The Premier League weekend delivered tension from the 0-0 between giants that started it through the 90th-minute winner for a giant that ended it (well, until Mondayโs fight between Fulham and Spurs).
Liverpool and Chelsea couldnโt be divided, as injuries didnโt help either side, while Arsenal overcame a blown 2-1 lead against Manchester United to take another step toward a surprising Premier League title.
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But Manchester Cityโs gigantic striker Erling Haaland continued his record pace in sending another message that the reigning champions arenโt going away.
We still have to see whether Tottenham will take advantage of the points dropped by Newcastle, Chelsea, Liverpool, and Manchester United.
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10 things we learned in the Premier League: Week 21
1. Arsenal-Manchester United rivalry reborn, reinvigorated (Arsenal 3-2 Man Utd): We needed this. There are certain Premier League non-geographic rivalries that just make the fixture list complete, and for a long time weโve been waiting to see Arsenal and Manchester United give us a top-four fight with meaning. Sundayโs encounter joins Unitedโs early season win in reinvigorating the rivalry and allowing fans of either side โ as well as neutrals โ to wonder whether thereโs hope of Mikel Arteta and Erik ten Hag giving us a mini-Arsene Wenger vs Alex Ferguson. The scrap between Bruno Fernandes and Gabriel Magalhaes gave us hints of Roy Keane and Patrick Vieira (at different positions, of course) and the fire in the eyes of goal scorers Marcus Rashford and Bukayo Saka in particular showed us what it can mean to score a big goal in this fixture. What would this have looked like with Casemiro, Gabriel Jesus, and Diogo Dalot? More, please. (NM)
2. Long way back for heavyweights (Liverpool 0-0 Chelsea): Both Liverpool and Chelsea were scared to go for the win and it sums up where they are right now. They are lacking in confidence and fit players, and their coaches are trying to figure things out. Jurgen Klopp will be very disappointed with Liverpoolโs display and lack of a press, while Graham Potter will see this as a step forward. Chelsea were slightly more adventurous and Mykhailo Mudryk looked superb when he came off the bench. It will be a slow rebuilding process for both of these teams and it will look very different. In the short-term it looks like Chelsea will spend a lot more to solve their problems but a change of style is coming for both. Potter should get the time to implement his philosophy on this Chelsea squad, while Klopp will surely get time to freshen up his squad once new ownership and investment arrives at Anfield. It remains to be seen if his tactics will be tweaked. (JPW)
3. Champions react to blood in the water (Man City 3-0 Wolves): Pep Guardiolaโs incredible midweek rant appeared to have the desired impact as Man City looked hungry from the start and ready to deliver. Wolves sat back and made it pretty easy for City but this was like watching City from the past few seasons. They moved the ball quickly, got crosses into the box early and pinned Wolves in. Haalandโs heroics will steal the headlines, and rightly so, but the biggest plus for Guardiola is that he got his Manchester City back. His rant after their comeback win against Tottenham worked and we will now see how long that will last for as they hunt down Arsenal. Man City are sharks who are circling and can smell blood in the water. They have been the hunters so often in their title-winning campaigns and they almost prefer to be in this position so it keeps them firing on all cylinders and gets the best out of them. (JPW)
4. Lady luck not on Saints side as Villans find winner (Southampton 0-1 Aston Villa): These are the kind of results that happen when youโre at the bottom of the table. Southampton thought they had gone ahead with a deflected goal in the second half but it was chalked off via VAR for a soft foul. Nathan Jones and his players were furious and that perhaps led to them switching off at a free kick as Aston Villa grabbed all three points. The fine margins have gone against Southampton in recent games and although performances are improving, they are still bottom of the table. Villa showed extra nous and experience and Saints badly need to add experience โ and a clinical finisher โ in the final days of the January window if theyโre going to stay up. They are so close to climbing out of the relegation zone and are heading in the right direction but the nature of this defeat to Villa will sting. (JPW)
