Chances for Arsenal and Liverpool to boost their seasons and for Edinson Cavani and Aleksandar Mitrovic to deliver goalsIf anyone had told Mikel Arteta that last season’s gap between Arsenal and Liverpool – 43 points – would narrow to four by early April he would have been forgiven for envisaging an unlikely title battle. The truth from Arsenal’s perspective is far more mundane; Liverpool’s slump is the story and they travel to the Emirates in urgent need of a win that might recharge their top-four hopes. They cannot afford to drift any further behind Chelsea so this weekend is probably all about keeping pace, given Thomas Tuchel’s side face West Brom, This is not a fixture Arteta or Jürgen Klopp...
Phil Foden should be central for City and England, neutrals should root for Brighton and Celtic seek a long-term planPhil Foden must start. Whether it is Manchester City’s most important matches, or for England at a European Championship, he must start. City’s win over Borussia Mönchengladbach was confirmation of this, and while his midfield mates Kevin De Bruyne and Ilkay Gündogan took the headlines for their goals, Foden put in an imperious performance at the tip of City’s midfield, providing a sumptuous no-look assist to take his goal contributions this season to 20 (from 36 appearances). There are others that could play this position for both City and England, but on current form it would be a huge shame not...
McNeil good enough for top six, Crystal Palace set for tough run-in and Brighton’s confidence boosterMikel Arteta’s benching of Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang for lateness was hardly draconian. Gone are the days when Sir Alex Ferguson made David Beckham sit in the Elland Road stands after missing training to attend to a sick Brooklyn or Roy Keane commanded the Sunderland team bus to leave three players behind because they were a minute late. But as Tottenham’s rope-a-dope tactics looked to be working in the first half, the tardy captain’s demotion appeared a case of principles overriding pragmatism. When Alexandre Lacazette chose to step over rather than to shoot in the moments following Érik Lamela’s goal, Aubameyang’s incisiveness appeared an avoidable loss. So...
United cross town to City for a Manchester derby, while there’s a big old meeting of strugglers on Sunday lunchtimeIt’s been a bad week for Steve Bruce. Saturday’s draw with Wolves means Newcastle have won just two of their last 15 league games, and are now hovering just above the drop zone. Bruce’s post-match comments – “unfortunately Matty didn’t get the directions on quick enough” – appeared to blame substitute Matt Ritchie for not passing on tactical instructions shortly before Wolves’ equaliser, which led to a training-ground argument between the pair this week. Ritchie has since apologised but morale seems to be low, particularly with mounting injuries. Callum Wilson, Miguel Almirón and Allan Saint-Maximin have scored more than half of...
Fulham continue to struggle in front of goal, Leicester threatening a second collapse and West Brom play by the rulesAt the start of Scott McTominay’s United career, his place in the team seemed predicated in José Mourinho’s antipathy towards Paul Pogba, his receipt of the manager’s player of the year award the nearest Mourinho could get to presenting it to himself. Since then, though, McTominay has improved by several orders of magnitude, contributing power, tenacity and personality – skills that have been crucial in helping United improve from sixth to second. They still struggle to dominate, however, and when Pogba is absent the entirety of the creative burden rests with Bruno Fernandes, who had an off-day at Stamford Bridge. To...