Johnny Nicholson: Gunners on top and dream start for Unai Emery
LOOK WHO'S BACK: Aston Villa manager Unai Emery and Manchester United manager Erik ten Hag (left) on the touchline during the Premier League match at Villa Park.
“One Nil to the Arsenal” is a chant from the distant past, but then, so is an Arsenal side who are up for the fight, who are gritty, determined and hard-faced. The soft underbelly of the last 15 years has gone and Chelsea could not disrupt them. The defence is so strong and dominant, exemplified by Ben White who must have a chance to go to the World Cup as a utility defender and William Saliba. They are all prepared to get in the trenches for a bit of hand-to-hand combat in the lashing rain, in order to dig out a win. This is not the Arsenal we have become used to. Restricting Chelsea to two shots on goal at Stamford Bridge is a sign of how resolute that defence is. Scoring with their only shot on target in a game they dominated, especially in the second half, is another expression of this new ruthlessness. All of us who can’t face another Manchester City cakewalk are willing Mikel Arteta’s boys to keep this up deep into the season and this win goes some way to prove that they absolutely can.
Spurs ran into Liverpool with an in-form Mo Salah playing his best football of the season. His two unerring strikes made it eight in eight games. When he plays like this, he is such a joy to watch, with his quick feet and fast, direct running. At times, when he hits his stride, the old, unbeatable Liverpool are visible once more. But then they fade from view and the modern, less effective version which doesn’t defend well enough and isn’t ruthless enough in attack re-emerges. Salah should’ve scored a third and would have when in his finest form.
Second Half Spurs As per usual, Spurs played an infinitely better second half, putting Liverpool under a lot of pressure and hitting the bar in the early minutes. That said, Emerson Royal was some shade of awful. Spurs still ballooned crosses and hit the first man at corners, but built momentum all the same, so when Harry Kane scored a typically well taken goal from a pass from the newly introduced and excellent Dejan Kulusevski (who replaced the dysfunctional Royal) - his sixth consecutive home goal - it wasn’t surprising. What was surprising was that they didn’t equalise in injury time, something they have lately specialised in. Their first half performance was very poor and that’s what lost them the game. It is an inexplicable weakness.
Hands up who expected Aston Villa to be two nil up against Manchester United within 11 minutes. Football is chaos, don’t let anyone tell you otherwise. Unai Emery is an excellent manager but even he must’ve been shocked by the start. Villa were dynamic and exciting. The way Emery was treated by fans latterly at Arsenal was disgraceful and not a little bit xenophobic and, judging by how he’s talked about it since, it hurt him badly. He inherits a good squad at Villa, not a great squad. But he’s very good at getting a team to be greater than the sum of its parts. Villa are just two wins off the European places and, if the way they took Manchester United apart with relative ease is anything to judge them by, such a lofty target is far from beyond them. The difference between how this side played and how Steven Gerrard’s iteration performed is like night and day. Remarkable.
Another heavy defeat seems to have proved to be too much for the Southampton board and Hassenhutl has finally fallen through the trapdoor according to some reports. Whether they have enough quality in the squad to climb out of the relegation places is unclear. They have been running on fumes for some time and whoever takes over, whenever that is, will have a difficult job indeed.
Booed at half-time but cheered off at full-time. This was another game to test Jesse Marsh’s blood pressure. His Leeds team may lack cohesion in defence - and no-one should really be conceding three to a Bournemouth side playing a direct 4-4-2 - but they do not lack talent, spirit and commitment in attack and that pulled them through this game, coming back from 3 - 1 down to win it 4 - 3. A win looked unlikely when Dom Solanke cleverly backheeled the Cherries third. The Elland Road choir is never slow to express their disapproval and boos rang out. But the visitors have a terrible record at Elland Road, losing all seven of their previous games. Sam Greenwood scored a cultured second, Liam Cooper the third, his first goal since December 2020 and a remarkable fourth was put in at the end of a sweeping move by Dutchman of the moment, Crysencio Summerville, who had scored the winner at Anfield. It made him the first Leeds player to score in three consecutive goals since Alan Smith in the early 2000s and gave Leeds their first back to back win since March. Thrillingly, it was absolute bedlam in Elland Road on the final whistle, as Jesse Marsch screamed into the dark Yorkshire night. Wow. Exhilarating stuff.
It wasn't just the manner of West Ham’s 2 - 1 defeat at home to Crystal Palace, after taking the lead, it was the style of football that David Moyes chose to play, which was, as ever, unambitious, negative, lacking in creativity and defeatist. Fans took to social media to call for his dismissal, tired of his tactics and how he is squandering a talented squad of players. How many times have I documented his side taking the lead and then trying to hang on to it, rather than pressing home the advantage? Too many. And he did it again against Palace and failed. That is the attitude of a manager who has a poor team, not one who has just spent over £200 million on players this summer. His in-game management is not good, his substitutions puzzling. Fans were outraged that he took off Saïd Benrahma and by the time Palace scored the winner in injury time, he’d lost a lot of the fans. There is no way back from this for Moyes. They are two points away from relegation. This is how Moyes is and always has been. His periodic good seasons are blips, often helped more by the failure of others. As such he’s been very lucky to get the jobs he has. How many times do you have to turn in mediocre performances with good players before it is obvious to everyone you’re not up to managing at this level?
Wolves have impressively secured Julen Lopetegui, the former Spain and Real Madrid boss as their manager post the World Cup. It seemed to inspire the team to play a rather chaotic game. It was the first time they had scored two or more goals in 16 games, but their defence was all over the place and having Nelson Semedo sent off in the first half hardly helped. While they offered more of a goal threat than has been usual this season, they let Brighton have the ball far too much for a side that is so well drilled. Brighton had 19 shots, eight on target and 69% of the possession. It seemed inevitable that the home side's 2 - 1 lead would evaporate and when Pascal Gross netted the Seagulls’ winning third on 83 minutes, no-one was really surprised. The upside for Wolves from this game is that it showed they can offer a goal threat, but Lopetegui’s first job is to get them to do that without leaving themselves wide open at the back.
Forest could do worse than look to Brentford for a template on how to stay in the division, even if it doesn’t involve buying a whole new squad. After 25 minutes Forest were a goal up, had all five of their shots on target with 35% of the possession while Brentford hadn’t had a shot on the goal but had most of the ball. The whole game was changed by several VAR stupidities that we have sadly become accustomed too, all of which are too boring to document but which made little sense to anyone. After a poor first half from Brentford, they stepped up a few gears in the second and took a 2 - 1 lead, only equalised by a deflected goal in injury time. Forest played well for most of the game and will feel VAR robbed them of a win on more than one occasion. But it should give boss Steve Cooper hope that after The Evil World Cup has been played, they have a chance of putting a run of good results together. They are just two points adrift at the bottom of the league and two wins from mid-table. If they can beat Crystal Palace next week they will likely go into the break out of the relegation places. Cooper would’ve taken that before the start of the season.
Brendan Rodgers had never won a game at Goodison Park, registering six losses and two draws so far, but he has changed Leicester in recent weeks. Their 2-0 win was their third out of the last four games. They’ve scored eight goals and only conceded one to Manchester City. A month ago, it looked like Rodgers was packing his bags, but not now. They outplayed Everton, and although they ended the game on the same points, Leicester were far, far superior. They played on the break especially effectively. When James Maddison, Harvey Barnes and Jamie Vardy broke away in a three-on-three, for Barnes to score their second, after Youri Tielemans had hit a wonder strike for their first, they swept an unimaginative, rather dull Everton, away with some style. More of this please, Brendan.
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