Premiership Round Up and Nigeria Scorecard

It was another weekend of mixed fortunes for Nigerian players in the English Premier League with some in the action and others on sidelines, seated as spectators as the week 15 games were played in the EPL.

At the Vicarage Road, home ground for Watford FC, Nigerian striker, Odion Ighalo, was again a key player as he first earned his team a penalty kick which was converted by the captain, Troy Deeney, before scoring late in the 2-0 win over Norwich City on Saturday. The goal was Ighalo’s second in two games and ninth in 15 league games as Watford recorded their third victory at home.

It was however not a good weekend for another Nigeria forward, Victor Moses, who was left injured as his team West Ham battled Manchester United to a 0-0 draw at Old Trafford. Moses was forced to quit the game in the 37th minute and there are already fears that the knock suffered by the on-loan Chelsea star is serious. Elsewhere, Nigeria’s Kelechi Iheanacho was introduced just before the hour mark to help salvage the day for Manchester City but he was unable to change things as the Citizens slumped to a 2-0 defeat at the Britannia against Stoke City who were without Nigerian striker, Peter Odemwingie.

At Stamford Bridge, Nigeria midfielder John Obi Mikel, watched for all 90 minutes as Chelsea crashed to another shocking home defeat. The Blues suffered their 8th defeat of the season as they were beaten 0-1 by newly promoted AFC Bournemouth at Stamford Bridge on Saturday.

With the latest defeat, defending champions, Chelsea are now 17 points adrift surprise table toppers Leicester City.

Full results

Stoke City 2 – 0 Manchester City

Arsenal 3 – 1 Sunderland

Manchester United 0 – 0 West Ham United

Southampton 1 – 1 Aston Villa

Swansea City 0 – 3 Leicester City

Watford 2 – 0 Norwich City

West Bromwich Albion 1 – 1 Tottenham Hotspur

Chelsea 0 – 1 AFC Bournemouth

Newcastle United 2- 0 Liverpool

Everton takes on Crystal Palace by 9:00pm on Monday  

Here is what the table now looks like

Teams                     PLWDL  F  A  GD PTS

1	Leicester City	15	9	5	1	32	21	11	32
2	Arsenal	15	9	3	3	27	13	14	30
3	Manchester City	15	9	2	4	30	16	14	29
4	Manchester United	15	8	5	2	20	10	10	29
5	Tottenham Hotspur	15	6	8	1	25	12	13	26
6	West Ham United	15	6	5	4	25	21	4	23
7	Liverpool	15	6	5	4	18	17	1	23
8	Crystal Palace	14	7	1	6	19	14	5	22
9	Watford	15	6	4	5	17	16	1	22
10	Stoke City	15	6	4	5	13	14	-1	22
11	Everton	14	5	6	3	27	19	8	21
12	Southampton	15	5	6	4	21	18	3	21
13	West Bromwich Albion	15	5	4	6	14	19	-5	19
14	Chelsea	15	4	3	8	17	24	-7	15
15	Swansea City	15	3	5	7	14	22	-8	14
16	Norwich City	15	3	4	8	17	27	-10	13
17	Bournemouth	15	3	4	8	18	30	-12	13
18	Newcastle United	15	3	4	8	16	30	-14	13
19	Sunderland	15	3	3	9	17	29	-12	12
20	Aston Villa	15	1	3	11	13	28	-15	6

Here are some match facts from this weekend games

Stoke vs Manchester City

·         Stoke scored more than once in a Premier League game against Man City for the first time.

·         Man City has failed to score in their last three on the road for the first time since April 2009.

·         Man City have won none of their last 59 Premier League games in which they've been at least two goals behind (D3 L56), since a 3-2 win at Norwich in February 2005.

·         Stoke have kept six clean sheets in their last eight Premier League games.

·         Arnautovic has been involved in seven goals in his last seven league games at the Britannia (3goals, 4assists). He scored with both of his shots on target against City.

