The old saying is that you have to be good to be lucky and that certainly rang true in the Premier League during Gameweek 13.
Just take a look at the results from the weekend and you’ll see a little trend.
Manchester United picked up a win against Brighton Hove Albion thanks to fortunate deflection on an Ashley Young shot.
Spurs needed a brain cramp by West Brom (who leaves Harry Kane unmarked in the box?) to salvage a draw.
Chelsea needed a long-range chip from Willian that was either incredibly lucky or impeccably placed to draw Liverpool.
Arsenal earned an injury-time penalty on a weak shove by defender James Tarkowski to top a stout Burnley.
And Manchester City needed a late winner from Raheem Sterling to beat Huddersfield Town and maintain the huge gap it has built atop the table.
It’s results like these that are the reason why the top clubs are where they are in the table. If you can’t come up with a clutch goal late in the game, you aren’t going to be challenging for a top-six spot at the end of the season.
PLAYER OF THE WEEK
Watford just keeps on pulling good players seemingly out of nowhere.
This week, it was fullback Marvin Zeegelaar who provided the quality, setting up two goals while also helping the Hornets keep a clean sheet. It was just the Dutchman’s second game of the season, and we think he’ll be playing a big role for Watford if he keeps up this type of play.
He’s also easy to spot on the pitch, wearing a mask to protect a facial injury. If anything, it makes him look kind of menacing while tearing down the wing.
AROUND THE LEAGUE
The Toffees might be in more trouble than we think. Everton has now given up 29 goals in its past nine matches in all competitions and no Premier League team has given up this many goals this quickly (28 in 13 matches) and not been relegated. Southampton really handed it to Everton on Sunday and the Saints are no offensive juggernaut … More evidence that Everton is in deep trouble: It is pursuing Big Sam as its next full-time manager. That basically sums up the state of the club from the blue side of Merseyside … Romelu Lukaku won’t face any further action after being caught kicking out at a Seagulls defender. Speculation was that the frustrated Belgian would face a two-game ban … Crystal Palace seems to be picking things up, but remain at the bottom of the table. Wilfried Zaha is performing well under his old England boss Roy Hodgson and will either help rescue the Eagles, or be sold in January … Mohamed Salah scored yet again for Liverpool. The Egyptian now has a one-goal lead over Kane and Sergio Aguero and is the first player to reach 10
THE LAST WORD
Were you just going to settle down, think things over about your fantasy lineup and relax until another round of games this weekend? Well don’t get too comfortable, Gameweek 14 starts in a few hours.
Yes, like we said last week, things are getting crazy with fixtures piling up heading into December.
We’ll try to keep up with some regular posts, but there’s not guarantees with the sheer amount of games that we’ll need cover. Hopefully we’ll have some time to digest some of these games with them flying fast and furious.