Newcastle United 3 Brentford 3
Allan Saint-Maximin rescued a point for Newcastle United in a dramatic 3-3 draw with Brentford in the Premier League on Saturday, as new Magpies coach Eddie Howe got a glimpse of the scale of his challenge on Tyneside.
Former Bournemouth boss Howe, watching from a hotel room due to a positive Covid-19 test, will have been pleased with the tenacity of his new side - but not that they conceded three goals for the third successive home game.
Jamaal Lascelles headed Newcastle in front in the 10th minute, meeting a Matt Ritchie cross to the delight of the home fans. However, their joy was short-lived as Brentford equalised 75 seconds after the restart through the right boot of Ivan Toney, scoring against his former club.
The visitors then went ahead after the half hour mark when Rico Henry headed in a cross from Sergi Canos. But it was Newcastle’s turn to hit back, this time through Joelinton shortly before the break. The Brazilian fired in from the middle of the penalty box for his first goal of the season.
Newcastle came out energised in the second half, playing some nice football but without the clinical touch in front of goal. They were left to rue their profligacy as a speculative curling effort from Brentford’s Frank Onyeka in the 61st minute took a wicked deflection off Lascelles and went in beyond goalkeeper Karl Darlow.
That sucker-punch goal looked to have taken the wind out of the home side’s sails until Allan Saint-Maximin popped up in the 75th minute to strike the ball into the bottom left corner.
Despite securing a draw, Newcastle slipped to bottom on six points after Norwich City’s victory. Brentford are 14th with 13 points from 12 games, continuing to impress in their debut Premier League campaign.
Burnley 3 Crystal Palace 3
Maxwel Cornet’s superb volley was the pick of the goals as Burnley and Crystal Palace took a point each from a hugely entertaining 3-3 draw.
In dreary conditions Cornet lit up Turf Moor with a stunning finish four minutes into the second half, levelling the scores after a breathless first half in which Palace came from behind to lead 3-2, but only after letting slip an early 1-0 advantage.
Christian Benteke scored twice, either side of headers from Ben Mee and Chris Wood before Marc Guehi gave the visitors the lead at the break.
It was a point which will give both Sean Dyche and Patrick Vieira confidence their sides are on the right track — Burnley seem to have left behind their early-season woes and are steadily collecting points, while Palace are now unbeaten in seven and on the fringes of the top six.
Palace needed eight minutes to take the lead with Conor Gallagher, fresh from his England debut, starting a move that was finished by Benteke.
Cornet could only head Gallagher’s cross to Joachim Andersen, who quickly found Benteke by the penalty box. The Belgian, who scored for his country against Estonia last week, took a touch before poking the ball through James Tarkowski’s legs and in off the post.
Seconds later Palace had a chance to double their lead as Benteke played in Gallagher, but he shot tamely at Nick Pope.
That miss proved costly as Burnley levelled in the 19th minute with Mee rising to meet Ashley Westwood’s corner with a strong header.
It was the start of a frantic spell. Johann Berg Gudmundsson tried to flick home Dwight McNeil’s low ball but Vicente Guaita saved.
Burnley thought the ball was trickling out for a corner but Guehi cleared, setting up a swift counter in which Benteke turned Wilfried Zaha’s cross into the side-netting.
Zaha then got into a tussle with Tarkowski which saw both players booked, ruling Tarkowski out of next weekend’s match against Tottenham.
But the defender’s next involvement was to set up Burnley’s second, nodding McNeil’s free-kick back across goal for Wood, whose header had just enough power to beat Guaita and give the New Zealander his 50th Premier League goal.
Palace responded as Gallagher, Andersen and Benteke combined again, with Andersen’s long ball forward collected by Gallagher, who controlled, shook off Charlie Taylor and squared for Benteke to power home.
Palace’s third followed five minutes later. Pope made a superb save to deny Andersen from close range following a corner, but Guehi was on hand to thump home the rebound.
Burnley were out early for the second half, eager to make amends, and quickly set about doing so as Cornet scored the pick of the goals — his fifth in a Burnley shirt.
