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.
The title race runs on relentlessly, while the top four race is controlled by Arsenal after their win at West Ham.
But the real twists came in the relegation fight. Leeds’ loss to Manchester City was hardly disastrous, but wins for Everton and Burnley were. Leeds are now the bookmakers’ favourites to join Watford and Norwich City in the Championship
This weekend’s results
Saturday 30 April
- Newcastle 0-1 Liverpool
- Aston Villa 2-0 Norwich
- Southampton 1-2 Crystal Palace
- Watford 1-2 Burnley
- Wolves 0-3 Brighton
- Leeds 0-4 Man City
Sunday 1 May
- Everton 1-0 Chelsea
- Tottenham 3-1 Leicester
- West Ham 1-2 Arsenal
Monday 2 May
- Man Utd vs Brentford (8pm)
Arsenal
That this was the first time since Crystal Palace at home in 2019 that two Arsenal defenders have scored in the same game felt fitting after the horribly tense final minutes. This was an Arsenal performance that lacked fluency and cohesion, particularly in attacking midfield, but in the warm glow of victory that only made it more important. Usually it’s the attacking midfielders who are bailing Arsenal out; about time they were bailed out.
There are still issues to solve, ones that may still trip Arsenal up. The full-back situation is a little farcical – neither Nuno Tavares nor Cedric Soares are good enough. The lack of Thomas Partey is still causing a headache. Aaron Ramsdale appears to have got a little excited and is making supporters wince a little.
But make no mistake: this was a monstrous win because it means that, if Liverpool beat or draw against Tottenham next weekend (and Liverpool have lost one of their last 20 meetings with Spurs), Arsenal can lose the north London derby and still make the top four by beating Newcastle away and Everton at home. They’re so close to the Champions League they can hear Zadok the Priest on the wind.
Aston Villa
The very slight concern about Villa being dragged into trouble is no more. They needed three more points to remove all doubt and Norwich at home was pretty much the perfect fixture to do so. Villa were rarely flamboyant and actually had a sticky period at 0-0, but they were eventually comfortable.
It was a win that still raised some interesting questions, though. If this six-month period from November to May was intended to allow Steven Gerrard to fully assess his squad, create a plan for next season and enter August knowing what his best starting XI – and shape of that XI – was, is he really close to that yet?
Ollie Watkins and Danny Ings are now creating more chances and scoring more goals when both are on the pitch together, but Ings was left on the bench on Saturday and the game changed after his introduction. Gerrard gave a first start to Tim Iroegbunam – another potentially excellent young central midfielder – but it is hard to know quite where the best midfield balance lies in a 4-3-3.
And then there is Philippe Coutinho and Emi Buendia. If we can broadly agree that they are playing for one place in the team (Buendia wide left and Coutinho in the midfield three seems to limit his influence and leave Villa prone to counter attacks), does that not make a strong case for spending your transfer budget elsewhere this summer? There are plenty of Villa supporters who believe Buendia’s form and work rate merits him being above Coutinho in the pecking order as it stands.
It is tempting to think that Villa should sign Coutinho just because they can, using the relationship between former teammates as manager and star individual. But with £40m spent on Buendia and, Leon Bailey surely now a failed experiment on the right and at least one defender required this summer, there may be better uses of their budget.
Brentford
Last Monday, we remarked that Brentford should make sure to enjoy these last few weeks of the season: pressure-free football in May in their first top-flight season since 1947 is an extraordinary achievement. Like so many other clubs, they do not have the luxury of complete faith that next season will not be more difficult.
A trip to Manchester United, bereft of so many starters through injury and barely functioning even with them in the team, is a magnificent opportunity to record a second statement away victory after the 4-1 win over Chelsea. Brentford are as low as 7-2 in places, ludicrous given the difference in budgets.
But why not? They are everything that United are not. They will look to soak up pressure and hit their opponents on the counter (United are vulnerable to that strategy). They have a wonderful creative outlet in Christian Eriksen who will be keen to again demonstrate his class against a high-profile opponent. And they are playing with freedom.
