OneFootball
Padraig Whelan·17 February 2020
OneFootball
Padraig Whelan·17 February 2020
Liverpool are within five wins of the Premier League title and the two north London clubs were on song on Sunday.
This was the best and worst of what went down on a reduced-fixture Premier League weekend.
Under Arsene Wenger, particularly in his heyday, Arsenal were known for strutting some sublime stuff on the field.
When Unai Emery took over, there was little to none of that swagger to be seen.
It hasnât always been plain sailing under new boss Mikel Arteta but you can see what he is trying to achieve.
And for Arsenalâs third goal in their 4-0 win over Newcastle, it all clicked beautifully.
Every player was involved en route to Mesut Ăzil ending a 35-pass move with the killer finishing touch.
It may lose a couple of style points for Martin DĂșbravkaâs gaffe in allowing the shot to wriggle past him but this was more like the Arsenal of old.
Just how good is Sadio Mané? The Liverpool forward never ceases to amaze.
His side werenât at their best against Norwich and found themselves in some tricky situations before he decided the game.
Jordan Hendersonâs pass for him wasnât even pinpoint but the Senegalese made it look easy with a sublime touch and quick-fire finish.
He can decide a game in an instant with his quality and did it again at Carrow Road for his 100th goal in English football. We just love watching him.
Despite the defeat and ending the game 58 points behind their conquerors in the battle of worst v first, Norwich also deserve some praise.
As in so many games this season, they were impressive again but punished by a more ruthless foe.
Usually when a goal is scored directly from a corner, it is cause for celebration.
That wasnât quite the case for Ashley Westwoodâs goal for Burnley against Southampton though.
This was no sweet connection that sailed over everyone and into the far corner of the net. Far from it.
Quite what Danny Ings was doing in allowing the ball past him at the near post, only he knows but goalkeeper Alex McCarthy is also massively culpable.
His starting position, yards behind his goal-line, was ridiculous and didnât help either.
Only two teams in the Premier League have had more VAR decisions go against them this season than Wolves.
That tally went to seven on Friday night (with two in their favour) thanks to another controversial call against Leicester City.
They were denied a win by VAR in the same fixture in a 0-0 draw on the opening weekend and history repeated itself once more.
Willy Boly was involved in both incidents, this time having a goal ruled out for a wafer-thin offside decision in the build-up.
Nuno EspĂrito Santo moaned even then after the first occasion that it was âkilling the spirit of the gameâ.
Youâd think the spirit is well and truly dead now.
Okay, ugly isnât quite the correct word to use here but Tottenhamâs 3-2 win at Aston Villa was certainly a weird one.
Toby Alderweireld scored a fantastic goal but also comically put through his own net.
Bjorn Engels netted for the hosts but that was only after he had given away a penalty.
That spot-kick was missed by Heung-min Son, who went on to score the rebound and then a 94th minute winner.
Eric Dier even managed to misplace a staggering seven passes inside the opening 11 minutes!
It was just one of those games when you never quite knew what was coming next.