Chelsea expose frailties
Arsenal demonstrate same old defensive fragility, while Kane breaks August hoodoo
Chelsea and Arsenal served up a feast of goals in a thrilling London derby in football’s English Premier League. Across the capital, Tottenham striker Harry Kane was happy with just the one goal to end his August hoodoo in England’s top division.
Chelsea scored twice in the opening 20 minutes, conceded twice before halftime and had a late winner through Marcos Alonso in a 3-2 victory over Arsenal at Stamford Bridge yesterday.
Maurizio Sarri will be delighted with the attacking spark his Chelsea team has shown in their opening two league games.
He arrived at Chelsea promising to bring some fun after a difficult end to the tenure of previous manager Antonio Conte and is doing just that.
Leaving gaps at the back but attacking in waves, Chelsea have been a thrill to watch the opening two weekends — much different to the often cagey approach of Conte.
Pedro Rodriguez and Alvaro Morata exploited Arsenal’s high line to put Chelsea 2-0 up against Arsenal, who wasted a string of great chances at the other end before scoring twice in five minutes through Henrikh Mkhitaryan and Alex Iwobi. Alonso swept in a cut-back from substitute Eden Hazard for the winner.
It’s two straight losses for Arsenal manager Unai Emery, whose side is showing the same defensive frailties it did in the final seasons of predecessor Arsene Wenger’s 22-year reign.
After 15 games and more than 1000 minutes, Kane finally scored a topflight goal in August to seal Tottenham’s 3-1 win over Fulham at Wembley Stadium.
With only one more game in August, at Manchester United, it looked like the curse might continue after Kane volleyed a shot against the post in the 71st minute against Fulham. His goal came six minutes later when he bent a low shot into the corner.
“It looked like it would be one of those days for me,” said Kane. “But that is the game of a striker.”
Brazilian winger Lucas Moura and Kieran Trippier had already scored for Tottenham, with Aleksandar Mitrovic making it 1-1 for Fulham just after halftime.
Jamie Vardy was sent off on his first start of the season for Leicester but his team still eased any earlyseason pressure on manager Claude Puel with a 2-0 victory over newlypromoted Wolves. The England striker was shown a straight red for a strong tackle on Wolves right back Matt Doherty, who had earlier scored an own goal to put Leicester in front.
Leicester doubled the lead through James Maddison, leaving Wolves on one point from two games.
Paying up to £50 million ($96 million) for a 21-year-old Brazilian with one inconsistent season in the Premier League may have seemed a gamble by Everton. Two games in, however, and Richarlison is repaying that fee. He scored his third goal of the season from a well-worked free kick routine to help Everton beat Southampton 2-1 for their first win of the season. Richarlison netted twice against Wolves in a 2-2 draw on the opening weekend.
Theo Walcott set up Richarlison for his headed goal and also scored himself for Everton at Goodison Park. Off-season signing Danny Ings pulled a goal back for Southampton.
West Ham lost for the second straight game, beaten 2-1 at home by Bournemouth after taking the lead through Marko Arnautovic’s penalty. Callum Wilson, after a mazy dribble, and Steve Cook replied for Bournemouth, who have maximum points after defeating promoted side Cardiff last week. Kenedy missed an injurytime penalty for Newcastle in a 0-0 draw at Cardiff.