The Sunday Telegraph Sunday 1 September 2019^ ** 3Burnley
0Liverpool
Wood 33 og, Mane 37, Firmino 80^3Att: 21,762Chris Bascombe
at Turf MoorAll smiles: Liverpool players congratulate Roberto Firmino after he scored their final goalACTION IMAGES VIA REUTERSManuel Pellegrini did not offer assur-
ances that Javier Hernandez will still
be at West Ham next week, but two of
his other forwards are looking increas-
ingly assured.
Andriy Yarmolenko ended his year-
long wait for a goal after an injury
struggle, and £45m striker Sebastien
Haller followed his two goals at Wat-
ford with another one here.
Haller looked cool as he dispatched
the opener, while Yarmolenko was
emotional, racing up the steps to thankA game both sides could have won de-
livered a point neither could grumble
about at the end of an error-strewn
match that was difficult to watch but
impossible to take your eyes off.
It felt like hard work for all con-
cerned. Two functional teams strug-
gling to find their rhythm, delivering a
contest so littered with mistakes you
had to remind yourself it was a Premier
League match.
Watford took the lead after just 78
seconds with Newcastle oblivious tothe club’s medical staff after his strike.
Pellegrini, meanwhile, had to answer
claims Hernandez had asked for a
transfer and is heading to Sevilla.
“Javier was not on the squad list be-
cause he was coming back from an in-
jury,” said Pellegrini. “We have
rumours about Sevilla. I expect what
happens will be best for the player.”
On the performance, the West Ham
manager added: “Maybe the margin
could have been bigger, but the goal-
keeper has saved four or five.”
Norwich manager Daniel Farke,
though, was left angry that a foul on
Christoph Zimmermann, who went off
with an ankle injury, was not given in
the build-up to Haller’s goal. Farke said:
“I’m a fan of VAR, but this was an exam-
ple that it does not work always.
“We were dominating the first 20
minutes. But there was a tackle against
my centre-back and there was no red,the danger as James Cleverley picked
up the ball, advanced 15 metres and was
able to take aim and shoot. The ball
spun off Paul Dummett before bounc-
ing off Jamaal Lascelles into the path of
Will Hughes.
Newcastle’s players looked at the
floor as they traipsed back to restart the
game. Not a good sign and neither were
the number of empty seats, the crowd
of 44,157 the lowest for seven years.
“All we can do is try to win some
football matches and I’m sure they will
come back if we do,” said manager
Steve Bruce. “We can never take our
supporters for granted, but we’ve had a
decent start. We’ve got four points and
we’ve had games against Arsenal and
Tottenham, so I’m relatively happy.”
Newcastle were poor, one-paced,
predictable and increasingly exasper-
ating but they kept going.
Joelinton was influential in theWest Ham United
Haller 24, Yarmolenko 56^2Norwich City
0Att: 59,950By Arindam Rej at London Stadium
Newcastle United
Schar 41^1Watford
Hughes 2^1Att: 44,157
By Luke Edwards at St James’ ParkHernandez exit fear as Yarmolenko ends drought
Bruce hopes points will lure back missing fans
Firmino steers Liverpool
to record 13th win on trot
bad area they can change the flow,
tempo and mentality of the game. They
pounce and then act.”
Opposing managers are rapidly run-
ning out of ideas to prevent Klopp and
Pep Guardiola disappearing over the
horizon. Burnley’s best chance here
came and went in the first minute. That
was when Matt Lowton received the
ball just outside the penalty area with
every other outfield player standing
within 35 yards each other just inside
Liverpool’s half. The full-back
launched it forward and, as the visiting
defenders watched, it dropped to
Wood. The striker rushed towards
Adrian and should have scored, denied
by the fingertips of the goalkeeper.
Here was the gap between the Pre-
mier League elite and the rest summed
up in a single move. The blueprint for
most of those who come up against Liv-
erpool and City is to bypass rather than
to engage with their ball players,
attempting to make occupation of the
creative, central zone an optional extra.
They can show a certain level of am-
bition but it does not stretch much fur-
ther than making life as uncomfortable
as physically possible, to examine their
stamina, concentration and stomach
for a fight at venues such as this, creat-
ing sporadic moments of anxiety and
little else. It is not without merit. There
is no set-piece or corner at which
Burnley fails to carry a threat.
Dyche certainly could not be ac-
cused of lacking boldness against the
European champions. You would have
to travel to an era long before Klopp’s to
find a side setting up with two wingers
against Liverpool. But Burnley could
have allocated four men to shadowIt is as much in damnation of the
deficiencies of the competition as in
acclaim of Liverpool and Manchester
City that we can already declare a
two-horse title race before September.
In fact, Jurgen Klopp’s pre-season
prediction of the rest of the top six
closing the gap would appear to be one
of the most poorly judged observations
since he came to England. It is his only
recent mistake as his side returned to
the top of the Premier League with a
comfortable win over Burnley.
