The Score is Daniel Storey’s weekly verdict on all 20 Premier League teams’ performances. Sign up here to receive the newsletter every Monday morning
Only nine matches this weekend in the Premier League, but every one of them seemed to have a decisive penalty kick. Wins for Manchester City, Liverpool, Chelsea and Manchester United with varying degrees of comfort, but a rotten result for Newcastle United at Leicester City. And is another Watford manager in deep trouble?
This weekend’s Premier League results
Friday 10 December
- Brentford 2-1 Watford
Saturday 11 December
- Manchester City 1-0 Wolves
- Arsenal 3-0 Southampton
- Chelsea 3-2 Leeds
- Liverpool 1-0 Aston Villa
- Norwich 0-1 Man Utd
Sunday
- Burnley 0-0 West Ham
- Leicester 4-0 Newcastle
- Crystal Palace 3-1 Everton
Brighton vs Tottenham was postponed following a Covid-19 outbreak at the north London club
Arsenal
In last week’s column, written before Arsenal travelled – and lost – to Everton on Monday night, we wondered whether Mikel Arteta might consider dropping Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang for Alexandre Lacazette or Gabriel Martinelli. In fact, Arteta picked both of those forwards with Aubameyang only coming off the bench after 85 minutes.
Fast forward to the home game against Southampton, and Arsenal’s captain did not even make the matchday squad. Arteta explained before the game that Aubameyang had been omitted due to a disciplinary issue and refused to expand on that after full-time, although reports suggest that he returned late from a trip abroad.
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Crucially, this isn’t the first time that Aubameyang has been left out of a matchday squad for breaching club rules; he was absent for the north London derby in March. His status as club captain must surely be in doubt – Arteta will want players he can trust in senior positions, even if that role is fairly ceremonial.
It’s also important that Arsenal won on Saturday, albeit against a limp Southampton team. That sends a message to Aubameyang that he has no divine right to start, particularly when he is so obviously out of goalscoring form. Right now, Martinelli and Lacazette look like better options.
And it’s hardly unreasonable to suggest that these could be the final months of Aubameyang’s career, even with 18 months left on his contract. You suspect that Arteta would happily free up his wages if he could. The decision to offer that deal, so soon after the Mesut Ozil saga, may haunt Arsenal for a while yet.
Aston Villa
Probably the perfect outcome for the #narrative aficionados, Steven Gerrard defeated upon his return to Anfield but with his reputation improved. He might continue to claim that his preordained move to Liverpool to replace Jurgen Klopp is nothing more than hasty conjecture, but Gerrard is no fool. He knows that his performance at Villa will determine the rest of his managerial career.
Villa were not unfortunate to lose on Saturday. They had just four shots to Liverpool’s 20 and Alisson did not have a save to make. Gerrard’s side sacrificed possession in favour of a counter-attacking approach but were largely unable to expose any gaps in Liverpool’s defence. Gerrard conceded after the game that he was caught between two approaches, wanting to wait until late in the game to bring on attacking options but ultimately leaving it too late to make a difference.
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But Villa faced one of the most feared attacks in world football on their own patch and only lost to a penalty. I don’t agree with Gerrard that it was a foul first on Tyrone Mings or that Villa deserved a penalty of their own, but it’s a credit to them that the margins were so fine. Gerrard has made this team difficult to beat, even against elite opponents. Keep it up, and there is no good reason why they can’t finish in the top eight.
Brentford
There is a video, taken after full-time at the Brentford Community Stadium, which shows the home support bouncing in the stands as Gary Neville and Jamie Carragher get sucked into the dancing. The whole scene is absolutely joyous, reflective of a club that is determined to make its promotion celebrations extend long into their first top-flight season in 74 years.
It does make you wonder if this stuff makes a tangible difference, and it doesn’t feel like misplaced romanticism to conclude that it does. Nothing is a replacement for quality – coaching, technical, tactical, recruitment – but having your home support so emphatically behind what the club is doing, and them creating such a positive atmosphere for the players, must make the difference of a few percentage points to performance.
