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The first edition of this column this season with all 20 clubs covered after what felt a particularly spicy and effervescent Premier League weekend. Still, Manchester City have a two-point lead at the top already so somethings remain familiar, if not necessarily comforting. The same is true at the bottom, where the seven teams who were the seven shortest odds for relegation are already in formation.
The result of the weekend came at St James’, where Liverpool improbably overturned a one goal and one man disadvantage to beat Newcastle, despite all of their defensive frailties rushing to the surface during the first half. Fulham also hit back with ten men, this time to get a draw at the Emirates.
Manchester United were the only team to win with a numerical advantage (3-2 against Forest having been 2-0 down), whereas Wolves won the first six-pointer of the season against Everton. None of the three promoted teams have yet picked up a single point.
This weekend’s results
Friday
Saturday
- Bournemouth 0-2 Tottenham
- Arsenal 2-2 Fulham
- Brentford 1-1 Crystal Palace
- Everton 0-1 Wolves
- Man Utd 3-2 Nottingham Forest
- Brighton 1-3 West Ham
Sunday
- Burnley 1-3 Aston Villa
- Sheff Utd 1-2 Man City
- Newcastle 1-2 Liverpool
Man City
Two quick things to say here:
1) A year ago, Manchester City would have drawn this game. Then, missing chances used to create a pervading sense of “we’re going to pay for this” and conceding goals seemed to shove them into mini-meltdown. Now it just causes a deep offense that City’s players intend to rectify and generally do post-haste. They are mentality monsters as well as being aesthetes and athletes.
2) City are are least prepared to give everybody else a chance with their penalty-taking record. From Opta: Manchester City have only converted 70% of their penalties in the Premier League under Pep Guardiola, the lowest percentage of any team to have taken at least 30 in the competition under a manager.
Premier League table
West Ham
This fixture was the nadir of West Ham’s 2022-23 league season, amid some competition. They tried to soak up Brighton’s pressure and failed. They tried to guard the flanks and failed. They tried to play on the counter and failed because Danny Ings was leading the line and he neither had the strength to worry defenders nor the pace to take them on. Jarrod Bowed was left shorn of the ball and of belief. Declan Rice looked broken at full-time after a 4-0 defeat with no silver linings.
On Saturday evening, West Ham doubled down on the same strategy but made it work. They completed just 31 passes in the first half and yet it made total sense because Bowen and Michail Antonio worked in fabulous combination. Antonio pressed to force mistakes, as for the first goal. Bowen was the ball carrier on the counter attack.
But the biggest difference was in the energy of the players. By 4 March, Brighton away last year was already West Ham’s 37th competitive game of the season and they would have to play 20 more. Only one player in the 4-0 last season made more than one tackle; Brighton beat West ham because there was no resistance to their flow. On Saturday, five different West Ham players made more than one tackle. As individuals and as a collective, they forced Brighton into making difficult choices which they then exploited when mistakes were made.
Welcome to the West Ham rollercoaster. A fortnight ago, there were mass complaints about the owner and manager and doubts about how low the club might sink. Now they have beaten Chelsea and Brighton and signed two midfielders, a central defender and have Mohammed Kudus, one of the most exciting attacking talents in European football, on the way.
Tottenham
I’m going to save the most effusive praise for a little further down the line (it’s Tottenham, we’ve all been burned a thousand times before by a brief glimpse of promise), but there are two things we really must say after the first three matches of the Ange Postecoglou era:
1) Last season, Tottenham ranked 10th in the division for touches of the ball in the final third of the pitch, despite having one of the best front threes in the league who they should have been trying to service. Antonio Conte claimed that he had no choice because the players were not good enough, not clever enough or not hard-working enough to play any other way.
This season so far, Tottenham rank fourth for touches in the final third (and that’s even after losing their best attacker and having to rebuild). They are playing quicker, they are playing with more energy and they are playing in a more attacking style.
These players have not changed. Those who are new to the team are not revolutionary upgrades on their predecessors. They are simply motivated and seem to enjoy playing under a different manager. That matters.
