So, farewell to the Premier League for six weeks.
It has been a fascinating first tranche of the season with stories which have surprised and delighted, not to mention defied the SBOTOP Premier League betting odds in equal measure.
This weekend was no exception as Premier League highlights came thick and fast.
Potentially the biggest surprise of the season started it all off as Brentford went to champions Manchester City and grabbed a 98th minute winner.
Ivan Toney was the hero as the frontman, one of the players of the season so far, put behind him the disappointment of not making England’s World Cup squad by netting twice.
City’s reverse was a first in the Premier League at home since February, ending a 20-match run which shows how special the achievement of Brentford and Toney, who now has 10 league goals this term, was.
He headed home the opener after Aymeric Laporte inadvertently touched the ball on to him.
That was cancelled out on the stroke of half-time by an impressive Phil Foden rocket.
When ‘GOAL’ flashed up on my screen around an hour later, I fully expected City to have done it again so you can imagine my surprise when it was a Brentford winner.
Goalkeeper David Raya’s long free-kick was flicked on by Ben Mee and Toney headed past Ederson.
The scenes which followed the full-time whistle will never be forgotten by those with an association with the Bees.
While Guardiola and Frank will have had more reasons than not to be proud as football breaks for the World Cup, Frank Lampard may be clinging onto his job.
For while he has had moments to be proud of this term, recent weeks have left a huge question mark hanging over his future.
To concede seven goals in two games against Bournemouth may even mean he is no longer in post when Premier League football returns on Boxing Day.
The Everton players and manager were berated and subjected to jeers and whistles as they went over towards the travelling support after the full-time whistle.
By contrast Bournemouth’s caretaker manager, Gary O’Neil, should be proud of his efforts, regardless of whether he ends up with the job on a full-time basis.
The Cherries go into the break in 14th place and ended a run of four successive league defeats with the 3-0 success,
Jordan Pickford was partially at fault for Bournemouth’s opener when the England goalkeeper spilled a Dominic Solanke shot into the path of Marcus Tavernier, who slotted home.
The effective Kieffer Moore added a second in the 25th minute before all three points were wrapped up by the substitute Jaidon Anthony in the second half.
For the second week running, Leeds were involved in a seven goal thriller but this time it didn’t go their way.
The resurgent Yorkshire boys were looking to take advantage of Spurs’ slide in recent weeks and looked like they may do just that when they led for a third time with less than a quarter of an hour remaining.
In a breathless first half, Crysencio Summerville opened the scoring with his fourth goal in as many top-flight games before Harry Kane rifled in an equaliser from close range.
In-form Rodrigo put Leeds ahead again but Ben Davies then snuck a shot beyond Illan Meslier to restore parity for the second time.
Another smart Rodrigo strike – his fifth in four league matches – left Spurs staring at the prospect of a third straight home league defeat, but Rodrigo Bentancur’s late double turned the contest on its head.
Spurs have now won 13 points from losing positions in the Premier League this season, more than any other team.
Their North London rivals Arsenal took advantage of City’s earlier defeat to seal a hard-fought win at Wolves and extend their lead at the top to five points.
I am not convinced the Gunners are going to last the pace – that is not being disrespectful for Mikel Arteta is doing a fine job and their progress is tangible – yet it should be noted that Arsenal are the eighth side to win as many as 12 of their opening 14 games in a Premier League season, with each of the previous seven teams to do so going on to win the title.
The final game before the send-off was hosted at Craven Cottage and was destined for a draw (a result Fulham thoroughly deserved) until substitute Alejandro Garnacho became the youngest player to score a 90th-minute winner in the Premier League for Manchester United since that Federico Macheda goal. This is the league that just keeps on delivering.
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