Monday Cannon Fodder: weekend recap

The Premier League saw a bit of red this weekend — two of them, to be accurate. Joao Cancelo and Nelson Semedo both received straight reds in the first half for Manchester City and Wolves respectively for denial of a goal-scoring opportunity. Both will miss their club’s final match before the World Cup break as a results. In Semedo’s case, that means he misses out against Arsenal.

Nottingham Forest 2 - Brentford 2
Forest needed a 96th minute own goal to rescue a point. Ben Mee’s clearance off the line hit teammate Mathias Jorgensen and just crossed the line to split the points. Morgan Gibbs-White scored for Forest, Bryan Mbeuno and Yoane Wissa for the Bees.

Wolves 2 - Brighton 3
Adam Lallana, Kaoru Mitoma, and Pascal Groß scored for Brighton to lift them over 10-man Wolves (Nelson Semedo earned a straight red for DOGSO). Goncalo Guedes and Ruben Neves scored for the home side in a losing effort. It took Groß and Brighton until the 83rd minute to go ahead, but they managed it.

Manchester City 2 - Fulham 1
Both teams converted penalties in this match — Andreas Pereira for Fulham after Joao Cancelo received a straight red midway through the first half for DOGSO and Erling Haaland in the 95th minute to win the match. It was a soft penalty won by Kevin de Bruyne. He felt contact on the back of his heel and threw himself to the ground rather theatrically to win it. The contact did not match the reaction.

Leeds United 4 - Bournemouth 3
The most exciting match of the weekend may have saved Jesse Marsch’s job at Leeds. Late substitute Crysencio Summerville broke the deadlock in the 84th minute to complete the comeback for the home side. Bournemouth aren’t good, but they keep finding ways to score goals and get (or barely miss) results. They should not have as many points.

Everton 0 - Leicester City 2
The Foxes are in a solid run of form after a dreadful start to the season that left many, including me, scratching their heads trying to figure out how they were that poor. Youri Tielemans scored an absolute worldie in the first half. Everton really lack for a creative attacking presence.

Aston Villa 3 - Manchester United 1
Our old buddy Unai Emery introduced himself to the Villa faithful in fine fashion, helped by goals from Leon Bailey, Lucas Digne, and Jacob Ramsey. Small controversy coming out of this one — Lisandro Martinez intentionally elbowed Leon Bailey in the ribs multiple times but was not disciplined, even after a VAR review. I don’t really understand what the technology is for if not for situations precisely like that.

Southampton 1 - Newcastle 4
Newcastle are good. Southampton are not. The Saints sacked Ralph Hassenhuttl after the match. Next.

West Ham 1 - Crystal Palace 2
Michael Olise scored a 94th minute goal to claim the points for Patrick Vieira’s side, notching a big away victory. Said Benrahma scored a magnificent long-range goal for the Hammers in the first half to open the scoring. Wilf Zaha capitalized off an awful attempt to play out of the back from West Ham to even the score.

Tottenham 1 - Liverpool 2
Liverpool held on against Spurs. Two goals from Mo Salah were enough to see off the home side, despite a second half goal from Harry Kane. It’s a good result for Arsenal, but it probably should have wound up a draw. Spurs were the better side. It’s endlessly amusing that Antonio Conte started, like, 7 defenders and still conceded two.