After a thrilling weekend of Premier League goals and drama, Alex Keble looks at the key talking points and tactical lessons, including:
- Aggressive Palace ruffle Liverpool's feathers
- Away form a huge concern for Spurs
- Brighton's worrying decline
- Tactical issues for Man Utd at Bournemouth
- A perfect 48 hours for Man City
- Cunha's return timely for Wolves
- West Ham's European hopes fading
- Brentford closing in on safety
- Villa provide blueprint for Arsenal's next opponents
Palace’s aggression forces Liverpool to lose rhythm
In the space of four days, Jurgen Klopp’s fairytale ending has unraveled. In that time, the ragged and emotional quality of this team has gone from asset to liability.
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Pundits have long argued that Liverpool’s reliance on comebacks was unsustainable; that eventually the tide would turn against them. A 3-0 UEFA Europa League defeat to Atalanta and a 1-0 loss to Crystal Palace has seemingly proved them right.
Klopp’s side never got going at Anfield. The relationship between Alexis Mac Allister, Wataru Endo and Curtis Jones was off, with passing options rarely open and the front three disconnected from the rest of the team.
Nothing new there, but in the past Klopp’s substitutions have shaken things up sufficiently to get them over the line. This time, Palace held firm, dropping deeper in the second half to block their own penalty area.
That was the second act of Oliver Glasner’s two-part tactical victory on Sunday. The first was an ultra-aggressive strategy that had Liverpool’s players quickly closed down and harassed, forcing mistakes and preventing Klopp’s side from finding any midfield rhythm.
Palace blocked 21 passes or shots, a season high. Meanwhile Liverpool misplaced 60 passes in the first half, their most of the campaign to date, and were dispossessed 18 times across the 90 minutes, which is their second-most of the season.
Led by the excellent Adam Wharton, it set a tone that Liverpool could not overcome, and despite missing numerous big chances, with their Expected Goals (xG) of 2.87 the Reds' most in a Premier League match on record since 2010/11 without scoring, Palace deserved their win.
Here was a template for the future, and a glimpse of what is to come under Glasner: proactive, in-your-face football that can mix it with the best of them.
As for Liverpool, this needs to be a one-off. Their first league defeat at Anfield since October 2022 comes at a terrible time.
The trip to Fulham next weekend is season-defining.
Spurs' away form a tactical issue that needs solving
Tottenham Hotspur have won only two of their last 10 away matches in the Premier League, and a clear pattern is emerging.
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Ange Postecoglou’s ultra-expansive tactics - complete with a gung-ho high line - are starting to look a little naïve for away days.
That has certainly been the story in each of the last three such matches. The 3-0 defeat at Fulham, the 1-1 draw at West Ham United, and now a 4-0 defeat at Newcastle United were all defined by opposition fast breaks (long balls hit through the Spurs high line) and defensive set-ups that negated Spurs’ inverted full-backs.
In other words, the Premier League has found a solution to the Postecoglou tactics that caught so many off guard in the first half of the season.
“Tottenham are unique in what they do and we felt we needed to change to give ourselves the best chance of what we wanted to do,” Eddie Howe said after. “I thought tactically it worked.”
That change was to go to a 5-4-1 formation when out of possession, with Elliot Anderson (circled in black) dropping into the backline so that Newcastle had spare defenders to track Pedro Porro and Destiny Udogie.
Going forward, the hosts simply hit long passes to catch Spurs on the break. The first and third goals came from excellent long balls from Bruno Guimaraes that exposed Spurs' lack of defensive numbers.
Postecoglou has previously said he will never abandon his principles. But as results worsen, it might be time to curb the all-out attack when away from north London.
Brighton’s downturn under De Zerbi is alarmingly pronounced
This one has sneaked up on all of us.
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Brighton & Hove Albion have won just one of their last seven Premier League matches and, incredibly, just seven of their last 27, after recording victories in five of their opening six matches.
And things are getting worse over time. Across their last seven in the competition Brighton have accrued an xG of only 6.1, scoring three times.
Going back further, in 13 Premier League matches in 2024 they have scored 14 goals, with nine of those coming in two matches against Palace (4-1) and Sheffield United (5-0).
What has happened to Brighton?
Predominantly it is down to opponents getting to know Roberto De Zerbi and reacting accordingly: most teams stubbornly refuse to press Brighton now, which neutralises their main tactical threat of spinning behind the onrushing bodies.
But we should not lose sight of the fact Brighton are still hugely over-achieving. Losing Mac Allister and Moises Caicedo in the summer was bound to impact them, while injuries to Solly March and Kaoru Mitoma have hit them hard.
Still, De Zerbi must find a solution if he is to avoid a damp squib of an ending. Brighton are now only two points above AFC Bournemouth in 13th, with both Manchester clubs, Aston Villa, Newcastle and Chelsea still to play.
Man Utd’s right side exposed as Dalot admits tactical problems
Manchester United were lucky to still be in the match when a handball offered Bruno Fernandes the chance of salvaging a point from the penalty spot. In some ways it was the same old problems, but there was a new concern for Erik ten Hag, too.
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“We had to repair the right side,” Ten Hag said of the first half. “Our organisation wasn’t right and we lost balls where we shouldn’t lose them.”
Diogo Dalot, fluctuating between central midfield and right-back, repeatedly left young Willy Kambwala exposed, leading directly to both Bournemouth goals.
The second one was the most glaring error, as Dalot pressed the wrong player to leave a hole in defence, throwing his arms in the air in confusion as Justin Kluivert went through to score.
Interestingly, Dalot used his post-match interview to talk about a more longstanding Man Utd tactical problem, becoming the first person at the club to admit what has been highlighted by analysts many times before.
