Leicester and Chelsea managers have set out their stall with attractive football thanks to the likes of Maddison and PulisicGareth Southgate was probably right to play down the significance of last weekends Liverpool v Manchester City showdown from an England point of view. Only three members of his present squad played at Anfield and featured in the starting lineup against Montenegro, even if one more came on as a substitute, and as the England manager pointed out there might have been double that number in times gone by.Yet despite most predictions, the Premier League is not turning out to be quite the two-horse race originally envisaged. Leicester City and Chelsea stand between the leaders and the defending champions, and by...
Emery’s Arsenal have lost their direction and Spurs’ problems start at full-back but Burnley’s Dwight McNeil is on songRiyad Mahrez impressed only in spells during his first season at Manchester City but, with Leroy Sané felled by a cruciate injury in August’s Community Shield victory, the onus was on the £60m man to step up. An imperious performance at West Ham on the opening day of the season suggested he would do exactly that, yet he has started only four league games since – two of those being defeats – and with his side desperate for goals in a critical game at Anfield he was not called on at all. Mahrez remains a magical player on his day but the...
Liverpool’s resilience faces biggest test, Vardy threatens to deepen Arsenal’s gloom and a welcome dilemma for NewcastleApparently there is a game going on in Liverpool on Sunday. Liverpool’s 2-1 win over Genk in midweek was very much a continuation of a theme – since mid-September they have also beaten Chelsea, Leicester, Tottenham and Aston Villa by the same scoreline, and they last won a league game by more than one goal at home to Newcastle on 14 September. In their last six league games they have a goal difference of only five, yet they have somehow converted that into a mathematically maximal 16 points. The day Liverpool beat Newcastle was also when Manchester City lost at Norwich, but since then...
Arsenal fans turn toxic, Ralph Hasenhüttl faces a daunting week and Chelsea are no longer a one-man bandThere can be little doubt that Granit Xhaka has underwhelmed since his big-money move from Borussia Mönchengladbach three summers ago, failing to provide either the midfield bite or the drive that has been perennially lacking in Arsenal’s post-Vieira era. He has not, however, lacked effort or interest, no matter how low his performances have dipped and you wonder what exactly those home fans who booed the captain as he left the field in the second half were thinking. Certainly Arsenal’s supporters, who pay through the nose, deserve better and are entitled to vent their frustrations. But to single out an underperforming player for...
American has struggled since arriving for £58m but he made the late winner at Ajax as Chelsea defeated one of last season’s semi-finalistsThere were 86 minutes on the clock when Christian Pulisic decided it was time to silence all the noise about his slow start to life since joining Chelsea for £58m. The American winger had oozed menace after replacing Willian midway through the second half and did not look like a player struggling to cope with the unenviable weight of expectation when the opportunity arrived for him to deliver the incision missing from every other creative player on the pitch.It had been a frustrating night for the forwards on both sides. Dusan Tadic and Hakim Ziyech were ineffective for...