Brighton
A victory to reinforce Brighton’s phenomenal progress. Not only did Brighton move up into ninth in the Premier League (their highest ever top-flight finish is 13th) with the 3-0 win at Wolves, it also equalled the biggest top-flight away win in the club’s history. Supporters don’t need reminding of the fact, but the rest of us probably do – these are historic days.
After the game, Graham Potter purred about Brighton’s second-half performance and you can see why. Gone were the defensive frailties, the occasional tendency to overplay (and thus become easy to defend) and the farcical ability to miss the chances they do create. Brighton were efficient, penetrative and yet controlled. This was Potter’s blueprint.
A word too for Moses Caicedo who, like Enoch Mwepu, had to wait for his chance in the Brighton starting XI but made his first Premier League start in the win at Arsenal last month and has stayed in the team ever since. His first touch, awareness of teammates around him and intent on shifting the ball forward make him very easy to warm to. Sell Yves Bissouma for big money and play with Caicedo and Mwepu as a partnership next season?
Burnley
Congratulations to ALK Capital, an owner around whom there are massive questions regarding investment and the debt taken on by Burnley at the time of the takeover. They made a huge call in sacking Sean Dyche, to the mockery of most pundits, but it has proven to be a masterstroke. Burnley are not safe yet, but there are at least two more clubs now more likely to join Watford and Norwich in the Championship.
Saturday’s win at Vicarage Road was particularly interesting because it was highly unusual. Before this weekend, Burnley had a weird blind spot for scoring late goals. In their previous 73 league games, a run stretching back to July 2020, they had scored three goals in the final 10 minutes of their league games. By way of comparison, Watford had scored twice as many and they spent last season in the Championship.
Just another way that Mike Jackson and Ben Mee have masterminded a transformation. Under Dyche, Burnley would surely have lacked the belief to kick on and score twice in the last 10 minutes. Burnley did not sit on their equaliser, happy to take a point from the jaws of defeat. They pushed on and grabbed their due rewards.
As it is, Burnley scored twice in the final 10 minutes of a match for the first time since November 2019. Their opponents on that day? Watford. The ground? Vicarage Road. Love it when a plan comes together.
Chelsea
The fact that Arsenal and Tottenham still have to play each other means that Chelsea probably are safely in next season’s Champions League, but their campaign is certainly ending with a whimper. Defeat at Everton makes it seven points from their last six league games. Against Brentford and Arsenal they were defensively shambolic. Against Manchester United and Everton they were wasteful in attack.
Firstly, starting 10 of the same players who started at Old Trafford on Thursday evening was a surprise move from Tuchel, given that Everton had a full week to prepare. Everton had more cause, fighting for their survival, but the ease in which they harried Chelsea was a little disturbing for Tuchel.
And the striker problem isn’t going away. Tuchel appears to have totally given up on Romelu Lukaku, who wasn’t even brought on as a substitute against his old club despite Chelsea trailing and their attackers toiling. If that is the end of the relationship, we must remember that Tuchel did not inherit Lukaku; he pushed for his signing for £98m.
Instead Tuchel is determined to build around a partnership between Timo Werner and Kai Havertz – the pair started once together in the Premier League until the beginning of March and in seven games since. The 6-0 victory at Southampton showed how well they could work alongside Mason Mount.
But neither are prolific. Werner has 10 goals in 55 games for Chelsea and is now seemingly playing the role of selfless working striker rather than finisher. Havertz has roughly the same record – 11 in 53 – and is able to get into promising positions. Unfortunately his finishing is inexact.
Tuchel may well have eyes on trying to solve the issue in the summer, but it seems a little mad that Chelsea have five forwards (Lukaku, Werner, Havertz, Ziyech and Pulisic) that cost more than £310m in transfer fees and none of them have managed more than seven league goals this season.
Crystal Palace
Another team with a blind spot that they addressed on Saturday with a 2-1 win at Southampton. In Crystal Palace’s case, they have recently been dreadful at coming from behind to win matches. Between the start of 2020 and this weekend, they had won only two matches after falling behind, a 2-1 win at Newcastle United in February 2021 and a 3-2 home win against Aston Villa in May of the same year.
That really is astonishing for a team that had trailed so often. By way of example, Everton – that broken, messy club – have done it three times this season alone. For some reason, Palace lacked the fight to mount fightbacks and, when they did, they often settled for one point rather than three.
