Premier League review 2015/16: August - December
The first half of the Premier League 2015/16 season threw up a lot surprises following Chelsea's unsurprising title win last season. The champions have absolutely plummeted in their performance, with a lot of key players such as Gary Cahill and Eden Hazard underperforming for the London club. However, the headlines of the season so far have been Leicester City who have developed one of the deadliest partnerships in recent memory. It is of course Riyhad Mahrez and Jamie Vardy. Vardy has been the man of the season so far, scoring fantastic goals and making Premier League history by scoring in 11 consecutive games. His rise from non-league Football has captured the headlines of the back pages and the Twitter timelines of Football fans. In this post, I will look at the League's most significant matches and moments from August, October, November and December.
August
The opening weekend of the Premier League season Leicester get off to a flying start with a 4-2 win over Sunderland. Jamie Vardy scored his first goal of the season in 11 minutes and demonstrated Leicester's new-found purpose under Claudio Ranieri. Also, the first goal of the season was an own goal by Kyle Walker. Reece Oxford took Ozil for a BTEC as West Ham beat Arsenal 2-0 at the Emirates. City beat Chelsea 3-0 on 16th, which Jose called a 'fake result'. Bournemouth then beat West Ham in a 4-3 thriller and Callum Wilson scored an impressive hat-trick. On 29th, Palace beat Chelsea 2-1 and West Ham won for the first time in 51 years at Anfield. Leicester had emerged as the dark horse of the Premier League.
September
Chelsea's problems continued when they lost at Goodison Park 3-0. On the same day, United beat Liverpool 3-1 that includes two of the goal of the season contenders from Antony Martial and Christian Benteke. Leicester came back from two goals down to Villa to win 3-2, with Vardy at the focus of the comeback. West Ham beat Manchester City 2-1 at the Etihad, applying big pressure to the big summer signings. On 26th, there were some amazing games that was full of goals (Tottenham 4-1 against City, Leicester 2-5 against Arsenal and Liverpool beating Aston Villa 3-2. The final game in September saw Everton beating West Brom 3-2 and involved Lukaku demonstrating his fight and commitment to vastly improving his mental attitude towards the game, even at the age of 22.
October
In the first set of games, Sergio Aguero made Fantasy Football Players go crazy with how many points they do/don't gain by scoring five goals against Newcastle as City won 6-1. Leicester continued their amazing start to the season by beating Norwich 2-1 away from home and Twitter favourite Jamie Vardy scored again. Brendan Rodgers was sacked after a lucky point away to rival Everton at Goodison Park. On the same day, 4th, Arsenal mastered a 3-0 win over Manchester United and Arsenal fans once again were remembered how lucky they are to have Alexis Sanchez and Mesut Ozil. On the 17th, Manchester United won 3-0 at Everton on the day that Howard Kendall passed. City also won 5-1 at home to Bournemouth, with Sterling scoring a hat-trick. Newcastle then won a class game against Norwich, winning 6-2. Georginio Wijnaldum scored four goals in this eight goal thriller.
West Ham continued their decent run to the season by beating the champions 2-1, with long-time NHS patient Andy Carroll scoring the winner. Vardy scored in his seventh successive game against Palace. Big Sam became yet another Sunderland manager to beat Newcastle in his second game, with Sunderland winning 3-0. Chelsea went into meltdown as they lost 3-1 at home to Liverpool. On the same day, Leicester beat West Brom in a five goal game that included Vardy scoring in his eight consecutive game (if you haven't noticed yet, Vardy is a beast!).
West Ham continued their decent run to the season by beating the champions 2-1, with long-time NHS patient Andy Carroll scoring the winner. Vardy scored in his seventh successive game against Palace. Big Sam became yet another Sunderland manager to beat Newcastle in his second game, with Sunderland winning 3-0. Chelsea went into meltdown as they lost 3-1 at home to Liverpool. On the same day, Leicester beat West Brom in a five goal game that included Vardy scoring in his eight consecutive game (if you haven't noticed yet, Vardy is a beast!).
November
On the 1st, Everton beat Sunderland 6-2 as Arouna Kone scored a hat-trick that every Everton fan was so proud of. On the 7th, Stoke beat Jose's Chelsea 1-0 and all the Chelsea manager could was sit in the team's hotel as he was serving a one-match stadium ban. Vardy then scored in his ninth consecutive game against Watford in a 2-1 win (aren't Leicester making this season decent for mid to bottom teams). The weekend after the international break, 21st - 23rd, there were some fantastic games. Everton beat Aston Villa 4-0, Liverpool beat City 4-1 and Jamie Vardy equalled Rudd Van Nistelrooy's Premier League record of scoring in ten consecutive games. Tottenham also demolished West Ham 4-1 in a game in which Alli and Kane showed their raw talent and desire to win the ball (something that England internationals seem to lack).
December
The first round of December saw Stoke City win 2-0 against Manchester City, Leicester continue their fantastic form as they beat Swansea City 3-0 (with Mahrez bagging a hat-trick) and Arsenal beating Sunderland 3-1 even with key players such as Alexis Sanchez and Santi Cazorla out injured. Also, Swansea parted ways with Garry Monk on the 9th. Manchester United continued their frustrating run of form with a less than specular draw with West Ham United. Newcastle then started December positively by beating Liverpool 2-0 at St James' Park. Bournemouth pulled off a great win against Manchester United. On the 13th, Liverpool scraped a 2-2 draw against West Brom, which they celebrated by walking to the Kop and holding hands. On the same day, Newcastle pulled off a surprise win against Tottenham with the impact of Perez and Mitrovic. Leicester's fairy-tale run continued when they beat the Champions 2-1. The following Thursday, Jose Mourinho was sacked by Chelsea. Leicester then cemented their place at the top of the table for Christmas as they beat Everton 3-2 at Goodison Park, with Riyad Mahrez scoring two penalties. The following day, Watford smashed Liverpool 3-0, with Ighalo scoring a brace.
The final game before Christmas saw Arsenal beat City 2-1 at the Emirates. This game showed Arsenal's improved physical presence across the park and Mesut Ozil's fantastic vision as he racked up his 14th and 15th assists in setting up Theo Walcott and Oliver Giroud. On Boxing Day, title hopers Arsenal and Leicester both lost to Southampton and Liverpool respectively. Two days later, Stoke won 4-3 against Everton in an explosive game that saw a huge contender for goal of the season from summer signing Xherdan Shaqiri just on the stroke of half-time, as he perfectly looped Tim Howard from outside the box (sounds lame but it was fantastic!). The year ended with Sunderland losing to Liverpool as Christian Benteke scored for the second game in a row.
The final game before Christmas saw Arsenal beat City 2-1 at the Emirates. This game showed Arsenal's improved physical presence across the park and Mesut Ozil's fantastic vision as he racked up his 14th and 15th assists in setting up Theo Walcott and Oliver Giroud. On Boxing Day, title hopers Arsenal and Leicester both lost to Southampton and Liverpool respectively. Two days later, Stoke won 4-3 against Everton in an explosive game that saw a huge contender for goal of the season from summer signing Xherdan Shaqiri just on the stroke of half-time, as he perfectly looped Tim Howard from outside the box (sounds lame but it was fantastic!). The year ended with Sunderland losing to Liverpool as Christian Benteke scored for the second game in a row.
Leicester City duo Jamie Vardy and Riyad Mahrez have taken the league by storm in the first half of the season.
No comments:
Post a Comment