EPL Scores & Highlights 2014: Alexis Sanchez's Two Goals Power Arsenal Past Burnley, Liverpool Continue to Struggle
Arsenal managed to get past a pesky last-place Burnley squad on the strength of Alexis Sanchez's two goals. Sanchez is tied for third, along with West Bromwich Albion's Saido Berahino, in the English Premier League's (EPL) leading scorers table.
Sanchez headed Calum Chambers' cross past Burnley keeper Tom Heaton to put the Gunners up 1-0 in the 70th minute. Calum would score two minutes later, taking advantage of Burnley defensive break down on a corner kick to go up 2-0. Sanchez put the nail on Burnley's coffin blasting Kieran Gibbs' cross a minute into stoppage time in the second half to give Arsenal the 3-0 victory.
"It was a top performance from Alexis Sanchez," said Arsenal coach Arsene Wenger. "His quality is exceptional, he takes responsibility and goes at people. He fights, he can score, that is what you want from great players."
Liverpool's struggles continued this week at the expense of Newcastle United's fourth straight victory, as the Magpies seem to have turned the fortune around after a rough start to the season.
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Ayoze Pérez, who came into the game off the bench for Papiss Demba Cisse at the start of the second half, made Newcastle coach Alan Pardew look like a genius, scoring in the 73rd minute after Moussa Sissoko found Pérez in the box. Perez rocketed the game-winner past Liverpool's Simon Mignolet for the 1-0 win.
"[Pérez] is one of those players that just takes a chance," said Pardew, who has had to deal with an angry Newcastle fanbase who wanted him fired early on in the season. "That goal was all about, 'is he going to have a bad touch here?' and some people just don't think like that. He has that kind of optimism that something is going to fall for him."
Mario Balotelli, who made his eighth EPL appearance for Liverpool since his transfer from Serie A's AC Milan to replace Luis Suarez, has yet to find the net with the exception of a couple of cup league matches. And with Daniel Sturridge still out with an injury, the Liverpool offense seems lost and toothless at times.
"Unfortunately there is no magic formula," said Liverpool coach Brendan Rodgers, whose team finished in second in the standings last season. "We got nearly 80 percent of our goals missing from last season between a player that we sold and Daniel Sturridge. So we are trying to find ways to win games. It has been hit-or-miss this season. We haven't been good enough in some games and in other games we've looked fine."
Southampton continues their surprise run in the EPL beating Hull City Saturday afternoon. Southampton has won 10 of their last 11 matches after Victor Wanyama made Hull City keeper Eldin Jakupovic pay a price with a spectacular goal in the third minute of the game when Wanyama lobbed a shot from 40 yards away, taking advantage of Jakupovic's botched clearance and catching him him out of position.
Southampton lost Luke Shaw (Manchester United), Adam Lallana (Liverpool) and Calum Chambers (Arsenal) during the transfer period after finishing eighth in the standings last season, but have played at a high level, currently ahead of Manchester City in the EPL standings, despite the losing so much talent.
"We had a lot of changes (in the summer) but we brought good players in and they are adapting very fast." said Southampton manager Ronald Koeman. "I am proud of that because that means a lot for the coach."
Hull City vs Southampton
EPL leaders Chelsea had an easy day against Queens Park Rangers, with Oscar setting the tone for the game after blasting Cesc Fàbregas' pass past QPR goalkeeper Robert Green in what could be the league's goal of the year in the 32nd minute. Charlie Austin tied the game 1-1 for QPR after deflecting Leroy Fer's shot past Chelsea star keeper Thibaut Courtois in the 62nd minute.
But Chelsea's Eden Hazard would capitalize on Eduardo Vargas' huge mistake after the QPR midfielder shoved Hazard in the box before Hazard nailed the penalty kick in the 75th minute to give Chelsea the 2-1 victory.
After the game, Chelsea coach Jose Mourinho was not happy with his team's performance despite The Blues' dominance and the final result.
"We didn't play well. We didn't play consistently," said Mourinho. "I enjoyed the result. Obviously, the team that had the chances, the team that had the ball and the dominance deserves to win, so no doubt we deserve to win. But it was not a good performance for us."
Results from the rest of Saturday's EPL games:
Stoke City 2 - West Ham United 2
Leicester City 0 - West Bromwich Albion 1
Everton 0 - Swansea City 0
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