And it stands to reason that it makes the most difference in the tightest situations. Cut to a crucial home game against a fellow promoted side when your team trails 1-0 with eight minutes remaining. Brentford did not win solely because of their home support – to suggest as much would be nonsensical. But there is a mood around this club, this stadium, this manager, these players and these supporters that resolves to make the most of this season in the Premier League. Many more nights like these, and they will be safe.
Burnley
There’s no point being too critical of Burnley after they ground out the point they sought against West Ham; this was pure Dycheball.
But Burnley’s attack has come to a complete stop. They have failed to score in their last three games, which isn’t hugely unusual. But they have only had three shots on target in total over those three games, which is. When you consider that Burnley have played Wolves, Newcastle and West Ham in those three games, who rank 10th, 12th and 14th for shots on target faced in the Premier League this season, it sounds even worse.
Chelsea
The positive spin is that Chelsea have taken four points from losing positions in their last four league games, more than they managed in every other league fixture in 2021 combined. That run stretches to before Thomas Tuchel took over, but his one nagging issue had been Chelsea’s inability to respond after falling a goal behind. Perhaps they have found some added resolve and they have certainly managed to keep pace with Manchester City and Liverpool despite a troublesome afternoon at Stamford Bridge.
But the flipside is that Chelsea have taken more points from losing positions because they have found themselves behind more often than Tuchel would like. They have trailed in four of their last five matches in all competitions. They have conceded two or more goals in their last three games; that’s more than in their other 52 matches under Tuchel’s reign.
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Rather than any great defensive collapse, Chelsea are probably just suffering a slump for a variety of reasons. To an extent, individuals are simply reverting to the mean after extreme overperformance – that is certainly true of Edouard Mendy’s save percentage. They also have a number of absentees that is reducing the quality of the starting XI and also disallowing much rotation over a busy period. Trevoh Chalobah and Ben Chilwell are missing from the defence, N’Golo Kante and Mateo Kovacic from the midfield. Nobody can replace what Kante does for Chelsea, but Kovacic comes closest.
But there’s another theory too. After the match, Tuchel said that he believed Chelsea “played with a little bit of fear that we had something to lose”, and you wonder whether it is possible to extend that beyond the confines of Saturday’s win. Chelsea’s success last season came when they were outsiders; they flew in the Champions League and surged in the Premier League before almost coming unstuck when fourth place seemed a certainty. There is certainly a psychological shift between aiming for unexpected glory and simply trying to match expectations. That is why Jose Mourinho created his “little horse” analogy – expectation creates pressure.
Crystal Palace
Conor Gallagher will deservedly get all the praise after another virtuoso performance. The question at the start of the season was whether Crystal Palace could sign Gallagher on a permanent deal in January or next summer. Now it feels more appropriate to wonder whether he might be a better fit for Chelsea than Ruben Loftus-Cheek, Hakim Ziyech, Callum Hudson-Odoi and even Christian Pulisic.
But instead, I wanted to pick out Will Hughes, who made his overdue first league start for Palace. It is no coincidence that Gallagher looked brilliant with Hughes behind him, because they effectively work in combination. When Gallagher roams forward and makes late runs into the penalty, he knows that Hughes is behind him to cover the counter attack. That is exactly what Palace were missing with Cheikhou Kouyate and Luka Milivojevic in combination in midfield, someone with the energy, aggression and legs to cover the pitch and put out fires. Expect Hughes to stay in the team.
Everton
Ten minutes to sum up Rafael Benitez’s time at Everton:
- Your team is losing after failing to turn up in the first half. Not much change there.
- You make a controversial substitution, bringing off Richarlison for Salomon Rondon. The away end boos the decision, chants that you are a “Fat Spanish waiter” and then sings Richarlison’s song. The Brazilian is furious on the bench.
- Your team concedes a second goal, making the mood in the away end even more foul. The goal comes because of a lack of organisation in defence.