Everton
Jordan Pickford seems to come in for an awful lot of stick from Premier League supporters. There is something within his personality that jars with people, even though he is not arrogant and simply looks like he has fun playing football. Perhaps it is partly the cost of playing for England that everyone immediately seeks reasons for you to be dropped even though he has never let his country down. Or perhaps it is simply a very British trait to mistrust – and even dislike – enthusiasm and individuality.
Whatever the reason, Pickford has stepped up when it matters. He was superb at 0-0 against Manchester United before Everton took the lead, was their best player against Leicester City to earn a fortunate draw and was comfortably man of the match in the 1-0 win over Chelsea, including one of the best saves you will see all season. When Frank Lampard needed heroes, Pickford has put his hand up higher than most.
Leeds
There is not a great deal to say about a defeat to Manchester City, particularly given that Leeds actually competed pretty well until City’s second goal. But that will not stop Leeds supporters panicking after the worst possible weekend of results.
Everton’s win means they are two points behind with a game in hand. Burnley’s resurgence leaves them ahead of Leeds on goal difference and, if that becomes crucial, Leeds have little chance of making up the ground. It seems a crazy thing to say about a team that had taken 11 points from their previous five games before losing to the best team in the country, but Leeds are now the favourites to be relegated with Watford and Norwich.
Leicester
There is little point being too harsh after a reserve team lost away to a Big Six side virtually at full strength, but it is fair to say that few of Leicester’s fringe players have made the case for an extended run in the side. I was excited to see how Boubakary Soumaré might take to Premier League football. After his first season, the answer seems to be “doesn’t really tackle much or pass the ball progressively”.
But if we are permitted to make one sweeping conclusion, it is that Leicester should move Ayoze Perez on this summer. There is a decent footballer in there somewhere, but Perez is now 28, has been at Leicester for almost three years and it’s still not obvious how he fits in other than as first reserve in a few positions. He spends far too much of every game being nudged off the ball before claiming a foul and he has contributed six league goals and assists since the beginning of last season.
Liverpool
Rotation is a fascinating concept. Its most obvious advantage needs little explanation, allowing those in the first team to save themselves for future exploits. There is also obvious risk: the more players you leave out, the more chance that an opponent troubles you and makes the experiment look foolish.
But the best element of rotation lies not in preserving energy but in creating an environment in which the attack loses none of its potency and the defence none of its security no matter which players are picked. Rotate enough, and work enough on it in training, and players feel totally at ease with each other. You still risk losing individual quality, but then the system is the whole of the truth anyway.
That is what Jurgen Klopp has done so brilliantly at Liverpool. If this squad feels deeper than Manchester City’s (and I think it now does) it is because you could pick any three of five forwards and barely harm your chances of causing danger, or any one of three partners for Virgil van Dijk and retain the same confidence of keeping a clean sheet. And that is before you cover Naby Keita, Fabinho, Jordan Henderson, Thiago Alcantara and James Milner in midfield.
It might not make Liverpool favourites for the title this season, but it is that attribute that has fuelled their pursuit of an unprecedented quadruple. Liverpool have played 56 games in all competitions this season. Only one of their outfield players has started more than 75 per cent of them.
Man City
Rodri is easy to overlook at Manchester City (and I’m aware of the irony of singling a defensive midfielder out for praise as he embarks upon a goalscoring streak). It is the whirring parts of this team – the flitting attacking midfielders, the nominal centre forward, wherever it is Joao Cancelo pops up next – that catch the eye. The central midfielder that sits and protects and plays simple passes feels a bit passé in comparison.
In December, Pep Guardiola explained that he and assistant manager Juanma Lillo had been working with Rodri to get him to move less. There was a tendency to try and firefight a little, dashing off towards the ball to get involved. Instead, Guardiola said, you learned to be a protector with your positioning rather than your action.
Rodri is clearly a passing metronome. Four of the five players with the most completed passes this season play for City – Virgil van Dijk is the exception. Rodri has completed almost 500 more than any other midfielder and his completion rate is higher than any too. He does not only play safe passes; the ones that break the lines to attacking midfielders are crucial in creating overlaps and precious metres of space.
