Expectation for the
third week of English Premier League (EPL) was very high but the results went
in other way. The results of the entire weekend show that this was one of the
most boring league week. Two big matches offered between the biggest rivals
shot up the expectation level before the match but the result was more on the
side of practicality. League champion Manchester United played against
Liverpool in Anfield and in the famous London derby Arsenal hosted Tottenham
Hotspurs. This was the last match before the transfer window closes and the
last chance to assess the team strength and to decided whether to go for
another player or not.
Number of goals has
come down week by week. In the inaugural week the league saw 25 goals and the
subsequent week had 17 in its count. Manchester cities 4-0 become the best
result of the first week, then their defeat against Cardiff become the most entertaining
match with a striking result. The third week gathered only 13 goals and had
more solitary goal victory. Crystal Palace’s victory against Sunderland (3-1)
was the most scoring one and Swansea’s come back to the point table was another
entertaining result. There is no match for next week and players are going for
Internationals in the World Cup qualifiers world around.
All the above
mentioned four clubs were engaged in the transfer market in one or other way.
Liverpool was acted as the most powerful club who said its star striker, who
was ready to jump out from the club, to shut-up and stick with the contract
terms. Very rarely player power gets defeated by the club. Until the match day
between Manchester United and Chelsea, Wayne Rooney, the star striker of United
was showing his ugly face towards his club by spurring up transfer options.
Here also, the club power had upper hand and after the Match against Chelsea Rooney
decided to stick with his club.
It is difficult to say
whether Tottenham conceded defeat in Gareth Bale’s case or they took it as an
opportunity to re-vamp the entire team by adding better players. When Real Madrid
knocked in the door, Bale did not go for a second thought. Daniel Levy, the
director of Spurs looked at it as an opportunity to gain maximum out of it and
he demanded a transfer with world record. By the time they played against
Arsenal, the negotiations reached in the last stage. Before letting Bale to
Madrid, Levy found his replacements in five-six players and completed their
deals.
Manchester United lost
to Liverpool for one goal scored by former Chelsea man Daniel Sturridge. The
London derby was all about the spending of Spurs and inactiveness of Arsenal in
the transfer market. Before the match, Arsenal brought two players and both of
them were free transfers. The second one, the defensive midfielder Mathieu
Flamini played for Arsenal before he joined with Milan five years ago. Injury
crisis of gunners provided him a chance to appear in the first match after he
joined. Remember, this was the second home match of Arsenal and in the first
one they lost to Aston Villa and the entire stadium turned against the transfer
approach of the club and ended up in chaos.
There was not repeat
show of first match this time and Arsenal played confidently against the newly
shaped Spurs. With the solitary goal from Oliver Giroud, Arsenal completed the
game with success and left the question of filling the space left by Bale in
Spurs line up. Tottenham used almost all stars they bought in this transfer
window but failed to find a decent opportunity to return the goal.
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