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.
At 2.45pm on Sunday, it looked as though the momentum in the Premier League title race might have been tipping towards Liverpool thanks to Jarrod Bowen’s exploits at the London Stadium.
An hour or so later, it had shifted back towards Manchester City after Pep Guardiola’s side mounted a second half comeback to cancel out Bowen’s double. A draw in east London will at least make the final day interesting, at least if Jurgen Klopp’s side keeps up their end of the bargain at St Mary’s on Tuesday.
At the opposite end of the table, nine-man Everton lost at home to Brentford and Leeds gave their survival hopes a boost with a vital 91st-minute equaliser against Brighton at Elland Road.
This weekend’s results
Sunday 15 May
- Tottenham 1-0 Burnley
- Aston Villa 1-1 Crystal Palace
- Leeds 1-1 Brighton
- Watford 1-5 Leicester
- West Ham 2-2 Man City
- Wolves 1-1 Norwich
- Everton 2-3 Brentford
Sunday 16 May
- Newcastle vs Arsenal
Tottenham, meanwhile, maintained their pressure on Arsenal by squeezing past Burnley, thanks to a Harry Kane penalty. The Gunners are in action against Newcastle on Monday night.
Arsenal
For all the fallout of Thursday night, particularly with Mikel Arteta’s latest rage at referees (despite the decision against Tottenham being correct), Arsenal’s manager must now calm them down ahead of a trip to Newcastle. In the stadium, as Tottenham supporters sang louder than I have ever heard them sing before, it did feel as if a baton had been passed for Champions League qualification.
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Arteta’s job is to point out that that is nonsensical while Arsenal still have their fate in their own hands. If their confidence was dented by the eventual humiliation at Spurs, they have the perfect opportunity to dissuade all us doubters and deflate Tottenham’s hope by winning their final two games. Do that and few Arsenal fans will remember losing 3-0 on Thursday and those that do won’t care.
Arsenal are facing a team against whom they have won 18 of their previous 19 matches, a team that has nothing to play for in terms of the league table and a team that has been extremely poor against the best teams in the league this season. Nothing less than perfection will do.
Aston Villa
If you had a pound for every time this column has ummed and ahhed over Aston Villa’s potential signing of Philippe Coutinho since January you’d have enough to enjoy your own end-of-season party. All that is now moot as the news came through that Villa have indeed completed a permanent deal.
In fairness, the maths makes sense. Villa have not paid a large transfer fee, Barcelona instead inserting a 50% sell-on clause that they should not rely upon given Coutinho’s age. Villa also persuaded him to take a huge pay cut to sign, with Coutinho insisting that he simply wants to be at a club where he will play every week.
That’s where it stops being simple. Because most Villa supporters are caught in a weird paradox whereby they are incredibly excited that their club has attracted a player of Coutinho’s clear calibre but can’t quite buy into the notion that they really need him, given Emi Buendia’s shift to the fringes of the first team.
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On Sunday, Buendia was again left on the bench and again got 20 minutes to impress. Again he offered just as much in that time than Coutinho did as a starter. Not only did Coutinho fail to create a single chance against Crystal Palace, he has now gone nine Premier League matches without providing a goal or assist.
By way of comparison, Buendia has a goal and two assists in his last 132 minutes. Steven Gerrard must at least work on an attacking strategy that involves them both next season, and even consider leaving Coutinho on the bench on occasion. He should not be an automatic pick.
Brentford
We’ll have a lot more on Brentford’s season as a whole next week in a bumper season review version of this column but look at their second goal to identify the reasons why Thomas Frank’s side have stayed up with such ease.
At the corner, one Brentford player stands on the goal line half the distance between corner taker and the goal. That means Everton have to commit one player towards the edge of the penalty area to look after him but doesn’t telegraph whether it will be a short corner or not. That creates uncertainty, one of the keys to success at set-pieces.
