Five Italy players were involved in Premier League action over the weekend, as Sandro Tonali came on as a second-half substitute in Newcastle’s 1-0 victory over title hopefuls Arsenal, while Guglielmo Vicario came under criticism despite his side’s 4-1 win over Aston Villa.
Here is how the Italy internationals in the Premier League got on this weekend.
Vicario criticised despite Tottenham’s 4-1 victory
Both Vicario and Destiny Udogie started as usual in Tottenham’s 4-1 win over Aston Villa on Sunday. The Azzurri left-back had a relatively decent game, doing his usual job of coming inside to the channel when Tottenham built in the opposition’s final third.
Viacrio on the other hand was criticised by fans and pundits after conceding from yet another set-piece. His ability, or lack thereof, to command his area from corners and free-kicks has been a recurring theme since his €20m move from Empoli last summer.
This time it was from a corner just after half-an-hour in. Vicario was ‘boxed out’ by several Aston Villa attackers, and managed to get nowhere near the ball before Morgan Rogers turned it in. Some supporters have suggested that Vicario’s performances in set-piece situations could end up costing coach Ange Postecoglu his job.
Tonali told to ‘come home’ to Italy
Sandro Tonali did not start in Newcastle’s surprise 1-0 win over Arsenal, although he did emerge as a second-half substitute to close the game out. Despite his solid performances in an Italy shirt as of late, the former Milan midfielder has not managed quite the same success in black and white stripes.
Though it wasn’t a disastrous performance by any means from the Italy international when he came on, lots of Milan fans have urged him to ‘come home’ to San Siro, as they feel he is not being used to his full capacity at St James’ Park.
Another Italy player in Jorginho also came off the bench in Newcastle-Arsenal. Like Tonali, he was also booked shortly after coming on, but the former Napoli midfielder was used for just four minutes at the end of the second half. Riccardo Calafiori missed out through injury.
Emerson Palmieri was the only other Italy player to feature in the Premier League this weekend. His West Ham side suffered a miserable 3-0 loss to Nottingham Forest following Edson Alvarez’s sending off on the stroke of half-time.
Caleb Okoli was an unused substitute as Leicester City left it until the dying seconds to rescue a point against 10-man Ipswich Town.
Federico Chiesa remains out injured at Liverpool, so he did not feature in the 2-1 win away against Brighton.
Cesare Casadei was again not named in the matchday squad as Enzo Maresca’s Chelsea recorded a 1-1 draw with Manchester United.
