Manchester City absolutely had to react. A few days after their defeat against Paris Saint-Germain in the Champions League, the Mancunian team returned to the Premier League with the obligation to show a better face against Ipswich. For this meeting, Rayan Cherki, replaced at half-time against PSG after a complicated performance, once again started on the bench. And this time, the French international did not even play a single minute. In his sector of play, Phil Foden, on the other hand, found some color by scoring a valuable goal. An encouraging performance for the Englishman, who contributed to the success of the Citizens (3-2) in a meeting that was far from peaceful.
But Manchester City was above all able to count on an Erling Haaland who was still formidable. Already very successful against PSG despite the defeat, the Norwegian striker confirmed his good momentum by scoring a brace to allow his team to secure the three points. Another satisfaction of the evening, Ayyoub Bouaddi, author of a remarkable entry against the Parisians a few days earlier, had his very first start in the Premier League. And the young Moroccan midfielder responded again, displaying a lot of cleanliness in his transmissions and serenity in the midfield like his splendid ball release in his camp (with a large bridge) in added time while his team was suffering. Despite the two goals conceded, the men of Manchester City ensured the essential by returning to victory after their European disillusionment.
Barcola less inspired but decisive, Arbeloa can breathe
For Liverpool, the evening was particularly eventful on the Brentford pitch. The Reds were initially surprised by conceding the opener, before benefiting from the expulsion of Yegor Yarmolyuk just before the break. Yet in numerical superiority throughout the second half, the Liverpool men struggled for a long time to find solutions against a particularly resistant Brentford team. We finally had to wait for a reaction from Daniel Muñoz to put the two teams back on level terms, before Alexander Isak came to offer victory to his team (2-1). A laborious reversal of the situation, but valuable for Liverpool, which avoids another poor performance in the league.
Highly anticipated after his hat-trick in the Champions League against LASK this week, Bradley Barcola this time experienced a more contrasting encounter. Once again established, the former Parisian showed himself to be less inspired and less sharp in his ball handling. Above all, he missed a huge opportunity at the start of the match. Launched alone towards the goal, with around ten meters ahead of the opposing defenders, the French winger completely missed his face-to-face by not even targeting his attempt. An opportunity which could have changed the scenario of the meeting. But Barcola still managed to recover at the end of the match, delivering the decisive pass to Alexander Isak on the winning goal. A decisive contribution despite a performance that was generally less convincing than during his last European outing. Finally, Fulham won their first victory of the season in the Premier League by winning against Hull City (1-0). At Craven Cottage, the Londoners made the difference thanks to Alex Iwobi, scorer in the 33rd minute. A particularly important success for Álvaro Arbeloa’s men, who remained in six matches without a victory in the league and occupied last place in the standings before this day.
Results from 4 p.m.
- Ipswich 2-3 Manchester City (Maeda, Flemming / Foden, Haaland x2)
- Fulham 1-0 Hull City (Iwobi)
- Brentford 1-2 Liverpool (Lewis-Potter / Munoz, Isak)