2) It is a joy for the neutral to have an interesting Tottenham Hotspur back and with a manager who doesn’t offer the impression that coaching this group of players is some penance he is paying or some stepping stone to something better.
Liverpool
Look, I know that we are already way too deep into the refereeing vs tribalism saga that threatens to sap all enjoyment out of football on social media. And I know that Mike Dean made things instantly ten times worse through his own big mouth and bad opinions. But not every red card has to be this social media mega-event that causes wild accusations and general mania.
If you kick through a player to get the ball, even if you do get the ball eventually, it is a foul. If you commit a foul and deny an obvious goalscoring opportunity outside the penalty area – which we usually describe as “being the last man” – it’s a red card. Virgil van Dijk did both of those things.
And yet instantly, all hell breaks loose. You get accusations of corruption against Liverpool by supporters who presumably missed the bit of the match when Trent Alexander-Arnold was lucky not to be sent off (although, the way he played, Newcastle probably didn’t mind too much). We are in the age when everything must be controversial because it plays into our tribalist psyche. These people aren’t interested in “correct” decisions, whatever they say. They’re interested in self-interest.
This season there is an attempt to clamp down on dissent and abuse of officials (my personal view is that this has gone too far already – lots of supporters believe that officials “deserve” the abuse or caveat their criticism of it). If that is going to work, we need to come down hard on those who openly swear in the referee’s face and refuse to immediately leave the field after being sent off. Van Dijk did both of those things too and should have his ban extended.
Arsenal
These are very early days in his Arsenal career and he has played as the widest of the three midfielders (a new position) in front of three different left-backs in three league games, but I think we still need to talk about Kai Havertz’s start to life at the Emirates.
“Yes, I think so,” said Mikel Arteta after the draw against Fulham, when asked whether Havertz would eventually win over Arsenal supporters. That all sounds a little hyperbolic, but Havertz was indeed met with grumbles and moans when substituted on Saturday. This is not how anyone wanted it to begin.
“I think he’s already done really good things,” Arteta continued. “Today it was tough in certain moments. He got in great areas and the ball didn’t arrive. In a lot of situations he should have scored a lot of goals already this season. That’s the thing that is missing.”
I’m not really buying that. Havertz has had four shots in three games with a combined xG total of 0.3, roughly the same as Jakub Kiwior. Arteta is certainly right that Havertz is not receiving the ball in dangerous areas: Martin Odegaard has had 107 touches in the final third so far this season, Havertz just 59. Havertz’s average of 50 touches per 90 minutes is also lower than every Arsenal outfield player other than Eddie Nketiah. Wasn’t the point that dropping him deeper would get him more involved than at Chelsea?
But that’s as much about Havertz not showing for the ball and not helping the attack when he does as any fault of the service. Arsenal have flourished under Arteta since the start of last season because of their ability to spark quick attacks with fast, efficient transitions by forward-thinking players. Havertz isn’t really doing that.
Progressive passing distance calculates the total passing yards by each player towards the opponents goal. Understandably, defensive players tend to have the highest numbers because they have more passing options in front of them. But, even though Havertz has been operating deeper, his progressive passing doesn’t match that. Odegaard’s figure is 145 yards per 90 minutes and Bukayo Saka’s is 149. Havertz’s is just 90.
Too often against Fulham (and it was noticeable in the other two games too), Havertz chose the backward pass rather than backing himself to progress the move quickly, either by taking on a player or choosing a higher-risk, higher-value, higher-difficulty passing option. And when you spend £65m on an advanced playmaker, that’s not really good enough.
Brighton
After the 3-1 home defeat to West Ham, Roberto De Zerbi was at pains to point out that everyone has been getting far too carried away with Brighton’s form since losing their first-choice central midfielders. It’s a point I made last week: the absence of Moises Caicedo and Alexis Mac Allister has led to Brighton’s games being ludicrously open. De Zerbi wants to be entertaining. He doesn’t want to be consistently vulnerable to attacks.