Then, Yoane Wissa makes a run from inside the six-yard box to a position in front of the goal for a near-post delivery. Everton are so watchful of an area around the penalty spot and the player lurking short that Wissa’s sprint gives him a run on his man. The ball is played at a height where Wissa could use his head or lay the ball back with his foot to the edge of the box, a routine we have seen a few times recently in the Premier League.
Instead – and because he has got ahead of his man – Wissa flicks the ball with his head. It is a fabulous finish into the far corner, but there’s an element of fortune there. Wissa is directing the ball into an area. Get too firm a connection on the ball and it will go back towards the penalty spot where a teammate may be waiting. Apply too much power and the ball may well be flicked to the far edge of the six-yard box, where again a teammate may be waiting. Instead, Everton do not have a man on the back post and Wissa makes perfect contact to equalise.
Frank and his coaches have examined all aspects of this routine (and others too). Not only do set-pieces provide an opportunity for Brentford to get some quick wins in a division where they do not come easily (only Manchester City and Liverpool have scored more set-piece goals this season and only one team has scored a higher percentage of their goals from set-pieces), it also made the signing of Christian Eriksen, with his dead-ball delivery, an absolute masterstroke.
Brighton
Disappointing to cede a lead so late in the game (albeit against a team fighting for something tangible) and…brace yourselves for this…Brighton did miss a clutch of chances in the first half. But Graham Potter’s team have now completed their away league campaign and have taken 29 points.
That is how we must judge the progress of this team under this manager. In 2017-18, their first season after promotion, Brighton finished bottom of a Premier League away table with 11 points and scored only 10 times. In subsequent seasons they won three, four and five away league games. Under Potter this season, Brighton have won seven away games and have a positive goal difference away from home.
This is the headline statistic: Brighton have lost fewer away league games this season than anyone in the Premier League bar Manchester City, Chelsea and Liverpool. They may occasionally want to make us shake them to reassert the importance of a goalscorer and may just as often make their supporters scream in frustration, but Brighton are doing things the right way and doing them well.
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Burnley
Last Monday, we wondered whether Burnley’s triumvirate of interim head coaches might consider going to back to “old Burnley”. Those three had masterminded a resurgence after the sacking of Sean Dyche, a more free-flowing, expansive and possession-heavy style that had caught several teams off guard. But the 3-1 home defeat to Aston Villa had raised concerns that they had thrown the baby out with the bathwater.
At Tottenham, we got our answer. Burnley did not take anything from the match (see the Tottenham section for analysis of why) but they produced pretty much the perfect performance otherwise. The managers made three changes and clearly instructed their players to sit deep and defend the penalty area. The wing-backs stayed deep and pushed Spurs not just out wide but 25 yards from their own goal. The best Tottenham chances came from pull-backs close to the goal line; the plan was to pack the middle and force crosses from deep and wide. Nick Pope was magnificent.
But Burnley did not only defend. Playing with three central defenders determined that one of them needed to step out and play progressive passes. Nathan Collins had that role and did it brilliantly. He created one excellent chance for Maxwel Cornet with a through ball and set up the same player for a half-chance after the break.
Given that they probably need four points at least from their final two games to stay up, it will be interesting to see if Burnley stick with this approach against Aston Villa in midweek. If so, perhaps playing Weghorst alongside Barnes and Cornet off him with Dwight McNeil being allowed to roam might be the best option?
Chelsea
Chelsea’s next league game is against Leicester on Thursday.
Crystal Palace
This is the time of the season to be trying something new, so it was pleasing to see Patrick Vieira try out a back five for the first time at Crystal Palace. Cheikhou Kouyate was included in the back three, which would surely change if they continued the experiment next season, but it did allow Tyrick Mitchell to push forward more often. Nathaniel Clyne is hardly a natural wing-back these days, but he made it work.
The most interesting thing about this shape is that Vieira picked Eberechi Eze as one of the three central midfielders. Eze has usually operated in wide areas, but with Wilfried Zaha and Michael Olise also comfortable doing that and with Conor Gallagher presumably leaving Palace for good after next week, it does open up space for a creative central midfielder. Given that Palace are unlikely to be able to replace Gallagher’s quality easily in the transfer market, Eze might be a good option.
