Yaya Toure sparked a late comeback as Manchester City reinvigorated their title challenge while West Brom’s Stephane Sessegnon scored his first goal of the season in the Premier League at the weekend.
YAYA TOURE (Manchester City)
Toure sparked a late comeback as City came from behind to win 2-1 at Watford and reinvigorate their title challenge. With the visitors trailing at Vicarage Road, the Ivory Coast midfielder converted Aleksandar Kolarov’s left-wing corner with a neat left-foot volley at the near post in the 82nd minute before Sergio Aguero headed in the winner.
STEPHANE SESSEGNON (West Bromwich Albion)
Benin international Sessegnon scored his first goal of the season to set West Brom on their way to a 2-1 home win over in-form Stoke City. The 31-year-old stuck on the hour, gathering a pass from James Morrison and rifling a shot high into the net past Stoke goalkeeper Jack Butland.
MODOU BARROW (Swansea City)
Gambia international Barrow came off the bench to create the goal that drew Swansea level at Manchester United, crossing from the right for Gylfi Sigurdsson to score with a looping header. But Barrow was to finish on the losing side as Wayne Rooney’s 77th-minute back-heel gave United a 2-1 victory.
RIYAD MAHREZ (Leicester City)
One of the stand-out players of the season’s first half, Mahrez made headlines for the wrong reasons as he squandered a penalty in a 0-0 draw with Bournemouth. A foul on Jamie Vardy by Simon Francis, who was sent off, gave Mahrez a chance to put Leicester ahead with 30 minutes remaining, but the Algeria winger saw his spot-kick parried by visiting goalkeeper Artur Boruc.
VICTOR WANYAMA (Southampton)
Kenyan midfielder Wanyama had a day to forget in Southampton’s 1-0 loss at Norwich City as he was sent off for two bookable offences after a pair of rash, sliding challenges. But at least he made the starting XI — his Senegalese team-mate Sadio Mane was dropped by manager Ronald Koeman after turning up late for a team meeting.
SPAIN
THOMAS PARTEY (Atletico Madrid)
Ghanaian midfielder Partey came off the bench to score the winner over Levante on Saturday to take Atletico to the top of the table. Partey showed a fine piece of skill to skip past two defenders before sneaking his shot under Diego Marino for his first La Liga goal for the club.
ISAAC SUCCESS (Granada)
Nigerian striker Success registered his fourth goal of the season in a vital 2-1 win for relegation threatened Granada at home to Andalusian rivals Sevilla on Sunday.
FRANCE
LACINA TRAORE (Ivory Coast)
Ivory Coast striker Lacina Traore scored four first-half goals before he was sent off for a half-time altercation as Monaco hit double digits with a crushing 10-2 defeat of seventh-tier Saint-Jean-Beaulieu in a local derby in the French Cup round of 64.
RACHID GHEZZAL (Algeria)
Algerian international winger Ghezzal scored a double as Lyon made a promising start under new coach Bruno Genesio with a 7-0 hammering of fifth-division Limoges to reach the French Cup last 32.
