Gameweek 7 of the 2024/25 Premier League season arrived with much enthusiasm and fanfare with the impending two-week International break. Hence, all teams were looking to go into the break with a decent performance and the three points.
Liverpool remained top with a gritty away win against Crystal Palace while Manchester City beat a feisty Fulham side at the Etihad. Arsenal was in a spot of bother against the Saints but ran away comfortable winners in the end and West Ham got back to winning ways after an abysmal start to the season.
While most fans expected Aston Villa vs Manchester United as the fixture of Gameweek 7, it was not to be. Instead, Brighton coming back from two goals down to beat Spurs was the high-octane thriller most associated with the Premier League.
Let’s take a look at all the action from Gameweek 7 of the Premier League –
Liverpool ended up with a nervy 1-0 win at Selhurst Park in yet another early-kick off. However, this game saw contrasting halves of football with Liverpool controlling the first half while Palace dominating the second. The Eagles scored in the first minute of the game but the replay showed Eddie Nketiah was clearly offside. However, Liverpool started to control the game and was rewarded in the 8th minute with the opener when Kostas Tsimikas’s through ball found Cody Gakpo in the box who laid it perfectly for Diogo Jota who scored. Liverpool kept most of the possession but couldn’t find a second goal and almost conceded at the end of the first half when a Palace chance was saved by Alisson.
The second half saw Crystal Palace raise the tempo and started to attack more. Eberechi Eze missed a couple of easy chances and Alisson had to rescue Liverpool. Liverpool missed at the other end to kill the game with Diogo Jota missing an easy header from a set-piece and Mo Salah missing a simple chance as well. Palace had a glorious opportunity to equalise in the 85th minute when Eze was through on goal but shot straight at the keeper. Liverpool defended well to bag all three points but Alisson’s hamstring injury in the later part of the second half was a dampener for the visitors.
Manchester City beat a feisty Cottagers at the Etihad in a game that saw the visitors take a surprising lead. Fulham went to one of the toughest grounds in the Premier League and showed courage and intent but the initial chances fell to the home side.
Adama Traoré was a menace all evening making great forward runs and troubling the defenders. He even missed a great chance to open the scoring, having beaten Rico Lewis and in a 1v1 situation with the keeper but Ederson stuck a leg out and saved the chance. However, the Cottagers were rewarded for their efforts when Andreas Pereira scored in the 26th minute with a beautifully constructed team goal.
The Cityzens responded soon as they always do at home with Mateo Kova?i? scoring a stunning equaliser in the 32nd minute with a powerful shot into the Fulham net.
The two teams went into the break at 1-1. But two minutes into the restart, it was Kova?i? again who scored his second of the game with another beautiful shot into the top left corner. Fulham did go forward and attack with Adama Traoré yet again missing a superb opportunity having overpowered the defender on a long ball but shot straight at the keeper making it an easy save for Ederson. The defending champions put the result to bed with Jérémy Doku scoring from outside the box with a sumptuous strike in the 82nd minute.
However, City fans had a nervy few minutes after Fulham scored their second through Rodrigo Muniz in the 88th minute. Fulham tried to find an equaliser but City held on to grab all three points in a very tricky encounter.
This was a game between two sides with contrasting fortunes so far with Arsenal in the Top three and Saints languishing in the bottom three and should have been an easy win for an in-form Arsenal side. However, there are no easy draws in the Premier League and even with Arsenal having most of the possession in the first half, they couldn’t manage to find an opening goal with Gabriel Jesus and Kai Havertz missing opportunities to score.
The second half started at the same tempo as the first with Arsenal taking charge but Southampton had a brilliant chance to open the scoring when Tyler Dibling got the better of Riccardo Calafiori to pass the ball to Mateus Fernandes whose shot went over the bar.
