Johnny Nicholson: Arsenal still fighting, Southampton still bottom, Spurs simply thrashed
STILL STANDING: Arsenal's Bukayo Saka reacts after the Premier League match at the Emirates Stadium. Pic: John Walton/PA Wire.
It’s possible to see a 3-3 home draw with bottom of the table Southampton in two ways. Without William Saliba in defence, Arsenal seem to have lost their unity and resilience, plus Aaron Ramsdale too often looks like an accident waiting to happen. They handed the opposition a two goal start. However, on the upside, they didn’t lie down, they didn’t feel sorry for themselves and most important of all, they put the pedal to the metal in the last 10 minutes to pull back two goals. Bukayo Saka was relentless and must be their player of the season. Not for a moment did they lack belief and clearly fancied themselves to win it in the final minutes. This absolutely wasn’t a bottle job. It was the sort of point rescued from defeat that suggested here was a side capable of taking a couple of heavy punches without being knocked out. Post match, Mikel Arteta was bullish about their trip to City next week, knowing that a win will put them back in the driving seat. By the end of the game they’d had 25 shots and dominated possession 74/26. There is still much for Arsenal fans to hang on to, but push is now coming to shove.
What a strange team Southampton are. Some weeks they look emptied of all belief and talent, but in others, they look energised, wholehearted and committed. When they had the ball at the Emirates - which wasn’t often - they moved it around with a crispness not usual for a side at the bottom. They hit the target six times out of eight and will curse themselves for not holding out for the win. However, it leaves them four points adrift of safety with six to play. If they can reproduce this attacking performance, they have a chance of surviving. That however is a big if. They have to play Bournemouth, Newcastle and Forest in the next three games, in those games probably lies either their salvation or their relegation.
Fulham came into this game in 10th with an outside chance of a European place and no chance of relegation. So without any pressure to achieve anything, it was an ideal opportunity to play some ambitious football. But they didn’t and Leeds found it difficult to get on the front foot. It all made for a messy first half. Fulham’s defence played well and Willian completed five dribbles, which was more than the entire Leeds squad combined. When Leeds fell two goals behind after 72 minutes, largely because of poor goalkeeping, they stirred a little but after Patrick Bamford got one back, there was little or no fizz about them. Even in the eight minutes of stoppage time, they couldn’t muster any blood and thunder. It was impossible to escape the notion that they had no guts for the fight left and feel they are going to be relegated after four defeats in five games. Of all the teams in the bottom six, they are playing the worst football and have shipped 13 goals in three games. Ouch.
When he scored an equaliser for Forest against Liverpool, Neco Williams refused to celebrate. This is the Neco Williams who made 33 appearances for Liverpool across three years and who has already played 34 times for Nottingham Forest, as well as 15 for Fulham. Who does he think he is? A Liverpool legend? Away with you, son. It is performative nonsense and not some so-called respect for a club you once albeit briefly played for. Most fans absolutely loathe this self-regarding rubbish. It is also a bit of an insult to Forest fans whose club are now paying his wages and for that he owes a debt of respect to them and not to Liverpool, who so respected his talent that they sold him for ÂŁ17 million. He needs a reality check.
Brentford went into this with Thomas Frank on 99 wins in charge. Aston Villa went in knowing they had never failed to score under the Unai Emery regime. After a fizzing performance against Newcastle, Villa fielded the same team but looked less mobile and didn’t make much of the first half. It happens. Ivan Toney got his usual goal but there is a sense under Emery that if you don’t kill off Villa they will come back and bite you. So it was that Douglas Luiz scored an 87th minute goal and Ollie Watkins really should’ve won it with a late header. While Emery later admitted his side hadn’t played well, it keeps Villa in a European position but with a tricky run with games against Manchester United, Tottenham and Liverpool in their fixture list. Their final game at home to Brighton on 28th May may prove pivotal.
