Watford 0-3 Norwich, the Canary out of the relegation zone
Watford are the one with more possession (68.1 per cent of possession), mainly pulling out the cross space by stacking on the flanks, but there are fewer attempts to cut inside and there are few runs in the midfield to break into the half space, making "crosses" a single means of attack. At the end of the first half, as Watford's possession became more and more stable, they began to make better use of the half space (of which Moussa Sissoko actively stepped forward, which was a good connection point for Watford's attacking end), but after the ball arrived in the box, the quality of the cut pass, the choice was not ideal, and even after a failed attack, João Pedro and Joshua King directly played on the field, and the poor offensive state did not bring too many tests to the Canary defense. The best chance came from a counter-attack after a steal from midfield, with Joshua King's cross from the right of Moussa Sissoko's kick offside.
The vast majority of Norwich's offensive rounds are sent forward with big feet, and then try to fight for the second wave of ball rights (the pass accuracy rate is only 59%), and they seem to be the offensive and defensive conversion of the front field as the main offensive means, choose the appropriate opportunity to implement high-pressure pressing, try to counterattack after stealing in the front, if the opponent has the ball has been secured, they will retreat to the middle circle to defend patiently and wait for the next opportunity. With this slightly negative style of play, Norwich's attack was very sporadic, but they unexpectedly became the first team to score - after the front steal, Kenny McLean's overly powerful front pass was snatched back by Pukee's physical confrontation, and Pukki's slightly back cross was swung into goal by Sargent's pure motor nerve footboard.
The second goal of the match didn't wait long (if you ignore the timing of the game when the headlights were broken, causing the game to be suspended) - Raheica crossed from the left and Sargent headed the shotle into the net. It's Norwich again, it's Sargent again. Watford's problems only increased, Emanuel Dennis left the field early with two yellows and one red, both of which were serious foul moves, and eating cards was not unjust at all. Since then, Watford's offensive end has been fruitless, and the defensive end has swallowed another oolong ball, completely destroying the only remaining life of the game, allowing Norwich to win an extremely valuable away victory.
Watford, which mostly relies on counter-attack attacks in the league, is actually not too bad in this game, and even in the disadvantage of playing one less person at the end of the game, it can still create opportunities, and the connection in the penalty area in the front court and the defensive end that could not get a clean sheet throughout the season are the parts that disappointed them. Falling into the relegation zone after the key game was swallowed up, although there is a 2-point gap with Norwich, they still have the advantage of 2 games less, and they will meet burnley at the bottom after the international competition week, which will be a great opportunity for them to grab points.
Norwich, who has long been at the bottom of the "steady" list, has been out of the relegation zone for the first time this season after the recent two-game winning streak. The completely inferior midfield scramble in the first half, the flawed defense at the end of the game, the big score of this game can not prove Norwich's ability to control the game, but the ability to seize the opportunity to earn points in key games may be an important element of the survival of the team in the relegation crisis?
Everton 0-1 Aston Villa, Villa struggled to win the road
Everton, who has just been fired by coach Benitez, has not changed much in the style of the game. They are more willing to grab high balls in their own half-time or midfield areas, which also leads to their lack of ball possession (44.3% possession in the first half). The main attacking method is still to rely on counter-attack (the best attack is also from the midfield steal, the 2-1 advantage was confiscated by Damian Martinez because the pass was not in place), but the high-altitude scramble in this game did not take advantage of the advantage, and rarely completed the steal in the dangerous area, making their first half shooting number of shots was 0 dismal.
Villa also did not have the patience to pass the idea of organizing (the pass accuracy rate in the first half was only 78%, but still better than Everton's 63%), and there were many attempts to find a striker with a direct high hanging ball, including one Tyrone Mins long pass to find Ollie Wattkins that broke through the offside line, and in a hurry, it was a good opportunity to get close to a single knife. In addition, Marty Cash, Jacob Ramsey with the ball to advance, Buendía Canike outside the running position is the highlight of the team's offensive end, the players have a better play, but also their offensive end is more threatening than the opponent. In injury time in the first half, Buendia, who had been active for a long time, scored the hammer in a corner to help Villa take the lead.
