Football writer Alex Keble highlights the hot topics and tactical lessons from Matchweek 36, including:
- Arsenal comeback hints at Liverpool’s post-TAA concerns
- Howe’s formation has Newcastle in pole position – and Chelsea in trouble
- Amorim’s going full strength to build belief ahead of Europa League final
- Emery neutralises Bournemouth to give Villa hope
- How Haaland's return presents a dilemma for Pep
- Poor defending reveals Forest’s dependence on fully fit squad
- Spurs are just what Palace needed ahead of FA Cup final
- Brentford’s run puts them in strong position for eighth
- Brighton need just one big performance against the champions
- Fulham’s drop-off could have big consequences in European race
Arsenal comeback hints at Liverpool’s post-TAA concerns
Underneath the anger that caused some Liverpool supporters to boo Trent Alexander-Arnold is sadness. Losing one of their most important players and arguably the club’s greatest ever right-back is a major blow.
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Indeed, Alexander-Arnold’s importance to the team was highlighted in his absence against Arsenal, who were allowed back into the match after Mikel Arteta sensed a weakness in Conor Bradley and reorganised his attack.
Swapping Gabriel Martinelli for Leandro Trossard, Arteta instructed Trossard to run directly at Liverpool’s young right-back, causing havoc.
Bradley missed a tackle early in the second half, allowing Trossard into the box where he almost created a goal.
This may explain why Bradley backed off the next time they came face to face (below). With time and space, Trossard easily cut inside and crossed for Martinelli to score.
Trossard's assist for Martinelli v Liverpool
There are high hopes that Bradley can rise to the challenge of replacing Alexander-Arnold, but here was evidence that he is not yet the finished product. Trent’s shoes are big ones to fill.
Howe’s 3-4-3 surprise has Newcastle in pole position – and Chelsea in trouble
The most significant game of the weekend was also the most tactically interesting, with Eddie Howe adapting to Newcastle United's injury problems by using a lopsided 3-4-3 formation that confounded Chelsea.
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Faced with a curveball formation, Chelsea struggled to understand how to defend or who to press.
In the photo below, you can see how much freedom Newcastle's players had in the build-up to Sandro Tonali's second-minute opener.
It was the basis for a result of enormous consequence. Newcastle are now almost certain to get UEFA Champions League football, and indeed can overtake Arsenal in second place if they win at Emirates Stadium next weekend.
Chelsea’s task looks very difficult, especially in light of Nicolas Jackson’s red card.
Enzo Maresca’s side have lost three of the six Premier League matches in which Jackson has not played this season.
A trip to Nottingham Forest on the final day, which could be a straight shootout for fifth, looks daunting without a recognised striker.
Chelsea have lost six of their last nine away Premier League matches.
Amorim may go full strength to build belief ahead of Europa League final
Ruben Amorim has given some frank, headline-grabbing press conferences in the past. But this one felt different.
The anger in his words told us that he demands better Premier League performances this month, which could mean Manchester United have a huge bearing on the top-five race.
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"Everybody here has to think seriously about a lot of things," Amorim said.
"Everybody is thinking about the [UEFA Europa League] final. The final is not the issue. We have bigger things to think about.
"I'm talking about myself and the culture in the club and the culture in the team. We need to change that. It's a decisive moment in the history of the club.
"We need to be really strong in the summer and to be brave because we will not have a next season like this. If we start like this, if the feeling is still here, we should give the space [to manage the club] to different people."
Amorim appears to believe that his team need a positive performance and a result in order to be prepared mentally for the Europa League final.
Perhaps, then, we can expect a strong team and high-energy performance at Stamford Bridge on Friday, a match that had looked straightforward for Chelsea – but not anymore.
United are on a seven-match winless stretch, their joint-longest run in the Premier League, providing further motivation to avoid a new record by winning at Chelsea.
Emery neutralises Bournemouth's press to give Villa fans hope
Youri Tielemans’ injury was probably the moment Unai Emery realised he could not try to match AFC Bournemouth in midfield.
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The hosts top the Premier League charts for high turnovers and recoveries, with 203 and 1,938 respectively, reflecting their strength in the press and ability to stop teams like Aston Villa, who try to pass neatly through the lines.
That’s why Emery decided to abandon his usual tactical ideas, neutralising Bournemouth by instructing Villa to go long, bypassing midfield altogether. Villa held only 34 per cent possession, their joint-lowest share of the season, and rarely tried to pass through the centre, with goalkeeper Emiliano Martinez heavily involved, as reflected in the graphic below.
Key: Green - successful, Red - unsuccessful
It was the foundation of Villa’s gritty, ugly, and well-deserved three points at Vitality Stadium, a result that considerably improves their chances of qualifying for the Champions League.
If Villa beat Tottenham Hotspur and Man Utd - two teams who, distracted by the Europa League final, have won the fewest points (one each) in the last five rounds of Premier League action – they will only need Chelsea to drop points at home to Man Utd or away at Forest.
Even Manchester City could get caught, while Forest are already behind them. Seven wins from eight gives Villa fans confidence. All they need is one slip from Chelsea and they will pounce.
| Position Pos | Club | Played Pl | GD | Points Pts |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 |
Liverpool
LIV
|
38 | +45 | 84 |
| 2 |
Arsenal
ARS
|
38 | +35 | 74 |
| 3 |
Man City
MCI
|
38 | +28 | 71 |
| 4 |
Chelsea
CHE
|
38 | +21 | 69 |
| 5 |
Newcastle
NEW
|
38 | +21 | 66 |
| 6 |
Aston Villa
AVL
|
38 | +7 | 66 |
| 7 |
Nott'm Forest
NFO
|
38 | +12 | 65 |
Haaland's return presents a dilemma for Pep as top-five race intensifies
In a weekend of surprising twists and turns in the top half of the table, no result came as more of a shock than Man City’s dropped points at Southampton.
