A&K Kick Off: FA charge Silva, United's worst start in 30 years, Rodgers' return to Anfield and more
- Christian Parry
- Oct 3, 2019
- 5 min read
Similarly to A&K Fight Night, A&K Kick Off will feature a round up of the latest news from the past week in the Premier League. The post will update you on the latest news surrounding the Premier League, changes in the league table, reactions to the past matches and predictions for the upcoming game week.
Today's post will highlight the FA charging Bernardo Silva, Manchester United's worst start for 30 years and debate whether former Liverpool manager Brendan Rodgers is the man to end the Merseyside team's unbeaten run.
Silva charged by FA over tweet
Manchester City winger Bernardo Silva has been charged with misconduct by the Football Association after referencing team-mate Benjamin Mendy to the mascot for Conquitos (a Spanish chocolate company).
The post has since been deleted, however he has also tweeted his reaction to the backlash received-"Can't even joke with a friend these days... You Guys...".
Under the FA rules, "expressed or implied, to race and/or colour and/or ethnic origin" misconduct is seen as an "aggravated breach" of the Football Association's rules.
Due to the nature of the breach, the maximum penalty Silva can receive is a six game ban.
'Kick it Out' (an anti-discriminatory body) had publicly called for action to occur following the tweet, and it had prompted the FA to deal with the matter.
The Portuguese winger has til the 9th of October to respond to the charge.
Following the charge, Manchester City manager Pep Guardiola has defended his player by hailing him as "an exceptional person."
Bernardo Silva has also written a letter to the FA, featuring Benjamin Mendy's comments on the situation, whilst they investigate further.
United's worst start for 30 years
Manchester United's draw to Arsenal on Monday night made it their worst start to a league campaign in 30 years.
From their opening 7 games of the league, it is their lowest points tally since 1989-90 (7).
Since their opening 4-0 win against Chelsea in the first game of the season, United have only had one win (1-0 against Leicester) following their top performance against the London side.
To put the club's poor run of form into perspective, Mourinho, Moyes and Van Gaal all achieved more points from their first 7 games as a Manchester United manger in the league-have the wheel's fallen off the bus for Ole?
The last time Manchester United had such a bad start to the season was when they were managed by Sir Alex Ferguson.
Fortunately for Manchester United fans Ferguson won his first trophy that season with the club (the FA Cup) so maybe their's light at the end of the tunnel after all-however saying that, United have just drawn 0-0 against Az Alkmaar in a Europa League match where they managed zero shots on target...
If their form does not change quickly, then Manchester United will surely be shopping for possible suitors to their management role... as well as all their other 999 transfer targets in January.
Former Red's boss Brendan returns to Anfield to end Liverpool's win streak
The match between Liverpool and Leicester on Saturday will be Brendan Rodgers' first game at Anfield since being sacked after drawing 1-1 in the Merseyside derby as Reds boss in October 2015.
Liverpool have won their opening 7 games and sit 5 points clear of second place Manchester City, however The Foxes are only 7 points behind the league leaders as they lie in 3rd.
Leicester's bright spark in midfield James Maddison, had missed their previous match against Newcastle with an ankle injury, although much to the delight of Leicester City fans Rodgers confirmed he will likely play against Liverpool.
"James is fine, he's trained the past couple of days. He'll be okay," said Rodgers.
Brendan was also questioned by Sky Sports on his thoughts about his successor Jurgen Klopp.
Rodgers said, "Jurgen has done a brilliant job. He's brought a real harmony and togetherness to the team and supporters. The consistency has helped."
Leicester have conceded the same amount of goals as Liverpool this season (5) and are playing an exciting style of football which is reminiscence to their title winning season.
Whether Leicester beat Liverpool or not, it's clear Rodgers won't go out without a fight and even a draw will be considered a great result for the Northern Irish manager.
On the flip side if your Liverpool, what a better way to assert your dominance by beating the third place side in the league.
Premier League Table and Results Recap
A big talking point from the weekend was Liverpool's narrow 1-0 win over Sheffield United.
A blunder from Dean Henderson caused Gini Wijnaldum's volley to trickle over the line.
Following the mistake from his young goalkeeper, Sheffield United coach Chris Wilder harshly criticised his player by saying, "I am not going to put my arms around him, simply he needs to do better."
Premier League Predictions for match day 8
Match week 8 in the Premier League begins with Brighton vs Tottenham (a match report will be out on Alive and Kicking after the game), which will be a must win for Spurs who are coming off a 7-2 thrashing by Bayern Munich in the Champions League final.
After their catastrophic home performance, Tottenham will be looking to bounce back-saying that, Brighton away will be tricky hence why I believe the London side will only score 1 goal.
Despite losing to Manchester City 3-1 last weekend, Everton put in a decent performance and will be looking to replicate it against Burnley-Everton's creativity will overwhelm Sean Dyche's Burnley and it may even be more than two!
Liverpool's excellent start to the season will continue, although as RB Salzburg showed on Wednesday night in the champions League, there are gaps to be exploited and Rodgers will certainly look to target them.
I think Norwich will end their two game losing streak, with August player of the month Pukki bound to be on the score sheet for this game.
I can't see newly appointed Watford boss Quique Flores getting anything from this game with Sheffield United surely getting all three points if it's anything similar to their performance against the European Champions.
Both West Ham and Palace are doing much better than i thought they would this season, and therefore because of their consistent, good performances i believe both sides will struggle to oust the other.
Kicking off Sunday's fixtures will be the Arsenal vs Bournemouth match.
Arsenal were lucky to get a point from United last Monday, in my opinion, and a strong Bournemouth away side will not make the same mistakes as Harry Maguire-hard to believe he's the world's most expensive defender.
Wolves have yet to find their feet this season, and i highly doubt an away trip to the Etihad against Manchester City will be the game they do so.
With the gap already being 5 points from top, Guardiola will want nothing less than 3 points on Sunday.
Chelsea will be coming off a tough away trip in Lille on Wednesday night, however Frank Lampard's side will still be able to get the win-the Blues boss will not mind if his side don't keep a clean sheet against a Southampton side who are due a win.
Lastly, poor performers Newcastle face under performing Manchester United in a game where i can't see many goals being scored.
Newcastle have only scored four goals this season, and United are still looking for a forward to consistently perform, hence why i believe some individual excellence will get Manchester United and Solskjaer out of a sticky patch...for now.
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