Next few weeks could shape season’s destiny and right now Liverpool look bang in form while Chelsea cannot find fluidityIt is clear there is a three-horse race for the Premier League title as we enter a crucial phase that could have a huge influence on where the trophy ends up. The games are coming thick and fast and the side that navigate the next month most smoothly could make themselves frontrunners.The three teams have very different styles, which makes it a more exciting battle. Manchester City are the side I would pay to watch because of their buildup and team play. Opponents know what City are going to do but are usually unable to stop them thanks to the bewildering...
The challenge to the top three has enlivened the season – but their positive goal difference suggests the gap remains glaringOn the face of it, a little over a third of the way through, this feels like a pretty good Premier League season – at least from a football point of view. There is the possibility of a three-way title fight. The only side that look as though they could be cut adrift have just been taken over by owners who can be expected to spend heavily in January. There are intriguing stories everywhere, from Manchester United’s struggles to the returns of Antonio Conte, Steven Gerrard and Patrick Vieira.The arrival of Ralf Rangnick at Old Trafford adds to the richness...
Champions League win was a moment of Manchester City perfection with Messi, Neymar and Mbappé left in their wakeFrankly, this could have gone on all night. Did we have to stop? Did we really need to call an end to it? On a chilly, still night at the Etihad Stadium, Manchester City produced a performance that was oddly hypnotic: a brilliantly fluid, delicately stitched, oddly gentle display of how to win a game by simply picking your opponent apart.For the opening 45 minutes they stuck those fine, sharp fingernails into the guts of PSG. It was melodic in the flesh, the ball passed with a thud and a fizz between the sky blue shirts, one of those periods where a...
Liverpool stepping up their title charge, Manchester United old boys scuppering Solskjær and Brighton letting it slipIt is a footnote to the weekend’s biggest story, but the final nail in Ole Gunnar Solskjær’s coffin was partly hammered in by four players who were at various points deemed not good enough for Manchester United. Ben Foster, Craig Cathcart, Tom Cleverley and Joshua King all made vital contributions to a Watford performance that brimmed with energy, intent and endeavour. United’s class of 2021 lacked all those qualities, and plenty more. They were simply overrun and, while Solskjær’s departure was both inevitable and correct, they might wonder whether a better engagement with the basics might have helped their old manager’s cause. After the...
Thanks to Pep Guardiola’s guidance, the technically gifted and tactically smart City tyro is now running games from all anglesIt seems remarkable that there was a time, not so long ago, when the Premier League was seen as holding England back. Only about a third of its players were England-qualified, the argument went, and so opportunities for English youth were restricted. The Premier League has many problems and causes many problems, and for the vast majority of young players perhaps it is difficult to secure game time. But for those at elite level it can be a useful finishing school, offering the most promising young players regular high-class opposition and the very best teachers.These are extraordinary times for English football....