Phil Foden is a valuable set-piece deputy, Mike Jackson’s Clarets keep on moving, plus a defence of the retiring refereesSteven Gerrard prefers to vary his attacking shape to keep opponents guessing and has switched from using a midfield diamond to 4-2-3-1 to 4-3-3 in his first six months in charge at Aston Villa. The manager was in full agreement that his team looked better once Danny Ings came on as a substitute to join Ollie Watkins as split strikers, with Philippe Coutinho then playing between them, as a false 9 or as the attacking tip of a diamond depending on your interpretation. Both strikers scored in the victory that relegated Norwich and were also instrumental when Villa went on a...
Mikel Arteta’s team were far from their best at West Ham but they showed signs of growing up at the London StadiumMidway through the first half of an utterly forgettable London derby, Nuno Tavares picked up the ball near the halfway line and set off on an adventure. Suddenly, it seemed something special was happening. A brief surge of energy went round the ground. Then Tavares ran out of steam, realised that he had no idea what to do next and basically let the ball run away from his feet.Still, on he went, Arsenal’s second-choice left-back a blur of yellow as he continued to run in a straight line, his momentum taking him all the way into West Ham’s area...
The marathon wait for a VAR check at Arsenal could have been tolerable if we could have listened inDuring the four minutes and 39 seconds that passed between the ball hitting the back of the net for Arsenal’s disallowed second “goal” against Manchester United on Saturday, the subsequent VAR check and Bukayo Saka wheeling away in celebration after scoring the consolation spot-kick awarded in its place, there was plenty of confusion. On the pitch, in the stands, in households around the country and even in the BT Sport commentary box – nobody except the referee, Craig Pawson, and his assistants seemed quite sure what exactly was going on.The big screen informed fans a possible offside was being checked and Eddie...
Their top-four hopes are all but over as Bukayo Saka helped Arsenal to a 3-1 victory in a fun, slightly delirious gameIn the days since Erik ten Hag’s announcement as Manchester United’s next manager the talk has turned, hungrily, to the scale of the task. There is a kind of relish in this. How many years are we talking now? What’s the current bid? I hear five. I hear six. How about 10 years. How about 100 years. How about infinite years.It is a pointless discussion. Partly because it has no content, nothing but numbers plucked out of the air. Let’s face it, if you’re walking in the wrong direction you’re not going to get there at all. But there...
The striker could still thrive at Stamford Bridge with time and love but has not been afforded either in a turbulent campaignThere are games of football that feel like the inevitable product of their circumstances: system against system, the attacking and defensive patterns predetermined days in advance, the result telegraphed from the moment the first ball is kicked. Then there are the games in which Granit Xhaka runs the midfield, a mass brawl breaks out in the closing minutes and Eddie Nketiah scores twice against a team currently sanctioned by the UK government.Chaos, farce, or high entertainment? Probably a mixture of all three. As shirtless Arsenal fans clambered over each other in the Shed End, as a fuming César Azpilicueta...