Football writer Alex Keble highlights the hot topics and tactical lessons from Saturday and Sunday's matches, including:
- Arsenal must respond better after red cards
- Liverpool revive Klopp spirit to beat Chelsea
- Wolves show a way to stifle Man City
- Rashford a driver in Man Utd turnaround
- Ndiaye and McNeil key to Everton improvement
- Finishing still the issue for Newcastle
- Villa outscoring xG in best start since 2000
- Postecoglou's changes trigger West Ham's collapse
- Vardy at the heart of exciting Leicester attack
Arsenal must avoid fatalism in response to red cards
“We’ve kicked ourselves in the foot three times in eight games,” said Declan Rice after a 2-0 defeat on Saturday evening that cranks up the pressure on Arsenal before next weekend’s visit of leaders Liverpool.
“We can’t make silly mistakes. You need all your best players on the pitch at all times.”
That is true, but after AFC Bournemouth capitalised on another Arsenal red card, it’s also true Mikel Arteta’s side must find a way to win even when they feel things have gone against them.
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“Playing for 65 minutes with 10 men at this level is an impossible task,” Arteta said.
Difficult, yes. But not impossible.
There is something fatalistic in those words and indeed in Arsenal’s second-half performance; Bournemouth took the lead from a corner won via a simple run down the left wing that wasn’t defended with conviction.
Here, moments before the corner concession from which Bournemouth scored the opener, Arsenal do not push up and apply pressure as they should.
Arsenal had fallen into a 4-4-1 formation that compressed space in their own third, when they should have pushed up and attempted to grab the game by the scruff of the neck.
It is more common to criticise the individual errors – Leandro Trossard’s poor backpass that led to William Saliba’s red card, for example – but we must also point out Arsenal’s fragility when the going gets tough.
They need to cut out the mistakes. Clearly that is the priority. But they also need to find ways to rise to the challenge and win ugly, even – or perhaps especially - when it feels like the world is against them.
Liverpool pass big test with a display more Klopp than Slot
This wasn’t quite the controlled performance we have come to expect from Arne Slot's team, but the way Liverpool dealt with being pulled by Chelsea into a more chaotic game in the second half was commendable.
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We saw some of the new traits in action – Curtis Jones and Ryan Gravenberch controlled midfield superbly – but the first major test of the season was passed thanks to Jurgen Klopp spirit more than Slot tactics.
Liverpool battled valiantly in the second half, surviving with a grit and determination more in keeping with the individualism and charisma of Klopp’s football than the structure Slot seeks to bring.
It's this ability to combine the old and new, the best of Klopp and Slot, that makes Liverpool serious contenders.
Manchester City almost dropped points against Wolverhampton Wanderers and Arsenal lost to Bournemouth, suggesting – not for the first time this season – that the number of points needed to win the Premier League might be a little lower in 2024/25.
If that’s the case, Liverpool have as good a chance as anyone.
Man City lack creativity in late win
As we predicted, the simplification of Wolves’ tactical game-plan and return to a back three gave Gary O’Neil’s side a firmer base to rebuild confidence.
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They were considerably improved, and desperately unlucky not to take at least a point against a Man City side who struggled to create chances up against a low defensive block.
Those creativity concerns may yet be City’s downfall this season.
Without Rodri or Kevin De Bruyne, City relied on a 95th-minute winner from their 18th corner of the game, scoring in an atypical fashion after Wolves had successfully crowded the box throughout, limiting Erling Haaland to just 13 touches of the ball.
Pep Guardiola saw this coming, hence his selection of Jeremy Doku and Savinho to hold the width, but rarely did the pair create chances around the outside, restricting Man City to predictable and slow passing in front of the narrow Wolves blockade.
Wolves keep City at bay outside their box
We should not let that late winner change the narrative. For 90+ minutes, bottom club Wolves stumped Man City. It’s a template for others to follow.
Rashford performance key to fired-up United’s turnaround
Erik ten Hag needed something to spark his team into life; something to rally around and create a siege mentality. Matthijs de Ligt’s bleeding head was the catalyst.
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Ten Hag said his team were “mad and angry” during half-time, which came moments after Ethan Pinnock had given Brentford the lead while De Ligt was off the pitch receiving treatment.
Two minutes into the second half, Manchester United were level, their anger channelled in the right way by Marcus Rashford in particular.
“What he did today, it starts always with the fighting spirit,” Ten Hag said. “With 100% intensity. When we bring that - and not only Marcus, do not focus too much on Marcus - when we bring all this on the pitch, I think we have a team that can progress.”
But let’s still focus a little on Rashford. He created four chances, more than he has in any Premier League game since April 2023, including the cross for Alejandro Garnacho’s equaliser.
The aim - for Rashford and United - is to carry this energy forward, starting with next weekend’s trip to West Ham.
Tactical switch is behind Everton’s improvement
Having lost their first four Premier League matches of 2024/25, Everton are now unbeaten in four, picking up eight points in the process.
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Sean Dyche’s decision to move Dwight McNeil into a No 10 role and bring Iliman Ndiaye into the team is by far the biggest factor in the turnaround.
