Manchester City are leaking goals, Crystal Palace are not scoring enough and David Moyes has a quandaryThe teams that came second and third in last season’s Championship –and now sit in the form table’s bottom four – meet in what looks a seriously important encounter. Brentford go into it without Ivan Toney, who has tested positive for Covid, and Sergi Canós, suspended after getting a fifth booking of the season for taking off his shirt when celebrating a goal against Leeds last weekend. Watford also have significant injuries, most notably to the winger Ismaïla Sarr, and after a run of encouraging performances in extremely difficult fixtures must seize the opportunity presented by their next few games to haul themselves away...
Ralf Rangnick has plenty to consider, Eberechi Eze needs time and Watford may have a goalscorer to give hopeThe good news for Ralf Rangnick is that no manager, whoever it might be, could possibly extract less from Manchester United’s squad than has been the case over the last few months. Ole Gunnar Solskjær was rightly held responsible for this – though it is worth noting that had Harry Maguire and Luke Shaw given him performances that were as good as poor, he would still have a job. In any event, a difficult run for United ends with Arsenal on Thursday, after which they face an easier programme that should, in theory, leave them well-placed to secure a top-four finish. The...
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...
Arsenal might fancy their chances at Anfield and three new managers begin survival bidsThis will be the fourth meeting between Leicester and Chelsea this calendar year, clubs of differing resources whose fortunes nonetheless seem tangled together. Leicester went top after beating Chelsea 2-0 at home in January, James Maddison scoring the second goal before cheerfully claiming: “We knew they switched off at set pieces,” an observation that felt terminal to Frank Lampard’s employment. Having played some part in Thomas Tuchel’s arrival, Leicester won the FA Cup final against him in May, before league defeat at Stamford Bridge three days later helped to ensure the Foxes would narrowly miss out on the Champions League yet again. Chelsea are now European champions...
Nuno seems scared of his Spurs bench, Manchester United players must stand up and Joshua King haunts Goodison ParkSubstitutions have been permitted in English league football since 1965, but maybe nobody told Nuno Espírito Santo. The Tottenham manager has been curiously reluctant to use his well-stocked bench in recent weeks, and even as his side sleepwalked to defeat at West Ham, he waited until the 84th minute to make changes. Even if the likes of Dele Alli and Steven Bergwijn have hardly sparkled of late, a worrying gulf is opening between the first XI and the rest. Meanwhile, Nuno’s continuing stubbornness – “The game was under control,” he explained curtly – is hardly likely to endear him to the fanbase....