More Than A Game Weekly
Cornerstone.
THE TOP STORY
The headline match of the Premier League weekend was one of the least entertaining. But it also demonstrated just why the competition is so tight this season.
Arsenal edged out Chelsea 2-1 at Emirates Stadium, where all three goals came via corners.
The art of the set-piece has never gone away, though now, it does feel like the league has never been more focused on them.
It’s backed up by the stats. Opta came up with this great stat on Sunday: There have now been more goals scored from corners in the Premier League this season than the whole of last term (138 in 2025-26 compared to 135 in 2024-25).
Arsenal, of course, are the masters. They have already scored 16 goals from corners this season, which matches the Premier League record for a single campaign.
And it trickles down through the league. Other managers are looking at Mikel Arteta’s approach and aiming to copy it.
We saw it last week, with the WWE-like tussles between Manchester United and Everton. We are seeing it all the time from every long throw, for which Brentford have been the trend-setters.
Some of the tussling on Sunday went too far. Declan Rice was quite clearly fouling Jorrel Hato late in the first half and should have been penalised, yet the officials (for some reason, despite all the evidence to the contrary) let it go. Their blushes were perhaps spared by Chelsea scoring immediately after.
There’s absolutely nothing wrong with prioritising set-pieces. They are an incredibly important part of the game and, as Arsenal are proving, they can make all the difference. Marginal gains, and all that.
But when everybody is doing the same thing, is it any surprise that the league is so close this season?
The eight-point gap between Manchester City in second and Manchester United in third is now the biggest gap between any sides in the entire table.
Third to sixth is six points. Sixth to seventh is three. Seventh down to 14th is eight. Six points separate Leeds United in 15th and West Ham in 18th, with another six to Burnley and then another six on top of that to Wolves.
Every team is big, powerful. Every team can handle themselves one way or another.
The quality has dropped. At least, from a technical standpoint. But with all the teams employing similar tactics, it is at least making for plenty of intrigue.
MOMENTS OF THE WEEKEND
Jordan Pickford made the save of the season. He has already pulled off some absolute worldies this campaign, but his effort on Saturday to palm Sandro Tonali’s stinging volley onto the crossbar in stoppage time, preserving Everton’s 3-2 lead at Newcastle United, was the best of the lot. The strength he had to put on to his right wrist, and the milliseconds in which he had to do it, was quite remarkable. Pickford does not get anywhere near the credit he deserves. And quite how some can still question his England place, which they inevitably will do as the World Cup draws closer, is beyond this writer.
Alex Iwobi has certainly found his home at Fulham, though in fairness, he has been extremely consistent ever since he finally established himself at Everton in the 2021-22 season, under Frank Lampard. But his all-round performance in Fulham’s 2-1 win over Tottenham on Sunday was excellent, and he capped it off with the goal of the weekend — a lovely, side-footed finish drilled into the bottom-left corner from distance. Exquisite.
This is not a drill. Spurs are in massive trouble. I wrote about this last week, but for a good hour against Fulham, Igor Tudor’s team looked every bit like a side destined to drop. They improved after a raft of substitutions, with Richarlison typically impactful, but they are now on a 10-game winless run in the league, stretching all the way back to the end of 2025. Spurs’ last win in the top tier came against Crystal Palace, who they host on Thursday in a massive game.
THE GLOBAL GAME 🌎
🇩🇪 Harry Kane scored twice and Joshua Kimmich grabbed the winner as Bayern Munich took a huge stride towards sealing the Bundesliga title with a 3-2 win over Borussia Dortmund in a thrilling Klassiker. It is now 30 Bundesliga goals in 24 games for Kane, who is well on track to beat Robert Lewandowski’s single-season record (41).
🇪🇸 The pressure is on Real Madrid, who face Getafe on Monday evening. As it stands, they are four points back from leaders Barcelona, so fail to win, and the Blaugrana will head into the run-in in prime position with at least a three-point lead. Lamine Yamal’s hat-trick inspired Barca to a 4-1 win over Villarreal on Saturday, marking Hansi Flick’s 100th game in charge in style.
🇫🇷 A slip-up by Lens this weekend enabled Paris Saint-Germain to open up a gap at the top of Ligue 1, but the real drama came on Sunday, as Marseille and Lyon played out a thrilling rivalry clash that ended in Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang scoring a late double to clinch a 3-2 victory for the hosts at Stade Velodrome. Lyon were on a 13-match winning streak nine days ago, but have now lost their last two games.
🏴 Youssef Chermiti certainly knows how to do it in big games. He scored a double on Sunday to propel Rangers into a commanding lead in the Old Firm derby, with his opener — a stunning overhead kick — a highlight. Yet Celtic do not know when they are beaten under Martin O’Neill, and Reo Hatate’s late goal snatched a 2-2 draw at Ibrox. Another good result for Hearts.
🇺🇸 Inter Miami claimed their first win of the season in style, coming from 2-0 down to beat Florida rivals Orlando City 4-2. Lionel Messi was, of course, influential. He scored twice, and even asked the Orlando coach if he wanted his autograph after netting a late screamer. Good old Leo.
ANY OTHER BUSINESS
It’s been a couple of weeks, so we’re probably due another moan about the officiating.
Burnley 3-4 Brentford — an unexpected classic. Brentford charged into a 3-0 lead, but Burnley dragged themselves level brilliantly, and seemed to have taken the lead when Zian Flemming audaciously flicked home. Yet after several minutes of forensic checking (which we were told didn’t need to happen with semi-automated offsides), Jaidon Anthony’s sleeve was spotted to have been beyond the last Brentford defender’s toe in the build-up.
Mikkel Damsgaard then goes and scores in stoppage time for Brentford, but there was still time for one more twist, as veteran Ashley Barnes stepped off the bench to steer in a last-gasp equaliser. But wait, no! Another ludicrously long VAR check to zoom in on pixelated images, to then decide Barnes had handled the ball.
It’s pathetic. It’s ridiculous.
The officials need all the help they can get, because they aren’t up to standard.
But the precision of these rules and laws has simply gotten out of hand. IFAB’s solution is, seemingly, just “more VAR” — great! Not.
Simplify the rules. Stop looking for reasons to disallow goals. If you can’t spot an issue with anything within a minute, then that’s it, time’s up. It evidently wouldn’t be “clear and obvious”.
The offside rule was never introduced to scrutinise whether someone’s sleeve had made an early dash. Just apply some common sense, and use the technology to spot the truly egregious errors.
The issue with the PGMOL is their head honchos come out with all the facts and figures about decisions they get right (even though, as Roy Keane would say, “it’s your job”) — and that’s all well and good. But there is just a terrible lack of a reasonable approach, which would save everyone involved a lot of grief.
They seem obsessed with doing things right, to the letter of the law, rather than doing the right thing.
COMING UP
A few highlight fixtures for this week (all times GMT).
Tuesday: Barcelona v Atletico Madrid (20:00) — Copa del Rey
Wednesday: Brighton v Arsenal, Man City v Nottingham Forest (19:30) — PL
Thursday: Spurs v Crystal Palace (20:00) — PL
Saturday: Newcastle v Man City (20:00) — FA Cup
Sunday: Rangers v Celtic (12:00), AC Milan v Inter (19:45) — SPL, Serie A
MTAG’S RECOMMENDATION
Here’s the great Jonathan Wilson on the flaws to Arsene Wenger’s radical offside approach, which is to be trialled in Canada.
