Premier League Matchweek 3 Review

Gameweek 3

A temporarily managerless West Ham United finally gave their fans something to celebrate this gameweek, as their 4-0 win against Wolves came not only as their first win of the season, but also came as a big surprise to the rest of the league. This is a Wolves team who, recently bolstered by the addition of yet another Portuguese player (Nelson Semedo arriving for £40m from Barcelona), are tipped by many to break into the top 6 this season, owing to their exciting, exotic brand of football. Whilst they have retained the spine of their team a notable absence on Sunday was Diogo Jota, their creative attacker who recently departed for Liverpool. A day after Wolves were trounced by the Hammers, Jota scored for Liverpool in a 3-1 win against Arsenal. Arsenal were played off the pitch and got dominated in every area, silencing anyone who had suggested the community shield is anything more than a friendly game.

A Jamie Vardy masterclass against Man City is becoming quite a common occurrence for Leicester; no player has scored more against Guardiola’s City than the Englishman, adding 3 goals to a tally that had already seen him clear of the likes of Mo Salah and Lionel Messi. The 33 year old shows no signs of slowing down as a prolific goalscorer, now entering his 5th season since the historic title win for the midlands club in 2016. The score finished 5-2 to Leicester, with serious questions being posed of Guardiola. Since this match ended, he has already bought a new defender for upwards of £50m. He has chucked money at failed defenders repeatedly in the past - but maybe, he hopes, maybe this time Ruben Dias will be different. Maybe he will be the Van Dijk leader they need at the back - or maybe he will just be another overhyped name in a notoriously underwhelming and leaky defence.

In other news, Chelsea scraped out a 3-3 draw at the Hawthorns and Man United just about snatched the 3 points down in Brighton. Both teams were sub par in performance and effort. Many had suspected they would be getting into a stride of consistency, winning games comprehensively and more often - but their starts to the season have been questionable. This applies to Spurs as well - whilst they put in a good shift against Newcastle, there should be no scenario where the Magpies even had a chance to grab a point. Tottenham should have been 2,3,4 up against such a mediocre team, but instead the fans must make excuses and rage at the rules as a dodgy penalty was awarded in the dying minutes of the game to end it at 1-1. Penalties, penalties, penalties - I wonder just how many we’ll see this season...