Premier League 2024/25: Manchester City thrash Ipswich Town; Tottenham see off Everton

New Delhi: After the early kick-off saw Brighton beat Manchester United in stoppage-time, the second set of games saw ten teams play simultaneously as five games took place at the same time. Newly promoted Leicester City, Ipswich Town and Southampton were all in action as they took on Fulham, Manchester City and Nottingham Forest respectively. Three London clubs were also in action as Spurs hosted Everton, Crystal Palace, and West Ham faced off against each other in the second London derby of the season.

Manchester City 4-1 Ipswich Town

Newly promoted Ipswich Town were baptised with fire after being drawn to face Liverpool and Manchester City in their first two fixtures back in the Premier League. The Tractor Boys were off to a dream start in their game against the Premier League champions away from home as new signing Sammie Szmordics gave them a shock lead against the champions. Last season’s Championship top scorer latched onto a perfect through ball from Ben Johnson and hit a great strike that went through Ederson’s legs, despite the Brazillian’s best efforts to keep it out.

Their happiness was short-lived however, as the goal seemed to have woken Manchester City up and they put Kieran McKenna’s men to the sword. Leif Davis conceded a penalty on Savinho almost immediately after his side went up and Erling Haaland brought his side level. Minutes later, Savinho dispossessed Arijanet Muric in his box and Kevin De Bruyne scored into an open net. Within a minute of De Bruyne’s goal, Haaland doubled his tally after he rounded Ipswich’s keeper off. Three goals in four minutes had killed off the contest before Haaland completed his hattrick in the final minutes of the second half.

Tottenham 4-0 Everton

Another one-sided encounter was taking place in London where Spurs hosted Everton and completely thrashed the Merseyside club, handing them back-to-back defeats to start their season. Yves Bissouman, suspended by the club for the previous game made his first start of the season and got himself on the score sheet with a thunderous side in the 14th minute, from the edge of the box. Inside 10 minutes, Pickford’s howler allowed the Lillywhites to increase their advantage as Heung Min Son scored into an empty net to give his side a two-goal lead in less than 30 minutes.

The scoreline remained the same as both teams went in at halftime and Spurs looked well in control of the game. This was further highlighted in the 71st minute when Argentinian defender Cristian Romero rose highest to James Maddison’s corner before Son doubled his tally six minutes later. A quick counter-attack started by Micky Van de Ven was finished off by Son to compound more misery on Sean Dyche’s men. This defeat sees them rooted to the bottom of the league table after just two games.

Crystal Palace 0-2 West Ham

Crystal Palace were playing their second London derby of the season and their defeat to West Ham means they’ve now lost their first two London derbies of the season. The game started as a cagey affair between the two sides with the home team dominating much of the first half but without a goal to show for it. It took a while for the second half to involve some more action as both new managers were looking for more effort from their teams.

However, it was the visitors that drew first blood in this derby in the 67th minute as Tomas Soucek fired a shot past Dean Henderson in the Palace goal to give them the lead. An exciting counter-attack from the Hammers saw them score within five minutes as newly-appointed captain Jarrod Bowen fired a shot past Henderson from close range to kill off any chance of a comeback. Julen Lopetegui gets his first win as Hammers boss and in the process, wins his first London derby.

Southampton 0-1 Nottingham Forest

An early season relegation battle went in favour of the visitors as Nottingham Forest came away with all three points in a closely contested affair between the two sides. The game remained deadlock for quite a while as both teams had periods where they looked the better side but the Saints couldn’t create any meaningful chances and that is something they will need to work on if they are to survive in the league this season.

Horrible defending from the home side saw them gift the lead to the visitors as they failed to clear a corner properly. Hudson-Odoi’s cross from the failed clearance met the head of Morgan Gibbs-White, whose header wasn’t properly cleared by Sugawara and the former Wolves midfielder had another chance at it and poked the ball home from close range. Four points in two games has Forest amongst the top four after the first two games.

Fulham 2-1 Leicester City

It was a day to forget for the newly promoted sides as neither of them managed to get a win today. Fulham returned to winning ways after suffering a late defeat at the hands of Manchester United as they saw off Leicester City in their first home game of the season. Club record signing Emile Smith Rowe marked his home debut with a glorious goal in front of his home supporters as he curled an effort into the top corner to give his side the lead.

Leicester fought their way back into the game, scoring against the run of play as Wout Faes rose highest to Facundo Buonanotte’s corner to bring his side back on level terms after a VAR review. Both teams went in at half-time level on terms but Fulham regained their advantage 20 minutes from time when another ex-Arsenal player, Alex Iwobi, made it 2-1 for the hosts. Both of their ex-Arsenal outfield players scored either side of halftime to give the London side a win over the Foxes.

 The first day of the second game week saw wins for Manchester City, Tottenham, West Ham, Fulham and Nottingham Forest as all promoted teams lose their games.  Football Sports News: Latest Cricket News, Cricket Live Score, Sports Breaking News from Sports Today