Manchester Football

A website about football in Manchester

Paul Chan

Terriers brought down to earth by Willian masterclass during comfortable Chelsea win

by

HUDDERSFIELD TOWN 1, CHELSEA 3

Willian scored one and made two other Chelsea goals as Huddersfield Town went 3-0 down within 50 minutes at a rainswept John Smith’s Stadium.

Town were unpicked by two first half goals by Tiemoue Bakayoko and Willian as Chelsea bounced back from weekend disappointment against West Ham with a richly deserved performance against a fatigued looking Huddersfield Town side who were down and out after just 50 minutes when Pedro blasted Willian’s layoff past Jonas Lossl.

Laurent Depoitre’s headed goal in injury time was a scant consolation for a Town side who had been throughly outclassed by Chelsea who were on cruise control by the end, going down to an eighth defeat in their last 11 games.

Steve Mounie double fires Huddersfield Town above Brighton

by

HUDDERSFIELD TOWN 2, BRIGHTON 0

A Steve Mounie double in the first half put dominant Huddersfield Town on their way in a very confident win against Brighton.

The Terriers could afford to waste a hatful of chances in the second half before they secured an invaluable three points and leapfrogged their opponents Brighton to go 11th with 18 points after a richly deserved fifth Premier League win of the season and the first since the 1-0 against West Brom at the John Smith’s Stadium.

Town had endured a four game losing streak and hadn’t scored in six since Aaron Mooy and Laurent Depoitre despatched Manchester United at the John Smith’s Stadium in October.

They looked a lot more fluent against Brighton who may have been feeling the effects of a midweek 5-1 home hammering at the hands of Liverpool and the Seagulls faded badly towards the end.

Makeshift Manchester City go down to first defeat of the season at Shakhtar Donetsk

by

SHAKHTAR DONETSK 2, MANCHESTER CITY 1

Shakhtar Donetsk became the first club to beat Manchester City this season, winning 2-1 in Kharkiv to qualify for the knock-out stage of the Champions League after Napoli lost 2-1 at 10-man Feyenoord.

First half goals by Bernard and Ismaily set a motivated Shakhtar on their way to inflicting the first defeat on City since April 5 this year, and while Sergio Aguero’s injury time penalty gave City hope of another miracle, boss Pep Guardiola’s 100th Champions League game ended with the demise of City’s record 20 game winning run even though they had already qualified for the knock-out stage.

It was a night for City’s youngsters and fringe players to try and stake their claim for first team action but instead it was a night to forget for most of them.