But this is more detail than we need. Simply look at City’s results with and without Rodri this season to understand his importance (particularly given Fernandinho’s decline). They have won 80 per cent of their games with him in the team, but only six of the 13 matches that he hasn’t started. Those six vanquished opponents include Peterborough, Norwich, Fulham and Wycombe.
Man Utd
Manchester United won’t win any trophies with kids this season, but it might be nice for them to try and win the odd match with them. Who knows – it might even generate a little positivity.
What does Ralf Rangnick have to lose? He has a raft of injuries, including Jadon Sancho, Harry Maguire, Aaron Wan Bissaka, Paul Pogba and Aaron Wan Bissaka. He has a larger collection of first-team players who seem unable to produce on an individual level or click with teammates and, worst of all, don’t seem that bothered about moving heaven and earth to try.
With United ruled out of the race for the top four, there is an argument that Erik ten Hag would be better off without Thursday night assignments anway. And those who step into the team could hardly do much worse. Hannibal Mejbri was the only one who showed any heart against Liverpool, albeit wildly.
If United lose at home against Brentford, but give starts to three or four of the teenagers on the fringes of the first-team squad, what is really the issue? This season is a write-off anyway, those young players would gain precious first-team experience and they might set the tone for a few more established names around them. The Old Trafford crowd would certainly be more enthused to see them.
Newcastle
Eddie Howe’s success in overturning a period of wretched form when he first took charge was clearly platformed by January investment, but it also spoke of the improvement in a number of individuals whose future at the club looked insecure due to the wealth of their new owners: Joelinton, Emil Krafth, Fabian Schar, Matt Ritchie. The two went hand in hand: the investment helped to change the mood and Howe helped to change the players.
The caveat to that improvement was that Newcastle didn’t actually beat a high-class opponent. That didn’t really matter – when you only need points every win is worth the same. But the list of sides Newcastle beat between January and April: Aston Villa, Everton, Leeds, Brentford, Brighton, Southampton, Wolves, Leicester, Crystal Palace, Norwich. They had lost to Chelsea (in unfortunate circumstances) and been thrashed by Tottenham.
Newcastle’s new extreme wealth makes fixtures against the best teams in the league particularly fascinating because it is clear that their owners aim to compete with such clubs. And on Saturday, there was no competition. Jurgen Klopp made changes and Liverpool were still ludicrously dominant in terms of possession and chances. This was Newcastle’s lowest expected goals total in a league game since March 2021. At times, Liverpool’s complete control was a little humbling.
It will be fascinating to learn how rapid the Saudis expect improvement to be. They have not bought a team to finish in mid-table and this squad is not talented or deep enough to do much better, albeit Howe has done a fine job since January. You wonder if results and performances such as this reinforce the talent gap between the best and the rest and convince the owners that they should be a little more ambitious in the summer. Either way, it will make for transfixing viewing.
Norwich City
There are two myths of Norwich City’s season that most supporters are keen to express to those who will listen: 1) that relegation was always inevitable and 2) that the club’s off-field work, which received great praise last season, is immune from criticism.
There is no doubt that Norwich shifted their behaviour from their last relegation season to this. In 2019-20, Norwich barely bought a player at all and kept faith with the same manager. The theory was that Premier League broadcasting revenues and parachute payments would allow them to come back stronger having refused to over-stretch financially in the Premier League.
But Norwich didn’t come back stronger. They were still reliant on Teemu Pukki for goals, they were still grossly incapable of conceding goals in twos and three rather than noughts and ones. While Brentford flourished during their first season after promotion, Norwich look likely to finish bottom again. They took 21 points last time, losing their last 10 games. They are on 21 points with four games remaining.
Perhaps the explanation is that Norwich drifted too far to the other extreme. In the summer of 2019, they bought one player for a transfer fee (Sam Byram from West Ham). In the summer of 2021, they bought six players for transfer fees between £5m and £10m and recruited five more on loan from top-flight clubs. In 2019, the squad stayed together; in 2021 they sold Emi Buendia and released seven players on free transfers.
