“Chelsea welcome Lukaku home with away win.”

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Arsenal (0) 0 v 2 (2) Chelsea

                                                    15 Lukaku, assist James

                                                              35 James, assist Mount

Yellows: Mari, Holding, Lokonga  

Played Sunday 22 August 2021 at the Emirates Stadium, attendance 58,729, Ref. P Tierney.

Our apologies for not highlighting this heavy weight Premier League (PL) London derby last week but it is early in the season here at Premier London Derbies (PLDs)! It is of course early days for both Clubs too, but Chelsea are looking ominous already. They controlled the game, particularly the first half, with their 2 goals, both coming in the space on the right of the penalty box behind Kieran Tierney (no relation of match day Referee Paul) normally the Gunners’ most effective player. Star of the show was Romelu Lukaku in his second coming scoring his first Blues goal in this his 13th game for them not having scored in any of his 12 games first time round. He now has 252 goals in 506 career games with 114 in the PL in 253. For Arsenal this was their second 0-2 PL defeat of the season, and second PLDs defeat, one more than last 2020-21 season. Enough said.

                                Crystal Palace (0) 0 v 0 (0) Brentford

Yellows: Andersen, Benteke, Ward                   Norgaard

Played Saturday 21 August 2021 at Selhurst Park, attendance 23,091, Ref. M Atkinson.

Last week’s other 2 PLDs Clubs met and played out a goal-less draw. This was Palace’s 10thsuccessive PLDs match without a win. Conor Gallagher, an impressive loanee from Chelseahit the bar for the Eagles, as did Bryan Mbeumo for the visiting Bees. The reality of how tough life is in the PL is becoming apparent to both Managers new to the competition.

This weekend we have another PLDs double-header: West Ham United v Crystal Palace on Saturday 28 August and Tottenham Hotspur v Watford on Sunday 29 August 2021. The Hammers have scored 8 goals and the Eagles none this season, and although each Club has 2 wins and a draw from the last 5 seasons of this fixture a home win looks likely. Spurs drew  1-1 with the Hornets last time this was played in the 2019-20 season, and won in the previous three. With Harry Kane staying in North London it should be another home win.  

Whether you are watching live or somewhere on TV “Keep Safe”, Andrew at PLDs.