In this mid-week round at the beginning of December, four matches took place on Tuesday. Three teams won at home while only one triumphed away from home.
Bournemouth welcomed Huddersfield Town at the Vitality Stadium. The home side took the lead quickly, after a 5th minute Callum Wilson goal and extended their lead in the 22nd minute, through Ryan Fraser. The Terriers pulled one back before the end of the first half when Terence Kongolo scored in the 38th minute. In the end, the game finished 2:1 for the Cherries. Philip Billing started for Huddersfield but was subbed out with fifteen minutes to go because the Terriers manager wanted another attacker on the pitch.
Crystal Palace travelled south to Brighton to take on the Seagulls at the Amex Stadium. And it was an exciting game. Glenn Murray scored for Brighton from a penalty in the 24th minute to give them the lead. But. Only four minutes later, Shane Duffy was sent off for head-butting Patrick van Aanholt. The Brighton coach decided immediately to shore up his defence as he bought in Leon Balogun in the 31st minute. Little could he predict that Balogun would score 25 seconds after coming onto the grass to give his team a 2:0 lead.
Leon Balogun (Vlad1988 / Shutterstock.com)
Brighton then made another sub with Florin Andone replacing Glenn Murray. The same player gave the ten-men Seagulls a 3:0 lead in the 4th minute of stoppage time in the first half. And he also helped create a new Premiership record as this was the first time in the history of the Premier League that two substitutes scored in the first half. Crystal Palace couldn’t force a come back with an extra man, but they did get a consolation goal in the 81st minute when Luka Milivojevic converted a penalty kick. The final score was 3:1 to Brighton.
Back in London, Watford played hosts to Premiership leaders and current champions, Manchester City, at Vicarage Road. Both teams changed their squads from the weekend. For the Hornets, Isaac Success Ajayi was in from the start hoping to score against the Citizens. It was a close game for 40 minutes and then Leroy Sané gave the team from Manchester the lead taking them into the break. Soon after the restart, City made it 2:0, courtesy of Riyad Mahrez.
Watford tried to respond and in the 85th minute they did get one back through Abdoulaye Doucouré to make the end of the match interesting. Still, City held on to win 2:1. Success was subbed out in the 75th minute to give way to Andre Gray.
The rest of the matches were scheduled for Wednesday.