Game, Team and Player of Weekend 2

Chelsea, Swansea and Everton all continued their 100% start to the season, while Arsenal are still struggling to score goals since the departure of Robin Van Persie but on the other hand have looked solid defensively so is this an improvement? Aston Villa and Southampton are the only two teams left without a single point. So who will win my game, player and team of the weekend?

Firstly, onto team of the weekend. Everton are yet again candidates for the best team as they swept away Aston Villa in the first half scoring three goals and looking like they could have went up another few gears if they needed or wanted to. They are having a quick start to the season which is very rare for the team from Merseyside. Next, I think that West Brom deserve a lot of credit this week with them getting a point at White Hart Lane, they got a last minute equaliser through James Morrison but throughout the game they at least deserved a point and dealt with the threats of Tottenham very well and only conceded unfortunately through a deflected Benoit Assou-Ekotto effort. But the winner this week is, Swansea City as they continued their unbelievable start to the season and comfortably beat West Ham 3-0. Yet again, all of their star players performed including Michu, Nathan Dyer and the rejuvenated Wayne Routledge. Is this really the same Routledge we saw struggling for Newcastle United and many other clubs over the years? They are still to concede this season and in all honesty, West Ham didn’t cause them many problems but it is still impressive. Eight scored, none conceded.

Player of the weekend is always difficult to choose because there are always players that played well but don’t exactly standout. For example, Joe Allen, did for once get a lot of plaudits but he will probably play like he did for Liverpool against Manchester City most weeks but won’t get anywhere near enough praise. He controlled the midfield in a game that the home side should have won but for two costly mistakes. The way he keeps the team ticking over is sublime and whenever he has the ball, you know he will not give it away cheaply. Another player that doesn’t get nearly enough praise is Mikel Arteta and he was also brilliant this weekend for pretty much the same reasons, but unfortunately didn’t do quite enough for Arsenal to help them get a win. Similarly, Moussa Dembele put in an amazing performance in a losing effort against Manchester United. I can’t remember the last time a player from an away side controlled the midfield as much as the Fulham man did and if anything it has just alerted even more clubs to his quality and with a few days left of the transfer window, I wouldn’t be surprised if someone came in with a bid. My player of the weekend though is, Eden Hazard who has just shown everyone why he was wanted by nearly every club in Europe. His pace over five yards is fantastic and Newcastle United had no answer to him. He seems to have just given everyone a lift at Stamford Bridge and whenever he gets the ball, the crowd know something good is going to happen. The way he keeps the ball is brilliant to watch as he easily goes past players and sees passes that not many others can, in my opinion he was the main difference between the sides on the day. To top it off, he got yet another assist and a goal from the penalty spot.

This weekend most of the games seemed very competitive and could have went either way. Liverpool against Manchester City was definitely one of these as both clubs could have won the game near the death, but it is Liverpool that are the most disappointed with the draw as both the goals they conceded were mistakes and avoidable. Tottenham against West Brom could also be a contender because to me it showed exactly what the Premier League is about. No team ever gives up and West Brom showed that by creating numerous chances towards the end of the game and deserved their draw just purely because of their effort and determination throughout the 90 minutes. But my game of the weekend has to be Manchester United against Fulham. There was everything in this game, goals, mistakes and even goalkeeper David De Gea doing a Cruyff turn inside his own box to beat Fulham striker Mladen Petric. Fulham took the lead through Damien Duff but then the home debut boys took over with Robin Van Persie and Shinji Kagawa scoring before the game seemed over when Rafael added a third. But, Fulham didn’t lie down and led by Dembele they pulled one back through a horrendous error from De Gea and Nemanja Vidic. They just didn’t have enough in the end and if Bryan Ruiz’s header had went anywhere but at the Man United keeper, it may have been a great comeback but it wasn’t to be.

Will Theo Walcott leave Arsenal this summer?

All of the stories of players leaving Arsenal have been about Robin Van Persie not signing a new contract with only a year to go but Theo Walcott is also in the same position.

Walcott has played 243 games in his career scoring 47 goals

The winger has been forgotten about by a lot of people because of their former captains situation but the club probably don’t want to lose Walcott for free either so could he also be on his way this summer? It could be a possibility and I think Arsene Wenger may have been making plans for this anyway with the signings of Lukas Podolski and Olivier Giroud. They may have thought that Van Persie would sign a new contract and then there wouldn’t be much room for the England international with Gervinho another option for the Gunners. But this may have backfired on them massively as now Walcott may think that they are trying to make him sign a new contract because they have failed to convince their main man to sign on so he may feel as though he wasn’t really wanted and isn’t as important to the manager. Last season he was in decent form and it is quite surprising to me that they didn’t give him a new contract earlier with him scoring 11 goals and getting 13 assists in his 46 appearances last year.

He is sometimes hit and miss and his final ball definitely needs improving but I’m sure a lot of clubs would be very happy to have him in their squad. Liverpool have been linked with him the most and with the way they are expected to play under Brendan Rodgers he would fit into their system as he would be very similar to Nathan Dyer at Swansea City. Liverpool are in need of some wingers too with Stewart Downing largely underperforming for long periods last season and Craig Bellamy possibly on his way out of the club so Walcott could be a great purchase.

A little surprisingly Southampton have been linked with him and I actually could see this happening as they gave him his debut and played 23 times for the club at a very young age so maybe he would rejoin them and help them in their battle to avoid relegation. He may want to play in European competitions but maybe he would also enjoy being a big fish in a small pond and therefore somewhere that he knows would be the perfect option for him. If it did happen it would possibly be my favourite transfer of the summer because a few months ago if you said it would happen you would look crazy.

Finally, Chelsea could be interested in him as they seem to want to buy a winger with the constant speculation that they are trying to get Victor Moses. With it being reported that Wigan want between eight and 10 million they may switch their target as I think they will get Walcott for the same price and he has already played for a big club so he knows all about expectations and playing in the big games.