Leicester, without James Maddison through illness and Harvey Barnes through a twanged hammy, lined up with a very attacking team featuring Jamie Vardy, Kelechi Iheanacho, Patson Daka and Tete. Even so they found themselves down 1-0 after 13 minutes to a Matheus Cunha strike. He played really well with stats showing he was first for dribbles, passes completed and ball recoveries in the first half. Only Leeds and Bournemouth have conceded more times this season than Leicester but Vardy was brought down by the keeper and drew level with Iheanacho’s penalty, his 55th goal for the Foxes. Dean Smith took Vardy off at half time and put an extra man in midfield. It worked. When Timothy Castagne scored their second, they defended their box well. It wasn’t a great performance, but it was enough. It took them to 17th. With Leeds and Everton to come next, their pathway to six points and salvation is clear.
Nottingham Forest were trying to complete a league double over Liverpool for just the third time ever. The only previous years were 1962-63 and 1910-11. They finished this game with an incredibly low 19% possession, but with Liverpool’s defence capable of looking anything from watertight to wide open from game to game, they had a right to fancy their chances. After a goalless first half, Forest came back twice to equalise and hit the woodwork when 3-2 down. They had the same shots on goal as the Reds: five. They can count themselves unlucky to an extent, but Liverpool were wasteful in attack and dominated the game for long stretches. The visitors' attitude was good and they worked hard but couldn’t make up for a lack of quality on the ball throughout the team. This performance should give them more confidence for a difficult run-in. Their game next month against Southampton will be crucial to both clubs. Meanwhile Liverpool are nine points behind the Champions League places. They are so inconsistent, just when it appears they have clicked, they mess it up for themselves defensively. A Europa League place looks a better bet.
It was one of the greatest ever capitulations of any top five Premier League team. The first 20 minutes was surely one of the worst performances ever seen in the history of modern top flight football. The Tottenham that turned up at St James’ Park were a pub team only without the physical commitment of a pub player. Newcastle absolutely eviscerated them. Everything about Spurs was wrong. Second to every ball, slow thinking defenders with the turning circle of an oil tanker and the positional sense of a butterfly in a hurricane. After the fifth they changed personnel and went to a back three from the disastrous back four. It stabilised the ship but the game was obviously gone. This wasn’t down to tactics, though playing a back four with two wingers who can’t defend playing as full backs was bizarre, it was down to the players simply not being professional, not doing their jobs, not being switched on. It was amateurish and embarrassing to witness. This wasn’t a normal defeat. Spurs laid down and gave the game away in the first 20 minutes and manager Christian Stellini just let it happen. Second half, Newcastle came off the pace but still scored a sixth with Spurs putting no pressure on any Newcastle player in the box. A Kane goal didn’t ameliorate Spurs' heinous afternoon, which will not be easily forgotten. Antonio Conte was right. These players do lack pride, passion, desire and fight. And Stellini looks well out of his depth. What a mess.
The Manchester City semi-final against Sheffield united was routine, predictable stuff and to be frank, of little interest to the neutral. For football to be compulsive we need jeopardy and because City were so dominant, this didn’t have any. This is a greater problem for football as the financial disparity between a tiny elite and the rest grows ever wider, pushing the chances of success in competitions for the vast bulk of clubs ever further to the margins. Also, Wembley wasn’t full. It should be reserved purely for the final. As ever, there was no thought for fans of three out of the four semi-final teams having to travel so far from the north of England.
The second semi was a tighter affair between two well-matched sides. It was a game fractured by fouls and injuries. Each side had periods on top but real chances were few and far between. Kaoru Mitoma wrote his university thesis on the art of dribbling and was increasingly influential in the first half, then faded only to come back into his own later on as the game got stretched. Luke Shaw had a faultless game at centre half and looked well suited to the position. Moises Caicedo was tireless and one of the best on the pitch. Antony Martial, wearing gloves all afternoon, did not significantly contribute. Again.
Roberto De Zerbi made a tactical change to put Alexis MacAllister into the 10 role and taking off Julio Enciso and pushing Gross into midfield but extra time and penalties had felt inevitable since the hour mark. Mitoma had a chance to win it but took one bad touch. So it was penalties. De Gea had only saved four of 37 he’d faced in the Premier League. There were memories of the Villareal Europa League final when he failed to save 11 and then missed his own. And he didn’t save any here either. But Solly March hit it over the bar to allow Victor Lindeloff to win it for United and create a first Manchester derby FA Cup Final.
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