Arsenal's moment of quality, Brighton discover another gem, Liverpool open a five-point gap and Russell Martin is running out of excuses
Arsenal's moment of quality, Brighton discover another gem, Liverpool open a five-point gap and Russell Martin is running out of excusesmust be wondering what the fuss is all about. You replace a dynastical manager at an elite club after moving to a country for the first time, you take on a steamroller title and the pretenders below them and you have a five-point lead after 11 games.
It came as no surprise that Pep Guardiola acknowledged the international break was coming at the right time for his Manchester City side after they suffered a fourth successive defeat at Brighton, the longest losing streak of the Catalan’s managerial career. With four central defenders out injured, Guardiola fielded an untried pairing of Jahmai Simpson-Pusey, making his Premier League debut, and Josko Gvardiol, but most of the defensive problems came from the right hand side of the City backline where Kyle Walker was given a testing time by Kaoru Mitoma and Pervis Estupinan.
They have had a brutal run of league games, yet came away with draws against Newcastle, Manchester United and Arsenal, losing only to Liverpool narrowly away from home. A game that was creeping into mediocrity blown open by a moment of brilliance – a stroke of quality that Arsenal had been unable to find in a season that has not gone as expected.
Arsenal finally have their centre of gravity back. The singular force that balances all the variously weighted components around it. This was Forest’s worst performance of the season. They took the lead but never looked fully settled. Their two wingers, Anthony Elanga and – particularly – Callum Hudson-Odoi, struggled to find space and were wasteful in open play when they did get the chance to take on a man. Chris Wood was marshalled superbly against a team who conceded a hattrick to him last December.
Signed from Lille for a fee of around £25m at the start of last season, Baleba is one of the latest eye-catching products of the club’s renowned recruitment process. And against City he showed why he is likely to be the next Albion youngster to be linked with an expensive move to a higher profile club.
The win lifts them into the top half of the table and they sit on 18 points from 11 games: an identical points haul to the one they had at the same stage in the season they qualified for the Champions League. With the Premier League so wide open, it feels like anything is possible once again. Emery’s most significant action was to drop his captain, John McGinn. Since his return to the Villa midfield from injury, the Scot has lacked his former intensity and results have slumped. The 4-1 loss to Tottenham and defeat in Bruges seemed to have snapped Emery’s patience.
Postecoglou began the campaign by talking up his trophy-winning credentials in his second year at a club. On days like this, Spurs feel as far away from ending that drought as ever.It’s time to give Yoane Wissa the big fanfare, after he scored his sixth and seventh league goals of the season. In 2024, only Erling Haaland has scored more non-penalty goals in the Premier League. Given Wissa’s reputation seemed to play second fiddle to Ivan Toney and then Bryan Mbeumo, it’s a brilliant record.
For the visit to Brentford, Iraola chose to go back to Kepa after his recovery. That was an interesting shout, given Brentford’s penchant for putting crosses into the box and Kepa’s occasional weakness under the high ball. Cut to Kepa failing to handle a cross in the build-up to Brentford’s first goal. He was also beaten at the front post for their second.
Like Wayne Rooney before him, Fernandes had been somewhat a victim of his own versatility under Ten Hag. More often than not he played off the forward line, but one week he could find himself a false nine, the next on the right of a front three. It was not beyond the realms of possibility to see the skipper play in a holding role.
The grace period is certainly over. Everton came at them time and again and had they not lacked the finishing touches, the sit-in-and-bear-it mentality would have had graver consequences. Crysencio Summerville was unlucky to hit the post, there were flashes of inspiration from Jarrod Bowen and Danny Ings was thwarted by a brilliant injury-time save from Jordan Pickford.
Which, in a certain light, is pretty unforgivable. Unlike David Moyes, Lopetegui was given £132m in a statement window, enough to buy players into the double figures. And that is a problem for him too, because the root of the power struggle that saw him exit Wolves was a recruitment policy that veered from mad spending to miserliness and misery.
The trouble with going from one type of manager to a totally different one is of course that it starts as an admirable endeavour but when it does not work, it looks awfully like there is not a coherent plan to go forward. Booed off at half-time and full-time, this was a miserable experience barring a frenetic final 20 minutes when it looked like West Ham could have nicked it.
“Cooper, sort it out!” came the perhaps unfair calls from the away end, given Leicester’s decent start to the season. With Vardy back fit after the international break, the under-pressure boss will have the tool to go about doing just that.Fabio Capello, Roy Keane and millions of England fans have not let Jordan Pickford off the hook lightly over the past couple of months.
Dyche hailed this as a “good point”, which may be true when the only team they have beaten since the end of September is Ipswich, but it all continues to feel like Everton are basically going to be in limbo, treading water and crossing their fingers until the takeover is complete.Ipswich’s first Premier League victory in over two decades owed plenty to Sammie Szmodics, the 29-year-old gracing the top-flight for the first time.
Szmodics scored a brilliant opener and played a key role in the second scored by Liam Delap but his all-round display and combination play with the equally impressive Leif Davis was excellent. They dominated their side of the pitch. The kicker: the fixture list. Palace are just inside the bottom three after their recent mini-revival, but play Aston Villa, Newcastle, Manchester City and Brighton in their next five games. Given the absentees, this might well get worse again before it gets better.Short of calling on body language experts, to the untrained eye Gary O’Neil hardly cut a relieved figure after Wolves’ win over Southampton on Saturday.
It only riled the O’Neil Out brigade further, and though unfair based on their manager’s largely muted response – which spoke of someone who knew they were nowhere near out of the woods – there was little by way of the actual performance to convince the doubters that the 41-year-old should stay on. However, the sense that beating Southampton merely delays the inevitable rings true should they go on to lose to Fulham, and so if the Wolves board can hypothesise that possible defeat then they must still ask the difficult question now.
United Kingdom Latest News, United Kingdom Headlines
Similar News:You can also read news stories similar to this one that we have collected from other news sources.
The Score: Our verdict on every Premier League team after Gameweek 10Man City's ageing squad, a £30m headache at Palace, Dyche's miserable football and Nottingham Forest partying like it's 1979
Read more »
Our verdict on every Premier League club after Gameweek 9Aston Villa's midweek hangover, Newcastle have a goalscoring problem, and some absolutely classic Bournemouth-ing
Read more »
Our verdict on every Premier League club after Gameweek 8Another Arsenal red card, Man Utd's gamble pays off, Postecoglou gets the big calls right and cracks are beginning to appear at Southampton
Read more »
Thomas Tuchel appointed England head coach: English coaches absent from Premier League, Champions League challengesWith Thomas Tuchel named England head coach, stats collated by Sky Sports show how under-represented English coaches are at the top end of football...
Read more »
Non-league Tamworth hand ex-Premier League Huddersfield FA Cup embarrassment thanks to ‘Rory Delap r...
Read more »
Thomas Tuchel appointed England head coach: English coaches absent from Premier League, Champions League challengesWith Thomas Tuchel named England head coach, stats collated by Sky Sports show how under-represented English coaches are at the top end of football...
Read more »