When you combine that huge turnover of players with things that sat outside their control – a preseason dominated by Covid-19 cases and a fixture list that had them facing four of the Big Six in their first four games – Norwich lost their way in the autumn. They took two points from their first 10 games, made the decision to sack Daniel Farke and that was basically that for staying up. Dean Smith was largely appointed to achieve automatic promotion in 2022-23.
Hindsight brings with it clarity, but Norwich would surely have been better off with a halfway house approach. Rather than recruiting nine permanent and loan players for £60m, they should have tried to buy four players to form a new spine for £70m – two central defenders, creative midfielder, competition/support for Pukki. There were options; alternative players were mentioned who Norwich refused to pay the money for. Now they are left roughly where they started. The good news is that they may well be too good for the Championship with the same squad (see Fulham, 2021-22).
Southampton
You don’t have to listen to Ralph Hasenhuttl for long to realise that he is probably quite looking forward to the end of the season.
“Maybe we are not good enough,” Hasenhuttl said after a fourth home defeat in five. “Certainly our opponent wasn’t that good. I expected more from my guys – [Armando] Broja’s not what he was – and we lacked quality. Everything has to change.”
He is probably right. The early-season form of Broja, consistency of Tino Livramento and set-piece brilliance of James Ward-Prowse have offered some reason for cheer, but this has been another slog of a campaign for Southampton. They have not been higher than ninth all season, lost three in a row as soon as they got there, haven’t won more than twice in a row since November 2020 and have scored 22 home goals in 18 games this season.
Hasenhuttl is going to get change, whether it is the type he is after or not. Livramento will be out until the end of the year. Broja’s loan contract ends next month. Jack Stephens and Shane Long are out of contract and so too are all first-team goalkeepers. With six first-teamers only having a year left on their deals (Walcott, Redmond, Elyounoussi, Romeu, Valery and Djenepo), there are big decisions to be made. And that is before someone comes in for Ward-Prowse.
With the buzz of January’s takeover by Sport Republic dampened a little by their insistence that they were happy with the way the club was being run, this promises to be a massive summer at St Mary’s. It is hardly unthinkable that Hasenhuttl gets a little fed up and Southampton get dragged into trouble next season. At best they are going to nudge past last season’s points total of 43.
Tottenham
The sound was deeply enjoyable, a thick, hard thud as Cristian Romero’s boot made contact with the ball. It seemed to create its own echo despite being in open space. Caglar Soyuncu, dispossessed in midfield, for a moment considered staying on the ground and claiming a foul. He decided against it. Who was he fooling – he loves a challenge like that.
It will not go down as an assist. It will be forgotten by many Tottenham supporters in the coming weeks, over a series of desperately important matches that will determine the success of their season and, potentially, the future of their manager. But Antonio Conte will remember that tackle. Ten yards away from him, Romero seized control of the game. Seven seconds later, his team were 2-0 up and safe.
This was not vintage Tottenham; it barely needed to be. Before the game, former midfielder David Howells – of the 1991 FA Cup final vintage – was interviewed on the pitch and identified the biggest frustration of this Tottenham team – the slow starts. He dutifully admitted that he was speaking in cliches, but cliches made sense. Tottenham have allowed their recent opponents a foothold, something to grasp onto.
And they did it again. Brendan Rodgers had made wholesale changes, reflecting Leicester’s away second leg against Roma on Thursday, and yet his team enjoyed the opening 20 minutes. Tottenham’s players cleared the ball from danger but accepted the turnovers in possession that would result. The front three again struggled for cohesion, this time with Lucas Moura in for Dejan Kulusevski. Moura’s gripes about a lack of game time seem to be without logical argument, given his wandering, weak performance. Spurs ticked over 220 minutes without a shot on target.
That front three did click, eventually. It took Kulusevski’s introduction, a phenomenally complete footballer given that he only turned 22 last week, to change the game even though they already held a lead. Kulusevski’s industry, Harry Kane’s runs to create space and Son Heung-min’s exquisite composure eventually made Leicester’s stiffs look foolish.
But given that Tottenham’s three forwards seem to produce in all or nothing quantities, rarely one of them peaking without at least one of the others joining them, the temptation now is to view them as a complete collective. First it was Kane; then Kane and Son; now Kane, Son and Kulusevski.
