The third weekend of the Premier League is over and with a weekend of international football ahead of us, we’ll have to wait a fortnight for the next offering of league action. Let’s have a look at Matchday 3’s winners and losers.
Winners
Michail Antonio
Antonio struggled in his first game against Chelsea when he was played out of position, but his performances in his natural position against both Bournemouth and Manchester City have yielded goals. He’s impressed enough for new England manager Sam Allardyce to reward him with a call up to the national side.
Marcus Rashford
Last season’s breakthrough star hadn’t featured at all in the league this season until he came on against Hull on Saturday night. In what was a game dominated by poor weather, Rashford came on and scored the winning goal in the 92nd minute, thus preserving Jose Mourinho’s 100% record in charge of Manchester United.
A photo posted by Marcus Rashford (@marcusrashford) on
Chelsea
Speaking of 100% records, Antonio Conte continued his in charge of Chelsea. Unlike his first two games which saw his side squeeze through in fortunate circumstances, they comprehensively outplayed Burnley at the weekend. The Clarets can consider themselves lucky to have left with just a 3-0 defeat, as it could easily have been 5 or 6.
Crystal Palace
Although technically not winners, Palace rescued a point in what was already a must-win game against Bournemouth. Scott Dann was the unlikely scorer in the 93rd minute and it’ll give confidence to a side that’s been devoid of it for so much of 2016.
Mike Dean
On the immensely tedious topic of referee watching, Dean made headlines last weekend for awarding penalties for grappling in the box. Eagle-eyed observers were keen to see as to whether he’d keep up with his level of consistency this week and he did. Fortunately for Bournemouth fans who may have thought it was unjust, Yohan Cabaye was kind enough to miss it.
Losers
Jack Wilshere
Wilshere has dropped down the pecking order of Arsenal midfielders and manager Arsene Wenger has now deemed him to be an unwarranted burden on the Arsenal physio bill. The England midfielder and regular visitor to A&E has been placed on the loan list, with the aim of getting him out before deadline day. The question is which team will take a risk on a player with such an injury record. Will Hull see it as worthwhile, despite only having 13 fit players?
Ross Barkley
Although he hasn’t done anything wrong in the League so far this season, Allardyce has deemed Barkley to be not worthy of an international call-up. Surprising given how he was one of the few players who emerged from Euro 2016 with some credit, purely due to the fact that he didn’t play a minute in France.
Sunderland and Jordan Pickford
New manager, same old story for Sunderland as they snatched a draw from the jaws of victory on Saturday afternoon. Jermain Defoe put them ahead with a penalty in the 80th minute, before a mistake from young goalkeeper Pickford saw Jay Rodriguez score his first goal since September 2015. It’s a long season ahead for the Black Cats.
Sergio Aguero
Such is Aguero’s quality, he’s usually found in the winners section of this page, but he let himself down against West Ham when he elbowed Winston Reid. A three-game ban awaits, meaning that he won’t be seen on this page until the end of September earliest.
Dimitri Payet
West Ham have played 5 competitive games this season, but their superstar of last year has only seen 30 minutes of action. Missing the first couple of games was understandable due to his Euro 2016 commitments, but where has he been since? There’s been no mention as to whether he’s injured, so is a deadline day move out of the question?
Harry Kane
The England striker put in another abject performance against Liverpool on Saturday lunchtime and he’s still never scored in the month of August. He’s found the back of the net just once since April and it seems as if the burden of being England’s corner taker has got the better of him.
In case you missed it…
In other news, prolific tweeter and occasional Aston Villa defender Joleon Lescott has joined AEK Athens on a two year deal. He’ll fit right in in Athens, a city famous for its ruins.
Words by @DominicTrant
