Arsenal now have a title-winning back line – Premier League hits and misses – Sky Sports

Football
Plus: Alexis Mac Allister is the gift that keeps on giving for Liverpool; is time running out for relegation favourites Sheffield Utd? can Arsenal’s stalwart defence be their best form of attack? are Man City better with Phil Foden and not Erling Haaland leading the line?
Friday 5 April 2024 00:53, UK

Before Manchester United produced the latest-ever collapse in Premier League history at Chelsea, days after losing a lead in stoppage-time at Brentford, Erik ten Hag appeared to tell Sir Jim Ratcliffe and INEOS not to interrupt his progress at Old Trafford.
Although he did not mention his new bosses by name, it is hard to see who else his words were aimed at. “We are in a good way, a good direction and we need to make the next steps,” he said. “Don’t interrupt this process.”
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For the final half an hour at Stamford Bridge, until Cole Palmer’s late interventions, Ten Hag on the face of things was delivering on his comments. Had United held on to win, or even draw, it would have only kicked the can further down the road though.
Ten Hag’s side are perennially stretched. He says his players should have done their jobs after chaos ensued. You do have to question though why time and again they do not seem to be able to. Something is not right.
Chelsea had 28 shots on Thursday. Brentford had 31 on Saturday. Liverpool had 25 shots before the international break. Ten Hag’s system is demanding so much of a group of players that do not suit his high-octane approach.
The Dutchman may need time and another overhaul to achieve the goal he set out earlier this week. His problem, however, is that INEOS may not be so patient. Especially if defeats of this manner continue in the final weeks of the season.
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After the game, Sky Sports’ Jamie Carragher poked fun at his fellow pundit Gary Neville on social media.

He posted ‘billion pound bottle jobs’ with a crying laughing emoji face after Chelsea’s last-gasp win against Neville’s former team.

