Premier League – Round Twelve

November 19, 2016

Manchester United                           1-1             Arsenal

Juan Mata 68’                                                      Olivier Giroud 89’

A classic English football rivalry saw Manchester United welcome Arsenal to Old Trafford.  The highly anticipated match is made even more exciting when the managers of teams are open about their dislike for the other.

The match finished in a draw. From the balance of play, it was a fitting end to the fixture.  Arsenal extended their unbeaten run in the 2016/17 Premier League to eleven matches when Olivier Giroud scored a late header in the 89th minute to cancel Juan Mata’s goal for Manchester United in the 68th minute.

United might not have moved up as much as they would have wanted while two consecutive draws against rival teams might bother Arsenal a little bit.

Crystal Palace                              1-2                    Manchester City

Connor Wickham 66’                                            Yaya Toure 29’ 83’

Yaya Toure returned with a bang!

In his first appearance for Manchester City, Yaya Toure scored all the goals for his team as they got an important away win at Crystal Palace.  Toure’s first goal gave Manchester City the lead, and his second half goal gave was the winning goal.

The win sends Manchester City to the top of the table, equaling Liverpool in points.

Everton                                           1-1                   Swansea City

Seamus Coleman 89’                                           Gylfi Sigurdsson 41’(pen)

A late first half penalty scored by Gylfi Sigurdsson was looking to be the goal that gives Swansea City a second win in the 2016/17 Premier League season, but  Seamus Coleman scored a late goal for Everton to deny Swansea City a win under their new manager Bob Bradley.

Southampton                                   0-0                     Liverpool

High-flying Liverpool was held to a goalless draw against Southampton.  They draw gives an opportunity for the chasing pack to catch up to Liverpool.

Stoke City                                          0-1                   AFC Bournemouth

                                                                                   Nathan Ake 26’

Bojan Krkic missed a chance to level things up for Stoke City when he missed his second half penalty.  

The miss allowed Nathan Ake’s first half goal for AFC Bournemouth to be the winning goal and one that gave his team an important away victory.

Sunderland                                      3-0                   Hull City

Jermain Defoe 34’

Victor Anichebe 62’ 84’

Sunderland came on top in a relegation zone encounter.

Sunderland managed to get their first consecutive league victory after dropping three goals into Hull City’s net.

Jermain Defoe was once again on the scoresheet, netting his 150th Premier League goal.

Watford                                                2-1                  Leicester City

Etienne Capoue 1’                                                   Riyad Mahrez 15’

Roberto Pereyra 12’

Title defense is moving from improbable to impossible for Leicester City after they suffered another league defeat.

Three goals were scored in the first fifteen minutes of this fixture, with the first goal coming in just under a minute from kick-off.

Tottenham Hotspur                            3-2                          West Ham United

Harry Winks 51’                                                                  Michail Antonio 24’

Harry Kane 89’,90’+1’(pen)                                              Manuel Lanzini 68’(pen)

Tottenham Hotspur remains undefeated after twelve matches in the 2016/17 Premier League season.

There was a major threat to Tottenham’s undefeated record in this fixture.  They went down a goal on two occasions and had to pull a late miracle to get two goals in the final minutes of the match.

Harry Kane scored an equalizer with just a minute left of the regulation time and netted a penalty about a minute into stoppage time to give Tottenham a 3-2 lead that lasted until the end of the match.

November 20, 2016

Middlesbrough                     0-1              Chelsea

                                                                    Diego Costa 41’

Chelsea moved to the top of the league table after Diego Costa’s first-half goal handed them an away win over Middlesbrough.

The clean sheet meant that Chelsea had gone six consecutive league wins without conceding a goal.

We expected a fight from the relegation-threatened Middlesbrough, but we always knew is was improbable for Chelsea to slip up on the opportunity to top the league.

November 21, 2016

West Bromwich Albion                        4-0           Burnley

Matthew Phillips 5’

James Morrison 16’

Darren Fletcher 37’

Salomon Rondon 64’

A consecutive league victory sends West BromwichAlbion into the top half of the league table.

A great start to the match allowed West Bromwich Albion to win at home over newly promoted Burnley.