In the second half, the backward Everton changed the way of playing, increased the intensity of the midfield, and reduced the blind big foot forward pass, the desire to equalize was indeed fully presented in the offensive threat, Lewin received the cross and the difficult shot flew away, which was the closest moment to the goal. On the other hand, Villa's attack is passive, the first half of the dominant midfield scramble, counterattack efficiency have been completely cracked by Everton, Villa can only advance with time, gradually reduce the rhythm of attack, the taste of delaying time is more and more obvious.
At the end of the game, Everton's attacking firepower slowed down, Villa's defense was at the end, and Buendia's goal became the key to the victory of the away win.
Everton's 14 shots on goal in the second half were far superior to their opponents, and the content of the game was also satisfactory to the fans. However, in terms of results, Everton once again had no choice but to swallow, ranking 16th with 19 points, and although they still maintained a safe distance, relegation should never be a crisis they should be worried about. After the departure of the head coach Benitez, who has kept fans complaining, Everton's journey to regain itself is just about to begin.
The gap between Villa's performance in the first and second halves may seem a bit worrying, but Everton's performance should not be ignored, and it is worth affirming that Villa did not lose in the second half despite the unfavorable situation and struggled to hold the lead. In addition, Buendia and Coutinho, two attacking midfielders/wingers who can be inside and outside, can create interesting sparks for Villa's attacking end, which may be an important point of view for future vila.
Manchester United 1-0 West Ham United, Rashford completed the strike in injury time
United started very aggressively, aggressively pressing, coupled with a slightly biased pass, many times through the offensive and defensive conversion to create a threat, one of which was a 3-on-3 advantage, Greenwood was defused in time by the defense before shooting. In addition, Ronaldo's occasional retreat to assist with the ball or attract a watchman, and sometimes receiving crosses in the penalty area (similar to his main use during the Juve era), are the highlights of United's attacking end. The continued advantage was finally a great opportunity - Fred stepped forward to receive B Fee's direct thrust, single-handedly saved by Alphonse Areola, the most threatening attack (and the first shot in the game).
After West Ham's poor start pass gradually improved, instead of blindly taking a defensive position, it began to be able to move forward smoothly, de Klan Rice, Jerrod Bowen and others actively advanced with the ball, trying to burst the Red Devils' defense; or attracting fouls when dribbling, and then creating a threat through set-pieces, one of the corners, Thomas Shochek's head hammer brushed the goalpost, which was the closest West Ham United came to scoring. However, the number of offensive rounds was small, and Mikael Antonio was firmly guarded by Maguire and Varane, making their long passes counter-attack limited. The overall firepower was not enough to destroy the opponent's defense, and there was only a record of 1 shot on target.
Although United had the advantage throughout the game, if you just look at the shots, Manchester United are not much better than Wolves (3 of the 18 shots on goal), the stalemate continues all the way to injury time, and Fergi Time, which is very familiar to Manchester United fans, comes. After a wave of United counter-attacks and a few smooth forward passes, Cavani crossed to Find Rashford, and the two substitute players joined forces to complete the deadlock, taking the victory away in the last minute of the game.
Manchester United did show the control of the big team over the game situation throughout the game, especially in the first 30 minutes or so of the game, the threatening transformation of attack and defense, and the smooth connection in the front court, I believe that Lonnick is very happy to see the content of the game. Although the goal of this game came late, it is indeed a more worthy team to score three points, after winning the key game, the points also successfully surpassed the opponent, perhaps the problem between Lonnick and Manchester United has not been solved (the dressing room is not united, the attack has not yet clearly seen the system support, etc.), but the goal of competing for four is definitely still in their sights.