This already feels like an extension
to last year’s climax, City and Liverpool
making a statement, the other issuing
an immediate response.
Perhaps this year should be a series
of play-off fixtures; make it more
interesting for the neutrals.
Liverpool set another club record
with their easy win here, Sadio Mane
and Roberto Firmino adding to Chris
Wood’s own goal. Their 13 consecutive
league victories beats the run of 12
between April and October 1990.
“This team wants to write its own
stories and wants to create its own his-
tory,” Klopp said. “One is the number –
13 games in a row. The other thing is in
the 13th game of that series, showing
the attitude the boys showed today.”
Burnley can argue there was an
element of fortune in the manner
Liverpool took control, when Trent
Alexander-Arnold’s cross caused the
freakish opener as it deflected off
Wood and looped over Nick Pope.
Such small yet significant details can
be micro-analysed but in a broader
sense the gulf was as great as it has
been whenever the top two have
played anyone other than each other in
the Premier League lately.
Four games in, the evidence sup-
ports the idea of Liverpool and City
growing stronger while the best-
resourced rivals remain in transition.
“I do think they and City are the
best,” said Sean Dyche, the Burnley
manager. “If they turn the ball over in aFirmino and the Brazilian would still
have found space to run the game.
It was only a matter of time before he
weighed the right pass to Mane or
Mohamed Salah. He did so for Mane
after 37 minutes, the Senegal striker
clipping past Pope without breaking
stride to double the advantage. There
was an element of self-sabotage as Ben
Mee gifted possession to Liverpool’s
striker to facilitate the killer pass.
The same selflessness cannot be said
of Salah, who frequently went close but
incurred some wrath when continuing
to ignore passes to well-positioned
team-mates. Mane seemed especially
displeased to be substituted shortly
after being denied a tap-in by the
Egyptian’s tunnel vision.
“Sadio cannot hide his emotions,”
Klopp said. “There was a situation in
the game he was not happy about. He
did not say any wrong words. He just
looked a bit different than usual.”
Last season, Klopp came to Turf
Moor and had to summon Firmino and
Mane off the bench to win. There was a
symmetry to him giving them a rest in
this finale, the South American’s
scrumptious finish after 80 minutes
allowing Klopp the luxury of substitu-
tions. With that, most of the home fans
had seen enough. So has the rest of the
country in determining which clubs
are capable of competing for the title.
Burnley (4-4-2) Pope 6; Lowton 6, Tarkowski 6, Mee 5,
Pieters 6; McNeil 6, Cork 6, Westwood 5, Lennon 5; Wood 5,
Barnes 5 (Rodriguez 73). Subs Hart (g), Taylor, Drinkwater,
Hendrick, Vydra, Long. Booked None.
Liverpool (4-3-3) Adrian 7; Alexander-Arnold 7, Van Dijk 8,
Matip 8, Robertson 7; Henderson 7 (Oxlade-Chamberlain 71),
Fabinho 8, Wijnaldum 7; Mane 8 (Origi 85), Salah 7, Firmino 9
(Shaqiri 85). Subs Kelleher (g), Milner, Gomez, Lallana.
Booked None.
Referee Chris Kavanagh (Manchester).inson with his first goal for Sheffield
United and after 89 minutes, Kurt
Zouma flicked Robinson’s cross past
his own goalkeeper.
With depressing predictability,
Zouma attracted racist abuse on social
media just as Abraham had after miss-
ing a penalty in the Super Cup shoot-
out and Lampard again challenged the
platforms to stamp out the problem.
“We have to look at social media and
the platforms and give them some
accountability, to actually have people
registered who can be chased down,”
Lampard said. “Until we get that, we
are all going to get tired talking about it
because if there’s no culpability then
anyone can say anything to anyone.”
Lampard was more understanding of
individuals in his back four. “It’s not
defence, it’s conceding as a team,” he
said. “We conceded because we
switched off in a game we should be
comfortably seeing out, and that is no
disrespect to Sheffield United. I
couldn’t care less that we’ve got our
youngest team in Premier League his-
tory. We’re just at a moment now when
we obviously need to stop conceding
so many goals.”
Chelsea went ahead when UnitedChelsea looked to be up and running
under Frank Lampard after last week-
end’s victory at Norwich, but another
newly promoted side handed them a
reminder yesterday that a youthful
team is always a work in progress. And
this was Chelsea’s youngest ever start-
ing XI in a Premier League match.
At half-time it was Tammy Abra-
ham’s game. The striker was left out of
Gareth Southgate’s England squad, but
made his point here with his third and
fourth goals of the season, both oppor-
tunist strikes after defensive errors.
However, Chelsea made their own
mistakes at the back and a resilient
Sheffield United made them pay by tak-
ing their first point from a big six team,
if Chelsea still count as such, that is.
