Starting up where they left off

The Premier League returns to us after week of international friendlies.

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Joseph Silver, move editor

Anticipation built over the last week as the Premier League resumed action after the international break. As the US national team performed very poorly (I couldn’t even watch a replay of it) I was happy to see the Premier League back in action early Saturday.

Arsenal and Manchester United battled it out, with United edging over Arsenal. This is the first time these two have played each other outside of the top four. United’s lineup was shaky, their squad is plagued with injuries, including Radamel Falcao, Daley Blind, Marcos Rojo, and Luke Shaw to name a few, and no one expected them to come out with one point, let alone three.

Arsenal controlled the majority of the game, but an own goal by Kieran Gibbs put United up. They upped the pressure but ended up conceding another goal to United’s depleted squad. Finally, Arsenal broke through David de Gea with Olivier Giroud’s magnificent goal. This marks United’s first away win under Louis van Gaal and sees them moving up into the top four.

Everton are on a roll with their home win against West Ham United. Young forward Romelu Lukaku continues his goal scoring, and veteran Leon Osman scored the game winner on his 400th Premier League game. US Male Athlete of the Year, goalkeeper Tim Howard, is still struggling to recapture his World Cup form. He can get the wins, but struggles to keep the shutouts Everton want. During the World Cup, he made a record 16 saves in one game.

Similar to United, Everton are having some injury problems with players like John Stones, Gareth Barry, Leighton Baines, and Darren Gibson all out.

Southampton still clinch on to the second place spot with their tie against Aston Villa. I still can’t believe how impressive they’ve been. With their starting lineup dismantled by “top” teams like United and Liverpool, they made the most of their summer transfer money, only to be topped by Chelsea.

Diego Costa has scored. Again. With Chelsea beating West Bromwich Albion by the score of two to zero. After returning from his injury, Costa added his 11th goal on the season, one goal below Sergio Aguero. Could this be the season some one breaks the record for goals scored in a season? Maybe. The most goals scored in one season is 31, held by former Liverpool star Luis Suarez.