The Good, The Bad
The tops and flops from the Premier League weekend.
Here, we look at the good, and the bad, from this weekend’s Premier League action.
THE GOOD
Bukayo Saka and Martin Odegaard toyed and teased West Ham’s defence in a blistering first-half display from Arsenal, and while the Gunners’ defending in a slack five-minute spell left a fair bit to be desire, some of their attacking play in the 5-2 win at London Stadium was sensational. Odegaard has got Mikel Arteta’s team clicking again since his return from injury, while Saka just keeps on supplying the goals, whether by scoring them himself or setting them up. He has already provided 10 Premier League assists this season, following his two on Saturday, at least three more than any other player in the division.
Brentford just keep on buzzing at home. The Bees dispatched lowly Leicester City, whose new manager Ruud van Nistelrooy was watching on from the stands, 4-1 to continue their exceptional home form. They are unbeaten this term in the league at the Gtech Community Stadium, where they have won six of their seven games. In their last four matches at home, Brentford have collected 12 points and scored 16 goals. After Arne Slot, Thomas Frank is the manager of the season so far, and is proving just what a team can be capable of when players are given the confidence to attack.
Ruben Amorim got his first league win on the board at Manchester United, and it came in some style. Everton played well for the opening half-an-hour, but were ultimately no match for the Red Devils, who cruised to a 4-0 victory at Old Trafford. It is the first time United have scored four in a league game since 2021, in a win over Leeds United; Marcus Rashford and Joshua Zirkzee grabbed two goals apiece and it could easily have been more. Sterner tests await, with Arsenal coming up on Wednesday and a Manchester derby on the horizon, but the Amorim era is now up and running.
THE BAD
Sean Dyche should be out of a job; 2024 is fast coming to an end, and his side have taken just 25 points from 31 league games. Of the 17 ever-present Premier League teams this year, that is the lowest total. They have scored only 26 goals in that time. The Toffees looked bright without offering much to trouble Andre Onana in the opening exchanges at Old Trafford, yet after bit of bad luck and a mistake from Jarrad Branthwaite, they crumbled. Dyche has built his reputation on a solid defence, yet his Everton team have now lost five top-flight matches by a 4+ goal margin; in David Moyes’ 11 years at Goodison Park, Everton only lost seven games by such a scoreline — Dyche has been in charge for less than two years. Everton are in trouble.
Manchester City may not be in relegation trouble, but they are on a quite sensationally poor run that really is showing no signs of easing off. They were dominated from the off at Anfield and were fortunate to go into half-time only 1-0 down. They huffed and puffed after the break, but Mohamed Salah’s 78th-minute penalty ensured Liverpool went 11 points clear of their great rivals, and now have a nine-point cushion at the top. This isn’t the end for Pep Guardiola, but it is the end for this version of Man City; they are, all of a sudden, a team badly in need of a refresh, and the title has surely gone.
Emiliano Martinez has, like plenty of other Aston Villa players, failed to scale the same heights of last season, at least in the Premier League. This was always likely to be the case for Villa, as Unai Emery attempts to balance the rigours of the Champions League (and an extended format at that) with competing in the Premier League, but he was really not helped by his goalkeeper’s haphazard display in the 3-0 loss at Stamford Bridge on Sunday. Martinez lost his head, first picking up the ball after a touch back from Pau Torres (leading to an indirect free-kick in the Villa box, one of the great, but rarer, sights in football) and then passing it straight out to Nicolas Jackson soon after. To top off his calamity of errors, Martinez aggravated an injury as he lunged in to block the striker’s shot, and had to be taken off at half-time.
By Patric Ridge
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