Poor defending presented Callum Rob-goalkeeper Dean Henderson fumbled a
header by Abraham under pressure
from Christian Pulisic, the ball break-
ing for Abraham to put it back into the
empty net. Abraham doubled Chelsea’s
lead after Jack O’Connell and John
Egan both went for a straightforward
high pass from Jorginho, the ball again
falling kindly for Abraham to score.
But the visitors were back in the
game in the opening seconds of the
second half. Chelsea fell asleep at a
throw-in on their right and United left-
back Enda Stevens was allowed to
carry the ball forward unchallenged.
When he crossed low, Robinson was
unmarked to score with a first-time
shot. With three minutes left, Robin-
son hit an inswinging cross from the
left, debutant Fikayo Tomori did not
react and the ball found its way into the
net off a combination of Zouma and Lys
Mousset.
Chelsea (4-2-3-1) Arrizabalaga 5; Azpilicueta 6, Tomori 5,
Zouma 6, Emerson 5; Kovacic 6 (Batshuayi 83), Jorginho 6;
Pulisic 6, Barkley 6 (Willian 60), Mount 5; Abraham 7 (Gilmour
84). Subs Caballero (g), Alonso, Christensen, Giroud.
Sheffield United (5-3-2) Henderson 5; Baldock 6, Basham 6
(Osborn 84), Egan 6, O’Connell 6, Stevens 7; Lundstram 6,
Norwood 8, Freeman 6 (Mousset 79); McBurnie 4 (McGoldrick
63), Robinson 7. Subs Moore (g), Sharp, Stearman, Besic
Booked McBurnie
Referee Stuart Attwell (Warwickshire)Lampard calls social media to
account after abuse of Zouma
yellow or even a free-kick. And the out-
come was my centre-back was injured.
“We could not substitute him. They
had a counter and my centre-back
could not sprint back. ”
Pellegrini’s men took the lead when
Arthur Masuaku crossed for Haller to
finish from six yards.
Yarmolenko gave a warning early in
the second half when he hit the post.
The Ukrainian made amends by finish-
ing after Mark Noble’s cross was not
cleared. West Ham were rampant after
that, with Tim Krul producing a superb
save to deny a Manuel Lanzini header.
West Ham United (4-2-3-1): Fabianski 6; Fredericks 6, Diop 6,
Ogbonna 6, Masuaku 7; Rice 6, Noble 6 (Sanchez 84);
Yarmolenko 7 (Snodgrass 71, 6), Lanzini 7, Anderson 8
(Fornals 88); Haller 7. Subs Roberto (gk), Balbuena, Zabaleta,
Ajeti. Booked Fredericks, Snodgrass.
Norwich City (4-2-3-1): Krul 7; Aarons 7, Zimmermann 6
(Amadou 37, 6), Godfrey 6, Lewis 6; Leitner 6, Trybull 6;
Buendia 6, Stiepermann 6 (Drmic 77, 6), Cantwell 7 (McLean
78, 6); Pukki 6. Subs Fahrmann (gk), Byram, Vrancic, Tettey.
Booked Aarons.
Referee Paul Tierney (Lancashire).build-up, allowing Fabian Schar to ad-
vance out of defence. The Switzerland
international did not stop his run after
the ball was worked out wide to Emil
Krafth, who delivered a cross won by
Isaac Hayden and there was Schar to
guide a shot beyond Ben Foster.
Some observers insisted VAR should
have been used to rule the goal out as
the ball brushed Hayden’s hand, but
only one camera angle showed it and
there was no intervention.
“It is an important point for us,” said
Watford manager Javi Gracia. “It was a
good performance.”
Newcastle (3-4-2-1) Dubravka 7; Schar 7 (Fernandez 85),
Lascelles 7, Dummett 5; Krafth 6 (Manquillo 78), Hayden 6, S
Longstaff 4, Willems 7; Atsu 7 (Muto 82), Almiron 5; Joelinton- Subs Darlow, Clark, Ki, Shelvey. Booked Hayden, Dummett.
Watford (4-1-4-1) Foster 7; Janmaat 6, Dawson 7, Cathcart 7,
Kabasele 6; Doucoure 6 (Chalobah 71); Femenia 5, Cleverley 7,
Hughes 8 (Success 71), Pereyra 5; Gray 5 (Deulofeu 82). Subs
Gomes, Welbeck, Masina, Sarr. Booked Deulofeu, Success,
Cathcart.
Referee Graham Scott (Berks & Bucks).
minutes show United’s lack of killer instinct
Chelsea
Abraham 19, 43^2Sheffield United
Robinson 46, Zouma 89 og^2Att: 40,560
By Nick Szczepanik
at Stamford Bridge90 mins And United’s lack of killer instinct was summed up when
James’ cross went through the six-yard box in the final minute.89 mins It was the same story three minutes later as Maya
Yoshida cleared after James’ cross had again eluded everyone.RELEASED BY "What's News" vk.com/wsnws TELEGRAM: t.me/whatsnws