At the recent Women’s World Cup, eventual champions Spain were humbled in the group stage by Japan in a game that was virtually an identical re-run of this fixture. Japan sat back and looked to soak up Spain’s pressure and deal with their movement (so did West Ham). Japan had 22 per cent possession (so did West Ham) but were by far the more threatening team because Spain were tempted into pushing extra players forward and left one vs one situations on the counter (so did Brighton). Japan had fewer shots but higher quality chances (just like West Ham).
We pointed out at the end of last season that Brighton should probably get used to teams sacrificing possession more emphatically against them as a means of counteracting their movement and exposing them defensively. The five games during which Brighton had the highest share of possession (Everton and Brentford at home and Forest, Crystal Palace and Brentford away) returned only two points and saw Brighton concede 14 times. Or, to put it another way: Brighton allowed more than a quarter of their conceded league goals last season in the five matches when they had most of the ball.
This season again, we see the same pattern. Against Wolves last week, Gary O’Neil’s side looked to imprint themselves on the game and had 47 per cent possession – they lost 4-1 including two counter-attacking goals. This week, West Ham sat back and had 22 per cent possession but used their own counter-attacking weapons to hurt Brighton. Until new midfielders arrive, this is the strategy every opponent should use.
Aston Villa
Unai Emery tried a different formation for the trip to Burnley, and he might have landed on a long-term solution. A back three allows Ezri Konsa to operate in the hybrid CB/RB role and he looked very assured. Pau Torres and Diego Carlos are both also comfortable in that shape.
Villa really win when it comes to the wing-backs, because allowing Lucas Digne (or Alex Moreno) and Matty Cash to attack with more cover behind them is never a bad idea. The loss of Emi Buendia’s creativity means that Emery needs to find chance creators elsewhere. In this 3-4-2-1 shape, with Moussa Diaby given license to roam wherever he pleases behind Ollie Watkins, asks the wing-backs to do much of that creating.
And scoring, it seems. Cash scored his first brace since November 2018 (for Nottingham Forest against Norwich). He had six shots in total, constantly pushing high up. Either Cash stayed near the touchline and crossed into the box, or he drifted infield towards the penalty area and allowed Diaby to drift right (see the magnificent second goal for details). On the left, Lucas Digne created two chances and got an assist.
Villa will play stiffer opposition with their new formation, but there is lots to like here. With Boubacar Kamara and Douglas Luiz in central midfield – and able to move to cover space when the wing-back is overlapping – Villa do seem to have more options in attack without leaving themselves exposed as they did against Newcastle.
Man Utd
Another flaky home win over a lower-ranking opponent that does little to shake the suspicion that Manchester United, who should by rights be a cohesive unit entering a second season without much on-pitch upheaval, look like a team of component parts. Over the first two games, some accused Mason Mount of being the problem. That isn’t the excuse in the 3-2 win over Nottingham Forest.
It’s hard to know what was more disconcerting: Manchester United in the first 10 minutes of the match or Manchester United in the last. The lack of cover against the counter attack for a second-minute corner was bizarre (how was Marcus Rashford the furthest man chasing back?). So too was the panic against 10 men in stoppage time, when Forest really could have snatched a point. Last week we discussed how Casemiro was being left exposed in midfield. This week every player seemed to be exposing each other.
The front three is an obvious problem because it looks worse with the same ingredients as last season. Antony is easily the most frustrating attacker in the country (never forget: £80m!). In five years we will look up at the television to see who has just failed to make the right run for a pass and realise that Anthony Martial is still a Manchester United striker. Rashford looks a little more like the discontented soul of 18 months ago, although had a hand in changing the game.
Still, while Erik ten Hag has Bruno Fernandes he may escape concerted pressure. The hope is that making him Manchester United captain would rid Bruno of the histrionics and issues with attitude that pockmarked last season. Initial evidence suggests that it might work a treat, and Ten Hag knows it: “He was keeping calm, with the emotions under control.”
