The Good, The Bad
We look at the tops and flops from the Premier League this weekend.
Here, we look back at three highs and three lows from the Premier League weekend.
THE GOOD
Ollie Watkins said he “channelled his anger” after he was left out of Aston Villa’s Champions League clash with Paris Saint-Germain in midweek, with Marcus Rashford preferred up front. Indeed, that has been the case for recent weeks, with Unai Emery favouring Rashford, but Watkins offered a timely reminder of his brilliance with an awesome show of force in Villa’s 4-1 rout of fellow top-five hopefuls Newcastle United, scoring after just 33 seconds and teeing up Ian Maatsen to make it 2-1 after Fabian Schar had dragged the Magpies level. Villa have a huge week — Manchester City are up on Tuesday, before Crystal Palace await in the FA Cup semi-finals at Wembley. With Watkins in this type of form, the Villans have nothing to fear.
Vitor Pereira is a bit of a wild character, but the job he has done at Wolves has been brilliant, and his team have now reeled off five straight league wins after they beat Manchester United 1-0 thanks to Pablo Sarabia’s free-kick at Old Trafford. With any threat of relegation long-since extinguished, Wolves’ focus should now be on finishing as high as possible. They are 15th, behind United and Everton on goal difference only. The turnaround under Pereira has been outstanding; he has brought a sense of unity that was badly missing under Gary O’Neil, and now his job is to build on that momentum heading into next season.
Arsenal could easily have been suffering a hangover from their exploits in Madrid, but Mikel Arteta’s team showed they want to end their domestic campaign on the right note as they hit Ipswich Town for four on Sunday, delaying Liverpool’s title celebrations for at least another week in the process. Mikel Arteta must get the balance right — second place is all but assured, and the title race is over, so there is no point pushing too hard or risking any players. At the same time, those players need to be primed and ready for the Champions League semi-final against PSG, and who knows, possibly even the final itself.
THE BAD
Leicester City have been doomed for a while, but their relegation was confirmed with a 1-0 defeat to the champions elect. Conor Coady thought he had put the Foxes ahead against a rather sluggish Liverpool, but VAR had other ideas. And after Trent Alexander-Arnold broke the deadlock, there wasn’t really much Ruud van Nistelrooy’s historically bad team had to offer. Leicester are the first top-flight team to fail to score in nine successive home games in the league. Van Nistelrooy was a poor choice, and will likely depart in the coming weeks, but that squad is also a mess. And it means Leicester will spend the 10th anniversary of their remarkable Premier League triumph in the second tier.
Michael Keane is out of contract at Everton at the end of the season, and for all the professionalism the centre-back brings, it is time everyone involved cut the cord. Keane, a vastly experienced 32-year-old, seemed the natural fit to replace the vastly experienced, 32-year-old James Tarkowski at the heart of Everton’s defence when the latter suffered an injury in the second half against Manchester City. Evertonians watching on, though, knew David Moyes was making a mistake. Keane was a bag of nerves, and was routinely caught out of position, not sure whether to stick or twist as he was given the run-around by Omar Marmoush and the rest of City’s attackers. It feels harsh, and Keane has come up with some huge moments for the Toffees, but it really is time to move on.
Manchester United — just three days after the comeback of all comebacks, turned in a dismal display against Wolves, and were duly punished. Ruben Amorim may point to 12 shots, and an xG of 1.32 compared to Wolves’ 1.25, but United have now lost eight of their league home games this season. They are down in 14th and would need a minor miracle to even make it into the top half. It is quite incredible that, despite how terrible they are — and they really are terrible, one or two players aside — United could yet qualify for the Champions League and win a European trophy this season.