Everton
There is plenty to say about Everton shooting themselves in the foot again having taken an early lead, about Richarlison and Dominic Calvert-Lewin both hobbling around the pitch in the final few minutes, about working out who plays in central defence against Crystal Palace, about just how big that game could be and about whether the flares and street party to welcome the players might have influenced the manic decisions that followed.
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But we can only talk about Salomon Rondon, a man who will leave Goodison this summer and was sent on with six minutes of normal time remaining to try and find a crucial equaliser. If that substitution was Frank Lampard desperately (and very reasonably) rolling the dice, he probably didn’t expect Rondon to jump into a two-footed challenge for precisely no reason and get himself sent off 220 seconds after entering the pitch.
And if that wasn’t one of the moments of the season (and it was), Rondon then proceeded to applaud the Goodison crowd and got a high-five from his manager before he went down the tunnel. Presumably because Lampard was thanking him for removing the temptation to bring him on against Palace or Arsenal.
Leeds United
After 88 minutes at Elland Road, the atmosphere was horrible. Jesse Marsch’s side had created some chances but the game was dwindling away and so were their hopes of staying up. Supporters had had enough; they chanted first Marcelo Bielsa’s name and then that members of the board should be sacked for the way in which they have managed this season. First came the perceived lack of investment, particularly adding depth to a small, tired squad, then the sacking of Bielsa. If they were going to go down, they might as well have kept their hero.
Leeds do have a chance. The crowd at Elland Road can be difficult for a home player when things aren’t going well, but there are few places in the country where you will witness a noise as loud per capita as here in the big moments of bigger games. Pascal Struijk’s late header takes them out of the relegation zone. More importantly, it gives their season new life.
Leeds are still favourites to go down. They must watch Aston Villa vs Burnley on Thursday night through their fingers and possibly from behind the sofa, begging for a home win. If Burnley pick up anything, Leeds will need to better Burnley’s result on the final day with a harder fixture and with any momentum Struijk clawed back lost at sea.
But if Villa can do them an almighty favour, Leeds’ fate is somehow in their own hands again. Whether you consider them capable or likely to keep hold of it or let it smash onto the floor probably depends on your view of Jesse Marsch and the propensity of this club to make it hard for themselves, but for the neutral, it means that the relegation fight is going down to the last day. And that’s all we ever wanted.
Leicester City
You might not think it matters and so the result was meaningless, but Sunday was probably one of Leicester’s most enjoyable away days of the season and a boost for Brendan Rodgers after several tricky weeks.
One of the criticisms of Rodgers is that his football has become a bit turgid at Leicester, often too predictable and even a little risk-averse. You don’t get to play Watford away every weekend (more’s the pity for every Premier League club), but Leicester released the handbrake a little and became expansive. Evidence for that lies in them allowing Watford to have a higher expected goals figure than they themselves created.
But when you have Jamie Vardy and two excellent attacking midfielders, that approach can pay off. If it leaves space at the back but allows James Maddison and Harvey Barnes to stay high up the pitch where they can create so much danger, it makes sense. That is Leicester’s strength; they should maximise it.
If you aren’t going to finish in the top six every season (and Rodgers is right to point out that even a top eight finish is above Leicester’s reasonable expectation), you might as well try and have a little fun and buy patience and faith from supporters that way. This was the first time that Leicester fans have seen their team score five in 14 months.
Liverpool
Liverpool’s next league game is against Southampton on Tuesday.
Man City
A good result or a bad result? A brilliant comeback or a lamentable first half? A missed penalty that will come back to haunt Manchester City over this summer or simply a slight delay on their fourth league title in five years? Answers on a postcard after one of the most extraordinary Premier League matches of the season.