Brentford
Brentford have avoided defeat in each of their opening three league games, so there’s no reason for anger, but it sticks in the throat when you have watched your team dominate in the first half without taking full advantage and then see them punished for that profligacy after the break.
Brentford were fluent and fluid before half-time in the 1-1 draw with Crystal Palace, but became stodgy when their opponents changed to a 4-1-2-3 system. They had only five shots after the 47th minute and all of them were blocked by defenders.
The only reason to mention it is that this was a theme of last season, particularly at home. Only Manchester City scored the first goal in more home Premier League games in 2022-23. City won 14 and drew the other; Brentford drew four and lost one of their 14. More often than not, it was because Thomas Frank’s team failed to fully exploit their dominance.
And so far this season, they have taken the lead in both home games and won neither. Is it cause for panic? No. Is it mildly frustrating? You bet.
Chelsea
Scoring against promoted teams or strugglers is nothing new for Raheem Sterling – all six of his league goals last season were against clubs that either had just been in the Championship or were about to head there. Outclassing Luton Town is not going to convince anyone that Sterling is back to his best, but it’s still a useful habit to have: 18 goals or assists in his last 17 games against promoted sides.
And there is something new about Sterling since Mauricio Pochettino arrived. He was dangerous against Liverpool on the opening weekend, was comfortably Chelsea’s best player against West Ham in defeat and was at the heart of everything positive on Friday evening. His post-match interview was also hugely encouraging, reflective of a player who is rediscovering his love for the game after a mighty difficult first season amid the Chelsea mania.
Interestingly, Sterling has also identified the tactical difference very quickly. “My feeling all last season was I was too deep and playing the ball to the full-backs,” he said to Sky Sports. “We [him and Pochettino] had a simple conversation. He said: ‘Raheem, it doesn’t matter where you play, if you are dynamic and aggressive, no one can stop you. It doesn’t matter left, right, centre, just be aggressive with the ball’.”
Pochettino is right about the dynamism and aggression, but it does matter where Sterling plays. Last season, Sterling averaged 27.8 touches of the ball in the final third per 90 minutes and just 5.76 touches in the penalty area – both were comfortably lower than in any other season of his career. This season, the touches in the final third have risen by almost 10 per 90 minutes and the touches in the penalty area have risen by 68 per cent.
Operating higher up the pitch doesn’t mean that Sterling has fewer chances to take opponents on, quite the opposite: he’s already managed more than 20 per cent of his attempted dribbles total from last season. It’s a small sample size, but Sterling is also taking his shots four yards closer to goal than last season, on average, and is involved far more in chance creation.
Crystal Palace
One of the startling aspects of this nascent Premier League season has been Palace’s newfound attacking gusto. They have managed 53 shots in three league games – they didn’t pass 50 until midway through their sixth game last season (albeit with a difficult fixture list). The shots per game average is up from 11 to 18 and their touches in the penalty area average up from 20 to 26.
This is interesting because it offers hope going forward. Palace’s striker issue has not been solved (53 shots for three goals is unsustainable but also absolutely classic Crystal Palace), but perhaps Roy Hodgson’s plan to account for it is to try and make his team create a high volume of chances given the excellence of their back four and the arrival of Jefferson Lerma to support Cheick Doucoure.
The point is this: Palace are creating more chances and having more shots. They’re also doing that after Wilfried Zaha left and with Matheus Franca and Michael Olise still injured. Bring in those two for Jeffrey Schlupp and Jordan Ayew and Eberechi Eze can find more time and space (he was moved at half-time on Saturday after being crowded out centrally) and Palace really can begin to cook.
Fulham
This is a Bernd Leno appreciation post. Fulham have conceded five goals in their last two games (and that will worry Marco Silva a touch), but it would have been far worse were it not for their goalkeeper. Leno has made comfortably more saves than any other goalkeeper in the division so far this season, proven by him having the third highest save percentage despite conceding five times.
In terms of post-shot xG, the measure we can use to roughly assess how well a goalkeeper is doing at stopping high-quality chances becoming goals, Leno has already “saved” Fulham 3.7 goals according to the chances faced. That’s more than double any other goalkeeper.
