So, Pep Guardiola is human after all. Four straight defeats, the first time in his career, is the latest twist in a curious title race that saw Arsenal miss a beat, too.
It was jubilation for Ipswich and Wolves as they got their first wins on the board, while Ruud van Nistelrooy wrapped up his interim spell in charge of Manchester United with an impressive 3-0 win.
Brentford continue to be the great entertainers in the Premier League, but it’s worrying times over in east London as West Ham’s struggles were further exacerbated over the course of 90 minutes against Everton.
And, as referenced in this column previously, Sir Jim Ratcliffe’s hoodoo of failing to see Manchester United win a league game live is over (finally).
In the latest instalment of this weekly column, Mail Sport picks out five of the most interesting talking points to emerge from the Premier League over the weekend.
Pep Guardiola has suffered four consecutive defeats for the first time in his managerial career
Ruud van Nistelrooy, meanwhile, signed off his spell as interim manager of United with a win
Brentford continue to be the entertainers of the Premier League and won 3-2 at the weekend
Foolish to write City off
Manchester City stuttering in the winter before inevitable title win. I still can’t shake it.
It is certainly advantage Liverpool right now and Pep Guardiola does look as fraught as he has been in years. That is not without good reason.
City are running less and are looking increasingly sluggish.
Spending the season without Ballon d’Or winner Rodri is an obvious blow as he’s the world’s best in his position. Kyle Walker is becoming increasingly problematic at right back and an over-reliance on Erling Haaland for goals has crept in.
And yet writing City off at just five points adrift seems foolish.
‘I would not write off anyone who is up there now, absolutely not,’ former Arsenal attacker Theo Walcott said on Match of the Day 2.
‘Liverpool at some point are going to stumble and they will have injury problems like every other team.’
There is starting to become an over-reliance on Erling Haaland at Manchester City
That is fair, but not a reason why City can bury their head in the sand.
City are famously ruthless killers when it comes to finishing seasons and they build up steam after Christmas. In the past three seasons they have lost just four Premier League games after Christmas.
But in the here and now, the international break perhaps comes at a good time for City to both get injured players healthy and also to take stock of areas of weakness.
As great as Haaland is, they simply have to reduce the reliance of goals incumbent upon him.
Haaland is accounting for 55 per cent of their goals in the league so far this season. Last season that total stood at 22 per cent. A season prior to that it was 38 per cent.
Then there is simply the fact that they are being outworked by opponents.
It was particularly noticeable against AFC Bournemouth recently, but Brighton had similar joy.
In more than half of their games this season City have made fewer sprints than opponents and in a worrying trend they are covering less distance than rivals.
‘Maybe after seven years winning six Premier Leagues, maybe one year another team deserve it,’ Guardiola said flippantly after defeat to Brighton.
He won’t believe that and he won’t be buying too much into talk of a ‘crisis’ either.
City’s dominance in the Premier League should not mask the fact that they have overcome adversity before and they will likely do so again here.
Remember that City have trailed by six points or more at some stage in all four-in-a-row title-winning seasons. Remember too that they were eight points off Arsenal in April 2023 before turning that around.
Writing City off? More fool you.
Brighton, like Bournemouth last weekend, outworked City during their Premier League clash
But the champions often put pedal to the metal after Christmas so expect them to kick on
Time for super sub Harry to start?
The double-edged sword. So effective coming off the bench, should he be promoted to start?
That is the conundrum with Harry Wilson right now. Marco Silva’s first choice trio behind the striker has been Reiss Nelson, Emile Smith Rowe and Alex Iwobi.
But after a match-winning brace at home against local rivals Brentford was followed up by the second goal to ice victory against Crystal Palace, Wilson is giving boss Marco Silva a real headache.
‘He is doing the right things,’ Silva said of the in-form Welshman.
‘He is doing nothing wrong. He is competing against very good players. If I can play with 12 or 13 it’s going to be easier for me, but I can’t.’
Nelson got 82 minutes at Selhurst Park, whereas Smith Rowe and Iwobi got 89, and shifting the former Arsenal trio from this winning machine is proving trickier than Wilson imagined.
Fulham shared some dressing room footage after the last-gasp win over Brentford and in it Silva concedes it is his ‘fault’ that he cannot give more minutes to Wilson right now.
It is down to Silva to make a decision as to whether he can reward Wilson’s fine form with a start, or convince him to adopt the Ole Gunnar Solskjaer super-sub role in their bid to get into Europe.
The Cottagers, who are seventh and a point off third, are flying high and sniffing European football if they remain on their current trajectory.
On Wilson’s current trajectory it will be impossible to leave him out from the start. Keep the faith, Harry.
