Daniel Storey: Is this the end for Frank Lampard at Chelsea?
Frank Lampard’s Chelsea, who capitulated to a 3-1 home defeat to Manchester City, accounted for almost 20% of all the money spent on transfer fees by Premier League clubs last summer
I’m acutely aware that I wrote almost that exact phrase about Mikel Arteta on these hallowed pages less than a fortnight ago, but Chelsea are in a very different position to Arsenal and yet in roughly the same position. The gap between title challenger and crisis club is now three points.
It’s hard to point to where Lampard has improved Chelsea. Eighteen months into his tenure and he is still incapable of finding the right balance between attack and defence without leaving them vulnerable at the back or blunt in the final third.
Against Manchester City, he allowed the front three to stay forward and then looked surprised that City swarmed all over them in midfield.
This is now a critical situation.
This is not Lampard’s first season and we are allowed to expect far better. Chelsea accounted for almost 20% of all the money spent on transfer fees by Premier League clubs last summer and they are now 11 points behind where they were at this stage of the season under Maurizio Sarri in 2018/19.
I’ve made little secret of my opinion that Ole Gunnar Solskajer is not the man to oversee Manchester United’s attempts to reclaim their Premier League crown, but you cannot doubt a run of form that has taken them back into contention. If United have occasionally been fortunate — eight of their last 10 league games have been decided by a one-goal margin or less — Solskjaer’s side have found a way to make it work. Solskjaer deserves credit for that.
Whether this latest run is the result of a deep squad and a mood-changing talent in Bruno Fernandes or the influence of their manager is open to debate, but we can’t pile on Solskjaer when United lose and then say it’s purely down to the players when they win; that would be unfair.
United are not perfect, but then find me a team who is. Liverpool are the title favourites and they have dropped points against four of the current bottom six. The fixture between the two clubs at Anfield on January 17 has taken on a greater magnitude and Solskjaer has engineered that added importance.
It’s the strongest sign yet of the weirdest Premier League season in history. Arsenal, that crisis club and with a manager who felt like he was one more defeat from being broken, are now one of five league clubs in England to win their last three games. From looking down nervously towards the bottom three, Mikel Arteta’s side are six points from third place.
It is important that Arsenal’s new mood has been fuelled by their faith in youth. Arteta didn’t really have much choice against Chelsea when he was short of other options, but that wasn’t the case against West Brom.
Nicolas Pepe was left out for Bukayo Saka, Willian for Emile Smith-Rowe, David Luiz for Pablo Mari (not a young player but still a new arrival in England); these were brave choices.
And yet they were also entirely logical selections. There is no benefit to Arteta picking his team on past reputation, transfer fee, or salary.
Only by establishing a meritocracy within his squad can he sustainably engineer the competition for places that is needed to improve general performance.
It does seem remarkable that Kieran Trippier can be banned for 10 matches for a disputed breaking of the laws surrounding betting having told members of his family that he was moving to Spain, but players who deliberately flout Covid-19 rules are only dealt with internally by their clubs.
The behaviour of the minority threatens the sanctity of this domestic season. The Premier League continue to refuse to countenance any emergency plan (and should surely have created extra space in the calendar by suspending cup competitions), but they cannot legislate for the dimness of players who held Christmas gatherings and posted the evidence on social media.
That is not to say that the players guilty of such stupidity will not suffer accordingly; managers may choose to punish them with periods out of the first team. But when the impact of their dimness can be so far-reaching, football’s governing bodies should be given the power to enforce sanctions.
It was always likely that Wolves would suffer a drop in form without the physical presence of Raul Jimenez. He provides a focal point that Fabio Silva simply cannot replicate, holding up the ball and allowing Wolves’ wide forwards to overlap.
It makes complete sense that Wolves have been linked with Diego Costa, not least because his agent is Jorge Mendes.
But Jimenez’s absence isn’t the only explanation for Wolves’ problems. Without the added workload of European football it seemed realistic for them to play with the energy and hunger that delighted us during their first season back in the top flight. Right now, it’s just not clicking.
Wolves have taken five points from their last seven league games. They are below their points total at this stage of the last two seasons.
The clustered nature of the top half means that a couple of wins would allow them to look longingly at the top six again, but we didn’t expect them to be only nudging ahead of Crystal Palace and Newcastle in a bottom-half mini-league.