But then what’s new? Last season, only Alisson performed better on that particular metric and only David Raya had a higher save percentage.
With Fulham like to improve defensively thanks to the return of Joao Palhinha in midfield (he was brilliant again against Arsenal), they are in literal safe hands thanks to Leno.
He may not have fitted Arsenal’s purpose, given the issues with his distribution, but it’s faintly ridiculous that Fulham picked him up for just £8m.
Newcastle
A freak result, which should deter us from making sweeping conclusions. Liverpool had two chances on the counter when playing chaos, roll-the-dice football and scored them both. For the first, the ball hits Sven Botman and is then flicked up and over him and into the path of Darwin Nunez, who finished superbly. For the second, Botman is injured and absent and Dan Burn is too slow to spot the impending run and pass.
Still, there are lessons to learn from this for Newcastle. Firstly, Eddie Howe got his substitutions wrong. Bringing off his best striker (Alexander Isak), best attacking player on the day (Anthony Gordon) and controlling central midfielder (Sandro Tonali) in the same move killed the buzz. They were subs you make at 2-0 up against ten men, not 1-0.
Even then, we would not be discussing them if Newcastle had made better decisions in the final third. Harvey Barnes delaying his pass to Wilson was the most obvious error, but there were other flaws in decision-making that allowed Liverpool to stay in the game.
Which all plays into the more general point about the next age of Eddie Howe’s Newcastle: they’re going to have to learn to play with control. Until now, Newcastle have been at their best when they’re engaging in chaos, a whir of high pressing, turnovers and St James’ Park roar. They’re also very good at it, so it might not be a problem often. But there are times when you need to play calmly, see out a game and exploit your advantage sensibly. And on Sunday, Newcastle failed to do that.
Nottingham Forest
A tale of two ends of the pitch. On Saturday, Taiwo Awoniyi became the first Nottingham Forest player since 1957 to score in seven successive league matches. Not only has he done so in the Premier League in a struggling team, he’s also scored against Arsenal, Chelsea and Manchester United along the way. Nottingham Forest have the form striker in the country – what a world.
That said, Awoniyi is going to have to keep scoring every game for as long as the defending is such an issue. Forest will this week sign Brazilian centre-back Murillo, but Felipe is injured, Moussa Niakhate still not fully fit, Joe Worrall now suspended and Scott McKenna injured. For all the money spent since the start of last summer, a three-man defence of McKenna, Worrall and Boly is probably the weakest of any non-promoted team. Steve Cooper needs bodies back and quickly.
More pertinently to this week, I really dislike the mass hysteria about refereeing decisions that followed the game at Old Trafford (and Mike Dean should take his share of the blame for allowing it to bubble). It was reported that Forest would make an official complaint to PGMOL over decisions in the match at Old Trafford.
Both the penalty and red card could probably have gone either way, but you cannot definitively say that Boly would have covered for Worrall’s foul and there was contact with Rashford’s thigh. It is too easy for fans to claim corruption on social media and clubs have a responsibility not to incite more of it.
Then again, this isn’t anything new. Last season Forest made a complaint to PGMOL after their 2-2 draw with Everton. Evangelos Marinakis, the club’s owner, has made accusations about corruption in Greek football that penalised his other club, Olympiakos, and has made threats to withdraw from the league.
Nobody likes losing. Nobody likes feeling that decisions have gone against them (as a Forest supporter, I would have wanted a red card and penalty at the other end had the roles been reversed). But these public displays of sourness do nobody any favours other than stirring up a mood of siege mentality. Perhaps that is the point after all.
Wolves
The joy of victory in the first six-pointer of the season (or was that Forest against Sheffield United?) will be tempered slightly by the quality of the opposition and the acceptance that Everton could easily have beaten them. But if Wolves supporters are clinging to anything in particular as they enter the final week of the transfer window, it is that Kalajdzic has finally scored his first goal for the club after serious knee injury.
