From fantastic Lamela to leaky Fulham: the winners and losers from the 3pm Premier League kick-offs

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With the international break well and truly over, the Premier League made its much-anticipated return this weekend with a massive 12 teams playing in the 3pm kickoffs. 

Playing the ninth round of fixtures of the season so far, teams are starting to establish what their expectations are for the rest of the campaign.

Here are some of the winners and losers of today’s 3pm matches in the Premier League.

Winner

The year 2000

More specifically, young Englishmen who make the rest of us feel old. After Jadon Sancho’s exhilarating start to his season – bagging himself his first England appearance in the process – Angel Gomes’ first appearance in the league for Manchester United and Phil Foden’s run of form for Manchester City, yet another man born on the turn of the century is also enjoying continued individual success.

Ryan Sessegnon just keeps getting better and better. Also, the talented winger loves playing against Cardiff City and today was no different.

The left-footed wonderkid has now scored five goals in five games against Cardiff, although today’s goal for Fulham was not enough for his side to salvage anything against the Welsh side this afternoon.

Loser

Sean Dyche

The Burnley man may have enjoyed last season but this campaign is proving to be a very different kettle of fish for the rough-voiced manager.

Following England’s emphatic 3-2 victory away in Spain in the international break, Dyche stated that “you can’t get drunk on stats’, insinuating that facts and figures don’t mean too much in football matches.

Jump to today and there were plenty of numbers flying about, just not in Dyche’s favour. A 5-0 defeat away to Manchester City, with Pep Guardiola’s side having 24 shots and Burnley failing to get a single shot on target, perhaps stats mean something after all!

Winner

Roberto Pereyra

Watford’s new signing has proven his worth as a replacement to the outgoing Richarlison to Everton across the summer.

The tricky playmaker has scored four goals in his first nine league games for the Hornets as they cement their place in the top half of the table.

Today’s goal wraps up a few good weeks for the 27-year-old. He not only scored a goal on his debut for Argentina in their 4-0 friendly win against Iran, but he also played against Brazil just days later.

A great latter half of 2018 for Pereyra!

Loser

Newcastle

Things are not looking good at St James’ Park. Lack of investment on the pitch has seen the Geordies fail to win a Premier League match so far this campaign, and today’s defeat will do their confidence no favours.

Today’s 1-0 loss to Brighton & Hove Albion – a match the Magpies would have targeted for three points – means that have lost all four home league games this season and they’ve only won once in their last 14 matches overall.

A lack of quality on the pitch, discontent between the fans and the owner and dropping to the bottom of the league. The only way is up for Newcastle, unless they go down…

Winner

David Silva

Arguably the greatest player in Manchester City history, Silva provided the golden touch once again today as City maintained their fantastic home form by defeating visitors Burnley.

A mixture of defensive sloppiness and Silva creativity, the Spaniard rolled the ball across the box towards Sergio Aguero who obviously put the ball into the back of the Burnley net past former City goalkeeper Joe Hart. A bizarre mix-up for the second goal didn’t stop Silva from providing the quality needed to give his namesake, Bernardo, the opportunity to put the hosts 2-0 up.

Side note; Manchester City today set a highly impressive record. They are now unbeaten in their last 34 Premier League games kicking off at 3pm on a Saturday (W30 D4). They’ve set a new record for the longest unbeaten run at that timeslot in the league.

Loser

Slaviša Jokanović

Promoted with Fulham last season, major investment over the summer, Jokanovic and Fulham would have expected a better start to life in England’s top division.

Jokanovic’s men are the only side yet to keep a clean sheet in the league this season, conceding a massive 25 goals in just nine games, averaging 2.77 goals per game.

Today they massively underperformed against Cardiff as they lost 4-2 to Neil Warnock’s side, pulling Fulham into the relegation zone. Is time running out for the former Watford man?

Winner

Erik Lamela

The 26-year-old has enjoyed his most successful start to a season at Spurs this campaign and today he scored the only goal in Tottenham’s London derby win against West Ham United.

He has now scored five goals in eight games in all competitions having scored 23 goals in 153 matches for Spurs.

Loser

FPL players trusting Wolves

The Premier League’s surprise package so far this season, Nuno Espirito Santo’s side has built their success on a solid defensive foundation, personified by the performances of Doherty, which was rapidly demolished today against Watford.

Having only conceded one single goal in their previous seven outings in all competitions, they conceded two goals in two minutes this afternoon to dampen that impressive record.

With over half a million Fantasy Premier League players opting to bring Doherty into their side for this weekend, many people will be cursing their luck.

The post From fantastic Lamela to leaky Fulham: the winners and losers from the 3pm Premier League kick-offs appeared first on Squawka News.



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