Johnny Nicholson: If we pretend Man City don't exist, this was a perfect title tussle

Manchester City moving 10 points clear after the weekend is bad for everyone who isn’t a City fan. To have the season sewn up in the first days of the new year is, to say the least, disappointing

Liverpool's Sadio Mane (left) and Chelsea's Thiago Silva battle for the ball. Picture: Adam Davy

VAR makes angry fans, even more angry

Man City's penalty was a penalty. The hapless Granit Xhaka pulled Bernado Silva’s shirt and looked like a drunk trying to stay upright on a boat. That Silva, being a professional footballer and therefore prepared to cheat at every opportunity, threw himself to the ground like an Olympic diver leaping off a high board, shouldn’t blind us to the basic infringement.

At the other end, the penalty decision that went against the Gunners saw City ‘keeper Ederson crunch into Martin Odegaard. It looked a foul but maybe he got the ball as well as the man, however, a spot kick wasn’t given. That Stuart Attwell didn’t go to the screen to look at it puzzled Arsenal and sent their fans into paranoid conspiracy theories when he later did so for City’s penalty. The reason? One was a clear and obvious error, the other wasn’t.

The fact VAR intervenes if there is a clear and obvious error but doesn’t if there isn’t, even if there is still a mistake, is a riddle that will give you a headache if you think about it for too long. The bottom line is, no-one is happy. The answer? Bin VAR, stop moaning, and accept people make mistakes.

Arsenal were the better side

There is no doubt about it, the Gunners were an impressive outfit, outplayed Manchester City for most of the game, especially in the first half and theirs was the best football. Thomas Partey was imperious throughout, Gabriel Martinelli should’ve scored and was a threat all afternoon.

However, Gabriel Magalhães’ two yellow cards within minutes was absolute stupidity and when you have Granit Xhaxa in your side, there is always likely to be a massive mistake at least once every game. They need to put him in a very big bin and buy a competent replacement to have a chance of finishing fourth. Spurs are now breathing down their necks, two points behind with two games in hand.

The North London derby in the middle of the month is shaping up to be an exciting and decisive game. If the Gunners can bring this quality again, and have locked Xhaxa in the toilets, you wouldn’t want to back against them in that match.

Shirt pulling is still illegal

One final thought from the Arsenal game. Shirt pulling is still illegal. You’re not allowed to do it and it should be punished with a penalty when it happens in the box, but it almost never is.

There are countless examples, some a wee tug, others are stretch-it-like-chewing-gum obvious. If each pull was punished, it would make it stop and I can’t work out why they’re not because, if two players are close together, one or both will certainly be at it.

When winning becomes boring

Manchester City moving 11 points head after their win (10 after the Chelsea v Liverpool draw) was bad for the Premier League and bad for everyone who isn’t a City fan. To have the season sewn up in the first days of the new year is, to say the least, disappointing. Football is about competition.

When it is a cakewalk for any team, it makes it all feel a bit pointless. When it is the same team that has won in three out of the last four seasons, even more so. As fantastic as their football often objectively is, it leaves people cold. It has the soulless ice of technical drawing and lacks the warmth created in struggle. The City sportswashing project has been 100% successful, their wealth so entrenched now, and so unquestioned, that I feel we should ignore them as much as possible and try to pretend they don’t exist. Everything will be far more enjoyable that way.

The big beasts battle it out

Thomas Tuchel dropped Romelu Lukaku over the striker’s comment that he didn’t like how the manager is asking them to play. That story will run and run. That was the off-field soap opera, there then ensued a fizzing game of football which, for once, lived up to its billing.

Sadio Mane smashed Cesar Azpilicueta in the mush after eight seconds to set the tone of a furious first half. Mo Salah scored another fantastic goal, but Mateo Kovacic’s almost balletic volley was even more masterful. This is how football should be, as the two big beasts swung haymakers at each other. If Manchester City did not exist (and I’m pretending they don’t), this was a top of the table clash and it really looked like it. For the last 10 minutes, Chelsea went to a 3-4-3 and were significantly more threatening. The pace inevitably dropped, the point suited only Pep Guardiola, but since they don’t exist, it remains tight at the top.