Firstly, Pep Guardiola got it wrong (and his lack of substitutions has become an inadvertent admission of that fact). By choosing Aymeric Laporte (is he really fit?) and Fernandinho as a central defensive pairing and leaving Nathan Ake on the bench, City lacked pace at the back. That doesn’t normally matter because Kyle Walker usually mops up brilliantly and may well have done the same for both of Jarrod Bowen’s goals on Sunday. But without Walker, Bowen knew that once he got through, nobody would catch him.
City were dreadfully one-paced in the first half in possession, too much of the slow passing rather than quick interchanges in the final third. Neither Riyad Mahrez nor Jack Grealish took on Aaron Cresswell or Vladimir Coufal often enough, instead passing the ball backwards. With a deep defence plus Tomas Soucek and Declan Rice, West Ham were able to suffocate the match.
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But there was a mentality issue too. City repeatedly lost second balls in their own half and were badly positioned to stop both Michail Antonio and Jarrod Bowen from either picking the ball up in space or being able to drive directly at City’s defence. Given the magnitude of the match, that was unforgivable.
The recovery was impressive, no doubt. The end result was a net positive, even if Mahrez’s late penalty miss leaves a sour note for Guardiola because with it went the chance to effectively win the title with a game to spare. City know what they must do: beat Villa to win the league.
But given the nervousness they showed on Sunday (the second half contained moments of self-inflicted panic too) and the motivation of Steven Gerrard to hand his own former team the title, Guardiola will rue the missed opportunity. More of that next weekend and it will be grotesquely tense afternoon.
Man United
Manchester UNited’s next league game is against Crystal Palace on Sunday.
Newcastle
As Newcastle look to establish themselves amongst the Premier League’s elite, aided by the probability of the Premier League having five Champions League places from 2024 onwards, Eddie Howe’s record against the Big Six is going to be crucial.
It’s something that he’s really going to have to improve. In his managerial career, Howe has faced Big Six opponents 74 times. His return of nine wins and 35 points at a rate of 0.47 points per game is particularly low. Four of the nine wins have come against Chelsea; against the other five the points per game record drops to 0.36.
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Monday offers an excellent chance to improve that record and set the tone ahead of a busy summer in the transfer market.
Norwich
Is it important in the great scheme of things? Probably not. But Norwich have at least avoided a repeat of 2019-20, when they lost their last 10 games of the season to fall limply into the Championship.
A draw away at Wolves – who themselves have tailed off badly – is not cause for wild celebration, but those supporters who travel great distances to watch Norwich away from home demanded some fight and they got that.
After five straight league defeats, four without scoring, Dean Smith will insist that his team try and cause a final stir before going down by making life mighty difficult for Tottenham next weekend.
Southampton
Southampton’s next league game is against Liverpool on Tuesday.
Tottenham
It’s a penalty. It might have provoked the frustrated ire of Ashley Barnes and led to Arsenal supporters on social media thumbing through their book of conspiracy theories, but it’s a penalty. As soon as Kevin Friend was instructed to go to the VAR screen (and he’s blameless for not giving it in real time) there was only one likely outcome. Barnes’ arm was in an unnatural position, which shifted the burden of proof regarding his proximity to the ball.
But the introduction of VAR and, with it, the lowering of the bar for penalties to be awarded for incidents like this does create an uncomfortable situation regarding the award of penalties for incidents like this. If we can broadly agree that an offence was committed, can anyone really say that the offence merits a huge opportunity for a team to score? Put simply, does the punishment match the crime?
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This goes back to one of football’s unique elements, namely the importance of its “scores”. In, say basketball, an offence of this type being penalised would matter far less – and thus cause far less controversy – because it creates a scoring situation in a sport where teams roughly score 110 points on average. But in a sport where there are around 2.6 scores per game, penalties are a huge opportunity to make a massive difference to the outcome. There are no recorded or admitted cases of managers playing for penalties as a tactic, but it must figure in their thinking.
I don’t know how you solve this. The laws of the game cannot differentiate between specific types of incident that come with a limitless variety. You can argue for a higher bar for penalties but then that might allow for teams deliberately committing lesser offences that feels unsportsmanlike but becomes a viable strategy. My personal view would be for the abolition of VAR or a far lower bar for its involvement (remember the “eliminating clear and obvious error” talk?), but even that comes deeply laced with subjectivity.
