Our 2019 Football Recap continues, this time we’re going back to September. If you’ve missed any of our previous recaps, you can find them by clicking on the title below.
Our 2019 Football Recap continues, this time we’re going back to September. If you’ve missed any of our previous recaps, you can find them by clicking on the title below.
The first day saw Arsenal host Tottenham in the first North London derby of the season. It was Tottenham who struck first as Christian Eriksen put them ahead after 10 minutes, with Harry Kane scoring a penalty 5 minutes before half-time to double Tottenham’s lead. Alexandre Lacazette gave Arsenal hope with his injury-time goal before Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang scored Arsenal’s equaliser in the 71st minute. No side was able to find a winner and the points were shared at the Emirates.
The following weekend saw the shock of the season so far as Champions Manchester City travelled to Carrow Road to face newly-promoted Norwich. To the shock of many, Norwich took the lead after the 18th minute thanks to Kenny McLean, before Todd Cantwell doubled Norwich’s lead 10 minutes later. Manchester City pulled one back just before half-time through Sergio Aguero, but Manchester City’s hope for a comeback was short-lived as Teemu Pukki scored Norwich’s third 5 minutes into the second half. Rodri grabbed a second for Manchester City in the 88th minute but City were unable to find an equaliser and Norwich pulled off a shock win against the Champions.
After their defeat to Norwich, City came back with a bang in an historic win over Watford at the Etihad Stadium. 6 players got on the scoresheet for City, as: David Silva, Sergio Aguero, Riyad Mahrez, Bernardo Silva, Nicolas Otamendi and Kevin de Bruyne helped Manchester City to an 8-0 thrashing of Watford, making them the 7th team to score 8 or more goals in a Premier League game.
Liverpool maintained their perfect start to the season as they won all 3 of their Premier League games in September, which included wins against: Newcastle, Chelsea and Sheffield United.
Arsenal, on the other hand, didn’t have the best September as they were only able to win 1 of their 4 Premier League games in September, which was a 3-2 win over Aston Villa at the Emirates, the remaining 3 games were draws against: Tottenham, Watford and Manchester United. Find below some of the key Premier League results that happened during September:
The Champions League returned during September with the first group stage games taking place. It wasn’t the best start for the English teams as only Manchester City were able to win their first game after beating Shakhtar Donetsk 3-0. Both Chelsea and Liverpool suffered defeats during their opening group games, as Liverpool lost 2-0 in Italy with their game against Napoli, and Chelsea suffered a home defeat against Valencia. Tottenham headed to Greece for their opening game to face Olympiacos and looked well on their way to victory after going 2-0 up, however, goals in the 44th and 54th minutes brought Olympiacos level and Tottenham had to settle for a point in their opening game. If you’d like a more in depth look at the opening round of Champions League group stage game, the link below will take you to our round-up.
Manchester United, Arsenal, Wolves, Celtic and Rangers were also in European action during September as the Europa League group stage began. Arsenal faced a tough trip to germany to face Eintracht Frankfurt who reached the semi-finals the season before, it didn’t prove to be much of a test though as Arsenal won 3-0 to give them a perfect start. Manchester United were also victorious in their opening group game as they beat Astana 1-0 at Old Trafford thanks to Mason Greenwood. Rangers were the third British team to record a victory in their opening game as they beat Feyenoord 1-0 at Ibrox. Wolves and Celtic on the other hand were unable to get off to winning ways as Celtic could only draw 1-1 against Rennes in France, while Wolves were beaten 1-0 by Braga at Molineux.
September saw the top 6 Premier League clubs enter the Carabao Cup in the third round. The shock of the round involved Tottenham as they travelled to face League 2 side Colchester United. After holding Tottenham to 0-0 for 90 minutes, Colchester took the game to penalties. Christian Eriksen got Tottenham off to a nightmare start after his penalty was saved. Paulo Gazzaniga came to Tottenham’s rescue by saving Colchester’s third penalty to level the score. With Tottenham and Colchester both scoring their fourth penalties, Lucas Moura stepped up for Tottenham and was unable to hit the target as his penalty hit the bar, so upstepped Tom lapsille who converted his penalty and sent Coclhester through to the next round.
Another shock to take place during the third round was West Ham’s embarrassing defeat at League 1 side Oxford United. West Ham went into the game on high spirits having beaten Manchester United 2-0 in their previous game Unfortunately they were unable to continue their good form as 4 second half goals led them to a 4-0 defeat and an early exit from the Carabao Cup.
The third round also saw the first meeting between Portsmouth and Southampton since 2012. This time it was Southampton who were victorious in the South Coast derby as goals from: Danny Ings, Cedric and Nathan Redmond led them to a 4-0 victory at Fratton Park. Find below all the results from the third round of the Carabao Cup:
September saw England resume their journey to Euro 2020 with two more qualifiers, with 2 home games against Bulgaria and Kosovo. Their first test against Bulgaria at Wembley was very straight forward for England as Raheem Sterling and 3 goals from Harry Kane sealed a 4-0 victory for England and brought them one step closer to qualification for the finals.
England headed to St Mary’s for their historic qualifier against Kosovo as the two nations had never faced each other before. To the shock of many, Kosovo opened the scoring after 1 minute to give them an unlikely lead, that lead was short lived however as Raheem Sterling levelled the score 7 minutes later, before Harry Kane, a Kosovo own goal, and 2 goals from Jadon Sancho gave England a 5-1 lead at half-time. Kosovo didn’t accept defeat however and scored 2 goals within the opening 10 minutes of the second half to cut England’s lead to 5-3, which turned out to be the final score. The victory put England within touching distance of qualification ahead of their next game against the Czech Republic.
Given the run both sides are on, it’s fair to assume every possibility is on the cards here. One thing it feels safe to expect is goals, with over 2.5 goals having been scored in t...