Spurs injury-time winner was just about deserved

Tottenham bossed the first half and overran a Watford side short on confidence and quality. But they lack an X-Factor. There is no magician in the team to conjure something unexpected and when a side sits deep against them, their game becomes a lot of heavy-legged huffing and puffing. In the second half, Watford were more cohesive if still very passive.

So conceding Davinson Sanchez’s goal in the 96th minute will have been somewhat galling for them. But Watford didn’t deserve much out of the game and Spurs barely did either. Like so many matches in the top flight, it was sold as elite football but, in truth, could easily have been a third-tier relegation scrap.

Confusion over cancellations

The rules on how many players you need to be reduced to before a game can be called off is still unclear.

While it is said you need 13 outfield players and a goalkeeper as a bare minimum, games seem to be being called off when clubs have plenty of U23 and U18s on their books.

These are contracted to the club as footballers, they’re not the local bin men, so why are they not counted in the club’s ability to play 14? Some say they only count the first team, but why? This is not clarified. And we know Leeds have benched a 15-year-old to be able to play a game, why haven’t others? I do not believe clubs with over 50 players on their books have 37 or more out ill or injured. Why can’t the decision on each game be made transparent?

Paranoia that big clubs are getting preferential treatment is rife but could easily be put to bed by some transparency, but it feels like the league’s first instinct is for secrecy and obfuscation.

Everton have to stop being awful

It is never a good look when you concede two early goals against a side that usually struggles to score just one. To concede a third guaranteed this would be a bad defeat. The 3-2 home loss was a terrible day for Everton which may see the end of Rafa Benitez as manager. Dominic Calvert-Lewin, returning from injury, ballooned a penalty over the bar and even though they got it back to a one-goal difference, the team looked like a shapeless mess and most unlike a Benitez side.

The fault lies with the hapless, directionless ownership which has frittered away over half a billion pounds on transfers. You have to try hard to spend so much and get ever worse. Newcastle United should take note of this lesson. The slightest uptick in form for Newcastle, Burnley, or Watford will see the Toffees pulled near the trapdoor. These are nervous and puzzling times at Goodison Park with no obvious solution.

Super Leeds slay Burnley

This was the performance that Leeds fans and admirers had been waiting for all season. They pummelled Burnley with the sort of free-flowing, imaginative, high-energy, pacey movement that can sweep most away. In Stuart Dallas, their Northern Irish wingback, they have a wonderfully effective player, the sort who appears to be two players playing two different positions at the same time during the game. Even though they are still without Patrick Bamford, they created 15 shots on goal, seven on target.

They are just so entertaining in this form, almost as good as Liverpool in their pomp. Remarkably, they have the same points total as Everton. They are a far, far superior side to the Scousers and that just goes to show their 16th position is out of whack with their true quality once they have some of their best players available.

Burnley are in big trouble

Now eight points short of safety, they have lost their defensive qualities, frequently just giving the ball away against Leeds. Maxwel Cornet aside, they offer little going forward. James Tarkowski is apparently on Newcastle United’s shopping list, but he has suffered a huge drop in form.

That probably won’t make a difference to the desperate Geordies who will sign anyone with one working leg, but Sean Dyche might feel like now is the time to cash in and take a ridiculously inflated fee for the defender and use it strengthen.

But can he be bothered? The losses don’t seem to trouble him the way they once did. Fair enough. He’s mined at this coalface for a long time and made himself a multi-millionaire in the process.

Mid-table respectability for Brentford

The win over Villa was a typical tight mid-table clash between two teams that finished the game in 12th and 13th. Aston Villa had taken the lead with a goal by Danny Ings, beautifully crafted by the creative feet of Emiliano Buendia. With them being 11 and 12 points clear of the drop and with other sides manifestly much worse and showing no signs of improvement, both can loosen their ties and enjoy the ride from here on in. But Trezeguet’s appalling play-acting, making out he’d been hit in the face when he’d not been touched, should get him a lengthy suspension by the club. Idiot.