·         Arsenal 3 - 1 Sunderland

·         Mesut Ozil has had a hand in 14 goals in his last 13 Premier League appearances (2goals, 12assists)

·          Ozil has now recorded 12 Premier League assists this season, the most by an Arsenal player since Cesc Fabregas in 2009-10 (13)

·         Arsenal have scored a league-high three own-goals in the Premier League this season

·         Since joining Arsenal in the summer of 2012, Giroud has netted 17 headed goals in the Premier League, more than any other player

·         Arsenal are unbeaten in their last 12 top-flight clashes with Sunderland and have suffered defeat in just one of the last 24 against the Black Cats

·         Sam Allardyce has now lost eight successive Premier League games against the Gunners and has not beaten Arsenal in the competition since May 2010 (Blackburn 2-1 Arsenal)

Manchester United 0 - 0 West Ham

·         Manchester United are unbeaten in their last 14 Premier League meetings with West Ham, winning 11 and drawing three

·         United have kept nine clean sheets this season, the most in the Premier League. They racked up 11 in the whole of last season

·         The Red Devils have lost just two Premier League home games in 2015, a joint-lowest along with Arsenal and Tottenham

·         West Ham have taken 14 points from away games this campaign, having secured just 16 last season under Sam Allardyce

Southampton 1 - 1 Aston Villa

·         Aston Villa have dropped 10 points from leading positions this season, a joint league-high along with Newcastle. 

·         Following a six-game unbeaten run, Ronald Koeman's side are winless in their last three Premier League games (D1 L2).

·         Villa picked up their first point on the road since their 1-0 win at Bournemouth on the opening day of the campaign.

Swansea 0 - 3 Leicester

·         Riyard Mahrez becomes the first Algerian player to score a Premier League hat-trick.

·         Mahrez has now been involved in 16 Premier League goals this season (10 goals, 6 assists) - a record only team-mate Jamie Vardy can match (14 goals, 2 assists).

·         The midfielder became only the third Leicester player to score a Premier League hat-trick, after Ian Marshall and Stan Collymore.

·         The Swans have won just one of their last 11 Premier League games (D3 L7). Meanwhile, the Foxes have lost just one of their last 19 top-flight games (W12 D6)

·         Claudio Ranieri's side are the only team to have scored in all 15 games this season.

Watford 2 - 0 Norwich

·         Deeney is the first Watford player to score in four consecutive Premier League appearances.

·         The Hornets have score three penalty goals this season, only Leicester have netted more (five).

·         Ighalo has been directly involved in six goals in his last six top-flight appearances (4 goals, 2 assists).

·         Ighalo has also scored more goals than any other player in the top four tiers in 2015 (25).

·         Norwich have managed just one clean sheet in the Premier League this season (no team has no clean sheets).

West Brom 1 - 1 Tottenham

·         Tottenham Hotspur are unbeaten in 14 league games (W6 D8) - their best run in the top flight since March 1985 (also 14 games)

·         Dele Alli has scored or assisted in three of his past four Premier League games (two goals and an assist)

·         James McClean netted his first top-flight goal since scoring against West Ham for Sunderland in January 2013

·         Darren Fletcher provided the assist for McClean, his first in the Premier League since setting up Nani for Man Utd against Stoke City in September 2011

·         West Brom have won just twice in their eight home matches this campaign (D2 L4)

Chelsea 0 - 1 Bournemouth

·         Chelsea went 388 minutes (all comps) without conceding a goal until Glenn Murray scored Bournemouth (18) have now scored more goals than Chelsea (17) this season

·         No reigning Premier League champion has won fewer (four) or lost more (eight) after 15 games than Chelsea this season

·         In the Premier League this season, no side has conceded more goals in the last 15 minutes of games than Chelsea (seven - level with Norwich)

·         No Premier League team has ever finished higher than eighth after having exactly 15 points from the first 15 games

Compiled by Adekunle Adewale (@hrhmayowa)

Stats courtesy of BBC.com