But the visitors soon found the opening goal when Fernandes dispossessed Raheem Sterling in the middle of the pitch and passed to Cameron Archer who found a precise finish in the far corner in the 54th minute. Arsenal responded within three minutes with Bukayo Saka intercepting a pass and passing to Kai Havertz whose powerful shot found the net for the equaliser. Bukayo Saka was in the thick of things yet again when he went past defenders and crossed to Gabriel Martinelli on the far post who finished to grab the lead in the 68th minute though it took a while as VAR check went on for a possible offside.
Southampton had their moments with Dibling coming close and Raya’s punch from a corner hitting the crossbar but Saka pounced on a defensive mistake again and scored Arsenal’s third in the 88th minute to put the result past any doubt. Arsenal had their scary moments but ended up deserving 3-1 winners.
The Hammers returned to winning ways after a below par start to the season. Michail Antonio opened the scoring in a blistering start for the Hammers inside the first minute when Bowen found a perfect pass to him in the box for a neat finish. However, an in-form Liam Delap restored parity five minutes later, when a cross from a corner was headed down towards him and he hit a powerful shot that could not be saved by the Hammers goalie Areola. However, West Ham took control of the game and regained the lead just before half-time when Emerson Palmieri’s cross was headed by Mohammed Kudus in the box.
Early in the second half, a defensive mistake from Ipswich with their goalie Arijanet Muric’s initial heavy touch leading to a clearance intercepted by Jarrod Bowen who dribbled past Ipswich’s leaky defense to score a sublime goal in the 49th minute to make it 3-1.
Ipswich nearly found a second goal in the 65th minute when Liam Delap’s header from a Wes Burn’s cross was saved superbly by Areola. Bowen assisted for West Ham’s fourth goal when Antonio and Bowen combined on the right side and Bowen found a perfect pass beyond Ipswich’s defense in the path of Lucas Paquetá who had an easy tap-in. It was a well-deserved three points for the Hammers with Kieran Mckenna left ruing a woeful defensive performance.
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Goals galore at the Gtech Stadium with the Cherries ending with the three points. The game started off with a regulation early opener for the Cherries in the 2nd minute when Nathan Collins rose up to a Bryan Mbuemo cross to head home. However, Wolves were not to stay behind and equalised within two minutes through Matheus Cunha. Brentford took the lead in the 20th minute when Mario Lemina brought down Collins in the box in a corner-kick situation. A penalty was rightfully awarded to Brentford which was converted by Mbuemo.
Wolves restored parity in the 26th minute through Jørgen Strand Larsen’s wonderful finish created by Rayan Aït-Nouri on the left. Another calamitous defensive moment happened two minutes later from Wolves when they gave away a ball near the box for Mathias Norsgaard to regain the lead for Brentford. Just before half-time, Wolves again left an unmarked Ethan Pinnock on the far post from a corner to head into the net for a 4-2 lead for Brentford. It was a crazy first-half with 6 goals scored!
Wolves had some attacking threat in the first half that got lost in the second half and should be thankful to shot-stopper Sam Johstone who saved them from embarrassment making a string of fine saves in the second half. Brentford scored their fifth goal through Fábio Carvalho in the last minute of the game. Wolves did notch a consolation third goal through Aït-Nouri deep in stoppage time but a defensive collapse leaves them winless, languishing at the bottom of the table.
A moment of pure brilliance by Facundo Buonanotte put Leicester ahead by a goal in the 16th minute of the first half at the King Power Stadium. The Argentine received a long ball from defender James Justin and went past the Bournemouth defense to hit an absolute stunner in the top left corner.
Bournemouth did have a flurry of chances in the second half and came the closest to scoring with midfielder Lewis Cook’s direct free-kick going into the net in the 65th minute but it was later ruled out for offside. Leicester was living dangerously with Bournemouth attacking with great intent but managed to hold on to the 1-0 lead to the delight of the home fans.
After getting back to winning ways last weekend, Everton held out for a 0-0 draw against the Magpies who would be disappointed having lost on the three points with Anthony Gordon missing from the spot-kick. Everton’s Abdoulaye Doucoure thought he had scored early in the first half but a VAR check ruled it offside, denying Everton the lead. In the 35th minute though, VAR had to intervene again for a James Tarkowski foul on Sandro Tonali to award Newcastle a penalty. Former Evertonian, Anthony Gordon stepped forward to take the spot-kick and shot low on the right but Jordan Pickford guessed the right way and saved it.
