Gameweek 27 saw us continue to come closer to the climax of what has been an exciting season of Premier League football. The weekend kicked off with a North London derby on Saturday lunchtime, as Arsenal faced Spurs at Wembley. Later, we would see Watford face West Ham United fresh off the back of their 4-1 win against Chelsea. Man City hosted Leicester in the evening. Sunday saw a big match for Newcastle United, who faced Manchester United. The gameweek ended with Chelsea facing West Bromwich Albion. Anyway, here’s the FPL Updates Gameweek 27 FPL Review…
Goalkeeper
Martin Dubravka – Newcastle United faced a massive test as Manchester United arrived at St. James’ Park on Sunday afternoon. They made a fast start and may well have had a penalty when Chris Smalling appeared to bring down Dwight Gayle. Alexis Sanchez then rounded debutant keeper Martin Dubravka, only to be denied by a brilliant block from Florian Lejeune. Matt Ritchie sparked wild scenes when he drilled home to give the Magpies the lead. The impressive Dubravka completed an excellent debut with a brilliant stop to deny Michael Carrick from close-range.
Defenders
Ben Davies – Spurs faced Arsenal as we were treated to a North London derby at Saturday lunchtime, and it played out to be the kind of game we hoped for. Ben Davies crossed for Harry Kane, who climbed well above Laurent Koscielny to head powerfully into the bottom corner, giving Petr Cech no chance. Despite Spurs’ dominance, Arsenal has two guilt-edged chances to level the scores late on. Both would fall to Alexandre Lacazette, the first of which he volleyed over. The second came with seconds remaining in injury time, but the Frenchman slotted wide from 8 yards when in on goal.
Victor Moses – Chelsea faced West Brom on the back of a hammering at the hands of Watford at Vicarage Road last week. Antonio Conte looked to many a broken man in terms of his body-language and post-match interviews. He knew that failure to take all three points on Monday night may see the end of his time as Blues boss. Rumours have been circulating that Chelsea are unwilling to pay to terminate the Italian’s contract, while Conte himself would have to pay were he to leave the role. Roman Abramovic is reportedly hopeful that another club will pay up Conte’s contract to save Chelsea the cost.
Kyle Naughton – Swansea City took another massive leap towards Premier League survival as a late winner from Ki Sung-Yueng saw the Swans climb even further from the dreaded relegation zone. It was a meeting between two of the lowest-scoring Premier League sides, and as expected chances were few and far between. As the match wore in, it became increasingly obvious that the match would be settled by a single goal, and Korean midfielder Ki provided it when his drive from the edge of the box found the bottom corner, to the delight of the home faithful.
Midfielders
Eden Hazard – Chelsea ran out 3-0 winners against West Bromwich Albion at Stamford Bridge on Monday night, in a match that could have turned out much differently. Jay Rodriguez spurned a fantastic chance to give the Baggies the lead, and they were punished when link-up between Olivier Giroud and Eden Hazard saw the latter give the Blues the lead. Victor Moses doubled the advantage when he slotted past Ben Foster. Hazard got his second to seal the three points, cutting onto his left and slamming in at the near post. It was a big 3 points to get the Blues back on track.
Kevin De Bruyne – Manchester City continued on the route to what seems an inevitable Premier League title as they comfortably dispatched Leicester City 5-1 on Saturday evening. Kevin De Bruyne was on fine form, as seems to be a regular occurrence this season. The Belgian international recorded a brilliant three assists as his side romped to victory. City will be preparing to face Basel in the Champions League on Tuesday, a competition in which they might just be outside favourites to take the title.
Mohammed Salah – As per usual, Mo Salah features in our review. His side faced Southampton at St. Mary’s on Sunday evening, and ran out 2-0 winners. Liverpool took the lead early on when he finished on the counter from Salah’s assist. Southampton put in a solid second half performance, and will lament their poor finishing, as well as some good work from Reds ‘keeper Loris Karius. Jurgen Klopp’s side would kill the match off when Salah played a neat one-two with Roberto Firmino before finishing past Fraser Forster.
Alex Pritchard – Huddersfield Town had been on a terrible run of form of late and may have been becoming many people’s favourites for the drop in what has been a tremendously tight Premier League table for much of the season. They completed the signing of Alex Pritchard from Norwich City in January, in an attempt to add some attacking flare to a frequently faltering frontline. He netted his first Terriers goal against Bournemouth at the John Smith’s stadium at the weekend, in a superb win for David Wagner’s side.
Forwards
Sergio Aguero – Manchester City frontman Sergio Aguero was in superb form as he netted four goals against Leicester City on Saturday. Raheem Sterling gave City the lead just moments in, before Jamie Vardy levelled for the Foxes. Aguero then turned it on with four second half strikes. The talk before hand was all revolving around Leicester winger Riyad Mahrez, who had gone on strike and had only declared himself available on Friday. He was left on bench by Claude Puel, as the Foxes boss stuck to his principles at Eastlands.
Steve Mounie – Huddersfield Town striker Steve Mounie continued his record of having scored all of his Premier League goals in braces for the Terriers. His smart run and pass found Alex Pritchard who gave his side the lead, before Junior Stanislas equalised for Bournemouth shortly after. However, a Mounie brace would make it comfortable, as he first headed well, before slotting into the bottom corner in the second period. He might have had the chance for a hat-trick, but when Pritchard was brought down Rajiv van la Parra converted from the spot to add gloss to the score line.
Oumar Niasse – Sam Allardyce’s Everton side recorded a 3-1 win at home to Crystal Palace in the Premier League on Saturday afternoon. Gylfi Sigurdsson gave the Toffees the lead, as he drove home via the help of a deflection. Oumar Niasse doubled the advantage soon after when he headed home powerfully from a Cuco Martina cross. Alexander Sorloth had a good header saved by Jordan Pickford to get the Eagles back in the match, however Tom Davies made the points safe for Everton. A late Luka Milivojevic header did little to rattle Allardyce’s side, who held on for a precious three points.
