Coral’s Premier League Heroes and Villains

Following another action-packed Premier League weekend, which saw Chelsea’s unbeaten run come to an end at Newcastle United and Arsenal beaten by Stoke in Staffordshire, Coral compile our weekly Heroes and Villains.

Heroes

Andy Carroll
The 25-year-old centre forward appeared to have a bee in his bonnet. After being sent off against Swansea City in the same fixture last season, Carroll bagged a brace and set up Diafra Sakho, all with his head as West Ham United, 16/1 to finish in the Premier League top four, stormed to a 3-1 victory. His first came courtesy of a superb cross from Carl Jenkinson, while the second was a simple delivery from a corner.

Papiss Cisse
Newcastle’s 29-year-old striker scored twice, as the Magpies brought Chelsea’s unbeaten run to an end. For the first, he was in the right place at the right time against the run of play as the cross came in and John Terry missed it. His second was squared by Moussa Sissoko, after he ran free and found the Senegal international, who rolled the ball into an empty net.

Jak Alnwick
Alan Pardew threw on 21-year-old rookie goalkeeper Jak Alnwick with Newcastle clinging onto a 2-1 lead over previously undefeated league leaders Chelsea, after an injury to Rob Elliot. With his first action, he flattened Diego Costa as he cleared the ball away, before denying the Brazilian-born Spain international moments later with a superb instinctive save to palm a shot over the crossbar.

Villains

Lukasz Fabianski
A previously unblemished career at Swansea so far this season was all changed for their Polish keeper, as he was sent off against West Ham, after the referee adjudged that his lumbered dash out of the area did enough to deny Sakho a clear goalscoring opportunity.

Calum Chambers
A number of Arsenal defenders could have had a mention here, but it was Chambers who allowed Bojan to run through into the area unchallenged for the second goal. Although he clearly has talent, the 19-year-old needs to learn the position better; however, he was also dismissed for two bookable offences.

Paul Konchesky
Leicester City’s day went from bad to worse, after Paul Konchesky received a straight red card, when he clashed with Aston Villa’s Alan Hutton. At this point the Foxes were trailing 2-1, and the dismissal made any comeback virtually impossible, as the result stood.