- Rondon scores, which in part justifies Benitez’s decision but that doesn’t really matter because you are so unpopular with a section of your club’s support and because the rotten start to the game means that you lose anyway.
Farhad Moshiri has been very public about his desire to keep faith with Benitez, but he is increasingly flogging a dead horse. It isn’t Benitez’s fault that he is unpopular, but that doesn’t make him the right manager for Everton right now and it’s hard to see any way in which the relationship between him and the section of the club’s support that want him out can be repaired.
Leeds United
A performance – and physical effort – which suggests that the issues raised in this piece may not all come to fruition. Leeds were without two of their best attacking players, two of their best midfielders and one of their best central defenders. Players were forced out of their natural positions again. And yet Leeds gave as good as they got and were ultimately defeated by two lapses to concede penalties.
If nothing else, that proves that the belief remains. We never really suspected anything else; the emotional connection between these players and Marcelo Bielsa will last long after he leaves. He demanded that they change to improve and they will forever be glad they did.
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A word too for Joe Gelhardt, long tipped to be a star in the making from his time at Wigan’s academy and now the scorer of his first Premier League goal. Bielsa has repeatedly insisted that injuries can provide opportunities for younger players to prove they belong in the first team, ultimately increasing the size of your player pool. Gelhardt may well start more games over the festive period.
But Leeds did lose again in painful circumstances, and they have lost another player. Pascal Struijk would have played at centre-back if he had been available, with Luke Ayling to right-back and Stuart Dallas into central midfield. Struijk got injured in Friday’s training session and joins an extensive list. They desperately need some respite soon. Manchester City away it is.
Leicester City
Brendan Rodgers may be under some pressure at Leicester City, but he knows how to manage James Maddison. When his attacking midfielder has played well, you bring him off early and let him get the standing ovation from his home crowd. Then you give him a bear hug and tell him he played like a dream.
And Maddison was the game-changer. It began with what was a hugely controversial penalty on a weekend of spot-kicks in the Premier League. To my mind, there is no way that Maddison wasn’t looking for contact and already tumbling to the floor before Jamaal Lascelles touched him. For the VAR not to intervene and recommend an overturn was pretty remarkable.
But from then on, Maddison shone. His flick for Leicester’s second caught out Newcastle’s defence, even if it might have aimed for Patson Daka. Maddison then selflessly set up Youri Tielemans for the third and swept home the fourth with his weaker foot. Watch Tielemans’ celebration; he makes the point of showing the crowd that the goal was all about Leicester’s No. 10’s awareness. Maddison’s teammates want him back at his best as much as he does.
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A healthy Maddison is not quite a healthy Leicester City; their recovery depends far too much on their defence improving for that to be true. But a healthy Maddison is certainly a healthy Leicester City attack, whether he is providing for Daka, Jamie Vardy or Kelechi Iheanacho. In a bunched middle pack, they’re suddenly eighth again.
Liverpool
Not content with being the top scorer in the Premier League and the leading provider of assists, Mohamed Salah can also claim to be its best penalty taker too.
“I tell you what, in the moment when you get a penalty I hate when people start celebrating in that moment,” Klopp said after the game. “Because there’s still a shot and a possible goalkeeper save in between.”
You can see Klopp’s point, but also can hardly blame Liverpool supporters for being confident that penalty kick means goal. Salah has now scored each of his last 15 penalties in the Premier League, the second-longest streak in the division’s history after Matthew Le Tissier (23). He goes for power over placement, rarely hits the corners (although did against Villa on Saturday) and is able to change where he is aiming without an obvious alteration in his body shape or run-up that can give goalkeepers a clue. There is nothing that this king cannot do.
Manchester City
Another regulation win and another that should have been put to bed far earlier. Like Aston Villa and West Ham before this, the final whistle brought relief that should never have been warranted. The only thing stopping Manchester City running away with every game they play is an inability to convert dangerous situations into dangerous chances and a tendency to spurn some of the dangerous chances.
