Premier League winners and losers: Van la Parra brilliance, Zaha howler
By Ty Finch
Loser: Mid-afternoon matches
There were four games played on Saturday afternoon, none of which featured more than a single goal. All four contests ended 1-0, and two of the goals came in the dying moments. After the thrilling early game between Leicester and Stoke, the four that came after were decidedly less stimulating.
When the matches on Sunday feature five of the top six teams in the Premier League, there are bound to be games that are easy to overlook. If you woke up early to see the lively four-goal draw that took place before, these particular games were a good opportunity to take a nap. Even the goals that were scored, besides one that we’ll get to later, were either dull or sloppy. In order to have a Sunday filled with top six clashes, it seems there has to be a sacrificial lamb the day before.
Most of the time during the mid-day matches, watching the Premier League Goal Rush on NBCSN is the best way to catch all the action. You get to see an entire game with the best moments from all the others peppered in throughout. Newcastle vs. Bournemouth was the contest shown on Goal Rush, basically free of any highlights from the others. There just wasn’t much of anything happening elsewhere.
Luckily, the bigger clashes provided the weekend’s excitement. Liverpool scored four with relative ease, Palace almost knocked off Tottenham if not for a Wilfried Zaha howler and Arsenal at least kept the match interesting for 75 minutes against Manchester City. The less said about the Saturday afternoon slate, the better.