Liverpool to reveal how good Arsenal really are, Lukaku to be on the bench again and Hart has a point to prove at West HamAfter the Unai Emery era opened with defeats by Manchester City and Chelsea, it was hard not to wonder if Arsenal were going to endure another uncertain season. Yet a kind run of fixtures has allowed confidence to grow and Arsenal’s players are gaining a strong understanding of Emery’s demands. They are unbeaten in all competitions since losing to Chelsea on 18 August and find themselves four points off the top of the table, with optimism flowing thanks to the goals of Alexandre Lacazette and Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang and Lucas Torreira’s snappy contributions in midfield. But just...
Whether results are good or bad, we fixate on the idea that managers are accountable for what happens on the pitch. But how much can they really change after the whistle blows?This weekend, in keeping with most others, a much-scrutinised if seldom enlightening ritual will have been enacted once more: the post-match managerial interview. It’s a strange phenomenon, if you think about it, but coverage of a football match without quizzing the manager at the end would now seem as unnatural as the police not questioning the prime suspect in a crime.It has become an integral part of the mechanism that bestows upon managers a position somewhere between a god and a fool, depending on the result. But once a...
Melissa Rudd is joined by Barry Glendenning, Jonathan Wilson and Paul MacInnes as they discuss Chelsea’s dramatic draw with Manchester United, Fulham’s shocking defence, five-star Luka Jovic and much moreJoin the conversation on Facebook, Twitter and email.Melissa Rudd is joined by Barry Glendenning, Jonathan Wilson and Paul MacInnes as they go through the weekend’s footballing action, starting at Stamford Bridge where Ross Barkley’s late equaliser sparked an almighty brouhaha, involving José Mourinho, Marco Ianni and co. Continue reading...
Woefully leaky Fulham are on course to concede 100 goals, and is it nearly time for Álvaro Morata and Chelsea to part ways?On the eve of the new season Slavisa Jokanovic said Fulham “don’t have to change much but we need to be intelligent. We need to grow up.” Two months down the line and either Jokanovic underestimated how much Fulham needed to adapt to be ready for the Premier League or his players are not being as smart as he had hoped. Whatever the answer, Fulham did not spend more than £100m in the summer to be languishing in the relegation zone with one win from nine games and a defensive record that is in danger of becoming an...
Allowing attacking talents off the leash in the second half exposed a glaring truth about how United should be playingNobody really knows how good Anthony Martial is, or could have been or may yet be. Least of all, you suspect, Martial himself, whose last three years after that lavish £53m transfer from Monaco have been spent in stages of uncertainty, in a team who have meandered through assorted fraught and fragile new dawns.For those ill-disposed to José Mourinho it has been tempting to lump Martial in already as a Salah-to-be, another case of De Bruyne-shock in-waiting, an attacking talent destined to bloom spectacularly away from Mourinho’s heavy air. Related: Maurizio Sarri admits Chelsea in wrong while José Mourinho accepts apology...