By Victor Kanayo
It was a display of sort for Nigeria’s Super Eagles stars plying their trade in the English Premier League during week three of early action on Saturday August 20, 2022.
At the end, Nigerian forward Joe Aribo’s Southampton came out 2-1 victorious against Leicester City parading midfielder Wilfried Ndidi and striker Kelechi Iheanacho.
Leicester are only one point better off after Southampton’s Che Adams came off the bench to score twice at the King Power Stadium.
Wesley Fofana was left out of Brendan Rodgers’s squad as the Frenchman seeks to force through a move to Chelsea.
Leicester are the only Premier League club yet to spend any money in the transfer window, but may have to in the final 10 days of the window to ward off a difficult season.
James Maddison’s free-kick had put the Foxes in front, but Adams twice pounced on poor defending in the absence of Fofana to give Southampton their first win of the season.
The encounter between Everton and Nottingham Forest ended 1-1.
Forest with new Super Eagles men – Taiwo Awoniyi and Emmanuel Dennis were almost running away with victory before Alex Iwobi’s Everton equalised.
Everton then secured their first point of the season thanks to Demarai Gray’s late effort to cancel out Brennan Johnson’s goal for Nottingham Forest at Goodison Park.
Later on in the evening, Arsenal swept to the top of the Premier League with a 3-0 win at Bournemouth that extended their perfect start to the season, while Harry Kane made history in Tottenham’s 1-0 victory over Wolves on Saturday.
Just 12 months ago, Arsenal lost their first three league games in the club’s worst start to a season for 67 years.This year the Gunners sit in pole position after opening the campaign with a third successive victory.
It is too soon to declare Arsenal the finished article, but the derision that accompanied Mikel Arteta’s men when they squandered a golden opportunity to qualify for last season’s Champions League has been erased by their strong start this term.
After scoring four against Leicester last weekend, this was another swashbuckling display from the north Londoners.
Second-placed Tottenham have also made a strong start after backing Antonio Conte heavily in the transfer market in his first full season in charge.
After snatching a place in the Champions League from Arsenal in May, Tottenham have kept the momentum going with seven points from their first three games.
Kane’s 185th Premier League goal – his 250th in all competitions for Tottenham – set a record for the most scored by anyone for a single club, edging ahead of Sergio Aguero’s 184 for Manchester City.
At the other end of the table, Manchester United remain bottom ahead of their huge clash against Liverpool on Monday.
The pressure is also back on Aston Villa manager Steven Gerrard after his side threw away a perfect start to lose 3-1 at Crystal Palace.
Fulham remain unbeaten on their return to the top flight as Aleksandar Mitrovic’s powerful header won a thrilling west London derby against Brentford 3-2.
