Harry Clarke guilty of shocker, Bryan Mbuemo deserves a move and another Rob Edwards disaster – talkSPORT’s winners and losers
Epic comebacks, dramatic winners and FOUR injury time goals.
It proved to be another hectic Saturday of Premier League action which saw 16 goals scored across five matches.
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And don’t be forgetting Nottingham Forest’s stunning 3-1 win away at Leicester on Friday to kick-off a classic top-flight matchweek.
Manchester City only just edged past struggling Southampton in one of four 3pm clashes – winning 1-0 thanks to Erling Haaland’s early strike.
Meanwhile Brentford came back from 2-0 down to beat Ipswich 4-3 in a enthralling seven-goal thriller which saw Bryan Mbuemo score in the sixth minute of stoppage time.
Wolves also fought back from 2-0 to nick a point at Brighton thanks to Matheus Cunha’s deflected late strike.
Elsewhere, Bournemouth equalised at the death courtesy of Evanilson’s header at Aston Villa in a 1-1 draw.
And in the 5:30pm clash between Everton and Fulham, Beto popped up with time running out to earn the Toffees a point in another 1-1 stalemate.
Here talkSPORT duo Jamie O’Hara and Jason Cundy reveal their winners and losers from Saturday’s action on the Game-Day Phone-In…
Winners
Nuno Espirito Santo
Another Chris Wood-inspired performance has Forest up into sixth spot, with the club boasting back-to-back victories.
Few would have expected the Reds to have performed so well this season, especially after they narrowly avoided relegation last term.
And ex-Chelsea defender Cundy has waxed lyrical over Santo’s tactical nous, which has seen them take points off Liverpool and Chelsea this campaign.
He said: “We need to reflect on what we saw last night. Forest are becoming a problem because they’ve a very difficult team to beat, they’ve only lost one game this season, at home to Fulham.
“They’ve gone to Stamford Bridge and taken a point, beaten Liverpool, they won away at Leicester and what I like about Nuno is the way he will tailor his team and the tactics depending on the opposition.
“It’s not one-size-fits-all, he adapts and in the Premier League, if you do not adapt, you will find yourself in problems.
“You need to play a certain style, you can’t lose your identity, but you need to have the personnel on the bench to change the game.”
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Bryan Mbuemo
The Bees forward scored twice in the second half to bring his tally to eight Premier League goals this season.
And it was his attempted cross that went all the way in to lift Brentford up to ninth in the table.
With the 25-year-old one of the divisions most in-form players, Cundy was left questioning when he will make the step up.
He remarked: “Mbeumo is a player that… I’m a fan. You and I had this conversation, Manchester United, if you’re telling me that he’s not better than Antony, try, with a straight face, tell me that he is not a better footballer, [has] a better attitude, a better finisher, everything about his game.
“Brentford fans aren’t going to thank me for this, but he’s better than them, he’s better than mid-table, he should be playing European football at this point.
“And that’s not just based on today, it’s based on the last couple of seasons.”
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Evanilson
The Brazilian striker scored his second goal in Bournemouth’s colours, this time a last-gasp header at Villa Park to see the Cherries share the spoils.
Arriving in England with big shoes to fill following Dominic Solanke’s sale to Tottenham, the 25-year-old is now impressing on a weekly basis.
Cundy said of the ex-Porto marksman: “Evanilson, a late, late equaliser.
“It’s a free-kick, just defend the free-kick. They don’t, it’s a lovely delivery, Evanilson gets out of his man, guides it down towards that far post, bounces it.
“[Emiliano] Martinez’s weight is all through his right foot, he can’t twist and change direction, he can’t get back.
“So yeah, big, big goal for them and that top four all of a sudden has tightened up a little bit.”
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Losers
Harry Clarke
While Mbuemo and Brentford teammate Yoane Wissa starred at the Gtech Community Stadium, Ipswich defender Clarke suffered a nightmare afternoon.
Making his full Premier League debut, the ex-Arsenal youngster scored an own goal, gave away a penalty and was then sent off. Yikes.
Full of sympathy for the 23-year-old, former Tottenham midfielder O’Hara said: “Poor Harry Clarke. Own-goal, red card, penalty given away, absolute disasterclass.”
Cundy then added: “It’s one of those games he’ll look back on, he’ll laugh one day, he’ll laugh and go, ‘Oh, look what happened.'”
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Rob Edwards
Dropping into Championship and Luton fans are already fearing back-to-back relegations with Rob Edwards’ men languishing in the bottom three following Saturday’s 3-2 defeat at Coventry.
The Hatters, who impressed many in their debut Premier League campaign last term, were 2-0 up in the Midlands, only to suffer their seventh league defeat.
And for O’Hara and Cundy, they fear that the writing could soon be on the wall for Edwards.
Dissecting Luton, O’Hara said: “Rob Edwards, he’s having an absolute disaster.”
Cundy meanwhile remarked: “This time last year they were winning all sorts of plaudits, they way they were playing against Arsenal at their stadium, Chelsea, Liverpool, giving Man City a run for their money, you know, plucky old Luton.
“Now, they’re in the bottom three of the Championship, this has been a disaster, an absolute disaster.”
He continued: “You know when a club gets in a tailspin and there’s no turning it around, it feels like this could be happening at Luton.
“I feel for Rob, but you can’t go in 12 months from the Premier League into League One, that simply can’t happen.”
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Sir Jim Ratcliffe
Moving away from on-pitch drama, and Manchester United have been in the news for asking rivals Manchester City if they could give Alejandro Garnacho and Kobbie Mainoo a lift to the upcoming Ballon d’Or ceremony.
A shocked O’Hara said: “Sir Jim Ratcliffe, an absolute joke, penny-pinching at its finest.
“Asking Manchester City if they can share the flight and put [Alejandro] Garnacho and Kobbie Mainoo on there so they can go to the Ballon d’Or.
“Imagine Tottenham asking Arsenal to share a jet with their players, what is he thinking and what are Man United doing? An absolute joke!”
He added: “Honestly, it’s a disgrace, Ratcliffe. He came in, giving it the big spuds, he’s this billionaire and he’s going to do this and he’s going to do that, honestly he’s been an absolute joke!
“All he’s done, he’s got rid of 200 people, not allowed lunch boxes anymore, bring your own food in, now he’s trying to penny-pinch on a jet for his Ballon d’Or nominees, like come on mate.
“Give us a rest, will you? Don’t come in here telling me you’re a billionaire and you’re gonna do this and you’re gonna do that at Man United.”
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