After years of dominating campaigns by Manchester City and Liverpool it looks like we are finally in an open and unpredictable English Premier League season in 2020/21. This argument could especially be made after this past weekend, which saw several heavyweights suffer unexpected, and in some cases, embarrassing defeats.
The first one to stumble was Man City, who played just 1-1 against Leeds United on Saturday despite being the overwhelming pick to win the game. Leicester then followed on Sunday by being outplayed at home by West Ham, who left King Power Stadium with an impressive 0-3 win. But it turned out this was just the beginning.
Manchester United welcomed Tottenham Hotspur at Old Trafford, looking to bounce back after an unconvincing win over Brighton last weekend. The Red Devils opened the game in the best manner possible, striking in the first couple of minutes thanks to Bruno Fernandes, who converted a penalty kick. What happened next will probably keep United’s manager Ole Gunnar Solskajer awake at night for a long time.
Tottenham needed just five minutes to turn around the result, with Tanguy Ndombele and Son Heung-min scoring in 4th and 7th minute to execute swift comeback. Then Anthony Martial added to United’s demise, receiving a red card for intentionally hitting Erik Lamela and leaving his team with 10 players to chase the result.
Tottenham seized the opportunity and scored four more goals to set the final score of 1-6 and walk away with their biggest win at Old Trafford in club’s history.
The biggest shock was left for the end. In the last game of day, Aston Villa faced Liverpool and demolished the reigning champs to get an unlikely 7-2 win.
Villa had a flying opening of the match, with Ollie Watkins scoring a brace to give his team a 2-0 lead midway through the first period. Liverpool hinted a comeback in 33rd minute, cutting the lead in half thanks to Mo Sallah. However, comeback never came.
Inspired Villa continued to score at will, with John McGinn increasing to 3-1 just several minutes later while Watkins completed a hat-trick before the first half concluded. Salah once again left his team in the game with a goal in 60th minute, only for Jack Grealish to score twice and give Liverpool their most devastating loss since 1963.