After a second consecutive defeat in the Premier League, West Ham gave up the fourth place. In this game, on the defensive end, set-pieces and other parts, I personally still think it is above the passing level. The place where they do a worse job is that the counter-attack they are good at is not fully played, and Mikael Antonio can do better. After the ranking fell out of the Champions League, the hope of fighting for four did not disappear, and after the losing streak, it was up to Moyes's Hammer Gang to take advantage of the international competition week to readjust and get on track as soon as possible.
Southampton 1-1 Manchester City, in vain to defend to force a draw with Manchester City
After Kyle Walker-Peters helped the team get off to a fantastic start, Southampton played very clearly, patiently defending and waiting for the time to strike back, sending a long pass to the front, Armando Broja was once blocked by Laporte, a slight offside and cancelled, is the most dangerous player in Southampton's attacking end. The counter-attack was hopeless, but after the possession of the ball, their playing style was still very direct, trying to bring a breakthrough with a personal set in important areas (such as a midfielder trying to challenge the Manchester City backline after trying to pass Rodri; or trying to get a 2-1 area advantage on the wing after trying to pass the Manchester City winger), but this method was still not effective than the long-pass counterattack, and ultimately did not receive too good results.
City started off to a terrible start, scoring goals aside, passing in the offensive front wasn't ideal, barely able to break into the Saints penalty area, and by the time the team returned, nearly 30 minutes had passed, wasting most of the time chasing points. Since then, Manchester City has gone from simply dominating the ball to a strong siege that continues to be suppressed, and then it is a severe test of the Saints' defense.
The various threats of City's positional battle still came into play (except for the silence of the first 30 minutes), and it was really the Saints' defense that was doing too well. The quality of the crosses that get better and better over time can be resolved one by one; the aggression against half space is also followed by defensive players, especially Sulisu, who follows up to block the cross when he is in his defensive area, and can turn back in time to block the pass when he is not in his defensive area.
However, City's dire attacking intensity made it difficult for Southampton to completely avoid opportunities, with Sterling's shot in front of goal being saved (from Phil Foden's personal breakthrough), Laporte's free-kick to tie (set-pieces), Rodri and De Bruyne once each in the frame (slightly excessive retreat to manchester City midfield slots, and the individual abilities of Manchester City players). City's constant siege avoided defeat, Southampton focused on defending with all their might to hold on to a point, and a draw was a fair outcome for both sides. Of course, Southampton would be the happier party.
After the game whistle sounded, Ralph Hasenhüttel's excited body movements fully demonstrated how satisfied he was with his own children, and it was not easy to score points in two games against the defending champions this season. As for the Premier League rankings, they are not far from the previous class, and may be a target that Southampton can actively strive for in the coming months.
The draw was certainly a failing result for City, with a 12-game winning streak in the Premier League being terminated, but they remained firmly at the top of the game. As long as you don't let the occasional drop point evolve into a low tide of growth time, basically still have the dominance of the championship race, I believe that this mature team led by Guardiola can avoid tragedy. After a two-week break, City's path to dominance will continue.
Leicester City 1-1 Brighton, the Seagulls finally tied and escaped again
Leicester City did a better job of connecting up front than their opponents, giving them a better advantage in this game. James Justin gave James Madison the shot space after breaking into the right side of the penalty area with the ball, and after a steal, Harvey Barnes split the ball to Lukeman on the right side of the box and was saved, which was a few threatening attacks by Leicester City. Within 30 seconds of the start of the second half, Leicester City finally turned their advantage into a goal - the attack that began after the midfield interception, Lukeman returned the James Madison shot, Harvey Barnes scored, Patterson Dhaka picked up the leak on the left side, and the combination of four people in the box and three consecutive shots finally broke the Seagull defense to take the lead.
Brighton's pass control in this game only ensured that they did not drop the ball in dangerous areas, and effective front passes to advance into the field, or even in the box, were less than satisfactory. The poor quality of the front pass led to a lack of threat on the offensive end, constantly allowing the Foxs defense to easily intercept and recover the ball.