“Maybe we are taking too many risks, sometimes the gap between the defence and midfield is a little bit too big,” he said.
“This is why we are sometimes getting the counter-attacks too many times and are conceding too many shots.”
That is Man Utd’s season in a nutshell.
And yet on Saturday Dalot was at the heart of a new problem that, if it persists, could see United drop even further down the table.
Winless in four matches (their longest such run since October 2021), they are six points ahead of Chelsea, who have two fixtures in hand.
A first-ever eighth-place finish in the Premier League is on the cards.
Perfect weekend for Man City is ominous for title rivals
Things could not have gone any better for Pep Guardiola this weekend.
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This is the time of year Manchester City tend to glide through the gears, somehow unfazed by the pressure as they become a terrifying winning machine.
But even by their usual April standards, this was a very good 48 hours.
Guardiola was able to make five changes to the team that drew 3-3 with Real Madrid - including a rest for Rodri, as requested – and still breezed past Luton Town without breaking a sweat.
A goal inside the first two minutes meant Man City could play within themselves and still extend their unbeaten home run to 41 matches in all competitions, one short of their club record of 42 set between 1919 and 1921.
Of course, even better for Guardiola were the shock defeats for Arsenal and Liverpool on Sunday, putting Man City in control of the title race.
City, two points clear, will be confident of getting the job done from here.
Cunha’s return a boost for Wolves’ top-10 hopes
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“But when you have Pedro Neto, [Matheus] Cunha, [Jean-Ricner] Bellegarde and Channy [Hwang Hee-chan] to some of those moments with the xG we had, I’m sure we’d have converted higher,” Gary O’Neil said after a 2-0 defeat to Aston Villa at the end of March.
Those comments raised a few eyebrows at the time, but Cunha’s brace on his first start since returning from injury suggests O’Neil had a point, even if Wolves stretched their winless run to four with a 2-2 draw at Forest.
On Saturday Cunha became the fourth player to score 10 or more goals for Wolves in the Premier League, and he has been directly involved in nine goals across his last seven Premier League starts (six goals, three assists).
Wolves have definitely missed his contributions.
Cunha scored a hat-trick against Chelsea a week before he sustained the injury, and in the following eight Premier League matches (of which Cunha played a part in three, but never for more than 35 minutes), Wolves scored just seven goals and collected 10 points.
With Hwang also making his return from injury on Saturday, playing the final half-hour, there is renewed hope that Wolves can convert more of their chances - and sneak into the top half.
West Ham’s hopes of Europe starting to fade
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It’s been a bad week for David Moyes. A bad month, actually, that threatens to turn into a bad season.
A 2-0 defeat at Bayer Leverkusen on Thursday probably ended their Europa League adventure before Sunday’s 2-0 loss against Fulham extended a poor run at London Stadium.
West Ham are winless in four at home in the Premier League, their longest run since October-December 2019, and they have now gone 13 games in the competition without a clean sheet.
Moyes has one win in six in the league and just three in 14 in 2024, leaving West Ham vulnerable to Chelsea, Brighton and Wolves, all of whom are breathing down their necks.
Carry on like this and West Ham won’t just miss out on Europe, they’ll leave the top 10 altogether.
| Position Pos | Club | Played Pl | GD | Points Pts |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 5 |
Spurs
TOT
|
38 | +13 | 66 |
| 6 |
Chelsea
CHE
|
38 | +14 | 63 |
| 7 |
Newcastle
NEW
|
38 | +23 | 60 |
| 8 |
Man Utd
MUN
|
38 | -1 | 60 |
| 9 |
West Ham
WHU
|
38 | -14 | 52 |
| 10 |
Crystal Palace
CRY
|
38 | -1 | 49 |
Brentford take a huge stride towards safety
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There was no doubt this was a must-win for Thomas Frank’s side – and you could tell Brentford were feeling the pressure. It took a fortunate own goal from Oliver Arblaster to break the deadlock in the 63rd minute of a nervy and low-quality affair at the Gtech Stadium.
But the home fans won’t care. Victory against bottom club Sheffield United finally ended a nine-game winless run in the Premier League and put Brentford seven points clear of the bottom three with five games to go.
That should do it. There are five teams below Brentford in the table, and going on the current state of the bottom three, their tally of 32 could be enough to stay up even if they lose every remaining game.
| Position Pos | Club | Played Pl | GD | Points Pts |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 15 |
Everton
EVE
|
38 | -11 | 40 |
| 16 |
Brentford
BRE
|
38 | -9 | 39 |
| 17 |
Nott'm Forest
NFO
|
38 | -18 | 32 |
| 18 |
Luton
LUT
|
38 | -33 | 26 |
| 19 |
Burnley
BUR
|
38 | -37 | 24 |
| 20 |
Sheffield Utd
SHU
|
38 | -69 | 16 |
As for Sheff Utd, defeat here was perhaps the final nail in the coffin. They are 10 points from safety with only six matches to play.
Assuming Nottingham Forest will pick up at least two more points, the Blades would need to win four of their last six contests to stand the slightest chance. They’ve only won three all season.
Villa performance suggests tough days ahead for Arsenal
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Mikel Arteta’s decision to play Kai Havertz in midfield was Arsenal’s downfall in an impressive victory for Unai Emery, as our analysis highlighted yesterday.
It is a worrying sign for the games ahead because Aston Villa’s capacity to frustrate Arsenal in the first half before gaining territorial control in the second provides a blueprint for some of Arteta’s upcoming opponents.
That mixture of reactive football and bravery playing out from the back will give others the confidence and courage to take Arsenal on.
It is now easy to imagine Wolves, Spurs and Man Utd stepping onto Arsenal and feeding off any frailties that have emerged following Villa’s win.