Man Utd ship seven, Spurs six, Liverpool five, Arsenal four in every Premier League club’s worst game of 2023 | OneFootball

Embarrassment for Liverpool, Man Utd, Arsenal and Spurs.

We’ve looked at the best of 2023, now it’s time for the worst, with Man Utd, Liverpool, Tottenham and Arsenal conceding 22 goals between them, while City’s Quadruple was ruined by Nathan Jones…

Man City 4-1 Arsenal It could have been the 3-3 draw at home to Southampton the previous week but the humping at the hands of Manchester City, the last of four games without a win in late April, effectively ended the title race. Almost as damaging as the consequences of defeat was the brutal, one-sided nature of it. City appeared to take Arsenal’s challenge as a personal affront and put them in their place at the Etihad.

Newcastle 5-1 Aston Villa Villa are having a wonderful season – a stunning 2023 – but they looked set for anything but on the opening day when they were swept aside by Newcastle. They were 2-0 down inside 16 minutes but the real collapse came in the second half, by which point they had already lost Tyrone Mings for the season.

Arsenal 3-2 Bournemouth Bournemouth’s worst looked set to be one of their best when they went to Arsenal and took a two-goal lead, their first coming in quicker time than Usain Bolt ran the 100 metres. Their subsequent collapse was hardly the most shameful on this list, but conceding with the last kick to remain bottom of the table with 12 games to go left the Cherries reeling. Their fightback started the following week with a win over Liverpool.

Brentford 1-3 Everton Losing to Everton is no disgrace these days – certainly less so than when the Bees became the Toffees’ first victims of the season. Brentford were comfortably beaten on a day that began to go wrong in the warm-up when they lost Kevin Schade. “We performed badly and that was very unlike us,” admitted Thomas Frank.

Aston Villa 6-1 Brighton  The Seagulls’ heaviest top-flight defeat saw them concede three in each half while looking thoroughly knackered. “We played a very bad game,” said Roberto De Zerbi stating the bleeding obvious. “We can lose badly, but we can’t lose every duel, every second ball.” Apparently you can.

Burnley 1-2 West Ham There are a few candidates through the back half of the year for Burnley’s 2023 low point, but surrendering to the Hammers was perhaps the most soul-destroying of all. The Clarets were superior to West Ham and threatened their first home win of the season before scoring an 86th-minute own goal and allowing Tomas Soucek a 91st-minute winner.

Chelsea 1-2 Southampton Chelsea have endured a few nadirs through 2023 but allowing the then-managerless Saints that finished bottom of the pile to do the double over you takes some beating. Seven starters and the manager – who copped it from the home fans – are no longer at the club.

Brighton 1-0 Crystal Palace Palace losing to their biggest rivals to make it 11 without a win sparked dissent from the away fans at the AmEx. Patrick Vieira said the Eagles needed to ‘change their mindset’. They changed their manager instead.

Everton 1-2 Southampton Southampton’s only Premier League win under Nathan Jones, earned after coming from behind against Frank Lampard’s limp, lifeless Toffees, came on a day the Everton board claim they were told to stay away from Goodison Park for their own safety, while the players were confronted on their way to their cars after losing to James Ward-Prowse’s second-half brace.

Fulham 0-3 Brentford After starting the season with an away win at Everton, Fulham phoned it in during their first home game of the season. On the day the sale of Alekandar Mitrovic was announced, the Cottagers offered up a limp and lifeless display to be battered by a local rival.

Liverpool 2-5 Real Madrid Liverpool looked all set for another one of those nights before it became another of those nights. They led 2-0 inside 14 minutes but what Jurgen Klopp described as “the best they have played all season” in the first half was spoiled by some truly wretched defending. “We gave away all five goals. All five.”

Bournemouth 1-1 Luton (susp) Much as we like to keep it light, every defeat pales into insignificance compared to Saturday when Tom Lockyer appeared in such peril. Luton’s worst fears – and everyone else’s – weren’t realised, but it was still a dark day in an incredible year for the Hatters.

Southampton 2-0 Man City Losing the Carabao Cup quarter-final to the side who finished rock-bottom of the Premier League, being managed then by Nathan Jones, ruined what perhaps ought to have been the first Quadruple.

Liverpool 0-7 Man Utd A week after their highlight of 2023, typically, United caved in at Anfield to suffer the heaviest defeat ever in this fixture. They were in the game at half-time, only conceding the opener just before the break. What followed was a disgrace. “Embarrassing… shocking” said Roy Keane, letting United off lightly.

Newcastle 0-2 Man Utd Newcastle weren’t awful in the Carabao Cup final at Wembley but their first final in 24 years amid the prospect of a first trophy since before Christ was a huge anti-climax. It didn’t help that Loris Karius was playing his first senior game in two years and he brought his gardening gloves. “It hurts immensely,” said Eddie Howe. “If feels like you have failed.” Aye. “A negative sea of emotions hit you but, with defeat, sometimes you take the positives.” Not now, Eddie.

Fulham 5-0 Nottingham Forest Another wretched road trip for Forest felt like the last goodbye to Steve Cooper. It wasn’t, but an embarrassing defeat was another nail in the manager’s coffin, with replacements sought immediately after if the speed of Nuno’s appointment is any indication.

Burnley 5-0 Sheffield United The pressure was all on Vincent Kompany going into one of the first relegation six-pointers of the season, but the Blades got Paul Heckingbottom sacked with a truly dire performance at Turf Moor. Setting the tone, they lost two tackles and a header prior to conceding the opener inside 15 seconds before making Burnley look like Brazil.

Newcastle 6-1 Tottenham Three down in nine minutes, five down in 21, this top-four showdown was anything but. It is hard to overstate how dire Spurs were. Enough that caretaker coach Cristian Stellini was sacked while Hugo Lloris decided he’d had enough of this sh*t at half-time.

Brighton 4-0 West Ham The travelling support turned on David Moyes at the AmEx back in March after a spineless performance that left the Hammers two points above the bottom three. Good job he wasn’t ‘sacked in the morning’…

Brighton 6-0 Wolves Wolves were eight points clear of the drop zone after a defeat in which Julen Lopetegui’s players played as if they knew they were safe. The visitors conceded three in each half, each goal seemingly worse than the last. “We had a very bad day in all situations,” said the apologetic Spaniard.