Let’s start out this week’s football review with The Premier League, where 2 giants suffered complete demolition while the league saw a surprising table topper, who seems to be unstoppable at the moment. The Manchester woes continue. At Old Trafford, Manchester United took an early lead but were blown away by the brilliance of the Tottenham’s Kane-Son striking partnership. Both the players scored a brace and got one assist each en route to the 6-1 drubbing of the red devils. Over in the blue half, City’s difficulties continued as they were outplayed and outmuscled by a buoyant Leeds United, whose record signing Rodrigo scored his first league goal to level the terms at Elland Road. But surprisingly these weren’t the most shocking results of matchday 4. That treat was given by an inspired Aston Villa side who scored 7 past a hapless Liverpool defence. Record arrival Ollie Watkins scored his first hat-trick while the main man Jack Grealish got a brace, Mo Salah did manage to get 2 goals back for the visitors, who managed to become the first defending champions to concede 7 in the following season, but that proved to be an effort in vain. This valiant performance from the villans shoots them up to second place in the league table. Only behind the table-toppers Everton who continued their perfect start to the season with a fourth straight win over Brighton. Another commendable performance was displayed by West Ham United who beat Leicester City 3-0 to continue their good form in the league.
Next to France, where PSG have finally got their mojo back as they put six past Angers at Parc Des Princes, with Neymar scoring a brace. Other heavyweights, Lyon and Marseille fought out a cagey affair with Houssem Aouar canceling out Dmitri Payet’s opener for Marseille. The surprise of the week was yet again delivered by the newsboys of the league, Lens, who defeated St. Étienne 2-1 to jump up to 3rd place in the Ligue 1 standings at the end of matchday 6. League leaders Rennes drew their match against Reims, while 2nd place Lille closed the gap at the top by defeating Strasbourg 3-0.
Over in Italy, four of the top six clubs faced each other, Lazio hosted Inter at the Olimpico where Lautaro Martinez’s opener was canceled by Lazio’s starman Sergej Milinkovic-Savic with both sides sharing the spoils. Another top clash between Juventus and Napoli was inconclusive after the Naples side was quarantined as two squad players tested positive for the coronavirus. Napoli did not travel to Turin risking 3-0 defeat as a result of the team’s forfeiture. Table-toppers Atalanta with their ruthless strikers proved once again why they were the Serie A top scorers last season when they scored 98 goals when they put 5 past Cagliari with 5 different scorers including new signing Sam Lammers. AC Milan also continued their winning start by defeating newly promoted Spezia 3-0.
In Germany, it was the Robert Lewandowski show again when Bayern’s Polish Maestro scored 4 goals past Hertha Berlin to win his side the match 4-3 at the Allianz Arena. Borussia Dortmund also enjoyed a comfortable 4-0 win against Freiburg courtesy of their young stars Erling Haaland’s brace and Gio Reyna’s 3 assists. Another top club RB Leipzig also scored 4 past a clueless Schalke defence. Eintracht Frankfurt emerged victorious against table-toppers Hoffenhiem while Borrusia Moenchengladbach defeated Koln 3-1.
Next to Spain, where Real Madrid sat at the top of the table after defeating Levante 2-0 with goals from Karim Benzema and Vinicius Junior. Los Blancos are joined by Real Betis and Real Sociedad, who breezed past Valencia and Getafe respectively, to complete the top three at the end of the latest round of games. Notable absentees at the top of the table, Atletico Madrid and Barcelona both drew there matches. Atleti were held back by a resilient Villarreal defence who managed to sneak a point at the Wanda Metropolitano. Barcelona on the other hand faced Sevilla at Camp Nou. Both sides went toe-to-toe with Luuk De Jong opening the score at 8 minutes only for Phillipe Coutinho to level the scoreline 2 minutes later.
Finally this past week the transfer window in Europe closed with all the major European clubs finalizing and closing deals left right and center. The biggest of them all was Edinson Cavani’s move from PSG to Manchester United on a free transfer. United also completed the signing of Alex Telles from Porto to shore up its leaky defence and Atalanta talent Amad Traore. Arsenal also completed the long-awaited deal of Thomas Partey from Athletico Madrid for 50 million euros with Lucas Torriera moving in the opposite direction on a season-long loan deal. FC Porto also pulled through a couple of impressive deals before the deadline day, signing Felipe Anderson from West Ham, Marko Grujic from Liverpool, and Malang Sarr from Chelsea on loan deals. PSG signed Barca’s Rafinha for 3 million euros, a bargain deal by current standards. In Italy, Roma signed Manchester United defender Chris Smalling on a permanent deal, Lazio welcomed back Wesley Hoedt from Southampton on a season-long loan, Juventus completed a sensational deal for Fiorentina's Federico Chiesa, Napoli signed Tiomoue Bakayoko from Chelsea, and Fiorentina finished a deal to sign Napoli forward Jose Maria Callejon to fill the void left by Chiesa. In Germany, Bayern Munich completed an astounding 4 deadline day deals acquiring Marc Roca from Espanyol, Bouna Sarr from Marseille, Eric Maxim Choupo-Moting from PSG, and Douglas Costa from Juventus; RB Leipzig also signed young talent Justin Kluivert from Roma.
Such a week filled with action on and off the pitch was surely thrilling for football fans all over the globe.
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