EPL 2021 Gameweek 2: Liverpool wins, West Ham Utd dominates, Manchester United drops points, Arsenal woes continue

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Gameweek 2 ResultsResult
Liverpool vs Burnley2-0
Aston Villa vs Newcastle Utd.2-0
Crystal Palace vs Brentford0-0
Leeds Utd. vs Everton2-2
 Manchester City. vs Norwich 5-0
Brighton vs Watford2-0
Southampton vs Manchester Utd.1-1
Wolves vs Tottenham0-1
Arsenal vs Chelsea0-2
West Ham United vs Leicester City4-1

Liverpool 2-0 Burnley

Liverpool cruise to a win at Anfield: Liverpool kicked off their first home game of the 21/22 season in style as they beat Burnley 2-0 at Anfield. Diogo Jota (18′) and Sadio Mañe (69′) were the two-goal scorers for Liverpool on the day.

Liverpool dominated the game throughout as they had 27 shots against Burnley, of which 9 were on target. Both the wingbacks Tsimikas and Alexander Arnold played a wonderful game in defense and in attack, as both assisted providers for the Liverpool goals. 

The defeat means Burnley is still without a point after 2 games, Liverpool on the other hand is at 6 points and faces Chelsea in a top-of-the-table clash next weekend.

StatsLiverpoolBurnley
Possession (%)6634
Shots (on target)27 (9)9 (3)
Accurate passes (pass success)434 (82%)175 (66%)
Corners84
Fouls Conceded612

Aston Villa 2-0 Newcastle United

Aston Villa gets their first points on the board: Villa got their first win of the season as they beat Newcastle United 2-0 at Villa Park.

The game started off quite slow as both the teams kept possession and hardly had any chances on the other team’s goal. The scoreline finally changed just before halftime as Danny Ings pulled out an incredible overhead kick to score past Newcastle goalkeeper Woodman in the Injury time (45’+3′).

Anwar El-Ghazi added to Newcastle’s woes in the 2nd half with a Penalty in the 60th minute. Newcastle thought they themselves had a penalty at the 75th minute but it was ruled out by VAR.

StatsAston VillaNewcastle
Possession (%)4753
Shots (on target)10 (2)9 (1)
Accurate passes (pass success)238 (79%)257 (77%)
Corners34
Fouls Conceded818

Crystal Palace 0-0 Brentford

Palace and Brentford play out a Goalless draw: Crystal Palace and Brentford played out a goalless draw at Selhurst Park in what was a very tactical game. The biggest chance of the game fell to Crystal Palace as Gallagher hit the bar from six yards out.

Brentford had the better chances in the first half but couldn’t find the net. The second half also played out similarly but both the teams were not able to score a goal. The result means newly-promoted Brentford now has 4 points in 2 games whereas Crystal Palace got their first point of the season.

StatsCrystal PalaceBrentford
Possession (%)5347
Shots (on target)7 (2)14 (3)
Accurate passes (pass success)324 (75%)270 (71%)
Corners35
Fouls Conceded129

Leeds Utd. 2-2 Everton

Leeds-Everton share points in a thrilling game: The probable match of the Gameweek saw Leeds Utd. and Everton scoring two goals each in a thrilling 2-2 draw at Elland road.

This game was a highly anticipated match for the Leeds fans as, since promotion in 2020, the club was poised to play their first home game in full capacity and the match didn’t disappoint.

Though Leeds dominated the possession stats, Everton scored first in the 30th minute with a Dominic Calvert-Lewin penalty but Klich (41′) pulled it back for Leeds before halftime. Demarai Gray (50′) scored early for Everton to give them the lead again in the matchup but they were again pulled back by a very good goal by Raphinha in the 72nd minute. Both teams had 17 shots in total, but couldn’t secure the win.

StatsLeeds Utd.Everton
Possession (%)7030
Shots (on target)17 (4)17 (8)
Accurate passes (pass success)517 (85%)168 (66%)
Corners85
Fouls Conceded613

Manchester City 5-0 Norwich

Manchester City put five past Norwich at the Etihad: Manchester City opened up their Premier League campaign at home with a bang, scoring 5 goals past Norwich in a one-sided match.

Pep Guardiola’s men dominated the game throughout, having a total of 16 shots in the game. City scored early in the 7th minute, with a Krul own goal. New signing Jack Grealish also made his mark in the first half scoring with his knee as he got his first goal for his new club.

Laporte(64′), Sterling(71′), and Mahrez(84′) all scored in the second half as City strolled to their first win of the campaign after falling to Tottenham in the first game.

