Let us start off by having a look at the derby game at the London Stadium between West Ham and Spurs. First 30 minutes or so was pretty cagey, Not a lot of action or quality and West Ham holding their own. It took until the 34th minute for this slow dance to bounce into life and it took a quality partnership to do it. Every good story needs a great partnership, Baby and Johnny in Dirty Dancing, Tom & Jerry, Oz & Jay (ok that last one was a pretty dodgy example). That partnership for Spurs is Dele Alli and Harry Kane. The Hammers gave the ball away in their own half, through ball to Alli, beautiful cross and a Harry Kane diving header sending the ball into the corner. It was a beautiful finish from an absolutely fantastic player. I am going to admit it as I have done before. I love Harry Kane. What a player. Its a delight to watch this kid play. His movement, his vision and his finishing are all top top quality. Superstar. On the flip side once more West Ham committed football suicide. It was poor to say the least. A moment of fine quality brought a second for Spurs just 3 minutes later with a beautiful flick from Erikson followed by a perfectly weighted through ball from Vertonghen setting up Dele Alli, this time Hart saved but the rebound went straight to Harry Kane and he made no mistake. It was a beautiful move by Spurs, a delight to watch. The game went a little quiet either side of the halftime break and I was on the verge of a nap, but again it was Harry Kane’s quality that got Spurs, and me going again. A sublime free kick hit the post, it eventually ended up with Erikson who slotted home. 3-0 Spurs. Thankfully for the games sake, the ever lively Chicarito scored a few minutes later to give the home fans some hope with a set piece goal. Then things got real interesting on 68 minutes as the very impressive but slightly volatile Serge Aurier put in a second rash challenge of the game and got himself a second yellow card and sent to the showers. The Hammers piled on the pressure with the extra man advantage but unfortunately could not bridge the gap fully with the game finishing 3-2. The red card gave West Ham a glimmer of hope but it could not paper of the very visible cracks. Defensively they were very poor. They reminded me of Liverpool in the way that they looked nervous and seriously lacking in confidence at the back. Shame. Spurs still look good, but the issue remains for them can they keep it up for the whole season.

The game at St. Mary’s stadium between Southampton and Manchester United was what you would call a typical Jose Mourinho performance. United were not great. Southampton bossed the game for long periods and if they had some better forward options may have even come away with a result, but it wasn’t to be. All my praying to the football gods, rubbing the rabbits foot and attempts at black magic made no difference. Lukaku put United in front early in the game after tapping in from a rebound, the keeper saving his own header after good work from Ashley Young. This is my problem with Lukaku, sorry to upset you United fans here, the boy will get you goals no doubt about that and he has an impressive scoring record already at Manchester, but he provides you with little else. He does not do a good job defending from the front, he goes missing for long periods of the game and rarely performs against the big teams. Time will tell whether that changes, but from what I have seen so far it does not look likely. As for this game, it was pretty boring if I am honest. Not a lot of chances, a game mostly played in midfield with both teams defending solidly. It did surprise me how deep United defended at times, but of course this is a Jose Mourinho team and they did have a lead to defend. And that brings me to my reasoning as to why United will run Manchester City very close in the title race. Mourinho wins games. It may not be pretty sometimes, in fact on occasion its boring as f*** but it wins you titles. The challenge this season for United will be two fold. Firstly trying to keep in touch with high flying Manchester City who seem to be demolishing everybody at the moment and secondly making sure to collect enough points in the games against the other top clubs.

Moving on to discuss the other Manchester club, I am not sure I want to go into any real detail here as its just impressively depressing. Another 5-0 hammering of a very poor Crystal Palace side. But the quality of the Man City squad is scary. In this game it was absolute total domination. Crystal Palace rarely left their own half. The quality of Leroy Sane, Raheem Sterling, Sergio Aguero, Kevin De Bruyne and for me the leagues best player David Silva was just way too much for Palace. This was about as easy a win as they can come. I know its early in the season and their will be times when City wobble, but I just find it difficult to see anyone having the ability to prevent them winning the title this year. They are just too good. I truly believe now that they have the best team and squad in world football. And with Pep Guardiola conducting the orchestra expect a big big season for City. For Palace fans don’t despair, you’ve got Roy Hodgson. LOLOLOL.

