This is The Score with Daniel Storey, a subscriber-only newsletter from The i Paper. If you’d like to get this direct to your inbox, every single week, you can sign up here.
I don’t think it’s too hasty to call Arsenal champions elect in November. Liverpool and Manchester City dropped points again, while Arsenal waltzed past a dreadful Spurs in the derby. They’re missing players and they’re still marching on.
The other biggest news of the weekend was Nottingham Forest’s outrageous 3-0 win at Anfield to leave Arne Slot with more headaches. That pulled Forest clear of the bottom three and left Leeds, Burnley and Wolves in there. All three lost and all three might stay there.
Here is one piece of analysis on each of the top flight clubs who played this weekend (in reverse table order)…
This weekend’s results
- Burnley 0-2 Chelsea
- Bournemouth 2-2 West Ham
- Brighton 2-1 Brentford
- Fulham 1-0 Sunderland
- Liverpool 0-3 Nott’m Forest
- Wolves 0-2 Crystal Palace
- Newcastle 2-1 Man City
- Leeds 1-2 Aston Villa
- Arsenal 4-1 Tottenham
Wolves can’t wait for Edwards to settle
After the game, Rob Edwards quite reasonably talked about the things Wolves did well against Crystal Palace. This was certainly better than the dirge of recent weeks; there was even a spell after half-time, with the game at 0-0, when Wolves were legitimately the better team.
But Wolves cannot afford positive signs that come with no positive end result. Edwards has presumably taken this job because he thinks that he can keep Wolves up. That is likely to require at least 36 points, or 34 from their last 24 matches. To put that into context, if Wolves win, draw and lose every three games they still won’t make that total.
The answers as to why Edwards said yes to Wolves now barely fill up a quarter of a postcard. If he starts slowly – and it’s Aston Villa away next weekend – then the race is run before he’s out of the blocks.
Burnley need Parker to get creative
Nobody is saying that it is easy for promoted clubs to cause problems for established Premier League sides, but Scott Parker might have to change something to try to shift the mood at Turf Moor. Burnley have only had 12 shots on target in their six home league games.
Jaidon Anthony started the season brilliantly, but that creativity has dried up of late. Zian Flemming is being used as a lone striker but has had one shot in his last three home games combined. Against Chelsea on Saturday, Fleming only touched the ball 14 times.
The suspicion is that Burnley are becoming a little easy to score against when they play away and too easy to thwart when they play at home.
Leeds have badly let Farke down
Five defeats in six league games and you begin to fear for Leeds United. They have led in each of their last two but fallen away badly in the second half.
They are a team built for physicality but one that lacks creativity in open play and then collapses too easily anyway. The away form (five defeats in six) was always going to ask a lot of the home form and I’m not sure it can keep up.
Daniel Farke will get much of the criticism – and the sack, sooner or later – but he has also been badly let down by his club. Noah Okafor, Lukas Nmecha, Joel Piroe and Dominic Calvert-Lewin each have some strengths but I think you only get a decent striker pairing by merging all four into two. Leeds are now the second lowest scorers and it shows.
Why Nuno has trust issues at West Ham
There have clearly been improvements since Nuno Espirito Santo joined West Ham, or at least since he abandoned his weird team shape and selections from his first two games. This was an excellent point achieved in trying circumstances and there are clear signs that Callum Wilson is becoming Nuno’s new Raul Jimenez or Chris Wood.
But Nuno’s success at Forest was built upon a fine central defensive pairing – Murillo and Nikola Milenkovic’s form allowed him to pick a four-man defence that afforded extra energy and presence in central midfield. I reckon Nuno would prefer to replicate that at West Ham.
Instead, Nuno is forced into picking three central defenders because he can’t really trust any of them. Maximilian Kilman looks concerningly weak in physical duels, while Jean-Clair Todibo was good against Bournemouth but had been frozen out of the squad under the new manager. Igor Julio started his first league game of the season and, unsurprisingly, looked very rusty.
Dyche is offering Forest far more than advertised
I’m sure that Sean Dyche will be happier with the clean sheet at Anfield than the three goals scored, and most supporters would agree. Nottingham Forest hadn’t kept one in the league since 1 April; that is what dragged them down.
Three in three for @Morgangibbs27.
— Nottingham Forest (@NFFC) November 22, 2025pic.twitter.com/gyDIubi0sI
But it’s important to point out that Dyche has not merely made Forest defensively solid – they are a multi-dimensional team. The perfect example came on 61 minutes: Forest were 2-0 up and Dyche’s reputation would suggest that Forest might have shut up shop.
Instead he took off Nico Dominguez for Omari Hutchinson, an attacking change. Rather than simply sitting deep, Forest had a counter-attacking threat, Andy Robertson couldn’t simply stay high up the pitch and Hutchinson created Forest’s third goal. Who said this old dog only had one trick?