This selection tweak actually came two games earlier, when Everton let 2-0 leads slip against Bournemouth and Aston Villa in consecutive matches. In hindsight, we should have noticed how much better the Toffees were playing despite the collapses.
More recently, the tactical switch has translated into points on the board – including on Saturday. Ndiaye scored the opener and McNeil assisted the second in the 2-0 win at Ipswich Town.
Ndiaye’s ball-carrying ability is dragging Everton up the pitch to create chances, adding the forward thrust Dyche needs for his conservative tactics to loosen. Mohammed Kudus (49) is the only player in the Premier League who has attempted more take-ons than Ndiaye, with 38.
Playing Ndiaye has allowed Dyche to move McNeil into the middle, which has proved to be a masterstroke. McNeil has six goal involvements – three goals, three assists – in six league games since moving in from the left.
Wasteful finishing is a problem for Newcastle
Newcastle United are winless in four matches, falling short of expectations despite the absence of European football this season.
The reason is pretty simple. They cannot seem to put away their chances.
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Only five teams have scored fewer goals than Newcastle’s eight, while only Wolves, Man Utd and Southampton have underperformed against their Expected Goals (xG) tally by more than their 4.4.
Things are getting worse over time.
Newcastle have now drawn a blank in successive Premier League matches, with the 0-0 draw with Everton and 1-0 defeat to Brighton, despite producing their two highest xG scores of the season, with 2.1 and 2.0 respectively.
These are frustrating days for Eddie Howe, but supporters should feel optimistic that their team are at least creating chances.
But that doesn’t mean a patch of good form is around the corner. Chelsea, Arsenal and Nottingham Forest will not give up much in Newcastle’s next three matches.
Tielemans and Rogers are clinical as Fulham feel Lukic absence
In direct contrast to Newcastle, Villa are among the most clinical teams in the Premier League this season, consistently finding ways to win even contests.
The match at Fulham was no different. Villa scored three goals from an xG of 1.68, outperforming their xG by more than 1.0 for the fourth time in the Premier League this season. That’s 50 per cent of their matches.
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Some of that is ruthlessness in front of goal, but some of it is luck: Morgan Rogers benefited from a huge deflection for Villa’s first strike, while the third was a fortunate own goal.
Nevertheless, as Villa record their best start to a league season since the turn of the century, we should also praise their efficiency.
Youri Tielemans and Rogers were again magnificent through the middle, both players benefiting from a Fulham midfield weakened by the absence of Sasa Lukic.
Without Lukic, Fulham struggled to close spaces between defence and midfield, allowing Tielemans to thread balls through to Rogers as he lurked in the No 10 space.
Villa’s equaliser was the perfect example of this – and another example of Unai Emery’s tactics providing the solid foundation for his clinical attackers.
Tielemans feeds Rogers for Villa's equaliser
Postecoglou's changes lead to West Ham's collapse
At half-time, with the score 1-1, Tottenham Hotspur had a problem.
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Jarrod Bowen was constantly finding space down the right wing, overwhelming a struggling Destiny Udogie, who lacked support on that side from a Spurs midfielder.
Playing Dejan Kulusevski as a No 8 comes with risk, and along with Son Heung-min remaining high on the Spurs left, it meant Udogie had too much to do – eventually leading to Bowen assisting Kudus for the opener.
Ange Postecoglou takes the credit for turning the contest around. He took off James Maddison and introduced Pape Sarr, who sat alongside Yves Bissouma to give Spurs a secure foundation upon which to build their attacks.
The game stopped becoming so stretched, Udogie had more support, and as Spurs cranked up the pressure West Ham collapsed.
Once again, Postecoglou showed he is more flexible than people think.
Fatawu and Buonanotte can lead Leicester to safety
Six-pointers don’t come more impactful than this: a huge defeat for Southampton, who remain winless in the bottom three, and a victory for Leicester City to signal their competitiveness at this level.
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It isn’t Steve Cooper’s tactics that have Leicester on nine points, but something much simpler. In Jamie Vardy, Facundo Buonanotte and Abdul Fatawu, Leicester have three razor-sharp forwards who are good enough to defy the odds.
Buonanotte was outstanding again, scoring the first goal with a cute finish and tearing around the pitch like a man possessed in that second half, while Vardy’s typically emphatic penalty drew Leicester level.
Buonanotte's goal v Southampton
Abdul creates, Facu finishes 🔗 pic.twitter.com/oKSINY3MUG
— Leicester City (@LCFC) October 20, 2024
But the standout performer was Fatawu, who came off the bench on the hour-mark and turned this game on its head with three big contributions.
Fatawu’s trickery on the right directly assisted Buonanotte’s goal. Then his incredible shot, hitting the bar, began the pressure that ended in a Leicester penalty for the second goal, before another dribble down the right won a 97th-minute corner from which the Foxes stole the points.
Cooper cannot ignore the calls any longer. Fatawu needs to start matches because, with Buonanotte in support and Vardy the target, Leicester have a trio of attackers capable of taking anybody on.