide, whose cross came in and hit the back of Pinnock’s neck as he tried to get under the ball to head it clear, with Muniz once again causing havoc for Collins.

Muniz continued his dominance over Collins as he battled him in the air, and making the run for Wilson to find him, before unleashing a rocket on Kelleher which hit the back of the net with force, though his overzealousness in winning the initial aerial duel left Collins bleeding and saw the goal ruled out.

Fulham won the game through brilliance going forward, and a strong defensive performance as they move further up the table with their second victory on the bounce.

For Keith Andrews, it will be another learning curve as they struggled once again away at home, but there won’t be any panic just yet for a side that have had so much change ahead of this season.

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