The Good, The Bad
The tops and flops from the Premier League weekend.
Here, we look at the good, and the bad, from the latest Premier League action.
THE GOOD
Idrissa Gueye was the key cog for Everton as they made it two wins in a row under David Moyes by overcoming Brighton 1-0 in a resolute display on the south coast. The Toffees were under the cosh for most of the match, but their defence stood firm, limiting Brighton to just one shot on target. Ahead of that defence, though, Gueye was pivotal, turning in an all-action display. At 35, Gueye’s engine is still as strong as ever. He won 10 of his 15 ground duels, completed 30 of 35 passes and attempted eight tackles.
Bournemouth are exceptional. There is just no doubting it now. Andoni Iraola is right up there with Nuno Espirito Santo and Arne Slot for manager of the season, and his Cherries team are dreaming of the Champions League. They beat Nuno’s Nottingham Forest 5-0 on Saturday, in another stunning result coming off the back of their 4-1 defeat of Newcastle United. Antoine Semenyo and Justin Kluivert struck, but Dango Ouattara was the star of the show with a hat-trick. Iraola’s team are seventh, but only four points behind third-place Forest. Why can they not go on and seal, at the very least, a European finish?
Liverpool are six points clear at the top and it doesn’t look like any team will be capable of catching them this season. They made light work of Ipswich Town on Saturday, hammering them 4-1 at Anfield. Cody Gakpo scored twice, after Dominik Szoboszlai and Mohamed Salah had put Slot’s side 2-0 up inside 35 minutes. There just seems to be too much of a gulf between the Reds and the rest this season, and a second Premier League title should come.
THE BAD
Ange Postecoglou is surely not longed to stay at Tottenham. Spurs lost 2-1 to struggling Leicester City at home on Sunday, and they are just eight points above the bottom three. Indeed, Everton are now within a point of them, and plenty would reckon the Toffees are not yet out of the woods when it comes to the relegation scrap. Postecoglou cannot help the mounting injuries, but his failure to adapt is on him. It seems to be turning toxic at Spurs, and it’s surely only a matter of time if this form continues.
Michael Oliver made a baffling decision to send Myles Lewis-Skelly off during Arsenal’s meeting with Wolves on Saturday. While abuse directed at the official has rightly been called out, it should also be noted that decisions such as that one just are not up to scratch, especially from a referee who is essentially PGMOL’s poster boy — such is the dearth of quality officials at the highest level. A terrible call, and the VAR should have intervened.
Abdukodir Khusanov had a stinker of a Manchester City debut on Saturday. He gifted Chelsea an early opener and looked petrified throughout his 54 minutes on the field, before Pep Guardiola — who was probably in the wrong to start the 20-year-old, who was signed from Lens earlier this month — finally made the call to take him off. Guardiola conceded afterward “it was not the best start”. Fortunately for Khusanov, City turned things around to win 3-1 courtesy of goals from Josko Gvardiol, Phil Foden and Erling Haaland.