In the second half, Everton’s Dominic Calvert-Lewin had a case for a penalty when he clashed with Dan Burn in the six-yard box but VAR denied Everton the spot-kick. Both teams were wasteful in the final third and neither could force the issue to find a winner with the game ending in a tame 0-0 draw.
With their Dutch Manager’s job in serious crisis, Manchester United travelled to an in-form and dangerous Aston Villa side to turn around their fortunes. However, it didn’t end up as a win but a goalless draw with both teams having decent chances. United registered their first shot on target in the 4th minute when Marcus Rashford stole possession from Matty Cash, surged forward with the ball and took a shot but it was saved by Emiliano Martínez. Aston Villa had a decent chance in the 7th minute but Morgan Rogers’ shot went wide. Villa started to control possession but couldn’t find the target.
Rashford had a decent chance early in the second half but Martínez was up to the task and saved it too. With United defending deep, the Villains were limited to shots from outside the box with Youri Tielemans trying to score from distance but couldn’t put the ball in the net. Manchester United were lucky that Rashford wasn’t sent-off at the hour mark for a silly tackle on Leon Bailey as he had already been booked once. Bruno Fernandes’s powerful shot was denied by the post when a freekick was awarded to United for a Matty cash foul on Alejandro Garnacho. Villa had a glorious chance to nick it at the end but Diogo Dalot made a match saving interception near post from Jaden Philogene’s goal-bound shot. With the home side not being able to find great scoring chances, it was a deserving draw for the Red Devils to the huge relief of manager Erik Ten Hag.
Chelsea continued to drop points at home while having a brilliant away form. Nottingham Forest on the other hand would be upset with a point as they had the better chances to win the game. Forest defended deep from the start while the Blues attacking in wave after wave with Cole Palmer coming dangerously close to scoring in the 41st minute when Noni Madueke’s shot parried by the Forest goalie Matz Sels fell in his path and his shot went below the goalkeeper, hit the post and miraculously missed the net.
The second half saw Forest come out with real purpose and scored the opener in the 48th minute from a set-piece through Chris Wood poking the ball in the net. Chelsea responded within eight minutes through Noni Madueke’s goal who had been menacing all night. James Ward-Prowse handled the ball deliberately to stop a Chelsea counter and got sent-off in the 78th minute but that didn’t deter the Forest players and they had several chances to take the lead and the three points if not for Robert Sánchez who made stunning saves to deny Neco Williams first and then a low shot from Jota in stoppage time. Christopher Nkunku had a superb chance to score a winner as well but Sels was in sublime form as well and saved to give a 10-men Nottingham Forest a share of the spoils.
After the defeat at the hands of Chelsea last weekend, the Seagulls were looking to make amends at home but it was the visitors who constantly went past the Brighton high-line and Spurs were rewarded with an opener when Brennan Johnson scored in the 23rd minute. Spurs were opening up the Brighton defense with relative ease and doubled their advantage in the 35th minute when James Maddison found a pass from Timo Werner and scored past Bart Verbruggen. Tottenham went into the break with a 2-0 lead looking to add more.
However, the second-half saw a turn-around not many expected. Brighton scored their first goal through Yankuba Minteh when a Tottenham clearance from a Kaoru Mitoma pass fell fortuitously in his path and he scored at the near post. Brighton restored parity in the 58th minute through Georginio Rutter’s goal and posed dangerous questions to the Spurs defense. With the momentum in their favour, Brighton forward Danny Welbeck scored the winner in the 65th minute with Rutter involved again. Rutter dribbled past defenders inside the box and managed to pass to an unmarked Welbeck whose header found the net to the delight of the home fans. Tottenham tried to muster chances to equalise but Brighton held on to the three points. An amazing come back from the Seagulls after a major setback last weekend.
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