Goal of the week
Bruno Fernandes’ 40-metre screamer summarized Manchester United’s 2-2 draw against Liverpool. United were terrible for large parts of the match, with two world-class moments enough to secure a point. Liverpool was sloppy in phases, missed a mountain of opportunities in front of goal and failed to take advantage of a rudderless United team.
This should feel like two points lost for Liverpool, rather than one point gained. The match followed the same pattern as last month’s FA Cup classic between the two sides: Liverpool controlled the first half, set the line in front of goal and allowed United back into the game in the second period. In the first half alone, Liverpool scored fifteen shots to United’s clean sheet. Liverpool controlled the ball and dictated the pace of the match, methodically cutting Erik Ten Hag’s side open every time they entered the pitch. But Fernandes’ strike against the flow of play – with an assist from Liverpool’s Jarell Quansah – turned the match into a bloodbath.
As the match descended into chaos, Liverpool only managed to create any sense of order in the final 15 minutes. Instead of continuing to play at their own pace, Liverpool allowed the chaos to overtake them. Kobbie Mainoo’s ‘Macheeddaaa‘ impression gave United a 2–1 lead before Liverpool scored a late penalty to leave Old Trafford with a point.
Jurgen Klopp knows this could be a decisive result in the title race. Liverpool created more chances. They created better opportunities – they won the matchup on paper 4.43 to 0.83. But Liverpool’s inconsistency in front of goal cost them the chance to put United away early and regain top spot in the league.
Player of the week
Just when you thought Kevin De Bruyne Unable to find new ways to inspire shock and awe, he produced one of the performances of the season in Manchester City’s 4-2 win over Crystal Palace on Saturday.
City were not at their best against Palace. They conceded cheap chances and were wasteful with the ball for the first 45 minutes. But as so often happens, De Bruyne controlled the game. He finished with two goals, an assist and four key passes, as many as Crystal Palace’s midfield combined. “Today Kevin won the match,” Pep Guardiola said after the match.
The goals were De Bruyne’s 99th and 100th for the club. The first was vintage De Bruyne: A curling effort from the left edge of the box. The second was slightly more unorthodox: a lanky half-volley struck sweetly past the goalkeeper.
Look at those limbs. De Bruyne almost waddles towards the ball like a toddler taking his first steps. His arms are everywhere. His body shape is a little too open. He watched out of balance. It’s not graceful by De Bruyne’s standards. The result? De Bruyne drills past the keeper as usual.
City have not lost a league match since De Bruyne returned from injury in January. He leads the league in assists during that time and has more than double that amount the number of expected assists per 90 (0.94) than Leon Bailey in second place (0.42). As City have developed over the past 18 months, the midfielder’s impact has somehow become even greater. De Bruyne brings the necessary abstraction to the team’s robot structure. If De Bruyne sits, City is still rolling out an All-Star cast with (minor) weaknesses. But with De Bruyne they seem almost invincible.
Statistic of the week
Making the leap from contenders to champions can sometimes feel like sniffing chocolate nibbling on broccoli. Quick attacks and an avalanche of goals are the foundation of the league’s best, but goals alone can only get one side so far. It is defensive toughness that pushes a team over the line.
No one seems to have internalized that ethos more than Arsenal. Towards the end of their 3-0 win over Brighton, Gabriel let out a guttural sound after denying the Seagulls the chance to get on the scoresheet. Maintaining Arsenal’s clean sheet record seemed as important to the centre-back as securing three points.
Arsenal’s defensive record this season borders on the absurd. The Gabriel-William Saliba duo is the leader at the back, but Mikel Arteta is everyone working without the ball – and playing with it with a perfect mix of caution and adventure. Arsenal have now kept five consecutive clean sheets away from home, which is as many as any other team that has stayed away from home all season in the league.
If you’re looking for advantages in the title race, that’s the starting and stopping point. Of the last six Premier League champions, five conceded the fewest goals in the league when winning the title – and all but Klopp’s Liverpool were the best in expected goals conceded (the quality of goals conceded). Even Klopp’s table toppers were first in xG against at the point where they were confirmed as champions.
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Arsenal are by far the stingiest team in the league this season: they have only conceded 24 goals with an xGA of 24; City conceded 31 goals with an xGA of 31; Liverpool have conceded 31 with an xGA of 37. And since the turn of the year, Arsenal have been even better. In their last eleven league games they have conceded an expected goal of just 4.98 (!). The second best team from that period, City, is at 12.28.
It also goes beyond the objectives. There is a degree of control that Arsenal exert over matches. They dictate the rhythm. They grind out results. Once they go in front, they eliminate danger and close out games in a way that even City avoid these days.
The ‘energy hack’ prize
Forget AG1, Zyn bags or getting sunlight in your eyes, the purest form of energy for the entire day is tuning into Thomas Frank’s Brentford. For sheer comedic effect and the number of shots they get, Manchester United still lead the Premier League watchability index. But Brentford continues to rise in the Premflix rankings.
Every game is a chance party full of turbos. In a 3-3 draw against Aston Villa on Saturday, the two teams combined for six shots on target, six goals and zero saves. Villa threw away a 2-0 lead to fall 3-2 behind before Ollie Watkins’ header in the 80th minute gave the home side a point.
Villa were disappointed not to be able to express their lead. Watkins said his side lacks a “big team mentality” to finish tough games. “I’m not belittling my team, I’m part of it,” Watkins said after the game. “We have to somehow figure out how to keep quiet when we’re 2-0 up.”
It was a crucial point for Brentford, who are in dismal form. Frank’s side have lost 14 of their past 21 matches and recorded their weakest points per match win during that run. The point at Villa Park takes them to 29 for the season, four points clear of the relegation zone.
This was not a great week for the relationship between club and referee. Firstly, Burnley were left frustrated after Dara O’Shea was sent off in their 1-0 away defeat to Everton. Not to be outdone, Sean Dyche lamented the lack of decisions going Everton’s way in what would otherwise have been a comfortable win.
Wolves ramped up the rhetoric even further. Club owner Jeff Shi released a statement after his side lost 2-1 to West Ham, calling on the league and its refereeing body, the PGMOL, to “uphold the integrity of the competition.” Shi took a particular swipe at the VAR. “It’s time to ask whether someone denying a goal from distance is really what football wants or needs,” Shi said in a statement.
Wolves had a late equalizer disallowed for offside against West Ham after Tawanda Chirewa was ruled to be in an offside position, blocking West Ham goalkeeper Lukasz Fabianski’s view. Tim Robinson, the VAR, advised the on-field referee, Tony Harrington, to watch the goal on the pitch-side monitor.
Shi’s intervention is a reminder that there is no independent authority in the Premier League. The club’s owners rule the league. And frustration is growing among those who ultimately decide whether VAR will be used – and how much money they are willing (or not) to hand over to PGMOL to help raise standards for field officials and VARs. This season, Liverpool released a statement complaining about a decision. Arsenal have released their own statement. Nottingham Forest took the step of appointing Mark Clattenburg as their referee advisor/official cajoler, who must be society’s strangest grift like Trump University or $20 margaritas.
Want football VAR? With a perfect implementation, why not? But this incarnation is a mess. It is up to the club’s owners to decide whether to withdraw from video technology altogether or to put their hands in their pockets to solve the problem.