In the Premier Leagues other games, Burnley and Huddersfield shared the points in a super amazingly boring goalless draw, Everton finally got a win (not that they deserve it) after coming from behind to beat Bournemouth in a pretty even and unspectacular game at Goodison Park. Chelsea put 4 unanswered goals past Stoke who unusually for them got hammered at home, new boy Alvaro Morata helping himself to a hat-trick in the process and looking good value for his 60 million price tag and Watford broke Swansea fans hearts with a last minute winner in what was a bit of a snooze fest in Wales.

Now time to get real. One day Liverpool Football Club is going to end my life. I am going to be watching a game, my chest will explode and I will drop dead on the spot. That is my prophecy. Again away to Leicester they gave fans a roller-coaster emotional ride as they looked sharp going forward and shaky at the back finally scraping a 3-2 win. It was a crazy game. Early on Liverpool were mainly dominant, keeping hold of a good amount of possession and making Leicester chase the game. The real action however started with Mo Salah missing a sitter that even I could have scored, only to redeem himself a couple of minutes later latching on to a sublime Phil Coutinho cross to put a way a difficult header which I definitely COULD NOT have scored. That man Coutinho then showed why Liverpool were so desperate to keep him during the summer with a stunning 25 meter free kick which flew past Kasper Schmeichel. Things were calm for a little bit and then just before half time, the madness started. Leicester got a free kick down the left hand side of the pitch after Jamie Vardy conned the referee. You may think I am being biased here, but if that was a free kick, I am Hilary Clinton. It eventually ended up in a corner which was swung in, Simon Mignolet came out to punch missed and Leicester scored. Looked like a legitimate goal and another Liverpool defensive failure, however replays clearly show that Mignolet was being held back by Okazake with both referee and linesman both failing to spot it. Just another example of inept officiating. Just before halftime, it was a punch the crown jewels for the reds but half time allowed the chance to reset things. The second half started off quite scrappy with there being about 20 minutes of completely forgettable football. That changed when Liverpool struck with one of their deadly counter attacks, Henderson finishing to make it 3-1. And then Liverpool did what we call “a Liverpool”. Completely switched off, easy movement for Albrighton down the left, cross, failure to clear, shot, save, rebound, goal. Only 90 seconds after taking a 2 goal lead it was back to 3-2.  Then came the craziest moment of the entire game. Jamie Vardy was sent flying through, it should have been a ball that Simon Mignolet collected with his hands fairly easily, instead “the genius” decided to clear with his feet, took a Godzilla like leg swing, just managed to touch the ball while at the same time literally cutting Jamie Vardy in half. Thankfully he just managed to touch the ball, but wait a second, PENALTY. WTFF (what the flying f***)? I couldn’t believe my eyes. Just another example of the sub standard level of refereeing and further evidence of how VAR may have brought some sense and justice to this situation. Vardy took the penalty, it was a poor one and Mignolet saved. By this time I was in need of a triple bypass and mouth to mouth. Thankfully Liverpool managed hold on for the 3 points and I managed to live through the experience. Whilst there was some high quality moments in this game, overall it was really scrappy and lacked quality. As always, never boring being a Liverpool fan.

UPDATE!

On Sunday it was the battle of Premier League new comers Brighton and Newcastle. It was a pretty even game, not the most exciting if I am honest, although Newcastle came on strong in the last 20 minutes or so after Brighton took the lead just after half time. Brighton defended well though, putting their bodies on the line and in fairness while Newcastle had a number of chances none of them were really clear cut. So a good win for Brighton and a good win for Chris Huyton. I still think Newcastle will have a better season though finishing mid table while I feel Brighton will probably be in an around the relegation battle.