We witnessed man take flight in Manchester on Saturday, when Erling Haaland rose at the back post to impale a Rodri cross into the far corner. Behold: Haaland with his finest Michael Jordan impression.
The leap of @ErlingHaaland! 🤯 pic.twitter.com/9OuZ6FfwGV
— Manchester City (@ManCity) May 4, 2024
Not content with His Airness moment, Haaland added another three goals in City’s 5-1 win over Wolves, taking his tally in club football to 200 in five seasons. “Not bad,” Haaland said after the game.
It was another ruthlessly efficient performance from City, with a smattering of Haaland induced magic. What remains so special about Pep Guardiola’s side is how they can cross off crucial games in May like they’re nondescript outings in October. There’s a routine perfection to City at the end of the year. It doesn’t matter if other contenders win, if things look tight at the top. They continue to chug along.
With precious few exceptions, great teams have life cycles. They gain experience, win a lot, age, and get bad. Not City. The depth of their squad is unrivalled. And now their star has returned to form. With three games to go, they’re favorites to pick up a fourth title in a row.
Player of the week
In a league full of one-percenters, you’re looking for whatever fraction of a percentage can turn an advantage. Leandro Trossard becoming the league’s most diverse finisher is one such advantage.
It’s no coincidence that Liverpool’s title bid slipped away when Diogo Jota was knocked out of their lineup with an injury. Trossard for Arsenal is what Jota was for Liverpool: a crafty finisher who takes up smart spots in the penalty box. He bagged Arsenal’s second in a 3-1 over Bournemouth to help his team keep pace with City at the top.
Like Jota, Trossard scores every type of goal imaginable – and some that are hard to dream up. According to StatsBomb, Trossard has been the most two-footed finisher in the Premier League in the past five seasons. His impact extends beyond goals, though. He does a little bit of everything. He is a magnet to the ball. He makes incisive runs. He’s tough to dispossess. He keeps Arsenal’s possession ticking along. And then when a chance does open up in front of goal, he’s lethal. He is producing more valuable chances this season than Bukayo Saka, Phil Foden and Cole Palmer. He’s neck-and-neck with Kai Havertz in shot conversion percentage since the turn of the year, and his post-shot xG – the quality of his finishing – is tied for second in the league behind only Haaland.
Trossard is the walking embodiment of Mikel Arteta’s belief that Arsenal are at their best sharing goals around the group. The manager resisted the urge to go all-in on signing a ready-made central striker. Instead, Arteta banked on the development of Declan Rice, Gabriel Martinelli, Havertz, Saka and Trossard to share the responsibility.
It’s worked. The movement of a mobile, amorphous front three has sliced defensive lines apart, carving open opportunities for wide players and midfielders driving into the box. Martin Ødegaard (16) and Rice (15) have racked up goals and assists, but it’s been Trossard who’s provided crucial finishes at the end of the season. He’s scored in five of his last eight league games, and scored eight times since the start of 2024.
Saturday was a year to the day that Arsenal surrendered top spot to Man City last season. They have held their own this year. City seem impervious to pressure, but Arsenal are doing their best to push the title race to the final day of the season.
Relegation subplot of the week
The race for Premier League survival may well be over. Nottingham Forest’s 3-1 win over relegated Sheffield United moved them five points clear of Burnley and three ahead of Luton. Burnley were hammered 4-1 by Newcastle on Saturday, which all but guarantees they will play Championship football next season.
With two games to play, Luton could make up ground. But Forest’s goal difference (11 clear of Luton) gives them a crucial advantage. Luton will have to pick up four more points than Forest in their final two games to ensure they stay up.
The remaining fixtures make that tricky. Forest will host Chelsea and head to Burnley on the final day of the season. Luton have a trip to West Ham and a home game against Fulham left to play.
On the field, the relegation spots look decided. The three teams that came up last season will probably head back down. The only lingering question: will the Premier League enforce further punishments on either Forest or Everton for violation of the league’s profit and sustainability rules? To the courtroom!
Stat of the week
Liverpool tore Tottenham apart in the opening hour at Anfield on Sunday, racing to a 4-0 lead. Spurs eventually pulled it back to 4-2, but the damage was already done.
No one apart from Drake has had a worse week than Ange Postecoglou. Tottenham lost the north London derby, were hammered by Chelsea in midweek and then limped in to a game against Liverpool despite still having an outside shot at picking up a top-four spot and securing Champions League football next season.
Postecoglou is a pass-and-move, high-press zealot, but that has all come tumbling down over the past month. Since the start of April, they’ve picked up four points, a worse run than anyone except Luton and Sheffield United. They have a minus-nine goal difference in that span, tied for the second-worst in the league.
That’s relegation stuff. Spurs look lifeless with the ball and devoid of a plan once they lose it. On Sunday, Liverpool won possession in the final third eight times in the first half alone – more than any other opening 45 minutes in the Premier League this season, according to Opta.
It has become a familiar sight for the Tottenham inclined: Spurs can’t create any real chances of their own, while conceding a big chance every time they go forward. Liverpool’s fullbacks had more touches in the opposition’s box than Spurs’ entire team had in the first half.
Postecolgou has drawn (fair) criticism for his unwillingness to adapt during games. Like Guardiola and Arteta, Postecoglou wants his side to stick to their principles, to sharply move the ball around, rather than pivot when things are going poorly. His preference is to switch personnel rather than alter his team’s style. But adherence to dogma can sink you in tricky games on the road. At Anfield, they were outplayed, outfought and overrun until Jürgen Klopp made changes in the second half.
Postecoglou has sharpened his teeth over the past week. First, blasting his side on the field against Chelsea, and then taking to a press conference to insist “change has to happen” this summer. His players, pushed on to the hot-seat, fighting for a place next season, responded with another dud.
At some point, inconsistency is no longer a maddening habit holding you back from becoming what you should be. It’s who you are.
Rough performance of the week
A special mention to Tottenham’s Emerson Royal, who was tormented by Mohamed Salah and the right side of Liverpool’s attack at Anfield.
Here’s a back of the notebook accounting of his day:
Lost Salah for Liverpool’s opening goal.
Had to be pulled away from his own teammate on the pitch at half-time
Gifted the ball to Elliott to set-up Liverpool’s third.
Picked up a booking for a foul on Salah.
Missed a headed clearance that wound up with Elliott for Liverpool’s fourth.
Taken off after 60 minutes for a central midfielder.
Emerson, a right-winger masquerading as a fullback, was plopped on to the left side of the defensive line to cover for injuries. It was a disaster. It’s hard to think of a player who’s had a worse individual performance this season.
The Ned Stark award
West Ham lost their heads – again – in a 5-0 defeat away at Chelsea. Chelsea were slick in attack, slicing apart a hapless West Ham team. There’s a tendency to see such a performance as cutting against the David Moyes grain. This is not what a David Moyes team™ looks like.
Yes it is. Moyes’s side have become easy to play against. They lose away games in graceless, almost absurd fashion. West Ham have now conceded 70 Premier League goals this season, the worst figure for a Moyes side in a single league campaign and the fourth-worst mark of any team this season. In their last three games, they’ve shipped 12 goals. Not what you want when your club is jetting in managers to potentially replace you.
The performance at Stamford Bridge on Sunday was a vintage “one, two, three … Cancún” display from a team who felt it had little else to play for the rest of the way – save, perhaps, the manager’s job.
The win moves Chelsea up to seventh, one place ahead of Manchester United. Defeat for West Ham leaves Moyes on the outs. Time for Julen Lopetegui to start sizing up the carpets.