When Wolves signed Kalajdzic, it was presumably because they feared that Raul Jimenez’s best days were over. They had earned fine success in the Premier League through central midfield creativity and crosses into Jimenez (either for him to knock down or head at goal), but the head injury he had suffered appeared to have shorn the Mexican of his best attributes. Kalajdzic was the upgrade, the 6ft 7in specimen who, in 2020-21, had scored eight headed goals in the Bundesliga (no player had beaten that).
It might have taken 12 months of recovery (and Kalajdzic has still not started a game after injury), but Wolves might finally be able to execute their plan. Certainly watching Kalajdzic find space in the box to meet Pedro Neto’s cross was more fun than seeing Fabio Silva labour again. They need to start all their wingers, aim for Kaladzic’s head, get Matheus Cunha close to him for the knockdowns and see if that causes enough mischief to drag them on.
Bournemouth
The most frustrating element of being a supporter of a lower-end Premier League club is not the hammering by significantly higher-class opponents away from home, nor the tendency of your team to drop deeper towards their own goal every time they take the lead, inviting pressure that you fear they cannot hope to repel.
It is the sheer number of matches – or least periods within matches – that pass you by. You aren’t outplayed or out-fought; your opponent is simply three or four per cent better in every area, and thus keeps you at arm’s length with depressing ease.
Bournemouth’s defeat to Tottenham was a good example. Bournemouth did have attempts on goal. They did enjoy 10 to 15 minutes after half-time when they offered hope that they might get something. But then their opponents produced a move or a piece of individual skill that reinforced the difference between the haves and have-nots.
After Spurs scored their second goal, Bournemouth had three off-target shots in 35 minutes. It all just felt a little passive, as if defeat was being accepted too readily.
It is also a pattern that Andoni Iraola must rid Bournemouth of. Last season, they suffered six home defeats by a margin of two or more goals – no team in the division experienced more. Against Arsenal and Manchester City, you could have no complaints. But against Brighton, West Ham, Chelsea and Crystal Palace, those defeats did come a little too easily.
Sheffield United
Paul Heckingbottom’s plan was to make this a 15-minute match. Take on an opponent like this over 90 minutes and more, and you will come off worse every time. But hang on in there, mitigating the worst of the damage until the final throes, and you can finally release the handbrake a little. Sometimes even the change in pace can unnerve an opponent that has grown used to your acquiescence.
In the first half, Sheffield United barely even tried to engage. They had 17 per cent of possession – Ruben Dias completed eight more passes (64) than their entire team. United had no shots, no corners and only one free-kick. They sat deep, barely tried to counter attack and thus avoided the risk of being caught high up the pitch. They played deliberate, devout, one-dimensional football.
Then the second element of the strategy. The game changed with Heckingbottom’s substitutions and the introduction of Oli McBurnie. McBurnie has been nursing an injury all month, but those prone to daydream may wonder what might have been had he been fit from the off. McBurnie has an ability to find space in between the lines of defence and midfield that belies his size, like a giant shrouded in fog. He won headers, backed into opponents and brought others into play. He caused panic where previously only calm existed, like releasing a bull into a monastery garden.
The winner came, but better to have love and lost, on balance. Jayden Bogle’s goal may have ultimately counted for nothing other than a roar of hope, but a roar of hope is not nothing. Sheffield United may well be beaten by those teams who consider them deeply inferior, but Paul Heckingbottom is not in the habit of creating teams who lie down to have their tummies tickled.
Over the last few minutes of stoppage time at Bramall Lane, when the crowd howled for free-kicks and demanded that their team push on one more time, Manchester City ran the clock down through fair means and foul. You take your wins against the financial elite when and where you can; that is one. Sheffield United were beaten but never broken. More expensive XIs than this will be made to look ten times more foolish by the European champions.
Burnley
Did we all overestimate Burnley a little and forget to notice the sheer amount of change in their defence? Losing to Aston Villa and Manchester City will cause no lasting shame, but on Sunday Burnley looked worryingly open at times and that is something that Vincent Kompany will have to sort out soon.
