However, as someone who goes to the games, sadly this is something that I was not overly surprised by, as can be backed by a recent Sky Data Poll. The poll made for Sky Sports News revealed that 86% of football fans who regularly attend matches in the UK have witnessed a racist incident. This figure, along with fellow cases this season such as with Raheem Sterling at Stamford Bridge and Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang against Spurs, shows that racism is still very much involved in the culture of football fans all over the country, and something that the FA and the Premier League need to address seriously, Furthermore, clubs need to implement sanctions for those fans who make such horrific comments about players or opposition supporters, and deal with them appropriately.On Wednesday evening, Manchester City travelled to struggling Everton where they knew a win would leap-frog Liverpool to top of the table, all be it playing one more game than the Reds. City opened the scoring thanks to an Aymeric Laporte header on the stroke of half-time, and finished things of late on with a header from substitute striker Gabriel Jesus, in a game which ultimately City won with ease.Onto the weekend’s games and we start at Anfield, where Liverpool came out 3-0 winners over Bournemouth to get back to winning ways after two disappointing draws against Leicester City and West Ham United. The results prior began a narrative led by the media and some foolish Liverpool fans how Liverpool were ‘bottling’ the league, so it was important for the Reds to answer the critics wrong.This was a special afternoon that was described by Trent Alexander-Arnold as he said: “I said to Jordan Henderson that I’d never seen Anfield like that at 3pm on Saturday. The scarves, the flags, the banners: it was something I hadn’t really experienced.”The atmosphere certainly lifted Liverpool, with Sadio Mane grabbing the opener on 24 minutes in a game where Bournemouth were looking dangerous on the counter, however the second Liverpool goal ten minutes later was certainly one for the eye. A cheeky chip by Gini Wijnaldum over clueless Artur Boruc sent Anfield rocking, and a third early in the second-half by Mo Salah sealed a comfortable win for the Reds and brought back the feel-good factor to the club.This result put the pressure onto Man City, who faced a difficult game at home to Chelsea. This however was quite simply a breeze for City, as they came out 6-0 winners over the Londoners, leading 4-0 after just 25 minutes. This game was also special for Hat-Trick Hero Sergio Aguero, as he equalled the record for most Hat-Tricks in the Premier League era, with 11 alongside Alan Shearer.
The result was the worst in Chelsea’s history of the Premier League, with their second worse coming just weeks earlier away at Bournemouth, losing 4-0. Because of this you think the players would be hugely disappointed, however videos after the game showed Chelsea players laughing and swapping shirts with the City players, causing up roar online amongst Chelsea supporters, some wanting Sarri to get the sack. Furthermore, Jamie Carragher commented on the manager, Maurizio Sarri as he said: “It’s only halfway through Sarri’s first season but the worst thing I can say is it looks like he has turned Chelsea into Arsenal.”Spurs without star players Harry Kane and Dele Alli managed to keep within 5 points of Liverpool in second after they beat Leicester City 3-1 at Wembley. Spurs went 2-0 up before Leicester were awarded a penalty, so they bring Vardy on to take the penalty, although he missed. However, Vardy did manage to pull a goal back for Leicester setting up a tense finish in the game, but it was Heung-Min Son once again who scored a late goal and came to Spurs’ rescue.In the race for 4th, United extended their unbeaten run once again under Ole Gunnar Solskjaer, winning away at Fulham 3-0. A brilliant individual goal from Anthony Martial and a Paul Pogba double sealed all three points, moving into fourth place in the league. Arsenal managed to remain within one point of United after a 2-1 away win at Huddersfield. Even without injured Aubameyang, The Gooners breezed to a comfortable win against a side struggling in the league so far this season.In other news surrounding Arsenal, it was announced this week that Aaron Ramsey will be moving to Juventus next season, and the reports suggest the Welshman will be earning £400,000 a week, making him the highest-paid British player, which in my opinion, although he is a very talented player, is way too much to pay for a player ultimately of his quality.In the battle at the bottom of the league, Cardiff moved out of the relegation zone after a last-minute winner in their big game away at Southampton. With Sol Bamba’s second-half goal looking to be the difference, Jack Stephens scored in 90+1 minute to seemingly rescue a point for the Saints. However, after a difficult time for the club in recent weeks, Kenneth Zohore popped up in 90+3minute to snatch victory in a way that would have made Emiliano Sala proud of his teammates.Elsewhere in the league, Everton continued to struggle after they lost 1-0 to Watford at Vicarage Road, raising further questions about their boss Marco Silva, and in the Monday Night game Wolves scored a 90+5 minute equaliser at home to Newcastle under controversial conditions as Willy Boly seemed to have fouled the Newcastle goalkeeper to win his header, although the goal stood and kept Wolves in 7th place, whilst Newcastle remained just one point out of the relegation zone.
This week in news off the pitch brought increased attention to women’s roles in football punditry. The topic was discussed by Jake Humphrey on Premier League Tonight, where he was joined by England Women’s goalkeeper Rachel Brown-Finnis. This is a woman who has over 80 caps for England, and people found the need to belittle her and her opinion for the simple fact she is a woman, even though he has performed at a professional level her whole career and knows the ins and outs about football. Another woman in punditry is Alex Scott, who is seen frequently on Sky Sports, who I am also a huge fan off with her enthusiasm and knowledge of the game, and clearly has her job on merit of her abilities.Overall, I think in 2019 people need to come to their senses and see that woman hold just as much a place in the game than men, and that these woman on our TV’s know more about football than the misogynistic men on twitter who feel the need to spread useless negativity.Next weekend we see the FA cup back in action, so the Premier League will not commence again until 22nd February, however for the Reds we are back in action on 19th February as we face German giants Bayern Munich at Anfield in the Champions League. Written by: Samuel HodgkissTwitter: @samuelhodgkiss
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