Goal of the week
Bruno Fernandes’s 40-yard screamer summed up Manchester United’s 2-2 draw with Liverpool. United were terrible for large chunks of the game, with two world-class moments enough to secure a point. Liverpool were sloppy in phases, missing a mountain of opportunities in front of goal and failing to take advantage of a rudderless United team.
UNBELIEVABLE. BRUNO FERNANDES EQUALIZES WITH LONG-DISTANCE STRIKE. pic.twitter.com/OVRLIn1RVH
— NBC Sports Soccer (@NBCSportsSoccer) April 7, 2024
This should feel like two points lost for Liverpool rather than a point gained. The match took on the same pattern as the FA Cup classic between the two sides last month: Liverpool controlled the first-half, fluffed their lines in front of goal, and allowed United back into the match in the second period. In the first half alone, Liverpool notched 15 shots to United’s zero. Liverpool controlled the ball and dictated the tempo of the game, methodically carving Erik Ten Hag’s side open every time they advanced up the pitch. But Fernandes’s strike against the run of play – with an assist from Liverpool’s Jarell Quansah – turned the match into carnage.
As the game devolved into chaos, Liverpool were unable to establish any sense of order until the final 15 minutes. Rather than continuing to play at their own pace, Liverpool allowed the mayhem to overtake them. Kobbie Mainoo’s ‘Macheeeeddaaa’ impression gave United a 2-1 lead before Liverpool scored a late penalty to leave Old Trafford with a point.
Jürgen Klopp will know this could be a decisive result in the title race. Liverpool created more chances. They created better chances – they won the on-paper matchup 4.43 to 0.83. But Liverpool’s inconsistency in front of goal cost them a chance to put United away early and regain top spot in the league.
Player of the week
Just when you thought Kevin De Bruyne couldn’t find new ways to inspire shock and awe, he produced one of the performances of the season in Manchester City’s 4-2 win over Crystal Palace on Saturday.
City were not at their crisp best against Palace. They conceded cheap chances and were wasteful with the ball through the opening 45 minutes. But, as he so often does, De Bruyne bent the game to his will. He finished with two goals, an assist and four key passes, as many as Crystal Palace’s midfield had combined. “Today, Kevin won the game,” Pep Guardiola said post-game.
The goals were De Bruyne’s 99th and 100th for the club. The first was vintage De Bruyne: A curling effort from the left-edge of the box. The second was something more unorthodox: a gangly half-volley struck sweetly beyond the goalkeeper.
Kevin De Bruyne has his second as Man City pull away to a 4-1 lead! pic.twitter.com/Foz9duUELT
— NBC Sports Soccer (@NBCSportsSoccer) April 6, 2024
Look at those limbs. De Bruyne almost waddles up to the ball like a toddler taking his first steps. His arms are everywhere. His body shape is a little too open. He looked off-balance. By De Bruyne’s standards, it’s not graceful. The result? De Bruyne drilling it beyond the keeper as normal.
City have not lost a league game since De Bruyne returned from injury in January. He leads the league in assists over that time and has more than double the number of expected assists per 90 (0.94) than Leon Bailey in second place (0.42). As City have evolved over the past 18 months, the midfielder’s impact has, somehow, become even more profound. In the team’s robotic structure, De Bruyne brings some needed abstraction. When De Bruyne sits, City still roll out an All-Star cast with (minor) frailties. But with De Bruyne, they look close to invincible.
Stat of the week
Making the leap from contenders to champions can sometimes feel like sniffing chocolate while nibbling on broccoli. Fast-break attacks and scoring avalanches of goals are the foundation of the league’s best, but goals alone can only take a side so far. It’s defensive solidity that pushes a team over the line.
No one appears to have internalized that ethos more than Arsenal. Towards the end of their 3-0 win over Brighton, Gabriel let out a guttural roar after denying the Seagulls a chance to get on the scoresheet. Preserving Arsenal’s clean sheet record looked as important to the centre-back as snagging three points.
