Premier League round 31 review

    Premier League round 31 review

    Because of various Cup commitments and the upcoming League of Nations matches, only five matches took place in the Premier League this past weekend. We look at how some Nigerian players performed for their respective teams.

    On Saturday afternoon Bournemouth hosted the in-form Newcastle United at the Vitality Stadium. Jordon Ibe was in the starting line-up for Bournemouth.

    Four minutes into the first half stoppage time Ibe brought down Miguel Almirón and earned himself a yellow card. Salomón Rondón took the ensuing free kick and scored to make the score 0:1 at the break.

    Minutes after the restart the referee awarded the home side a penalty kick. Joshua King confidently put the ball behind the keep levelling the score. After some back-and-forth play between the teams, it was the Cherries who turned the score around. And it was King again, with his second goal of the game in the 81st minute.

    Ibe was substituted in the 75th minute by Dominic Solanke. The game looked like it would go to the hosts before Matt Richie found the net in the 94th minute. DeAndre Yedlin provided the cross and Ritchie finished with a nice volley. A draw was a fair result.

    After two wins in three games, Leicester City travelled to Turf Moor to play Burnley who lost three straight matches before this one. Wilfred Ndidi took his place in the Foxes midfield from the start.

    Four minutes into the encounter, the referee sent Harry Maguire off leaving Leicester to play the rest of the match with ten men.

    Still, it was them who took the lead after James Maddison took his chance in the 33rd minute. But it didn’t take the Clarets long to respond. Dwight McNeal equalized in the 38th minute after a good pass from Charlie Taylor.

    Kelechi Iheanacho (Vlad1988 / Shutterstock.com)

    Kelechi Iheanacho (Vlad1988 / Shutterstock.com)

    Burnley carried their good form going into the second half and were pressing Leicester. But, right on the 90-minute mark, the visitors snatched the victory. Wes Morgan headed the ball home after a deflected cross. Leicester earn an important away win. Kelechi Iheanacho watched the whole match from the bench.

    Huddersfield Town travelled to the London Stadium on Saturday to take on West Ham. And it was another heartbreaking defeat for them after they had a 3:1 lead. The home side scored in the 15th minute through a Mark Noble penalty but the Terriers were quick to counter. Juninho Bacuna equalized in the 17th minute.

    Karlan Ahearne-Grant scored on the half-hour mark to give Huddersfield the lead going into the break. And it was Ahearne-Grant who scored again in the 65th minute to make the score 1:3. Philip Billing came off the bench in the meantime for the visitors.

    Ten minutes later, the Hammers equalized through Angelo Ogbonna. Huddersfield held on for a while before Javier Hernández gave the hosts their lead back. He scored again in the first minute of stoppage time to seal the win for the London team.

    Everton welcomed Chelsea at Goodison Park on Sunday. Richarlison scored in the 49th minute and Gylfi Sigurdsson in the 72nd minute after initially missing a penalty kick. The Toffees bank an impressive victory. Ademola Lookman spent the whole game on the bench.