Gabriel Jesus starred for Manchester city, giving 2 assists and also being the main source behind Tim Krul’s own goal. Manchester City faces Arsenal in Gameweek 3.

StatsMan. CityNorwich
Possession (%)6733
Shots (on target)16 (4)1 (0)
Accurate passes (pass success)684 (94%)307 (85%)
Corners61
Fouls Conceded137

Brighton & Hove Albion 2-0 Watford

Brighton is off to a blazing start with back-to-back wins: Brighton got the second win of their Premier League campaign by beating Watford 2-0 at home.

Goals by Duffy (10′) and Maupay (41′) in the first half were enough to lead Brighton to a 2-0 win in Saturday night’s late kickoff. The Seagulls dominated the game with more possession and shots on target. Wins back to back against Burnley and Watford have taken the Seagulls to third place in the table.

They face Rafa Benitez’s Everton next in Gameweek 3.

StatsBrightonWatford
Possession (%)5743
Shots (on target)13 (3)10 (1)
Accurate passes (pass success)502 (86%)365 (83%)
Corners72
Fouls Conceded116

Southampton 1-1 Manchester United

Manchester United drop points at Southampton: Manchester United and Southampton shared the spoils after a hard-fought draw at St. Mary’s Stadium.

Southampton scored first after Adam’s strike deflected off of Fred to give the hosts the lead in the 30th minute. However, the Red Devils rallied in the second half and scored via Mason Greenwood (55′) to level the scores. No team could add anything more to the result as the game finished 1-1.

Manchester United would feel they should have gotten more out of the game as they saw more of the ball and created more chances. Pogba and Greenwood did have good chances but failed to score them, on the other end De Gea made a wonderful save to deny a late Southampton winner.

StatsSouthamptonMan. United
Possession (%)3664
Shots (on target)8 (3)15 (4)
Accurate passes (pass success)201 (69%)415 (80%)
Corners77
Fouls Conceded1210

Wolverhampton Wanderers 0-1 Tottenham Hotspur

Dele Alli penalty seals it for Tottenham: Nuno Espirito Santo returned back to Molineux Stadium, however this time with his Tottenham side, and managed to come out with a 1-0 win against Wolverhampton Wanderers.

Spurs managed to score early with a Dele Alli penalty in the 9th minute and that goal would turn out to make the difference in the tie. In other news, Harry Kane did come on as a substitute in the second and played for about 20 minutes amidst all the talks of his move to Manchester City. Spurs did have chances later on, but Wolves goalkeeper Jose Sá pulled off a double save to keep the scores at 1-0.

StatsWolvesTottenham
Possession (%)5842
Shots (on target)25 (6)8 (6)
Accurate passes (pass success)394 (84%)284 (80%)
Corners54
Fouls Conceded97

Arsenal 0-2 Chelsea

Lukaku scores as Chelsea win the London derby:  Romelu Lulaku (15′) and Reece James (35′) both scored in the first half as Arsenal lost at home to Chelsea at the Emirates Stadium.

A lot was expected of Arsenal in the London derby after falling to Brentford in the campaign opener, but the Gunners were disappointed again having just 35% of the Possession at home. Chelsea was quite comfortable throughout the match, creating 22 shots against just 6 from Arsenal. Arsenal just had to contend with counterattacks and was not able to create many chances.

Both teams have big fixtures next with Chelsea facing Liverpool and Arsenal facing Manchester City in Gameweek 3.

StatsArsenalChelsea
Possession (%)3565
Shots (on target)6 (3)22 (5)
Accurate passes (pass success)266 (79%)574 (89%)
Corners98
Fouls Conceded104

West Ham United 4-1 Leicester City

Antonio stars as the Foxes get “Hammered”:  Leicester City’s bad recent form against West Ham continued as the Foxes fell 4-1 to the Hammers at the London Stadium as David Moyes’ West Ham dominated the entirety of the match.

The first half was dominated by West Ham as they scored the first goal of the game through Pablo Fornas in the 26th minute. The game went from bad to worse for the foxes in the 40th minute as Ayoze Perez was shown the red card for a dangerous foul on Fornas.

Goals from Benrahma (56′) and Tielemans (69′) canceled each other out early in the second half. But then Michail Antonio stole the show with a brace in the 80th and 84th minute leading West Ham to their second win of the campaign.

StatsWest HamLeicester City
Possession (%)5347
Shots (on target)19 (7)5 (1)
Accurate passes (pass success)431 (86%)402 (84%)
Corners100
Fouls Conceded88