The Premier League experienced a very exciting day on Saturday, with Liverpool showing that it still has serious problems after losing to Brentford and falling out of the qualifying zone for the next Champions League. In addition, Chelsea was defeated by Sunderland at Stamford Bridge, while Manchester United beat Brentford by just one goal.
Brentford 3-2 Liverpool
Liverpool lost 3-2 away at Brentford, their fourth straight league defeat at Premier League, despite the victory against Frankfurt in UEFA Champions League midweek. Brentford opened with an early goal via a long throw (Ouattara) in 5th minute and a second goal before half-time (Schade) from a brilliant assist by Damsgaard.
Reds pulled one back late first half via Kerkez, but Penalty (Thiago) extended Brentford lead in the second half. Liverpool pulled another one back through Mohamed Salah in the 89th minute, but couldn’t complete the rescue.
Liverpool’s confidence and structure are under question: four straight league defeats is uncharacteristic historically. Signings made for the current season once again failed to live up to expectations, and Salah once again failed to make an impact.
Chelsea 1-2 Sunderland
Chelsea took an early lead (via Alejandro Garnacho) in the 4th minute, but Sunderland equalised via Wilson Isidor around the 22nd minute from a long throw-in situation and Talbi’s winner came in stoppage time after a counter-attack, exploiting Chelsea pushing numbers forward.
Chelsea started positively: high tempo, pressing early, created the goal via Garnacho, suggesting the initial game-plan worked, but the equaliser came from poor transitional defence: long throw from Sunderland unsettled Chelsea’s shape, showing lack of focus on second phase. Blues lacked the composed control once ahead and allowed Sunderland rhythm and did not kill the game, and then were punished at the death.
Manchester United 4-2 Brighton
Manchester United secured a 4-2 home win, climbing into the top four. Ruben Amorin's attacking trio are beginning to click: Cunha, Mbeumo and Šeško are showing link-up play, which has been a problem earlier in the season. They utilised early width and diagonal runs: Cunha’s opener came from curling outside the box, indicating freedom to drift into spaces rather than rigid positioning.
Casemiro’s contribution shows he is still important both offensively (runs into the box, shooting) and defensively as a pivot. In the other side, Brighton committed numbers forward late trying to chase the game, which left them vulnerable: United exploited that with good counter attacks and smart timing (Mbeumo’s late strike).