Here we are – the first four day weekend of the 2020-2021 Premier League season. Now that the Champions League and Europa League have gotten into full swing, the games will begin getting more spread out to account for the teams playing in Europe. That just means more opportunity for games each week!!! But enough about that, let’s get into Matchweek 6’s Manic Monday, shall we?
Monday, October 26th
Brighton v. West Bromwich Albion
West Brom played Burnley to a tough 0-0 draw last weekend. It was the first scoreless draw of the season, and Branislav Ivanovic was a big part of it. Making his debut for the team, he had a stellar performance at both ends of the pitch. Despite that, the team are still winless on the campaign coming into a tough matchup.
Despite having only a single victory this season, the Seagulls have been one of the most consistently entertaining teams in the league. With each game, they have shown marked improvement, but still find themselves near the bottom. They’ve definitely had some bad luck along the way, and should probably have more than their 4 points to show for it. Last week’s draw came after dominating possession and unleashing 20 shots against Palace. If they continue to impress they should finally break into the win column again.
Burnley v. Tottenham Hotspur
While they’ve played one fewer game than most in the league, Burnley are still in search of their first victory of the campaign. They did manage a point against West Brom last time out, but things will be considerably tougher against Spurs.
I turned off the Spurs game last week at halftime. They were up 3-0 after 16 minutes and the rout was on. Harry Kane and Son Heung-Min have been playing out of their minds, and I had no reason to doubt this game would be a laugher. Then my phone started blowing up with notifications. Basically, Kevin was having a meltdown I can only picture in my mind. I flipped back to the game and discovered why. In the 82nd minute, West Ham started what would prove to be an improbable comeback, culminating with a stoppage-time goal to tie the game.
It was a shocking scoreline, and needless to say, Mourinho will have his team primed to put that in the rear view mirror as quickly as possible. Given the plethora of weapons available, and the form that Son and Kane are in, this could get ugly for Burnley.