It’s hard not to draw a straight line between Erling Haaland’s return to the team and Man City’s return to the kind of disjointed performances we thought had been fixed by Pep Guardiola’s new box-midfield formation.
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Guardiola has recently been fielding no fewer than six central midfielders in his starting XI and using double "false nines", restoring the tactic of suffocating possession.
But with Haaland back, Man City lost some of their fluency.
Despite City having 72 per cent of the possession, Haaland managed only 17 touches of the ball, compared to 113 for his team-mate Ruben Dias, and he only had one shot, which came in the second minute of stoppage time.
All of a sudden, there is pressure on Man City again. Champions League qualification looked safe, but if they lose at home to Bournemouth in a match four days after the FA Cup final, City could finish sixth.
That’s far from unlikely considering Bournemouth have the fourth-best away record in the division.
Dropping points at Southampton, who kept their first clean sheet since January and won only their 12th point of the season, raises questions about Man City’s run-in with Haaland leading the line.
Surprisingly slack defending reveals Forest’s dependence on fully fit squad
It’s hard to think of a more painful way for Forest to see their hopes of Champions League football fade.
Just a couple of hours after Chelsea gave them the chance to take control, Forest slipped up in the east Midlands derby at home to an already-relegated team. In theory, this was one of Forest’s easiest fixtures of the season.
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But in reality, Forest are better when allowed to play their counter-attacking game, which is why the conservative approach of Ruud van Nistelrooy’s side proved the hosts’ undoing.
Murillo’s absence also played a big part. Leicester City’s equalising goal was soft, Facundo Buonanotte gliding past Morato far too easily to score.
Buonanotte's goal v Forest
It was a goal that highlighted just how integral the Murillo and Nikola Milenkovic partnership has been this season – and how much Nuno Espirito Santo has relied upon a small core of players.
Seven Forest players have started at least 31 of the club’s 36 Premier League matches this season. That was always likely to be Forest’s downfall in the end.
Distracted Spurs is just the tonic Palace needed ahead of FA Cup final
Ange Postecoglou made eight changes to the side that beat Bodo/Glimt in the Europa League semi-finals on Thursday, gifting victory to a Crystal Palace team that were on a five-match winless run in the Premier League.
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It is exactly what Oliver Glasner needed to restore some confidence ahead of this weekend’s FA Cup final. Another game without a win would have made their task at Wembley Stadium almost impossible.
Two goals for Eberechi Eze ensures he will be in top form for the final, and after Man City’s 0-0 draw at Southampton, it’s fair to say the balance may have shifted a little over the weekend.
Palace are now on 49 points, the same as their total for 2023/24 and again a joint-club record haul. Wolverhampton Wanderers at home, a week on Tuesday, is a chance for Glasner to break the record before their final-day trip to Liverpool.
Not that anybody will be thinking about that. Palace counter-attacked sharply against Spurs, and Man City looked flat against Saints’ deep-lying defence. This is all good news for Glasner.
Brentford’s record-breaking run puts them in commanding position for eighth
Brentford are now the team to beat. In the race for an eighth-place finish, which will bring European football should Man City win the FA Cup, Thomas Frank’s side have catapulted themselves into prime position with their fourth straight Premier League victory.
Ipswich Town, who have now lost eight matches in a row at Portman Road, put up a good fight but the heroics of goalkeeper Mark Flekken kept the winning sequence going and left the Bees with two cup finals.
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Fulham at home, Wolves away. That’s all that remains for Brentford, although after winning four in a row for the first time since 1939, more pessimistic fans will worry that six on the bounce is beyond them.
On the other hand, it is starting to look like a straight shootout between Brentford and Brighton & Hove Albion, with Fabian Hurzeler’s side facing Liverpool next.
Assuming the champions win that one, Brentford could all-but seal eighth spot with a win against Fulham next weekend. A debut campaign in Europe is tantalisingly close.
Brighton need just one big performance against the champions
On the other hand, Brighton’s win at Wolves will fill them with hope ahead of their most important game of the season.
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Hurzeler's side were perhaps fortunate to win at Molineux, taking advantage of a huge mistake from Matheus Cunha to score from the spot, but at this stage of the season all that matters is the three points.
Beat Liverpool, and Brighton can be confident that eighth is theirs, because a final-day trip to Spurs – who will have played in the Europa League final just four days earlier – is a great opportunity to secure all three points.
It wasn’t long ago when Brighton’s season seemed over. But seven points from the last three games has given them an outside chance of making it.
Fulham’s sudden drop-off could have big consequences in European race
Fulham have now lost four of their last five Premier League matches, a worrying retreat that shows no sign of getting better.
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In a well-worn pattern of the season, Fulham began the game well only to fade in the second half, squandering a 1-0 lead with 70 minutes on the clock. Marco Silva’s side have dropped 28 points from winning positions in the Premier League this season, the joint-most of any side along with Southampton.
Their hopes of finishing eighth are effectively over, but that doesn’t mean they won’t have a say in the big stories of the next two weekends.
Fulham’s poor form could be a major boost for Brentford and Man City, both of whom may need wins in their respective European hunts.