Tarkowski flicked on Gudmundsson’s cross and the Ivorian met the ball flush on the volley at the far post to thump it into the roof of the net.
Burnley fans were then up in arms as Wood got goal side of Andersen before tumbling to the floor, but referee Simon Hooper waved play on and the VAR check yielded nothing.
Burnley had done a good job of keeping Zaha quiet but he rattled the crossbar with a powerful volley just after the hour.
Both sides had late chances for a winner — McNeil’s cross found Tarkowski but his header was held by Guaita, while Luka Milovojevic’s drive was deflected over.
Then, in stoppage time, substitute Matej Vydra controlled a high ball from Westwood to bring a fantastic save from Guaita — but neither side deserved to lose this one.
Norwich City 2 Southampton 1
Dean Smith started his Norwich tenure with three points after Grant Hanley’s 79th-minute header earned a 2-1 victory at home to Southampton.
The result made it back-to-back triumphs for the Canaries, who moved off the bottom of the Premier League table after Teemu Pukki had cancelled out Che Adams’ early opener for the visitors.
Saints goalkeeper Alex McCarthy was at fault for Hanley’s late effort which saw the Norfolk club celebrate another win, having gone 20 top-flight fixtures without one before their success at Brentford two weeks ago.
The new man in the Carrow Road dugout insisted he would not make “massive changes” in terms of team selection, but his decision to recall Billy Gilmour and Todd Cantwell proved popular with the fans.
It was in sharp contrast to predecessor Daniel Farke, who had not used the talented duo since defeat at home to Watford in September.
Smith had watched his Aston Villa side concede inside three minutes to Southampton two weeks ago in a 1-0 loss that ultimately ended his time with the Midlands club, and history repeated itself.
This time it took four minutes for Saints to open the scoring, with Adams firing home from 12 yards after he impressively worked a yard of space following Adam Armstrong’s flick into the area.
Norwich’s defending was again questionable, but they were able to provide the perfect response, with Pukki equalising three minutes later.
Milot Rashica and Max Aarons combined down the right flank before the full-back crossed in for Pukki to head home at the near post for his fourth goal of the campaign.
After a breathless start, it was Southampton in the ascendency and only some terrific blocks by Canaries centre-backs Ben Gibson and Hanley stopped the visitors going back ahead, with Mohamed Elyounoussi, Kyle Walker-Peters and Armstrong having efforts thwarted during a six-minute spell.
The hosts regained a foothold back in the game following the midway point of the first 45, but Tim Krul came to their rescue two minutes before the break when he clawed away Adams’ effort after Hanley had lost possession by the halfway line.
Smith responded by bringing on Josh Sargent for the ineffective Cantwell and it had the desired impact, with Norwich better after the restart.
Rashica, Sargent and Gibson all had efforts early in the second period and it did not take long for Ralph Hasenhuttl to turn to his bench, with Armando Broja and Theo Walcott summoned.
Norwich remained on the front foot and Pukki tested McCarthy with 14 minutes left, but the Saints goalkeeper parried away the strike at his near post.
It was Gilmour who had helped fashion the chance and his next involvement produced the winner.
The Chelsea loanee curled a corner to the back post, where Hanley directed a header into the ground which bounced over the sprawling McCarthy to put the hosts ahead with 79 minutes played.
Southampton pushed for an equaliser and Walcott headed a late chance wide before referee Martin Atkinson’s full-time whistle was greeted with enormous cheers as the Canaries’ pursuit of survival started to gather pace.
Wolverhampton Wanderers 1 West Ham United 0
Raul Jimenez scored the only goal as Wolves brought West Ham’s winning run to an end with a 1-0 victory at Molineux.
Jimenez struck his third goal of the season in the 58th minute having been teed-up by Daniel Podence, who had twice been denied by good Lukasz Fabianski saves earlier in the second half.
The visitors were left frustrated in their subsequent efforts to fight back as their run of four successive Premier League victories was halted with a first away defeat since April.
Bruno Lage’s Wolves, recording a fifth win in seven games, are up to sixth in the table, while David Moyes’ Hammers remained third ahead of Liverpool’s clash with Arsenal later on Saturday.