But the defensive statistics indicate City’s ludicrous dominance. They have faced an average of 6.6 shots per game in the league this season; no other team has averaged fewer than 8.7 and only three average under 10. They have faced an average of 1.9 shots on target per match; Liverpool are the only other team to have averaged fewer than three. In terms of expected goals faced (the quality of shots that they allow opponents to take), the gap between Manchester City and Liverpool (in second) is the same as the gap between Liverpool and Brentford, who are eighth in that table.
Perhaps their dominance will relent when the Champions League knockout stages begin. Perhaps they will be fully punished for their profligacy or their occasional lapses in defensive concentration. But it takes a leap of faith to believe in that. A reminder that while Manchester City lose only Riyad Mahrez to AFCON (and he is replaceable), their likely title rivals will lose their first-choice goalkeeper (Edouard Mendy) and two of their front three (Salah and Sadio Mane) respectively.
Manchester United
Let’s be clear: If you were to remove all context, taking someone who had been kept in a media blackout for several weeks and playing them Manchester United’s game against Norwich City, would they have been able to notice a change between Ole Gunnar Solskjaer’s team and Ralf Rangnick’s?
There was the same lethargy in the final third, the same carelessness in possession, the same saviour in David de Gea and a familiar method of victory, penalty kick or individual brilliance. The high-intensity press, that really was obvious in the first 30 minutes against Crystal Palace, had gone. United were piecemeal without the ball and uninspiring with it. A draw – against the bottom club in the Premier League – would have been a fair result.
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“The body language, the intensity, the aggressiveness, especially in our offensive department – I don’t only mean the strikers but also the two No 10s – we didn’t play on the same intensity level as we did against Crystal Palace,” said Rangnick after the game. And he’s right. If they repeat that against Brentford, they will surely not win.
There’s a bubbling question too about Bruno Fernandes’ suitability in this 4-2-2-2 formation. It leaves him doing most of his work wide left and deeper than normal. That creates a very visible frustration that results in Fernandes attempting Hollywood passes that rarely find their target.
But if this really is an overhaul in every aspect of how Manchester United operate on the pitch, it will take time and it will start with defensive solidity – that was the same process by which Thomas Tuchel made his improvements at Chelsea. Manchester United have recorded consecutive 1-0 league wins for the first time since April 2016, and that is no coincidence.
Rangnick wants United to have more control and limit chances on their own goal; he still has a way to go yet. United rank 17th in the Premier League for expected goals against. They will struggle to finish in the top four if that continues all season.
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Eddie Howe was appointed for the long term; that was always Newcastle’s party line. But they surely hoped that his arrival at St James’ Park would cause a jump in performance and results. And on that point, it’s hard to conclude that Newcastle have improved under his watch. Under Steve Bruce, they tried to be defensively resilient and failed to do so without stymieing their attacking potential. Under Howe, they have tried to be more expansive but look dreadful at the back.
Newcastle are in danger of being a little cut off before the January transfer window opens. They have a horrible run in December, but worse news is the number of games between the teams directly above them. Before January, Burnley play Watford, Palace play Southampton, Watford play Palace and Palace play Norwich. Newcastle must focus on their own improvement, but they cannot rely on the teams just above the bottom three remaining within reach.
And January becomes increasingly defining. You could – and Newcastle fans probably would – argue that Howe needs a defensive midfielder, at least one central defender (and ideally two) and at least one attacking player (and ideally two). It’s a huge ask given the lack of a sporting director and the short window.
Norwich City
There’s no point in being too unkind to Norwich in the wake of an expected home defeat in which they matched Manchester United for long periods and were simply unable to get past David de Gea. Instead, two quick things to think about:
1) Norwich have the worst shots-to-goals ratio in the Premier League and also rank bottom for the percentage of their shots that are on target. For all the improvements that Dean Smith has made, they surely won’t stay up unless they improve that record. Worth a gamble in January?
