There were three very relieved and happy managers after the weekend’s round of games in the Premier League. No doubt Enzo Maresca was pleased to go top of the league and maintain Manchester City’s 100 percent record with a 5-3 win over Sunderland in the same weekend that champions Arsenal experienced a sobering setback at Brighton. But actually the three I have in mind are Frank Lampard of Coventry City, Brentford’s Keith Andrews and Liverpool’s new boss Andoni Iraola.
This past weekend the last-named went back to Bournemouth, where he impressed as manager from 2023 until this summer, bringing them to 6th in the league and Europa League football for this season. It was a tricky game for him, but Alexander Isak got the only goal of the game in the 56th minute.
The Reds haven’t exactly lit up the league in the Spaniard’s first weeks in charge, but they’ve avoided losing (the man himself has gone 26 games in all competitions without defeat, most of those, of course, with Bournemouth), and Isak, scoring four in four appearances, has been a big help. Liverpool can now hope that something will click after the international break and they’ll begin to perform at a higher level.
On the relieved/happy continuum, it’s likely Iraola was more the former on Sunday. The Dubliner Andrews was visibly ecstatic, on the other hand, with the Bees’ defeat of Chelsea on Friday night, and so was his assistant and fellow former Republic of Ireland player Damien Duff, who won two Premier League titles with the Blues back in the day. Andrews got the season off to the perfect start with a 3-0 win over Spurs; but after a series of three draws, a second 3-0 result for Brentford against top London opposition must have been particularly sweet. And that opposition, in the shape of Chelsea, have been playing some decent football of late, in contrast to Tottenham.
"I feel like I have played," Andrews said. "It's important that you enjoy evenings like this because you work so hard and there are so many tough days in this game.
"When you play against a west London rival, and you build up to a game and you go on a bit of a journey with the team, there are always bumps along the way, but we were in a really good place and it's nice to see it come into fruition tonight,” he told “BBC Match of the Day.”
Lampard was, no doubt, equal parts relieved and happy with Coventry City’s first Premier League win in 25 years. After running away with the Championship last season, they were staring into the real possibility of a fifth straight defeat at home to Nottingham Forest. Few want to see a club that achieved promotion in style flounder at the bottom of the league they worked so hard to get into. And fans anyway prefer the relegation zone to be fully competitive.
Having zero points after five could well have put the Premier League newbies into a place, psychologically, that might have been difficult for them to climb out of. Arguably their first points came just in time.
The win came via a deserved assist from the video assistant referee. The home side went ahead thanks to a fine strike from Jay Dasilva; it was Coventry’s first goal in the Premier League since May 5, 2001. But Forest equalized with a strange effort after City’s Caleb Marfo Yirenkyi fell over and lost possession after a challenge on the edge of the penalty area, and Igor Jesus stabbed home the loose ball. It turned out Yirenkyi’s foot had been stepped on by Jesus and VAR asked the ref to have another look, and he overturned the goal.
NBC/Peacock color commentator Lee Dixon strongly objected. The former Arsenal full-back felt there wasn’t enough there; it was too long a drawn-out stumble, he said. Back in the studio former USA goalkeeper Tim Howard vehemently disagreed with Dixon’s position; fellow panelist Robbie Mustoe wasn’t fully sure, but leant towards Howard’s view; and host Rebecca Lowe agreed, arguing it would’ve made little sense to have faked a stumble in that manner. One might say that when it comes to opinions, VAR stands for variety.
Premier League results: Brighton 3, Arsenal 0; Bournemouth 0, Liverpool 1; Brentford 3, Chelsea 0; Everton 1, Ipswich 0; Fulham 1, Manchester Utd 1; Leeds Utd 0, Crystal Palace 0; Manchester City 5, Sunderland 3; Newcastle Utd 2, Hull 1; Notts Forest 0, Coventry 1; Tottenham 2, Aston Villa 3.