Fulham’s difficult week ends in solace
I’m not saying that Fulham might have made it publicly known that Shahid Khan was flying in to offer Marco Silva a new contract to put some pressure on Silva to make a decision, but it would make sense as a strategy. Silva has been entirely non-committal on his future and that continued after Saturday’s match.
It presents Fulham with a problem: do you let Silva see out his deal and hope to persuade him with promises of summer spending, or do you keep watch for any sign of slipping standards and rip the plaster off if he won’t commit? The problem there is that Fulham are unlikely to find many better than Silva.
Statement of the obvious: the way to postpone those awkward questions is to win matches. That’s why beating Sunderland – and dominating them for much of the game – was so important.
Newcastle’s winger meritocracy is working
Eddie Howe has been criticised by Newcastle supporters for keeping faith in favourites, particularly in defence. But one thing he has absolutely got right is keeping Anthony Elanga, the third most expensive signing in the club’s history, on the bench.
Elanga flourished at Forest with space to run into. The same is simply not happening at Newcastle.
Harvey Barnes has done it AGAIN!
— Sky Sports Premier League (@SkySportsPL) November 22, 2025pic.twitter.com/Wsf7E0XbPI
Howe might have been tempted to give Elanga a start on the left wing to try and seek a solution, but instead he stuck with Harvey Barnes. Barnes has had regular injury issues at Newcastle, but – and I’m aware that this sounds like hyperbole – there are few better wingers in the country at making direct runs beyond defenders and finding space in between them. That was the difference on Saturday.
Everton
Play Manchester United on Monday night.
Brentford pay the price for two-penalty dilemma
Someone with more time, and probably more brain, than me will do the maths on this, but I have a theory that if a team gets two penalties in a match, a different player should take the second. It has happened this season already: Morgan Gibbs-White gave Igor Jesus the second penalty during Forest’s win over Porto.
The hypothesis is this: a penalty taker has a favourite place to hit their penalties, which they are more likely to use with their first. With the second, they have two choices: go for their favourite or change things up (Igor Thiago went for the same spot). The goalkeeper will look for any clue and may well delay their dive until they have a better idea, as Bart Verburggen did for Brighton.
Every Premier League attacker should be comfortable taking penalties, so there is no excuse not to have backup options. In this case, I think Brentford reduced their own chances of taking a point.
Slot’s job should be under pressure at Liverpool
There are clearly complicated factors in Liverpool’s alarmingly poor title defence, but Arne Slot will – and should – come under serious pressure if he is unable to reverse the established trend. Liverpool aren’t just bad, they’re heading for 57 points, their lowest points total since 2012.
Nothing in this team makes sense and nothing about the summer spend does either if it wasn’t going to improve the defence. Kerkez is loose positionally, the Van Dijk-Konate high line is a glaring tactical fault that isn’t being sold and the sheer amount of change in the front three, including massive pressure on Isak to lead the line while the ageing Salah is still there.
It is a lot for Slot to solve, but that is the lot of the elite club manager. Success can only lead to more success and funks can never become slumps without pressure being applied. So far, we have seen no obvious answers to suggest this changes quickly.
Read more: Arne Slot’s arrogance is killing Liverpool’s title defence
Man Utd
Play Everton on Monday night.
Time for a Frank discussion about Tottenham
I can understand why Thomas Frank might want to have set up defensively against Arsenal, but when you arrive at a local derby and fail to offer anything of note bar an outrageously opportunistic goal at 3-0 down, you should expect serious questions from supporters and players.
There is defensiveness as part of a counter-attacking strategy, but this was not that. Tottenham had no clue where or who to pass to when they got the ball in the first half. They seemed intent on simply defending and hoping that they would not concede. That’s a pitiful plan because it allowed Arsenal to build up overwhelming pressure.
Add to that Tottenham’s messy attacking options. The irony of Eberechi Eze, a player who Tottenham could have signed but for their dallying, scoring a hat-trick against them while Xavi Simons was named on the bench should not be overlooked. This just isn’t a particularly inspiring team in any way.
Read more: Tottenham brought Arsenal humiliation entirely upon themselves
If energy drops, so will Bournemouth
You can look at Bournemouth’s current run in two ways: either they have won two of their last eight league games (boooo!) or they have lost two of their last 11 and one of those was away at Manchester City (yaaay!).
But one thing is definitely true: Bournemouth look a little more loose defensively. In their last seven games (City, West Ham, Forest, Leeds, Palace, Aston Villa and Fulham) they have conceded 15 goals and allowed 94 shots. In their four league games immediately prior to that run (Brentford, Brighton, Newcastle, Tottenham), they only conceded once and faced 21 shots.
I think that comes from their off-the-ball work. It’s something that we’ve noted before, but Bournemouth’s strength is their intensity off-the-ball to press with energy and organisation. Conversely, it becomes their weakness when it’s not working because they become easier to pass through and thus opposition strikers enjoy more one vs one situations. Fail to defend direct balls properly – as on Saturday – and you give yourself headaches.
