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The 2016/17 Premier League season has finished and although there were some promising moments, it wouldn’t be right to ignore the worst ones that hurt Arsenal and their supporters alike. Continue reading “Arsenal’s 5 worst moments of the Premier League season”
Continue reading “Loan watch: Wilshere shines again with MotM display for Bournemouth”
Watford have knocked out FA Cup holders Arsenal in effective fashion, following a second-half counter-attack charge led by the fearsome duo of Troy Deeney and Odion Ighalo. The latter broke the deadlock after swiveling his way past Gabriel in the box, before cooly slotting low and hard into the bottom corner with second-choice goalkeeper David Ospina helpless to stop his effort.
Adlène Guedioura stole the show with a truly excellent strike from range, thumping the ball past Ospina into the roof of the net to double the lead with the clock ticking down gradually. The Hornets had stung a surprise, and it was definitely an unwelcome one for their hosts – considering Arsenal were yet to score, in spite of their domination. Having seen far more possession, creating more opportunities and passing the ball into the final third with dangerous chances aplenty, Arséne Wenger‘s men had nothing to show for their control.
Willock has been regularly training with the first-team and impressed, so much so, that he’s been included in matchday squads recently too. Along with the likes of Krystian Bielik, Julio Pleguezuelo and Ben Sheaf, he’s amongst a highly-rated crop of youngsters in his age-group, and has already featured for the England national side too at various youth levels.
Continue reading “18-year-old winger Chris Willock destined for exciting future, says Wenger”
After narrow defeats against Manchester City and Tottenham, Quique Sánchez Flores‘ men also succumbed to away losses against Southampton and Swansea in quick succession – with many critics suggesting that their bubble had seemingly burst, and they were destined for a mid-table finish.
Continue reading “Watford 2-1 Newcastle United: Hornets end losing streak despite nervy finish”
Name: Jadon Sancho
DOB: March 25, 2000 (15)
Height: 1.78m
Position: Attacking midfielder
Current club: Man City
Preferred foot: Right
For every young player, all they want to do is play. Irrespective of the quality, or the opposition, most aspiring youngsters just want their opportunity centre-stage.
After seven successful years in Watford‘s youth ranks, Manchester City winger Jadon Sancho made his lucrative move – joining the big boys in the process. Signing an initial scholar contract with the sky Blues, his switch surprised plenty, not least because of the fee involved.
To pay £500,000 (upfront, £66k – plus add-ons) for an unproven 15-year-old suggests they’d been monitoring his progress for a while, and in the ten short months he’s been at the club, he’s more than shown his outright potential to force his way into their first-team plans in the not-too-distant future.
Obviously, with the hype also comes plenty of expectation. At his age, you can’t expect too much. But, he’s been excellent since the move, and proven his massive potential in the process. Predominantly an attacking midfielder, usually deployed on the wing or just behind the striker, he’s already impressed for City’s youth side as well as England‘s talented crop of under-16’s.
Continue reading “Scout report – Jadon Sancho: City and England’s next rising star”
Manchester City maintained pace with their title rivals, whilst proving their doubters wrong in the process, as they sealed a dramatic comeback courtesy of two moments of individual brilliance in the final minutes at Vicarage Road.
Travelling away against a tough Watford side, it was never going to be an easy game for Manuel Pellegrini‘s side. He opted against any alterations to his starting line-up before kick-off, but the Hornets could have easily held a two-goal cushion inside the early exchanges. Buoyed by an energetic home crowd, Quique Sánchez Flores‘ men were playing with both confidence and quality – but were unable to convert their opportunities as the game continued.
A 90th minute winner, courtesy of attacking substitute Heung-Min Son, sealed all three points for Tottenham in a relentless, unpredictable fixture at Vicarage Road. Sandwiched between two first-half strikes from Erik Lamela and Odion Ighalo at either end, the game was finely poised in a second-half filled with talking points, half-chances and plenty of attacking intent as both were eager to find an all-important winner.
This result is Tottenham’s ninth victory of the Premier League campaign, meaning they leapfrog title favourites Manchester City into third place – Manuel Pellegrini‘s side do have a game in hand, against league leaders Leicester tomorrow evening.
Spurs unsurprisingly enjoyed the lion share of possession during the early exchanges, but Watford were doing fairly well to keep them at arms length to begin with. Nathan Aké, on-loan from reigning champions Chelsea, was doing very well to contain the threat posed by Harry Kane in-and-around the area, with both Kieran Trippierand Danny Rose accelerating forward with pace on the flanks from their respective fullback positions.
Within a flash though, Tottenham’s success on the counter attack was emphasised with the opening goal. The ball was lost in midfield and within a flash, it nestled into the bottom corner of Heurelho Gomes‘ net. Lamela drove forward with only Miguel Britos and the goalkeeper to beat, the defender backed off too much – giving the talented Argentine enough space and time to weave his way past, and cooly slot home from close-range.
It could have been a quick-fire double, too. Kane was left unmarked on the left, darted toward the edge of the area and unselfishly passed across to Lamela. Unfortunately for the visitors though, the winger was unable to get proper contact on the ball as it trickled goalwards.
Aké’s inviting delivery fed Ighalo – the first piece of service he’d had since kick-off – just before the half-hour mark. However, the clinical Nigerian was only able to volley his first-time effort over the crossbar, not troubling Hugo Lloris.
Spurs’ tactic was an effective one, to ensure Watford had limited, if any joy in attack. With a high-pressing game, coupled with a fast counter-attacking shape to their formation, it allowed them to break at speed with the ball but also restricted Ighalo and his strike partner Troy Deeney to half-chances. As opposed to backing off, and giving them space to create an opportunity for themselves, they were constantly placed under pressure and always found themselves recycling possession in order to retain it.
The visitors’ game-plan worked a treat, but they didn’t account for a moment of magic from one of Watford’s troublesome duo. Deeney’s headed flick was seemingly Eric Dier‘s responsibility to clear away – but Ighalo’s tireless attitude helped him win the ball in a dangerous position, out-muscling the young English defender to devastating effect, as he weaved his way past the backline and poked home with both poise and composure from close-range to level the scoring before the interval.
Mauricio Pochettino was forced into making his first substitution of the half after Mousa Dembele (ankle) limped off in pain, and was replaced by Christian Eriksen just before the break.
Almen Abdi was replaced by Valon Behrami as the second-half got underway, with plenty to fight for in terms of a positive result from both sides. I didn’t mean literally, fight, but after a late tackle by Britos on Trippier, players and respective managers got involved to intervene – Britos was consequently booked for the challenge itself.
Trippier’s teasing cross was almost rewarded with an assist for the former Burnley man, but Kane’s header flashed narrowly wide of the near post in the box. Then, a high tackle was met by the referee Anthony Taylor brandishing a straight red card to the unfortunate Aké.
The towering Dutchman reacted with initial disbelief, especially considering his intention was to win the ball in mid-air, but his studs-up challenge caught Lamela and the Argentine’s reaction didn’t exactly help his cause either.
Plenty of half-chances were squandered, alterations were made, but as time ticked by, it seemed more and more likely as though it’d finish as a one-all draw. Lloris’ excellent claw off-the-line stopped Watford from scoring late on at one end, but Heung-Min Son gave the visitors a last-gasp victory after Trippier’s cross was headed home by the south Korean, his second Premier League goal since his summer switch from Bayer Leverkusen.
As for Watford, their smash-and-grab attempt at a victory was in vain – they’ll be hoping to bounce back when they entertain Manchester City on January 2.
Mo and Sports 