In-form Harry Wilson has a strong case to start Fulham games going forward
He has scored three goals in the last week, leaving boss Marco Silva with a decision to make
Amorim must find role for Amad
One of Ruben Amorim’s favourite phrases is that ‘all will become clear’.
He said that repeatedly when speculation was rife that he would be Erik ten Hag’s successor. He said it again over the weekend when asked if there is any future at the club for interim boss Van Nistelrooy.
Two things that are already abundantly clear are that Amorim will deploy his 3-4-3 system from the off, and that there has to be a place for Amad Diallo within it.
The diminutive Ivorian has arguably been the player of the week across English football having been man-of-the-match during the week against PAOK and then a real livewire in the 3-0 over Leicester.
The role of a No 10 is crucial in Amorim’s system, with two inside forwards playing behind a more traditional No 9, which is expected to be Rasmus Hojlund for the time being.
Bruno Fernandes, who scored and had two assists versus Leicester, is a shoo-in for one of those spots, and the other is to be battled out between Amad, Alejandro Garnacho and Marcus Rashford.
In truth, it should be relatively straightforward. It has to be Amad.
The 22-year-old showed flashes of a partnership forming with Fernandes in the Leicester win and he is the perfect hybrid blend that has the directness of a winger alongside the finesse and touch of a No 10 operating in far tighter spaces.
Amad fell by the wayside under Erik ten Hag, and had a face like thunder when, inexplicably, Antony was sent on ahead of him in Istanbul. But three goals/assists in four games under Van Nistelrooy came at just the right time.
Ruben Amorim must find a role for Amad Diallo at Manchester United when he takes over
He will likely be battling it out with the likes of Alejandro Garnacho and Marcus Rashford
Odegaard holds keys for Gunners
While I remain convinced that Arsenal a non-factor in this year’s title race despite vociferous pushback from colleagues, if they are going to compete at the very top it’s going to be driven by Martin Odegaard.
By the end against Chelsea, the Norwegian midfielder was dead on his feet. He simply had nothing left in the tank after two months on the sidelines.
‘I don’t know any other player in the league who is capable of doing that after six weeks out,’ Mikel Arteta said afterwards.
‘How physically and mentally connected he was with the team… it was unbelievable.’
It feels like there isn’t another player anywhere in Arsenal’s squad capable of offering what Odegaard can either, which made his absence at the start of the season so troubling.
Odegaard was buzzing around the Stamford Bridge pitch and created a game-high four chances, which included two ‘Big Chances’ and an assist for Gabriel Martinelli’s goal.
Creativity in his absence became a real eye-sore; an over-reliance on Bukayo Saka hindered the Englishman and others showed an inability to pick up the slack. With him back, Arsenal will believe they can come flying out of the traps at the end of this international break to get their faltering title bid back on track.
‘We know how important Martin is for us, not just on the pitch but off the pitch as well,’ goalkeeper David Raya said.
‘He drives us, he gives us that extra edge, of course, he’s the club captain as well. He just shows on the pitch the quality he has and what he gives to the team, so we’re really happy to have him back.’
Arsenal can go as far as Odegaard is able to take them. Arteta just has to be careful not to run his best player into the ground.
The returning Martin Odegaard showed what Arsenal have been missing in attack on Sunday
Glasner’s bold call backfires
Ultimately, if any fingers should be pointed around Crystal Palace they need to be in the direction of boss Oliver Glasner.
It was he who wanted a squad of just 20 players.
Maybe it’s worth increasing that, Oliver? Nope. Twenty is plenty. Only it isn’t. Injuries are biting Palace hard and they are trending – badly – in the wrong direction as a result.
You have fans celebrating that marquee summer arrival Daichi Kamada – who has had a horrendous season so far – is suspended for their upcoming games after he was shown a red card versus Fulham, and it is one win from 11 games.
Only Southampton (7) have scored fewer goals than Palace (8) this season and Palace’s bid to replace Michael Olise’s production with Kamada, Ismaila Sarr and Eddie Nketiah (who have combined for 0 goals and 0 assists) has backfired spectacularly.
‘Our new signings were not in a football rhythm and we could have done better,’ Glasner said in defence of his latest miserable afternoon.
‘This is maybe a collateral damage that you have to suffer during a season. Two, three or four, you can deal with (but) then with three extraordinary injuries we didn’t expect, and we couldn’t expect, it takes so long (for them to recover.) That is how it is, but we still have 14 players available.’
Oliver Glasner made the call to have a small squad in the summer and that may backfire
And if Palace were hoping for some respite coming out of the international break – think again.
Glasner and his players face Aston Villa, Newcastle United, Man City, Brighton and Arsenal in five of their next six league games.
This international break has to include some soul searching for Palace or this battle against the drop could get even further out of hand before they find a way to snap out of it.
