Africa’s highest profile Premier League players went head to head this weekend, as last season’s three Golden Boot winners, Sadio Mane, Mohamed Salah and Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang, clashed in Liverpool’s 3-1 victory over Arsenal.
It was Salah who stole the show on the day, netting twice to bag his second and third goals of the season, to extend Arsenal’s miserable away record at Anfield.
It’s been a while since we’ve seen the Egyptian superstar quite as electric as he was here, capitalising on a series of missteps from David Luiz — enduring one of his infamous ‘off days’ — to add Liverpool’s second from the penalty spot in the 49th minute after Joel Matip had opened the scoring with a 41st-minute header.
After being overlooked for the Community Shield defeat by Manchester City, with Jurgen Klopp preferring Joe Gomez, Matip returned to the starting XI with some authority, and again made a key intervention here.
Mane later missed a fine header, before Salah won and then dispatched the penalty to extend the Reds’ lead.
He’d then add the hosts’ third, flummoxing the bewildered Luiz wide on the right before tearing into space and beating Bernd Leno with a composed, low effort.
Aubameyang, like Mane, was left frustrated after missing an early chance to open the scoring following a missed clearance by Adrian, but it was Nicolas Pepe — starting ahead of Alexandre Lacazette — who offered a ray of light for the Gunners during a testing afternoon.
While the Ivorian will certainly take time to truly adapt to life in the top flight after signing from LOSC Lille for £72 million in the offseason, he built on the promising moments during his 45-minute outing against Burnley to bewitch the Liverpool defence on occasion.
The highlight was Pepe becoming the first player to successfully dribble past the mountainous Virgil van Dijk in 50 matches, the last being Newcastle United’s Mikel Merino in March 2018, although that was just one of seven dribbles the 24-year-old completed during a scintillating showing.
Even though Arsenal were defeated, the width, the pace and the directness Pepe afforded the Gunners came in sharp contrast to Tottenham Hotspur’s narrow display in defeat by Newcastle United on Sunday, and the lack of incision by Manchester United’s wide forwards in their loss against Crystal Palace.
His solo contributions, and an increasing interplay with Aubameyang and Lacazette, bodes well for Arsenal’s top-four hopes, even after this disappointing loss.
Gory, gory Man Uniiiited…
Palace’s victory over United may have led to considerable analysis of the ongoing merits, or otherwise, of Ole Gunnar Solskjaer as Red Devils boss, but the match belonged to Jordan Ayew, who opened the scoring in the 32nd minute following an assist from compatriot Jeffrey Schlupp.
The Ghana international’s strike — his first since signing permanently for the Eagles — gave Palace their first league win against United since 1991, and credit must also go to the impressive Wilfried Zaha, who caused Luke Shaw ample problems down United’s left side.
Elsewhere in the Premier League, Wilfred Ndidi and Kelechi Iheanacho sat out Leicester City’s victory away at Sheffield United, the former due to a hamstring injury and the latter after apparently being deemed surplus to requirements by Brendan Rodgers.
Mali’s Moussa Djenepo scored with his first touch, only one minute and 18 seconds after coming on, to open his account for Southampton in their victory at Brighton & Hove Albion, while Everton new boy Jean-Philippe Gbamin faces 12 weeks on the sidelines after injuring his thigh ahead of their defeat by Aston Villa.
There were also braces for England international Tammy Abraham, who’s still eligible for Nigeria, in Chelsea’s 3-2 victory over Norwich City, and Franco-Ivorian forward Sebastien Haller as West Ham United beat Watford 3-1 away.
Over the Channel
Across the rest of Europe’s major divisions, there were notable contributions by African stars. History was made in Catalonia, as Guinea-Bissau wonderkid Ansu Fati became the second-youngest debutant in Barcelona history when he was introduced against Real Betis.
The 16-year-old was introduced in the 78th minute of Barca’s 5-2 victory, replacing Carles Perez, to become the club’s youngest player since Vicente Martinez in 1941.
Also in Spain, Thomas Partey featured for 70 minutes, and picked up a booking, as Atletico Madrid defeated Kenneth Omeruo’s Leganes 1-0 away, while Ghanaian starlet Mohammed Salisu played 90 minutes in the heart of Real Valladolid’s defence as they held Real Madrid 1-1 at the Bernabeu.
In France, Idrissa Gueye helped Paris Saint-Germain return to winning ways on his debut, as the Ligue 1 champions thrashed Toulouse 4-0, although the unexpected hero of the hour was Cameroon’s Eric Maxim Choupo-Moting.
Something of a figure of fun in France following his horror miss against Strasbourg last season, the forward was introduced as a 14th-minute substitute following injury to Edinson Cavani, and repaid Thomas Tuchel’s faith by breaking the deadlock in the 50th minute.
He later added his second, and PSG’s third, 15 minutes from time, finally reaffirming his quality after an underwhelming 2018-19 campaign.
With Neymar’s future still up in the air, and Cavani and Kylian Mbappe out with injury, Choupo-Moting may find himself stepping into an attacking void at PSG over the coming weeks.
Elsewhere, M’Baye Niang continued his scoring run with Rennes’ second in their 2-0 victory at Strasbourg, while Islam Slimani marked his arrival at AS Monaco with the opening goal in their 2-2 draw with Nimes.
Achraf Hakimi continued his return to form after his season was curtailed by injury last term with Borussia Dortmund’s second as they bounced back from a goal down to defeat FC Koln 3-1 on Friday, while Ilhas Bebou and Streli Mamba were also among the goals in a Bundesliga victory for Hoffenheim and a loss for Paderborn respectively.
Africa’s players in Italy also began their campaigns this weekend, as Serie A kicked off on Friday evening when Gervinho’s Parma were defeated 1-0 by reigning champions Juventus.
The futures of some of the division’s star players – notably Franck Kessie, Kalidou Koulibaly and Nicolas Nkoulou – have come under scrutiny in recent months, but some of the continent’s other stars in the league ensured their football did the talking.
Christian Kouame netted a 70th-minute equaliser for Genoa as they snatched a point at Roma in a 3-3 draw, and Kevin-Prince Boateng, a new arrival at Fiorentina, opened his account in a topsy-turvy 4-2 defeat by Napoli.
The Ghana international has proved his quality at this level before, with AC Milan and Sassuolo, and after a disappointing spell at Barcelona, will feel he has a point to prove in this new-look Viola side.