5. Everton gives away three more points to bottom-half rival (West Ham 2-0 Everton): Things are ugly around Goodison Park and ire toward the club ownership has somewhat deflected pain away from manager Frank Lampard. But a team with established Premier League defendersย with relegation-fighting experience has now given wins to the teams sitting 19th (Southampton), 18th (Bournemouth), 17th (Wolves), and the now 15th-place Irons. Conor Coady, James Tarkowski, Idrissa Gana Gueye, Seamus Coleman, Alex Iwobiโฆ this is not a team devoid of quality, but it is losing nearly every single week. The Toffees had a lot of the ball โ just under 70 percent for the game โ but thatโs a bit misleading given West Ham was happy to counter once ahead 2-0. Everton lost the xG battle 2.33-0.67 and was out-attempted 11-5. But thereโs something here in terms of talent and experience. Can Everton continue to ride with Frank Lampard as manager? (NM)
6. Cherries pay price as ex-player Surridge finds equalizer (Bournemouth 1-1 Nottingham Forest): Bournemouth (17 points โ 18th place) led 1-0 for nearly an hour after Jaidon Anthony took new import Dango Ouattaraโs pass and coolly slotted the ball past Dean Henderson in the 28th minute. Three points would have taken the Cherries from 18th, where they began and end the day, all the way up to 14th. Such is life in the incredibly congested bottom-third of the Premier League table these days that the Forestโs equalizer leaves the Cherrie sin the bottom three. Thatโs five games without a win for Bournemouth and just one win their last 11 PL games, after Sam Surridge snuck in behind the Bournemouth defense and tapped home Brennan Johnsonโs cross on 83 minutes. (AE)
7. Leicester will take a point but trying to find complete performance (Leicester 2-2 Brighton): A point wonโt feel like the end of the world for Leicester, as the draw with Brighton snaps a four-game losing streak and represents the Foxesโ first point since the Premier League returned from the World Cup break. Itโs little wonder that Leicester boss Brendan Rodgers reportedly met with club chairman Aiyawatt โTopโ Srivaddhanaprabha this week to discuss the direction of the club going forward. Brighton went ahead just before the half-hour mark, when Kaoru Mitoma cut in from the left wing and uncorked a stunning curler into the far-post upper-90, where Danny Ward had no chance to save it. The lead lasted just 11 minutes, though, before Marc Albrighton slotted home a back-post rebound in the 38th minute. (AE)
8. Magpies fail to find final ball (Crystal Palace 0-0 Newcastle): Credit Palace for sure, but what happened here was pretty simple: Newcastle couldnโt get on the end of countless solid crosses, and entries through the middle were all diverted to crosses. Kieran Trippier had 101 touches and eight chances created at right back but Newcastle was absent receivers. Part of that service total comes off the 12 corners that Newcastle manufactured by couldnโt finish, but the Magpies gotย to the final ball quite a bit. They just did very little with it. Newcastleโs on a 541-minute clean sheet streak. Today that was massively aided by Nick Popeโs late wonder save of JP Mateta, but 11 goals conceded over 20 league matches is a significant moment. The Magpies sent Chris Wood away to Nottingham Forest this week and will bring in another forward. Alexander Isak came on for Callum Wilson, who was poor today, but perhaps we need to see the duo together more as we did last week in producing the winner versus Fulham. (NM)
9. Marsch, Leeds trying to find confidence (Leeds 0-0 Brentford): Jesse Marschโs side didnโt look like they believed they could beat Brentford and that is a big problem, but probably expected as theyโve won just two of their last 16 games in the Premier League. Thatโs the worst run of any team in the league since Aug. 27. Leeds have improved defensively in recent weeks and have recorded three draws in their last four games, including two shutouts. But the swashbuckling, cavalier attacking play was missing against Brentford and the frustrations could be heard around Elland Road. As we approach 12 months since Leeds fired Marcelo Bielsa in February 2022, are they in a better position now? Itโs tough to say that they are. Another late-season battle against relegation seems imminent. (JPW)
10. Arsenalโs project stll ahead of Man Unitedโs over-achievers (Arsenal 3-2 Man Utd): Erik ten Hag doesnโt have all of his pieces and the distance between the two sides may not be a gulf but itโs still noticeable. Even when accounting for home-pitch advantage, injuries to Diogo Dalot and Anthony Martial, and โ most critically โ Casemiroโs suspension, Arsenal was ready to go from the jump and United spent much of its day adapting to the hostsโ dictation of the game. Thomas Partey and Granit Xhaka limited still-influential Bruno Fernandes, and the Gunners had well over half of the ball plus a significantย advantage in shot attempts, and expected goals. But Ten Hagโs defending did not allow many chances to a gifted team that needed a remarkable goal from Saka on its route to a point โ there are questions about the backs on Nketiahโs marker โ and Raphael Varane has been a bit of a cheat code when healthy. Unitedโs a step behind the Gunners right now, and Nketiahโs winner was deserved and decisive, but sign us up for front row seats when these fixtures come around next season. (NM)
