Unai Emery gets better of Maurizio Sarri, Mohamed Salah takes shine off his milestone and Riyad Mahrez victim of City’s powerWhile these have been a troubled few weeks for Arsenal, with Sven Mislintat’s impending exit set to leave a big hole in their recruitment department, their victory over Chelsea was a reminder there have been plenty of positives during Unai Emery’s first season. The Spaniard has had to muddle along with an imbalanced squad but has shown he can make important tactical interventions on several occasions. He certainly got the better of Maurizio Sarri, disrupting the Chelsea manager’s attempts to build from the back by using an energetic high press, and his switch to a midfield diamond demonstrated Arsenal have...
Arsenal’s tireless centre-forward made himself the decisive figure on a field full of silky attackers toiling in ill-suited rolesSometimes it’s hard to be a striker. Or a No 9. Or a nine and a half. Or a fluid high-pressing false 11.There were six forwards of varying types on show as this match kicked off. None of them were your orthodox, meat-and-potatoes centre-forward – although Eden Hazard did make a dutiful attempt at standing with his back to goal while the ball sailed over his head, taking to the central role with all the refined disdain of a concert violinist making ends meet by delivering flat-pack furniture out of the back of a truck. Related: Maurizio Sarri says Chelsea’s players are...
Nketiah shows rich promise, Chelsea may rue Fàbregas’s exit, things about to hot up for Solskjær and what next for Carroll? Related: FA Cup third round serves up shocks as Barnet, Oldham and Newport shine Related: The Dozen: the weekend’s best FA Cup photos Continue reading...
Jürgen Locadia proves his worth, Hart loses out to Heaton, Palace need reinforcements and Arsenal need a defenceAfter Ole Gunnar Solskjær rained praise down on Marcus Rashford, calling him the “catalyst” for Manchester United’s pressing game, Romelu Lukaku might wonder when he will next be given a start. Rashford scored and created Paul Pogba’s opener in the 4-1 win. Asked about Lukaku, who was a late, scoring replacement, Solskjær said: “At times he’s a good target man but if you tell him to be a target man he’ll never face the goal, today he was side on and he’s got the attributes of a top, top striker. We need to work on his fitness but I’m delighted even though he...
Pursuit of league title has been based on a formidable defence but Jürgen Klopp’s forward line is hitting collective stride tooIt was fitting the Roberto Firmino no-look finish returned to Anfield on the day Liverpool threatened to disappear from view in the title race. Arsenal were annihilated with a swagger and a smile and the Brazilian forward was their tormentor once again. He could not have timed a return to centre stage any better.When Jürgen Klopp claimed Liverpool had room for improvement before Arsenal’s latest ravaging at Anfield it was his forward line, and arguably Firmino in particular, he had in mind. Liverpool’s pursuit of that elusive 19th league championship has been based so far on a formidable defence –...