Hakim Ziyech has helped Chelsea to a victory in the Premier League with his first league goal of the season. The team of manager Thomas Tuchel was 1-2 too strong for Watford on Wednesday evening thanks to a hit by the playmaker. With the win, Chelsea remain top of the English league with 33 points from 14 matches. Manchester City follow by one point, while Liverpool are two points less.
Watford – Chelsea 2-2
The game was stopped after fourteen minutes because a supporter in the stands needed immediate medical attention due to a cardiac arrest. Medical staff, fans and players reacted quickly to the incident and the ensuing unrest in the stadium caused referee David Coote to stop the game. After medical staff treated the fan in the stands and then taken them to hospital, the players were allowed to return to the field. The fan is now stable.
Hakim the dream! ????????
The Moroccan may score a very important goal against Watford ??
The Blues are back in the lead and with that they remain top of the Premier League ??#ZiggoSport #PremierLeague #WATCHE pic.twitter.com/6bMRXvmf63
— Ziggo Sport Football (@ZS_Voetbal) Dec 1, 2021
It was Watford who had the most chances in the first half before and after the medical break. Yet it was Chelsea that took the lead after less than half an hour of play. After good preparatory work by Mikel Alonso and Kai Havertz, Mason Mount signed for the 0-1. That was only the second dangerous moment of the match, after a previous effort by Mount on the post. Watford’s equalizer fell thanks to the hard work of Moussa Sissoko and the cool-headedness of Emmanuel Dennis: 1-1.
The match at Vicarage Road could have gone either way in the second half. Watford was certainly not indifferent, but in the end it was Ziyech who turned the game in Chelsea’s favour. After an excellent pass from Mount from the left, the ex-player of Ajax, among others, shot the ball high and hard with the left: 1-2. Goalkeeper Daniel Bachmann prevented Ziyech from scoring a second time in the final minutes.
West Ham United – Brighton & Hove Albion 1-1
A good header by Tomas Soucek after five minutes of play, from a corner by Pablo Fornals, seemed to be the deciding factor, but the entertaining match still had a highlight in the final minutes. Just when David Moyes’ team seemed to seize the victory and Brighton had to continue with ten men due to injury, because three substitutions had already been made, the 1-1 fell just before time thanks to a wonderful bicycle kick from Neal Maupay: 1 -1. Joël Veltman was inside the lines for seventy minutes, while Jurgen Locadia remained on the bench.
Southampton v Leicester City 2-2
The start couldn’t have been better the Saints. After just two and a half minutes of play, Nathan Tella and James Ward-Prowse executed an ingenious corner variant, which ended with Mohammed Salisu. Kasper Schmeichel made a miraculous save on the Ghanaian’s effort, but had no answer for Jan Bednarek’s rebound: 1-0. Southampton couldn’t enjoy it for just twenty minutes. In a copy of the goal on the other side, Jonny Evans shot in the rebound from Wilfred Ndidi’s bet for the 1-1.
However, Ché Adams was not satisfied with that. Ten minutes before tea, the attacker walked in on a pass from Nathan Redmond to make it 2-1. Neither team came to lose and James Maddison equalized again after a nice capping move at St Mary’s. With that, however, the worst fire was extinguished and the match slowly bled to death towards the final whistle.
Wolverhampton Wanderers – Burnley 0-0
The danger in the first half came mainly from Adama Traoré, who caused problems for Burnley with his unbelievable sprint speed. The right attacker of the Wolves rammed the ball into the crossbar after half an hour of play and used his speed two minutes later to serve Raúl Jiménez. However, the striker was stopped by a sliding by Charlie Taylor. Even after the break, Wolverhampton pushed hard, but a dangerous shot by Hee-Chan Hwang also failed. In the counter-punch, Dwight McNeil tried, but goalkeeper José Sa at least got a point for the home side. Traoré tried to make three more points, but his shot from the edge of the penalty area went wide. Ki-Jana Hoever and Erik Pieters stayed on the bench for ninety minutes.
| No. | Team | m | W | G | V | +/- | Pnt |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Chelsea | 14 | 10 | 3 | 1 | 27 | 33 |
| 2 | Manchester City | 14 | 10 | 2 | 2 | 21 | 32 |
| 3 | Liverpool | 14 | 9 | 4 | 1 | 31 | 31 |
| 4 | West Ham United | 14 | 7 | 3 | 4 | 8 | 24 |
| 5 | Arsenal | 13 | 7 | 2 | 4 | -2 | 23 |
| 6 | Wolverhampton W. | 14 | 6 | 3 | 5 | 0 | 21 |
| 7 | Brighton & Hove Albion | 14 | 4 | 7 | 3 | -2 | 19 |
| 8 | Leicester City | 14 | 5 | 4 | 5 | -3 | 19 |
| 9 | Tottenham Hotspur | 12 | 6 | 1 | 5 | -6 | 19 |
| 10 | Manchester United | 13 | 5 | 3 | 5 | -1 | 18 |
| 11 | Brentford | 13 | 4 | 4 | 5 | 0 | 16 |
| 12 | Crystal Palace | 14 | 3 | 7 | 4 | -1 | 16 |
| 13 | Aston Villa | 14 | 5 | 1 | 8 | -4 | 16 |
| 14 | Everton | 14 | 4 | 3 | 7 | -7 | 15 |
| 15 | Leeds United | 14 | 3 | 6 | 5 | -7 | 15 |
| 16 | Southampton | 14 | 3 | 6 | 5 | -7 | 15 |
| 17 | Watford | 14 | 4 | 1 | 9 | -7 | 13 |
| 18 | Burnley | 13 | 1 | 7 | 5 | -6 | 10 |
| 19 | Norwich City | 14 | 2 | 4 | 8 | -20 | 10 |
| 20 | Newcastle United | 14 | 0 | 7 | 7 | -14 | 7 |