It’s not easy. Firstly, Burnley will have to overhaul their style of play (or at least compromise on it). In our season preview, we pointed out that, last season in the Championship, Burnley had an average possession of 64.6 per cent, almost 7 per cent higher than the team third by that measure.
“It is reasonable to ask whether the possession-based, short passing and then quick transition football can be replicated after promotion,” we wrote. Burnley did actually have 57 per cent of the ball against Villa, but they are being exposed in midfield and defence because of the added quality they face. You don’t get punished like this in the Championship.
That is exacerbated by the changes in personnel. Burnley’s back five against Villa (four defenders and goalkeeper) shared 46 starts for the club last season and Conor Roberts accounts for 39 of those. That much unfamiliarity, blended with an enforced change in style, is going to take a while to get used to and in the meantime Burnley will concede goals.
Luton
Forty-six shots faced in two games. Twenty shots on target faced, which is alarmingly high. Three shots on target of their own, one of which was a penalty. No home comforts thanks to the work carried out on the stadium causing the Burnley game to be postponed. It has not been an easy start to life in the Promised Land for Luton. They now face four league fixtures – West Ham (h), Fulham (a), Wolves (h), Everton (a) – during which they probably need at least four points to push in the right direction and avoid pressure building.
With Rob Edwards preferring to stick with the three-man defence of his predecessor last season and again after promotion, he asks the wing-backs to get high up the pitch to be the creative force. James Bree and Alfie Doughty were the two highest chance creators for Luton during their promotion season. This summer, Luton have signed Ryan Giles and Issa Kabore to be their wing-backs. Against Chelsea, Giles did indeed get forward and provided 10 crosses.
But with Luton having less of the ball and being under more pressure defensively, it’s hard to find the balance. If you aren’t careful, the wing-backs get pushed back a little too much, leaving the central midfielders to offer the creativity. But that’s something they’re not used to needing to do.
So far this season, Luton’s six central midfield appearances (two for Marvelous Nakamba and Tahith Chong, one each for Ross Barkley and Pelly Ruddock Mpanzu) have returned just three created chances between them. By shutting down the wing-backs, you shut down Luton completely.
Everton
I’m going to start with a little positive glimmer, because goodness knows Everton supporters need that. They are creating chances, having had 43 shots without scoring a goal this season. It sounds financial gymnastics are permitting the purchase of at least one more striker (Beto from Udinese for £20m plus add-ons). I’ve no idea if Beto will be prolific but between him and Youssef Chermiti it has to be better than Arnaut Danjuma as a centre forward while Dominic Calvert-Lewin tries to get fit.
Those chances are also being created without arguably two of the most dynamic attacking players fit. Dwight McNeil was a shining light last season to keep Everton up. Jack Harrison scored five Premier League goals and assisted seven more as Leeds went down. Get everybody back and Everton really can be exciting in the final third.
But that’s where the upbeat assessment stops. Beto scored goals in Serie A, but that has become a difficult league to judge the prolificacy of forwards in the Premier League and he was signed for roughly £5m a year ago. Chermiti is likely to need plenty of time to settle at just 19. Quite how Everton – who we are repeatedly told can afford nobody – have spent £42m on two Portuguese forwards, neither of whom have been capped by their country, is unclear. But this really needs to work.
More worrying is how the rest of the team seems to have declined. Everton have played three non-Big Six teams (and two potential strugglers at home) in their first three games and have allowed 32 shots with a cumulative xG of 5.6. The defensive resolve of Sean Dyche’s Burnley has vanished. Look at the marking for Sasa Kalajdzic’s goal for details of that.
A perfect way to get off the mark
— Wolves (@Wolves) August 26, 2023pic.twitter.com/OoYRe2sVOV
There is a distinct lack of dynamism in midfield too. Amadou Onana and Idrissa Gueye should at least be a combination that offers defensive protection, but their defensive numbers have declined badly since the end of last season. When you are struggling at the start of the season (and Everton clearly are), the least you expect is to offer the impression that efforts are being redoubled.
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