It was a response to Neville’s jibe against Chelsea after the Carabao Cup final, when he said on Sky Sports: “It’s Klopp’s kids against the billion-pound bottle jobs.”
As Jamie Carragher pointed out, United lost in dramatic late fashion to the team named ‘The Blue Billion Pound Bottle Jobs’. What does that make Ten Hag’s Man Utd?
Zinny Boswell
This is the moment Mauricio Pochettino has been waiting for. Many of his comments after disappointing games this season – many Chelsea have thrown away of their own accord – have been about finding the right mentality, working hard and doing so as a team.
Those were all qualities Chelsea showed during their epic, last-gasp 4-3 win. Yes, there were errors, Moises Caicedo’s the most glaring. The marking for Bruno Fernandes’ equaliser was questionable too. Chelsea were not perfect by any means, but their persistence paid off.
Cole Palmer, too, is looking to be one of the signings of last summer, and is spearheading this new era under Pochettino. He is matching, breaking and creating records every week, and must be the player Chelsea build their future around.
Pochettino’s emphatic celebrations after Palmer’s winner show just how big this result is. It will do little to boost any league aspirations, but the effect it can have on confidence and performance could be invaluable.
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As the manager agrees in its importance, saying: “It was amazing. We deserved it, we were the better team… For the connection with the fans it is an important day. It should be a turning point.”
His job now is to harness that feeling and use it to inspire his players going forward. Let’s not forget, they have an FA Cup semi-final in a few weeks in a competition that will be their only chance of silverware this season.
But a little revel in such a win before turning to Sheffield United is more than justified. It could be the turning point of Chelsea’s season after all.
Charlotte Marsh
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Alexis Mac Allister to the rescue. Liverpool’s title-bid saviour.
The Argentine has been super human of late, with a hand in seven goals in his last six appearances, scoring three and providing four assists.
No contribution has been more keenly felt than his screamer against Sheffield United, with nerves jangling after Conor Bradley’s own goal had created unwanted peril.
Mac Allister was the coolest customer on the pitch. His cultured through ball set Mo Salah up for the winner against Brighton at the weekend, and his equally timely strike to pick off the Blades was just as inspired.
The goal felt big and might be remembered as a pivotal moment in this title run-in. This was not Liverpool at their best, but with Mac Allister at the heart, it did not much matter.
Laura Hunter
First there was James McAtee failing to convert a close-range golden opportunity 32 seconds in. And then there was Ivo Grbic blasting the ball off Darwin Nunez and into his own net.
As Chris Wilder puffed out his cheeks, you had to feel for the Sheffield United boss, who had already seen his side throw away two-goal leads in their past two Premier League games. The Blades had shot themselves in the foot again.
But credit must go to the Premier League’s bottom-placed club for hanging in against Liverpool after those setbacks – and then shocking Anfield with an unlikely equaliser. They had not read the script and gave Liverpool a major scare.
It took Mac Allister’s screamer to undo their dogged defence again but while it was ultimately another defeat – and with eight games left and a 10-point gap to make up their survival chances grow ever slimmer – Sheffield United can at least walk away from Anfield with their heads held high.
Peter Smith
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Rarely does a Premier League game feel like a training session. This was Arsenal at half speed. You sensed with his team selection that Mikel Arteta wanted two key outcomes from this clash with Luton. Rest key limbs and win the game. Tick. Tick.
His boys put on a job-done performance. Declan Rice was rested from the start, while Bukayo Saka was given the night off. Emile Smith Rowe and Reiss Nelson got some important minutes, showcasing that they remain an option for Arteta if required to change a game during a hectic period of fixtures.
Arsenal rarely dazzled in a timid attacking performance, but they were not required to. One goal is enough when you have a centre-back pairing that is able to restrict opposition forwards to such low-quality chances. Arteta told my colleague Nick Wright last week that this Arsenal team “have a love for defending” and it was on show yet again.
Luton had scored in their previous 17 Premier League games. They are a hard team to keep quiet. Yet Arsenal restricted them to just five shots, one on target, to a backdrop of expected goals against of just 0.27.
This phenomenal defence has now conceded just three goals in their last nine matches and have conceded just a per 90 average of 0.4 worth of expected goals across their last 10 Premier League games. A remarkable number considering they have played Manchester City and Liverpool in that period. It is a title-winning defence. No question.
Lewis Jones
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This was stunning from Phil Foden. Two goals from outside the box, including his first Manchester City goal direct from a free-kick, the one from inside the area might have been the most picture perfect of the lot, beautifully placed into the bottom corner.
He was not credited with the assist for the opening goal but he was its architect, splitting the Aston Villa defence to find Jeremy Doku. It was a joy to watch him enjoying himself in that central role and with freedom to burst into the spaces vacated by Julian Alvarez.
Pep Guardiola will be reluctant for the aftermath of this victory to morph into a conversation about whether City are more fluid without their star forward Erling Haaland, dropped to the bench for this 4-1 win. But it is a legitimate topic for debate given the performance.
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City have won six and drawn one of the seven Premier League games that Haaland has not started this season. Perhaps even more significantly, given that they win most of the ones he plays too, they have scored at least two goals in each of those seven games.
They average more goals per game without him than with him. And the sight of Foden, Bernardo Silva and Rico Lewis popping the ball around, made it easy to see why. This felt like City close to their best, how a Guardiola team tends to look. With Foden at its heart.
Adam Bate
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Brighton’s inability to keep clean sheets this season has been seen as their Achilles heel in their pursuit of European football again.
But when the dust settles on this campaign if they do finish outside the top seven, or eight, it could be their goalscoring which sees them fall short.
You could easily point to the Seagulls’ goals-for column and ask why. They have netted one more than seventh-placed West Ham, and 11 more than Man Utd in sixth.
It is only recently that things have gone south. They scored 18 goals in their first six games. It has taken all of their last 14 matches to reach that same tally.
Defeats have still been few and far between but it does not take an xG model to work out where things need to improve when five of those matches have been 0-0 or 1-1 draws, each against teams they would expect to beat including Brentford on Wednesday night.
Roberto De Zerbi pointed to his players’ performance and the 24 shots they racked up at the Gtech. But how many of those would have made a highlights reel?
Losing players like Kaoru Mitoma and Joao Pedro for long periods of the season and Evan Ferguson’s drop in form does not help. Brighton do not have the deepest squad in the league by a mile – hence De Zerbi’s public call for investment last week.
But he has made his name with attacking football, with or without his star players. And it would be a shame if losing that cost them in the end.
Ron Walker
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Luton’s survival chances will not be decided with results like the 2-0 defeat at Arsenal but – make no mistake – they are in a rut.
For all the plaudits and goodwill in their direction, it is now just one win in 13 Premier League matches, losing seven of their last nine. It would have been nine straight defeats but for two late equalisers vs Crystal Palace and Nottingham Forest. They lost both of those games on the expected goals battle too.
Late goals are a great sign of their never-say-die attitude, yes, but performances are on the wane according to the underlying numbers. In their last five games they have averaged just 0.8 worth of expected goals and conceded 2.1 worth of expected goals against. On current form, that type of expected goals difference calculation ranks them as the worst team in the league – by a distance.
Of course, this can all be caveated with the injury issues. Rob Edwards’ squad is decimated and his players are giving everything for the club and its likeable manager. But, to be ruthless, it might not be enough.
Lewis Jones
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