Premier League: 5 talking points from the weekend

"Fans lucky enough to have secured Premier League tickets for matches across England at the weekend are still catching their breath from what was a goal fuelled fixture schedule. Here are five hot topics sure to keep football fans busy over the next few days."
Published by
26th Feb 2018
Categories: Premier League

Fans lucky enough to have secured Premier League tickets for matches across England at the weekend are still catching their breath from what was a goal fuelled fixture schedule.

The Premier League hosted nine matches on Saturday and Sunday with all but one team finding the back of the net for what proved to be a crucial weekend at both ends of the table.

Football Ticket Pad will begin to digest some of the main talking points that some may have missed on a weekend which included 26 goals with six results and three draws. Here are five hot topics sure to keep football fans busy over the next few days.

Lukaku answers critics:

Manchester United took the spoils over rivals Chelsea at Old Trafford on Sunday with Romelu Lukaku the difference. The Belgian is still trying to win over some of the United faithful but his match-winning performance will go some way to converting his doubters.Lukaku bagged the equaliser for the Red Devils in the first half to cancel out Willian’s opener.

Despite bagging is 98th Premier League goal of his career the striker is often criticised for not performing against the ‘top teams’. His goal was the first time he had scored versus the top eight clubs this season. The £75 million signing from Everton continued to haunt his former employers when he turned provider for the winning goal which saw his cross headed home by Jesse Lingard to leave fans with Manchester United tickets happy.

Scintillating Salah:

Mohamed Salah is fast becoming a hero on Merseyside and he continues to impress in his debut season at Liverpool. The jet-heeled attacker scored his 31st goal of the season for the Reds in their 4-1 victory over West Ham United at Anfield. 

Salah levelled Luis Suarez’s most prolific season in a Premier League campaign, his twentieth with his left foot, it’s still only February!

Liverpool’s No.11 netted for the sixth successive game and is sure to break many more record before now and the end of the season. Liverpool still have ten Premier League matches remaining and potentially another six in the Champions League. Salah has been the signing of the season in the Premier League and he will be Harry Kane’s main rival in the race for the Golden Boot.

The ‘Egyptian King’ has helped fill the void left by Philippe Coutinho and football fans searching for Liverpool tickets are desperate to see the £36.7 million man in action.

Butland Blunder:

The battle to be England’s number one for the 2018 World Cup in Russia rumbles on with no guarantee who Gareth Southgate will choose as his gloveman.

Joe Hart has been on bench duty for West Ham, Alex McCarthy is preferred to Fraser Forster and Jordan Pickford is shipping goals every week at Everton. Meanwhile, Jack Butland done his cause no favours when he was at fault for Leicester City’s equaliser in Stoke City’s 1-1 draw at the King Power Stadium.

The stopper scored an own-goal when he bundled a cross into his own net. Despite his clanger, Butland pulled off some fine saves but his performance will be marred by his costly error which will not have convinced Gareth Southgate when it comes to picking a reliable stopper this summer in Russia.

Aurier embarrassing hat-trick:

The Spurs right back is still struggling to convince Tottenham ticket holders this season following his £23 million arrival from Paris Saint-Germain. The Ivorian completed a somewhat impressive but embarrassing feat in his side’s 1-0 victory over Crystal Palace at the weekend when he inadvertently made three foul-throws in a single game!

Aurier performed foul throws in the 41st, 43rd and 64th minutes and missed a sitter with a chance to give his side the lead when he appeared to stand on the ball. Spurs boss, Mauricio Pochettino joked after the game: “We are going to practise every day, I promise you.”

He added: “"You are going to get me sacked!" It looks like we are so bad we don't even practise throw-ins.'"

A day to forget for Aurier.

Baggies doomed:

Right now, the only three things guaranteed in life are death, taxes and West Bromwich Albion’s relegation from the Premier League.

The Baggies slumped to their fourteenth defeat of the season against Huddersfield and remain rooted to the foot of the table, seven points from safety and six points behind Stoke in nineteenth.

Alan Pardew has received the dreaded vote of confidence from the West Brom board but one win from his fourteen matches in charge makes for grim reading for Baggies fans. Next weekend’s match versus Watford is a ‘six-pointer’ for Pardew and could ultimately seal his own and West Brom’s fate.

The Baggies need to find a quick solution if they are to turn their fortunes around and with only ten games remaining, time is running out.