Christian Pulisic got his first full game in Chelsea’s win over Watford since returning from injury, while Josh Sargent continues to start, and misfire for Norwich.
Watford 1 – 2 Chelsea
Christian Pulisic added the first full 90 minutes to his name since returning from injury in Chelsea’s away win over Watford.
The performance was a rather quiet one from the American, who squandered his best chance at having an impact in the game by holding on to the ball too long before passing to Kai Havertz. The finish from the Chelsea attacker was well taken, but the flag went up for offside straight away.
There was a delay in the game for a substantial amount of time as a fan went into cardiac arrest. The teams stopped play to allow the medical staff to attend to the fan in the stands, who was taken away to the hospital and is now in stable condition.
Once play resumed, Mason Mount opened the scoring for the visitors in the 29th minute after a beautifully worked attack. Chelsea strung together several passes before finding Mount just outside the penalty spot to slot home a cool finish.
The Hornets responded through Emmanuel Dennis who placed a shot through Antonio Rudiger’s legs. A slight deflection allowed the ball to ricochet past Edouard Mendy just before the half time whistle.
Hakim Ziyech was brought on in the 60th minute and scored just 12 minutes later. The goal came from the same type of attack; a fluid passing movement and a ball in from wide for Ziyech to slot home from 12 yards out.
The win keeps Chelsea top of the Premier League, with their next opponent being in-form West Ham United on Saturday.
Watch the highlights here:
Newcastle 1 – 1 Norwich
Josh Sargent and Norwich continued their unbeaten run under Dean Smith, but will have hoped for more playing against 10-man Newcastle in a relegation battle six-pointer.
Inside the first nine minutes, the situation at Newcastle went from bad to worse as center back Kieran Clark was shown a straight red for hauling down Teemu Pukki after a needless giveaway. Pukki broke for a clean counter, and the defender pulled him to the ground to deny a clear goal scoring opportunity.
The play, however, was not as one sided as you would think as there were chances at either end throughout the rest of the first half.
The best chance came to Sargent who inexplicably missed a back post tap in after a wonderful cross. The ball made it all of the way across the Newcastle six-yard box and fell to Sargent at the back post, but the American put the ball in to the defenders feet instead of the open goal three feet in front of him in the 30th minute.
The miss would go on to haunt Norwich as ten-man Newcastle earned a penalty just after the hour mark. Callum Wilson stepped up and struck a hard shot that Tim Krul got a hand to, but the pace pushed it off the crossbar and into the net.
Sargent was pulled off in the 67th minute as Norwich searched for an equalizer. Pukki was the Canaries hero yet again as he pulled one back in the 79th minute with a wonder goal after a good attack from Norwich.
Pierre Lees-Melou could have won it for the Canaries in the dying minutes of the game, but went for glory in a one-on-one with the Newcastle goalkeeper, when Pukki was begging for the pass back.
Norwich are inching their way towards safety, sitting in 18th place in the Premier League table. Up next is Tottenham on Sunday in the Premier League.
Watch the highlights here:
Notes:
Lynden Gooch was not on the bench for Sunderland in their 1-0 loss to Oldham in the EFL Trophy
Zack Steffen was on the bench for Manchester City in their 2-1 win over Aston Villa.
Folarin Balogun and Arsenal take on Manchester United on Thursday.