Arsenal’s defensive record this season is bordering on the absurd. The Gabriel-William Saliba pairing are the headline makers at the back, but Mikel Arteta has everyone working without the ball – and playing with a perfect blend of caution and adventure with it. Arsenal have now kept five clean sheets in a row away from home, which is as many as any other team has kept away from home in the league all season.
If you’re looking for advantages in the title race, that’s the start and stopping point. Of the last six Premier League champions, five conceded the fewest goals in the league when they won the title – and all but Klopp’s Liverpool were best in expected goals against (the quality of chances conceded). Even Klopp’s table-toppers were first in xG against at the point where they were confirmed as champions.
Arsenal have been the stingiest side in the league this season by some distance: They’ve conceded just 24 goals with an xGA of 24; City have conceded 31 goals with an xGA of 31; Liverpool have conceded 31 with an xGA of 37. And since the turn of the year, Arsenal have been even better. Over their last 11 league games, they have conceded an expected goals against of just 4.98 (!). The next best team over that period, City, sit on 12.28.
It goes beyond the goals, too. There is a level of control that Arsenal exert over games. They dictate the rhythm. They grind out results. Once they go in front, they eliminate danger, shutting games down in a way that is evading even City these days.
The ‘energy hack’ award
Forget AG1, Zyn pouches or getting sunlight in your eyes, the purest form of all-day energy is tuning in to Thomas Frank’s Brentford. Due to the sheer comedic effect and the volume of shots they concede, Manchester United still lead the way on the Premier League’s watchability index. But Brentford continue to climb up the Premflix rankings.
Every game is a turbo-charged chance-fest. In a 3-3 draw with Aston Villa on Saturday, the two teams combined for six shots on target, six goals and zero saves. Villa chucked away a 2-0 advantage to fall behind 3-2, before an 80th-minute Ollie Watkins header gave the home side a point.
Villa were disappointed to not see out their lead. Watkins said his side lack a “big-team mentality” to finish difficult games. “I’m not belittling my team, I’m part of it,” Watkins said after the match. “We need to somehow figure out when we’re 2-0 up how to shut up shop.”
It was a crucial point for Brentford, who have been on a dismal run of form. Frank’s team have lost 14 of their past 21 games, registering the weakest points per game return over that run. The point at Villa Park takes them to 29 for the season, four points clear of the relegation zone.
The ‘is that what football wants?’ award
This was not a banner week for club-referee relations. First up, Burnley were frustrated after Dara O’Shea was sent off in their 1-0 defeat away at Everton. Not to be outdone, Sean Dyche bemoaned the lack of decisions that went Everton’s way in what otherwise would have been a comfortable win.
Wolves cranked up the rhetoric even further. Club owner Jeff Shi released a statement after his side lost 2-1 to West Ham calling on the league and referees’ body the PGMOL to “uphold the integrity of the competition.” Shi took a particular swipe at VAR. “It’s time to question whether someone remote disallowing that goal is really what football wants or needs,” Shi said in a statement.
Wolves had a late equalizer ruled out for offside against West Ham after Tawanda Chirewa was judged to be in an offside position, obstructing the view of West Ham goalkeeper Lukasz Fabianski. Tim Robinson, the VAR, advised the on-field referee, Tony Harrington, to review the goal on the pitch-side monitor.
Shi’s intervention is a reminder that there is no independent Premier League authority. The club’s owners govern the league. And frustration is growing among those who ultimately decide whether VAR will be used – and how much money they are willing (or not) to fork over to PGMOL to help raise standards for on-field officials and VARs. This season, Liverpool have released a statement complaining about a decision. Arsenal have released a statement of their own. Nottingham Forest took the step of appointing Mark Clattenburg as their referee adviser/official cajoler, which must rank up there with Trump University or $20 margaritas as society’s oddest grift.
Does football want VAR? With perfect implementation, why not? But this incarnation is a mess. It’s over to the club’s owners to decide whether to pull back from video technology altogether or to put their hands in their pockets to try to fix the problem.