Which makes the case for Romero as Tottenham’s most important individual. He is a fabulous blend of calmness and frantic energy. For every thrusting challenge to take the ball by force, Romero will dance in front of a forward and step clear with the ball like a pickpocket strutting in celebration. Like Kulusevski, he is also extremely rounded given his youth; a 24-year-old central defender is still a baby.
Romero is not able to control the chaos that occasionally appears in Tottenham’s defence, those times when his teammates manage to be simultaneously panicky and casual – it is quite the combination to witness. But he is increasingly becoming their most able emergency service, right place right time when a fire breaks out or a water pipe bursts open. It is on his shoulders, as much as on Kane’s and Son’s, that Tottenham’s Champions League hopes rest.
Watford
I know we keep going on about it, but we are witnessing something truly astonishing with Watford’s diabolical home record. Since beating Manchester United 4-1 in November, they have played 11 home matches and lost every single one. Even the Sunderland team of 2005-06, who took only seven points at home, only lost five at home in succession. The Derby County team that broke the record for fewest points didn’t lose more than seven at home in a row.
“There could be lots of reasons, and people would have put forward lots and lots of reasons and lots of ideas and lots of theories. But the bottom line is, we have a very good pitch, with dimensions on a pitch a little bit smaller, but not much, than Man United and Aston Villa,” said Roy Hodgson almost two months ago.
“We have a home crowd trying to do their best and cheer us on, there is absolutely no reason why we can’t give that group of supporters what they hope for, dream of. Maybe we need to get the witch doctor in.”
It is either that or some better defenders. Watford have signed 18 players this season on loan or permanent deals and three of those are centre-backs. Mattie Pollock, a £300,000 signing from non-league, has been loaned out to Cheltenham Town. Nicolas N’Koulou has played 168 league minutes. Samir has improved Watford, but only signed in January and it hasn’t been enough.
Watford are paying the price for the scattergun approach of last summer. And now they will presumably appoint another new manager in the summer and expect him to bring the group together. Ismaila Sarr was signed for £25m in August 2019 and he’s played under eight different managers.
West Ham
At the end of March, we included Jarrod Bowen on our list of “possibles” for England’s World Cup squad. He was the only uncapped player in that group, so it felt a little hasty. But if Bowen continued that form then he surely had a chance.
Since then, Bowen has scored the winner against Everton, the crucial first goal against Lyon in the Europa League, another goal against Lyon in the second leg and an equaliser against Arsenal. He’s played in eight matches since the beginning of April and yet doesn’t seem to get tired, can play centrally as well as cutting in from the right and now has 25 goals and assists in all competitions this season.
I vehemently don’t agree with David Moyes’ continued insistence on picking first-team players in the matches immediately before and after their massive European ties, but Bowen really is the type of forward who looks like he would be happy to run all night. The Championship remains an excellent place to find value.
Wolves
With each dispiriting result towards the end of the season, our assessment of Bruno Lage becomes more and more difficult. There was the slow start, four defeats in his first five league games. Then the subsequent march forward, ended with a weird run of four games without a goal (including against Burnley and Norwich). A start to 2022 that created genuine hope of a top-four finish has now given way to a little grumpiness among supporters. Wolves have taken nine points from their last 10 league games and have failed to score in half of those matches.
Things don’t get any more logical in the details. Wolves have won away at Manchester United and Tottenham without conceding but then conceded 10 goals in four home defeats against Brentford, Brighton, Crystal Palace and Leeds United. We credit a well-organised defence for their superb defensive record, but Jose Sa has been the best goalkeeper in the league and repeatedly bailed Wolves out.
Lage has undoubtedly done well during his first season in England. Wolves are eighth; beat Norwich at home on 15 May and they will probably secure that place. Had we been told that at the start of the season, not only would it have been heralded as significant overachievement but Lage would probably have been in the conversation for manager of the year.
Nine months later, that is exactly what has happened and yet it is hard to know where we’re at with Lage. Is he the manager who has taken Wolves forward, or is this just Nuno 2.0? Is he an excellent defensive coach or has he simply been saved by Sa? Are Wolves going to kick on again over the summer, or is he a candidate to be replaced if they start next season badly?
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