After the score changed, Brighton's offensive end gradually increased, replacing Tariq Lampouti with increased threat from the wing and more confrontational center Welbeck. At Brighton's most threatening time at the end of the game, a long pass from the right of Neil Mopai found Welbeck's header inside the box to tie the score. Before it was over, Dan Byrne was cleared off the line in front of a corner header by Tillemans and Trussard received the ball that was saved by Caspar Schmeichel. Brighton were clearly the team with a better chance of finishing, but such a script did not happen, and the two sides ended in a draw.
Leicester City's excellent play on the offensive end was their greatest ability to remain competitive; after taking the lead in this game – perhaps the formation began to shrink excessively, or perhaps the opponent's form improved – Leicester City's defence was once again punctured at the last minute, as if replicating the tragedy of being reversed in midweek in injury time. They could only get back one point at home, relying on goal difference just to rank 10th in the front class, and next year's European qualification was in jeopardy.
Brighton once again scored in the final stages of the game, avoiding defeat, and this time under the adverse circumstances of the absence of head coach Graham Potter. This season's four defeats are only inferior to the three teams competing for the championship, which is enough to prove the resilience of the players to escape. Looking back at the content of the game, the front half was disappointingly organised and didn't show the good performance against Chelsea in midweek. Whether players can play steadily (whether it's the state of the players in each game or the end of the goal that is the most headache for fans) will be a key to how they continue to rise from the middle of the league and try to challenge European games as a dark horse.
Chelsea 2-0 Tottenham, Hakim Ziyech world wave broke through the deadlock
Chelsea's 4-3-3 formation was much the same as the midweek game. The pass control of this game is more dominant, the feeling of control of the situation, Lukaku sometimes receives crosses in the penalty area, sometimes withdraws to assist the organization, much more active than the previous game, although the way of handling the ball in front of the goal is a little rough, but at least can be received in a dangerous position. Another reason to stop them from scoring is the penetration of Chelsea's forward passes into the box, mainly relying on Mason Mount or full-backs to create cross space on the wing, but no one wants to try to change the rhythm with the disc, and a bit of a single style of play ultimately has no way to effectively penetrate the Tottenham defence.
Sessegnon and Matt Doherty are very high up, making Tottenham's formation more like 4-4-2. In the face of the Blues' strong high-pressure pressing, Tottenham Hotspur's ball is very hard, counterattack is still their main offensive means, but the accuracy of long passes is insufficient, making Tottenham's attack relatively sporadic. On a counter-attack, Steven Belwyn released Sesseneon on the left flank and a cross was completed by Kane, but it was cancelled due to Kane's previous foul move, which was their closest moment to scoring.
Shortly after the start of the second half, the deadlock was broken. After Hudson-Odoi broke through with the ball, he crossed to Hakim Ziyech on the other side, mastering a brief gap, Hakim Ziyech parked the ball in a comfortable position, and the banana ball outside the left foot penalty area accurately hoisted into the dead corner of the goal, leaving Hugo Lloris with only the ball to sigh. After a few threatening long-range shots sustained momentum, Thiago Silva set-pieces to open the gap, a start to Chelsea.
After the climax, Tottenham's attacking end is still unsolvable, and Chelsea have more room to use and are still the dominant side. No additional goals were scored by either side, with Chelsea taking the derby at home.
Chelsea's four-game winning streak finally came to an end, against tottenham Tottenham, who have recently won the League Cup. The control of the game situation and the improvement in Lukaku's performance after the negative storm are believed to be very pleasing to Thomas Tuchel. In the Club World Cup in early February, perhaps Chelsea can use a trophy to regain its slump and continue to compete in all competitions in the coming months.
Tottenham Without Son Heung-min, it means that there is one less important big player on the counter-attack, and the number of shots on goal (6-15) can be seen from torttenham Hotspur's obvious disadvantage. After losing their opponents and missing the opportunity to grab the fourth place, Tottenham Hotspur, which has fewer games, still has the dominance of the fourth place. It is worth optimising Spurs fans that the Kane Son Heung-min connection is an important battle for Tottenham, but after Conte took over, they are no longer the only hope for the team, because Spurs now have the strong support of the entire team.