Watford
An afternoon to sum up what a wasted season this has been for Watford, if you ignore the broadcasting revenues and subsequent parachute payments that will presumably be used to fund a promotion bid next season. New manager Rob Edwards was paraded before the game and will not take charge until after the season has finished, but let’s hope he brought a second notepad if he was jotting down the work that needs doing.
First the home record, not quite record-breakingly bad after the 0-0 draw with Everton but still absolutely wretched. Watford have taken eight points at Vicarage Road this season, one more than Sunderland’s record. One of their two wins came on the opening day against Aston Villa and the other marked the end of Ole Gunnar Solskjaer’s tenure as Manchester United manager.
Next, the defence. In conceding five times to Leicester, Watford recorded the highest number of home goals conceded in a top-flight season since 1961, all the more impressive given that they only played 19 home matches. They take Swindon Town’s Premier League record, set over a 21-game home season. Watford supporters predicted this – they urged the club to invest in defenders last summer and have been proven right.
Finally, the chance conversion. As Watford’s season progressed, they became far worse at finishing their chances, exacerbating the defensive problems. Since scoring in six successive league games in November and December, Watford have been woefully profligate in 2022. They have attempted 196 shots since the turn of the year and scored just 10 goals. Across the whole season, that would have made them the least efficient team in the league at converting shots to goals.
West Ham
Jarrod Bowen may have been omitted from England’s last senior squad, but there’s surely no way that Gareth Southgate can ignore him now. You can see Southgate’s point until now: he plays with a specific shape to get the best out of Harry Kane and Raheem Sterling and almost always operates with a right-footed player on the right wing. But Bowen at least deserves a chance to prove that he belongs in England’s World Cup squad as a game-changing substitute.
You certainly cannot doubt the numbers. Bowen has 22 league goals and assists this season. He has actually created fewer chances in the league than both Michail Antonio and Pablo Fornals, but that overlooks the way in which he hangs on the shoulder of the last defender on the right wing to stretch the game. He’s also a very willing worker who could operate in a team that presses high up the pitch. Again, he dovetails very well with Fornals in that regard.
The left-footed right winger could work for England, even if Southgate’s options means that he has Phil Foden and Bukayo Saka who could also carry out the role and who are already near certainties in England’s World Cup squad. The home Nations League game against Hungary in June offers an excellent chance to start him and see just what he can offer.
Wolves
More of the same, as one of the weirdest Premier League seasons in recent memory draws to a close. Between 26 September and 23 February, a period that covered more than half of the league season, Wolves took the joint-third most points behind Liverpool and Manchester City (and level with Chelsea). Since 23 February, a period that will stretch to three months by the end of the season, they sit fourth bottom of the Premier League having played more games than Southampton, Norwich and Watford below them.
It’s hard to make sense of that, beyond (probably unfairly) concluding that Bruno Lage simply ran with a period in which he established a great team spirit within the squad after the Nuno era ground to a halt and is now suffering from some of the same issues that brought Nuno down.
These last two months have been tortuous, bad enough to offer evidence that Lage will begin next season under a little pressure. Losing heavily to Manchester City is no cause for concern (and drawing against Chelsea from 2-0 down was clearly a step back in the right direction), but Wolves have played Leeds, Newcastle, Burnley, Brighton and Norwich and picked up a single point.
More squad depth is clearly needed, particularly if Ruben Neves is going to be subject to serious summer interest. Lage must work out whether Raul Jimenez is the same striker he was before his head injury or needs to be used in a slightly different way. Jorge Mendes will again be leaned upon for his contacts list.
But Lage will begin next season with supporters keen to see that he has learnt the mistakes of this half season. He cannot rely upon the continued (and extreme) overperformance of Jose Sa and he must find a way to break down teams that sit deep. If not, Wolves will not match this league season in 2022-23.
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