Football Weekend Recap

 Premier League Action

16 goals were scored from this past weekend from eight games played with only two teams winning at home, Liverpool and Southampton. The biggest game of the weekend was between Chelsea and Manchester United on Saturday at Old Trafford. It was fair to say that nothing much happened in the game with both sides unwilling to take the initiative during the game. Edinson Cavani made his debut for Manchester United after moving from Paris Saint-Germain but it was a very dull game that people will be asking for those 90 minutes back. Leeds United continued to excite many, after inflicting Aston Villa's first defeat of the season, beating Dean Smith's side 3-0 at Villa Park on Friday. Patrick Bamford netted his first Premier League hat-trick as Villa were unable to live with Marcelo Bielsa's side. Now, everyone is going to put Bamford in their fantasy team. Just hope he's not another Teemu Pukki. Everton also lost for the first time this season, losing 2-0 against Southampton on Sunday. James Ward-Prowse and Che Adams scored for the Saints while Everton continued to be naughty as Lucas Digne was sent off. Fulham also got a red card and made people ask how did they get promoted. They lost 2-1 to Crystal Palace with Wilfried Zaha on the scoresheet. Wolves played a 1-1 draw against Newcastle while West Ham ended a horrible home record against Manchester City, drawing the game 1-1 on Saturday. Brendan Rodgers got his first-ever win against Arsenal at the Emirates as Leicester City beat the Gunners 1-0 with Jamie Vardy scoring the winner from the bench. That's his 11th goal against Arsenal, with only Rooney having more joy and goals against Arsenal with 12. That's Leicester's first win at Arsenal in 50 years. Liverpool played their first league game without Virgil van Djik and won. They beat Sheffield United 2-1 with Diogo Jota scoring the winner despite Sheffield going in front from the penalty spot by Sander Berge.

La Liga & El Clasico

19 goals were in La Liga this past weekend with only one game ending in a draw and it was a goalless draw between Cadiz and Villarreal. For Cadiz, it has been a really good start for them. They have won 3 games so far including a 1-0 win over Real Madrid and sit in 6th place with 11 points from 7 games. For a newly-promoted side, not too shabby. The biggest game of the weekend was no doubt El Clasico between Real Madrid and Barcelona at the Camp Nou on Saturday. It was Los Blancos who came out on top, defeating Barcelona 3-1 with Federico Valverde, Sergio Ramos, and Luka Modric scoring for Madrid. The game reflected the gap between the two teams as Real. despite their recent struggles, are still the best team in Spain while Barcelona still has a long way to go in their rebuild with Lionel Messi has now gone blank against Madrid for six straight games now. Ansu Fati continues to perform for Barca, netting the equaliser in the 8th minute, his 4th league goal of the season. Marcus Llorente and Luis Suarez scored in Atletico Madrid's 2-0 win against Real Betis on Saturday. Atletico are scoring goals now, they'll go goalless in their next game. Valencia has lost four times already after losing 2-1 away at Elche despite having more possession and shots. Sevilla lost their home game against Eibar, Osasuna beat Athletic Bilbao 1-0 from a Ruben Garcia penalty, Granada sits in 3rd after a 1-0 win against Getafe while Alaves beat Real Valladolid 2-0. Real Sociedad beat Huesca 4-1 on Sunday with Mikel Oyarzabal scoring a brace while Portu and Alexander Isak scoring for La Real.

Bundesliga & Revierderby

25 goals were scored in the Bundesliga with Gladbach the only team to win away from home this weekend. They beat Mainz 3-2 as the home side gave Gladbach a tough outing. However, Gladbach was able to come out on top with Matthias Ginter scoring the winner in the 83rd minute. The biggest game of the weekend was the Revierderby between Borussia Dortmund and Schalke 04 at the Westfalenstadion on Saturday. Dortmund were heavy favourites and displayed their authority over Schalke, beating them 3-0 with Manuel Akanji and Mats Hummels scoring a goal each. The Revierderby over the past few years has become one-sided in Dortmund's favour given Schalke's struggles at the time. Hopefully, the Revierderby will be around next season if Schalke can stay up this season. RB Leipzig continued their unbeaten start of the season with a 2-1 win over Hertha Berlin, as they came from behind to win thanks to goals from Upamecano and Marcel Sabitzer. Games between Stuttgart v Koln, Union Berlin v Freiburg and Werder Bremen v Hoffenheim all ended 1-1 while Wolfsburg beat Arminia 2-1 with Arnold and Weghorst scoring. Bayern Munich took Eintracht Frankfurt to the cleaners as the champions won 5-0 as Robert Lewandowski netted a hat-trick, taking his goal tally to 10 in the Bundesliga.

Serie A Action

35 goals were scored in the Serie A this past weekend, with Juventus' game against Hellas Verona the only game where both sides did not score more than one game. The defending champions played a 1-1 away at Verona on Sunday. Dejan Kulusevski salvaged a point for the Old Lady as they were behind for 17 minutes. Paulo Dybala and Alvaro Morata started as Cristiano Ronaldo is still in self-isolation. Romelu Lukaku and Danilo D'Ambrosio scored in Inter Milan's 2-0 win against Genoa on Saturday. That's Lukaku's 5th goal of the season, already leading from the front for Inter. The biggest shock of the weekend was Atalanta's 3-1 defeat to Sampdoria on Saturday. Jakub Jankto scored Sampdoria's 3rd in the 92nd minute to guarantee their win over Gasperni's side who far from clinical despite dominating possession and shots. Sassuolo and Torino played a six-goal thriller with the game ending 3-3 with Fransesco Caputo scoring late to give the home side a point. Cagliari and Crotone also played a six-goal thriller but Cagliari won 4-2 with Joao Pedro scoring late to give the home side the win. Parma and Spezia played a 2-2 draw while Fiorentina beat Udinese 3-2. Lorenzo Insigne and his brother Roberto Insigne scored but Lorenzo had the last laugh as Napoli beat Benevento 2-1.  

Player of the Weekend - Patrick Bamford

Leeds United played a wonderful display, beating Aston Villa 3-0 on Friday with Leeds Striker Patrick Bamford scoring a hat-trick. His first in the Premier League. Given how many written him off before the season started, Bamford has started really well with 6 league goals so far. Against Villa, he really made Mings and Konsa's day a bad one with 9 shots (4 on target), 2 key passes, and won 3 aerial duels. Bielsa kept his faith on the Englishman who has struggled in the Premier League and has worked. Maybe 15 goals by the end of the season? Maybe.