City need De Bruyne fit, Connolly is a rising star at Brighton and Everton’s Silva should beware the international breakThe Dozen: our pick of the weekend’s best imagesUnai Emery, in his programme notes for the game against Bournemouth, spoke about the importance of balance and how he wants his side to be “competitive both defensively and offensively”. That is excellent in theory but it needs to be put into practice and yet again on Sunday there was little evidence of that. Arsenal won but they did not play well and the most glaring issue is the lack of an obvious plan. Are Arsenal meant to press aggressively, and if so why did that part of their game drop off so...
Tottenham manager has time to reflect after an awful week in which opponents have played around and through his teamIf looks could kill there would now be a crime scene at the mixed zone in Brighton’s stadium, around the spot where Eric Dier stopped to speak to those who wanted to make sense of how Mauricio Pochettino’s Tottenham tenure is unravelling. Dier is a laid-back guy but he is big and extremely tough, and there was genuine menace about the long pauses before some of his answers.Spurs had been dismal in losing 3-0 to a team who had previously not won at home since 2 March, and the nonperformance came hard on the heels of the 7-2 Champions League humbling...
Brendan Rodgers returns to Anfield, Spurs give opponents too much space and Bournemouth have Arsenal in their sightsBrendan Rodgers returns to Anfield on Saturday, sensing an opportunity to end his former club’s perfect Premier League start. Last season, a much less adventurous Leicester side got a point at Liverpool, triggering a costly spell of self-doubt for Jürgen Klopp’s title chasers. There has been virtually no sign of weakness from the Reds in the league this term, but Salzburg’s dramatic Champions League fightback may have shown Rodgers the way forward. Andrew Robertson and Trent Alexander-Arnold made surging infield runs against Salzburg, a tactic that helped Liverpool race into a three-goal lead as Robertson scored. As the game changed, the hosts were...
Fernandinho a cause for concern, Chris Wilder’s tough love for Dean Henderson and Brendan Rodgers ready for LiverpoolThe Dozen: our pick of the weekend’s best picturesOn current form there are, at a rough count, at least three teams from the established “top six” that could benefit from the services of John McGinn. With the exception of Kevin De Bruyne it is hard to find a midfielder in better form and he certainly deserved to be on the winning side here, when Aston Villa were eventually pegged back by Burnley. “He’s been consistently good in all our performances and consistently looks like he’s going to score goals,” said McGinn’s manager, Dean Smith, after he volleyed in Villa’s second having earlier had...
Solskjær’s diplomacy masks United problems, De Bruyne in the ascendancy and Xhaka’s poor form gives Emery a tough choiceThe Dozen: our pick of the weekend’s best picturesUnai Emery is yet to find the right balance for his midfield but the claim of his de facto captain, Granit Xhaka, to be part of it is looking decidedly tenuous. First things first: the Switzerland international is a good player who cares tremendously and does not deserve anything like the negative reception he received upon his substitution against Aston Villa after 72 minutes. But his replacements, Lucas Torreira and the outstanding youngster Joe Willock, helped turbo-charge Arsenal’s comeback while Matteo Guendouzi played the second half like a man possessed. Xhaka, by contrast, looked...