2) They might also need defensive reinforcements next month after Grant Hanley left the pitch with a shoulder injury. Ben Gibson also had to pull out of the game, Christoph Zimmermann is still recovering from ankle surgery and Andrew Omobamidele has hurt his back.
Southampton
The silliest and most frustrating team in the Premier League, and it’s not even close. Southampton started the season without a win in their opening seven matches; cue widespread panic. They then took ten points from four games; cue “What were you worried about?”. They’ve now gone five more games without a win; cue “Why were you not more worried”?
In their defending, the same odd lurches. They have followed up three 1-0 wins in four matches with a run of 11 goals conceded in five games. Even accounting for the opposition in that run – Leicester, Liverpool, Arsenal – it doesn’t stack up. They have conceded six goals this season to Burnley, Newcastle and Norwich, three of the worst-performing attacks in the league. And between those three matches they became the first non-Big Six team to stop Manchester City scoring at home in two years. Work that one out.
Watford
If this were any other club, the following question would seem farcical. But…could Watford sack Claudio Ranieri before January’s transfer window, thus allowing a new manager to recruit some players and try and save another baffling season?
Ranieri’s Watford have been extremely odd. They have thrashed Everton away from home and Manchester United at Vicarage Road, suggesting that they can punch above their weight. But they have also lost each of his seven other games in charge. Xisco Munoz was sacked after taking seven points from seven league fixtures; Ranieri has taken six points from nine.
And the suspicion is that those two wins were the exceptions, platformed by freak spells in which they scored at will. It’s a very one-eyed manner of assessing the situation, but if you take out the two minutes against United and the 13 minutes against Everton during which Watford scored six times in total, their record under Ranieri is wretched. They have conceded a goal every 47 minutes played during his time at the club.
Clearly that isn’t sustainable, and there is hope within the club that a gentler fixture list – Burnley, Crystal Palace, Wolves before the visit of West Ham on December 28 can provide some relief. But make no mistake: Ranieri is under pressure to turn things around during that run. The last time Watford were in the Premier League, they sacked Quique Sanchez Flores after 10 matches in charge. Ranieri has reached nine.
West Ham
“Once you set high standards, as a lot of them have, you want to see how high you can get to,” said David Moyes after West Ham’s bore draw against Burnley. “I think some of them have played below it and they need to get back up to the high standards they’d set if we’re going to remain in this position. I’d rather tell them that than not, because there is no point in me just pussy footing around and not saying anything, so I want to win, I want to play better and a few of them can certainly do that.”
This isn’t quite the manager reading the riot act, for that would be misplaced with West Ham still fourth in the table. But after Moyes had watched his side take their fifth point from five matches, including missed opportunities against Wolves and Brighton, he wanted to remind their players that they cannot afford to drop off with richer, bigger clubs gathering behind them. The joy of beating Chelsea loses its weight if you slip up immediately afterwards.
Wolves
Some weekends can be a little bleak for away supporters of non-elite Premier League clubs. Wolves’ gameplan – presumably to sit deep, try and soak up pressure and hope Manchester City missed chance after chance and allowed them to hit them on the counter – lost a lot of its energy after Raul Jimenez’s truly stupid yellow cards, but it isn’t as if Wolves were even trying to attack before it. It’s a long way to go to watch your team sacrifice possession, territory and a little dignity without mustering a meaningful effort on goal until stoppage time.
Manchester City’s penalty was possibly, probably, soft. But they are quickly creating that psychological advantage they enjoyed in 2018/19, where away teams at the Etihad are half-beaten before the game even begins. Managers try to stay in the match and hope to steal something late on, but are effectively happy to take their chances and target easier away games for three points.
Bruno Lage also has an Adama Traore problem. Traore is back in the team after a spell on the bench, but Wolves are still not maximising his qualities. Expected assists are a measurement of the quality of chances a player has created. Over Traore’s last 10 league appearances, covering 491 minutes, he has an expected assists total of 0.1. That’s not all on him, but it does suggest that Lage is struggling to work out how to get the best of his winger/forward/wing-back.
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