Sunderland are in need of a compromise
In their first eight league games of the season, Regis Le Bris set up Sunderland in either a 4-3-3 or 4-2-3-1 formation and it worked most of the time. Then, for the win at Stamford Bridge, Le Bris shifted to a three-man central defence which he also used for the draw against Arsenal before the international break.
However, the Arsenal draw has been sandwiched by a point at home to Everton and defeat at Fulham. During both of those, Le Bris stuck with the same three-man defence and there were long periods when they came under pressure.
I wonder if Le Bris might find a compromise. You use the three-man defence against Big Six or excellent counter-attacking teams, where you need the extra solidity. But against teams below Sunderland in the table, they lose a defender and pick either two forwards or get a central attacking midfielder closer to the striker. Wilson Isidor only had six touches in 63 minutes on Saturday – that’s clearly not enough.
The Baleba situation is becoming untenable for Brighton
Fabian Hurzeler clearly wants to play Carlos Baleba through his difficult period of form, but it’s becoming untenable. Baleba has started 11 league games but has played an average of 57.5 minutes per match so far this season. On Saturday, after conceding a penalty, he was removed at half-time for the fourth time.
Yasin Ayari has been excellent and Jack Hinshelwood has played in midfield. With Diego Gomez not a natural left winger, I wonder whether Hurzeler might pick Hinshelwood and Ayari as a two with Gomez or Gruda advanced in front of them and Georginio Rutter used as an impact substitute. The time has come for Baleba to earn his position; right now that’s not happening.
Pino is growing into his Eze role at Palace
It has not been easy for Yeremy Pino. He moved to a new club, league and country at the age of 22. He was also effectively asked to replace Eberechi Eze, starting in an advanced role on the left but asked to drift infield to link play, create goals and score them.
The breakout performance came against Liverpool in the Carabao Cup, but there are strong signs that Palace will now get the best of an exciting, skillful midfielder whose shooting from distance is improving all the time and the physicality to deal with Premier League intensity is matching it.
“He’s getting used to the way we are playing and the patterns we have,” Oliver Glasner said.
“We always try to create new situations. He’s getting better and better. He works so hard which is why he is usually exhausted after 60, 70, 75 minutes.”
Aston Villa are winning matches in a different way
Simple one, this. Between the start of 2024 and a month ago, in every competition they played in, Aston Villa took six points (because they only ever did it in league games) from losing positions away from home: draw vs West Ham (March 2024), draw vs Ipswich (September 2024), win vs Fulham (October 2024), draw vs Arsenal (January 2025). That run stretched for almost two years and was a very weird blind spot.
Morgan ROGERS!!
— Sky Sports Premier League (@SkySportsPL) November 23, 2025
In their last three league away games, Villa have twice won (Tottenham and now Leeds) from a losing position and so match that two-year total. They’re winning games in different ways and that slow start to the season is now a distant memory.
Haaland’s City dominance has an unwanted side-effect
It is the ultimate nice problem to have when things are going well: who cares if Erling Haaland scores most of your goals when he does so in such elite volume?
But it’s worth making the point when City don’t win. The last six times that Haaland has failed to score in a Premier League or FA Cup game (the final against Palace), his team have won one, drawn one and lost four. They scored four goals in those six games.
There’s probably two things happening: 1) when Haaland is in his most imperious form, he dominates all of City’s attacking patterns – all roads lead to him; 2) there is a subconscious fault in City’s other players that creates an assumption that Haaland will score goals and so they don’t have to.
Have Chelsea found their Caicedo deputy?
Prior to this season, Andrey Santos’s entire Premier League career consisted of eight minutes as a substitute for Nottingham Forest, a loan spell so unsuccessful that it was cut short and Santos sent to Strasbourg for 18 months. He’s back, he’s still only 21 and he’s ready to contribute.
Chelsea supporters will panic a little every time that Moises Caicedo isn’t in the team because he’s the best in the country at his exact skillset. But then Santos is growing into his own role.
His eight tackles and interceptions were up there with Caicedo numbers and he shielded the defence to allow Enzo Fernandez to venture forward. It’s only Burnley, but it’s a start.
Arsenal won’t need 90 points to win the league
Simple statement and there will be very few disagreements with it. The north London derby used to be competitive, but it’s not any more. Arsenal ceded a little ground last weekend, but not any more. They are in the rudest health and their supposed competition – Chelsea, Liverpool and Manchester City – have dropped 45 points. Arsenal won’t need to get 90 points and they’re on course for 92.
Want to feel more scared, non-Arsenal supporters? Arsenal’s first-choice striker was missing. Arsenal’s second-choice striker was missing. Arsenal’s third-choice striker was missing. Arsenal’s best central defender was missing. Arsenal’s most creative central midfielder was missing. They’re probably going to be OK.
Your next read
from Football - The i Paper https://ift.tt/sqv9dg3
Post a Comment