EPL Matchday 28 Takeaways

Goals were the order of the weekend, with plenty of them flying all over the Premier League. The bottom half of the league table got a shakeup that could be compared to a WWE draft, while the teams at the top went at one another. We do have one more game to go, however, with the precursor occurring earlier today, we can go ahead all guns blazing. Here are the takeaways from match day 28 of the English Premier League:

Lukaku rises as United fights back

There’s been plenty of talk about how Romelu Lukaku can not perform against some of the top teams in the league. He has managed to hush a few of those comments for another week at least, with a shining performance against Chelsea. The former Blues striker sank one in the back of the net, as well as setting up the winner for Jesse Lingard, as Manchester United jumped back into second place.

Not only does United jump into the second spot, but Chelsea dropped away from the Champions League. It does not get any easier for the Blues, who have Manchester City next, while United travels to a rather desperate Crystal Palace in a weeks time. Going off of recent form, United are in for a run for their money. A win against Palace would cement the Red Devils in second. With ten games to go now, every game is must win if they want to stay in the Champions League spots.

Liverpool raises the ton at home

A headed goal from Emre Can allowed Liverpool to bring up the one hundredth goal of their season, as the Reds put four past a disappointing West Ham. Salah scored one and had the assist for Can, as Firmino, Sane and Oxlade-Chamberlain all got themselves on the scoresheet for the Reds. It was a dominant performance at Anfield, keeping the pressure on United and cementing the Champions League spot for another week.

West Ham, on the other hand, will go back to the drawing board after that performance. The Hammers only had 31% of possession, which won’t win games. Add on the eight-to-two corner count, and the fact that Liverpool had three times the amount of shots as West Ham, and you could say that there is a change or two needed.

Huddersfield Town wins away 

With no Aaron Mooy, Huddersfield went away from the John Smith Stadium and won. Alex Pritchard is continually adapting to the style of the Premier League, setting up what would be the winner for the Terriers, as Huddersfield took a second win on the trot. It is the first time since August that Huddersfield has won two in a row, and only their third away win all season.

West Bromwich had their chances, but they left it by the wayside as Huddersfield jumped to fourteenth. Pritchard was mentioned two weeks ago as one of the five best signings in the EPL over the last winter period, and he has continued to show that. As Aaron Mooy recovers and returns to the first team, there is a chance that Huddersfield will stay up. An away trip to Wembley won’t help, but the month after that provides some mouth-watering games that could make or break the survival race.

Bournemouth the comeback kings?

Since the Cherries appeared in the Premier League a few years back, they seem to have at least one or two fantastic comebacks. This was one of them, as Bournemouth stole a point at home against Newcastle United. It was not looking pretty with twenty minutes to go, with Ayoze missing a golden chance to make it 3-0. It was here in which the comeback began.

A bit of a Dubravka magic between the sticks denied Bournemouth with fifteen to go, but some lovely work on the left edge of the box by Lewis Cook and a brilliant shot by Adam Smith made it 2-1 with ten to go. With a minute to go in regulation time, a shot from Francis found Josh King, who laid it back for Ake to send it in, and Dan Gosling made no mistake to make it 2-2.

That result keeps Bournemouth five points outside the drop zone, with Newcastle still in the clutches of the relegation battle.