The EPL continued on Sunday with Chelsea and Manchester City failing to pick maximum points away from home.
Manchester City needed two second-half goals to stage a dramatic comeback at St. James Park after going down 1-3 in a thrilling encounter.
IIkay Gundogan, Erling Harland, and Bernardo Silva scored for the Citizens while Newcastle got goals from Miguel Almiron, Callum Wilson, and a fantastic Kieran Trippier free-kick.
It took Pep Guardiola’s men just five minutes to open the goal scoring. IIkay Gundogan got on the end of a Bernardo Silva cross in the centre of the box and the City captain made no mistakes with his shot.
City had a chance to double their lead in the 11th minute, but Erling Harland failed to connect with another pass from Silva.
After soaking the City pressure, Newcastle pressed for an equaliser with several attacks from Allan Saint-Maximin, Joe Willock, and Joelinton.
In the 23rd minute, City’s goalkeeper, Ederson, recorded his first save following a pullout from Saint-Maximin.
Wilson could have gotten the equaliser for the hosts, but his shot was too tame.
After several attempts from the right flank by Saint-Maximin, the winger delivered another cross that was bundled into the net by Miguel Almiron in the 28th minute. The goal needed a VAR check, but the goal stood.
Ten minutes later, Saint-Maximin justified his man of the moment for Newcastle, following another clear-cut pass to Wilson, who checked back on Ruben Dias before placing his shot past Ederson for Newcastle’s second goal.
Haaland’s second chance in the game was ruled out for an offside in the 45th minute as City went into the second half, trailing Newcastle.
St. James’ Park’s roof went off in the 54th minute as Kieran Trippier converted a free-kick from about 30 yards. VAR overruled a red card brandished for Trippier for a tackle on Kevin De Bruyne.
City restored parity with two quick goals from Haaland and Silva within four minutes of play with assists from De Bruyne.
According to Opta, Haaland’s goal made him the third City striker to score in his second away fixture after Emmanuel Adebayor and Emile Mpenza.
Elsewhere at Elland Road, Leeds United under Jesse Marsch deservedly trounced Chelsea 3-0.
First and second-half goals from Brenden Aaronson, Rodrigo Moreno, and Jack Harrison set the Whites on an unbeaten start to the season.
Edouard Mendy, just like David de Gea, gifted Leeds the first goal from a straight-forward back pass that he should have cleared, but he decided to dribble Aaronson, who nabbed the ball and gave Leeds the lead.
Having conceded the first goal, Chelsea were still getting themselves together, when they gave away a free kick at the edge of the box. Jack Harrison took the kick and found Rodrigo, who glanced a header past Mendy for Leeds’ second goal in the 37th minute.
READ ALSO: Can Manchester City’s Premier League dominance be stopped?
Harrison, the man of the match, got the third in the 69th minute when he pounced on a miskick by Rodrigo and drilled past Mendy.
There was more ignominy for Chelsea as their new signing Kalidou Koulibaly got his second yellow card in the 86th minute. It was the defender’s sixth red card since the start of the 2017-2018 season.
Meanwhile, West Ham continued their dismal form as they fell to their third defeat at home to high-riding Brighton.
The Hammers suffered a 2-0 loss to Brighton at the London Stadium, which consigned them to the bottom of the league table.
Alexis MacAllister scored a first-half penalty while Leandro Trossard doubled the visitors’ lead in the 66th minute to go up to fifth on the table.
Support PREMIUM TIMES’ journalism of integrity and credibility
Good journalism costs a lot of money. Yet only good journalism can ensure the possibility of a good society, an accountable democracy, and a transparent government.
For continued free access to the best investigative journalism in the country we ask you to consider making a modest support to this noble endeavour.
By contributing to PREMIUM TIMES, you are helping to sustain a journalism of relevance and ensuring it remains free and available to all.
Donate
TEXT AD: Call Willie – +2348098788999
(function() {
var _fbq = window._fbq || (window._fbq = []);
if (!_fbq.loaded) {
var fbds = document.createElement(‘script’);
fbds.async = true;
fbds.src = ‘//connect.facebook.net/en_US/fbds.js’;
var s = document.getElementsByTagName(‘script’)[0];
s.parentNode.insertBefore(fbds, s);
_fbq.loaded = true;
}
_fbq.push([‘addPixelId’, ‘756614861070731’]);
})();
window._fbq = window._fbq || [];
window._fbq.push([‘track’, ‘PixelInitialized’, {}]);
!function(f,b,e,v,n,t,s){if(f.fbq)return;n=f.fbq=function(){n.callMethod?
n.callMethod.apply(n,arguments):n.queue.push(arguments)};if(!f._fbq)f._fbq=n;
n.push=n;n.loaded=!0;n.version=’2.0′;n.queue=[];t=b.createElement(e);t.async=!0;
t.src=v;s=b.getElementsByTagName(e)[0];s.parentNode.insertBefore(t,s)}(window,
document,’script’,’https://connect.facebook.net/en_US/fbevents.js’);
(function(d, s, id) { var js, fjs = d.getElementsByTagName(s)[0]; if (d.getElementById(id)) return; js = d.createElement(s); js.id = id; js.src = ‘https://connect.facebook.net/en_GB/sdk.js#xfbml=1&appId=249643311490&version=v2.3’; fjs.parentNode.insertBefore(js, fjs); }(document, ‘script’, ‘facebook-jssdk’));
