Abraham and Mount fire Chelsea to victory as Arsenal triumph
Southampton’s James Ward-Prowse (left) vies with Chelsea’s Tammy Abraham during their EPL match on Sunday. Agence France-Presse
Abraham, Mount and their Blues team-mate Fikayo Tomori were all named by England manager Gareth Southgate in the squad for the forthcoming Euro 2020 qualifiers in the Czech Republic and Bulgaria.
The promising young trio hogged the spotlight once again at St Mary’s as Abraham and Mount netted to maintain their superb starts to the season.
Abraham has nine goals in all competitions for Chelsea this term, underlining why Southgate is keen to get him action in a competitive match to ensure he commits to England.
The 22-year-old striker has won two caps for England in friendlies against Brazil and Germany in 2017, but he had flirted with switching his international allegiance to Nigeria, who he qualifies for through his father.
Tomori, 21, is also eligible to represent Nigeria, but the centre-back showed his England credentials with another composed display to keep Southampton largely at bay.
Mount, 20, bagged Chelsea’s second goal to once again showcase the predatory instincts that have helped the midfielder make a smooth transition to the Premier League following last season’s loan alongside Tomori at Derby.
Danny Ings got one back for Southampton, but N’Golo Kante and Michy Batshuayi struck to make it four successive wins in all competitions for Chelsea, who are beginning to thrive in Frank Lampard’s first season in charge.
Chelsea are up to fifth in the Premier League heading into what promises to be a memorable international break for the club’s three young talents.
Southampton have won just two of their last 13 league games and are winless in their last six home matches.
Southampton threatened in the opening minutes when Nathan Redmond hit a swerving strike that flashed just over from long-range.
Meanwhile, Arsenal edged up to third in the Premier League as David Luiz’s first goal for the club earned a 1-0 win over Bournemouth on Sunday.
Luiz has been a figure of fun for a host of defensive errors early in his Arsenal career after making the switch across London from Chelsea in August However, the Brazilian is always a threat at the other end of the field and rose highest to head home Nicolas Pepe’s corner on nine minutes.
Bournemouth had enough chances to at least earn a point with Callum Wilson missing the clearest opportunity, but Arsenal held out to record their first clean sheet in the Premier League since the opening day of the season.
Victory moves Unai Emery’s men a point above Leicester, Chelsea and Crystal Palace in the early running for a top-four finish.
Later in the evening, two late goals by from Wolves’ Adama Traore inflicted a stunning 2-0 defeat on Manchester City to leave the Premier League champions trailing leaders Liverpool by eight points.
It was a thoroughly deserved victory for the Nuno Espirito Santo’s men, who enjoyed the better chances and became the first team to stop City scoring at the Etihad Stadium for 34 matches.
Even with only eight games played, Liverpool now have a golden chance to win their first league title for 30 years after starting the campaign with eight straight wins.
And as time ticked on, the urgency of the situation for Pep Guardiola’s men was apparent as they have already dropped more points at home than in the whole of last season.
City were again made to pay for a serious of key defensive injuries and badly missed the creativity of Kevin de Bruyne in midfield.
Wolves had two days less rest and a trip back from Istanbul to cope with after winning at Besiktas in the Europa League on Thursday night.
However they never tired and finally took their chances through Traore in the final 10 minutes.
Twice in a matter of moments during the first-half, Raul Jimenez was played through by loose passes from City players, but the Mexican striker was unable to convert either opportunity.
He was first denied by an excellent tackle from Fernandinho and on the second chance he delayed and failed to get his shot away, although he felt he was impeded by City’s makeshift central defender and should have been given a penalty.
Meanwhile, Manchester United were defeated by Newcastle 1-0 as Longstaff scored the only goal of the match.
Agence France-Presse
