Football writer Alex Keble highlights the hot topics and tactical lessons from Matchweek 17 including:
- Amorim's chopping and changing
- Spurs' press lets Trent cause havoc
- Onana and Kamara star in new Villa midfield
- Southampton changing Martin's tactics
- Wolves transformed by new-manager bounce
- Goodison Park becoming a tough place to visit
- Jesus reigniting Arsenal's title hopes
- Forest's growing European ambitions
- Newcastle turning their season around
- West Ham's improvements from last season
Amorim’s chopping and changing may explain Man Utd's form
"In this moment, everything is so hard," head coach Ruben Amorim admitted, after another damaging defeat for Manchester United defined by another set-piece concession, their 17th in 2024.
Amorim has had nine matches in just 43 days at the club and with time on the training ground severely limited, he is understandably struggling to lift this "very mediocre" team, in the words of Gary Neville on his podcast.
But it remains startling that Man Utd haven’t enjoyed anything like a new-manager bounce, instead putting in similar performances – and achieving similar results – as they did under former manager Erik ten Hag.
TV Info - Broadcasters
Perhaps there is a small amount of blame to be apportioned to the new head coach.
Man Utd’s players need to learn on the job, which means forging relationships and forming patterns during Premier League matches, rather than in lab conditions in training.
With that in mind, it’s surprising that Amorim has made 20 changes to his Premier League starting XI so far, averaging four per match.
That figure does not account for just how often Amorim is moving players between positions, too, meaning new partnerships almost every week.
In just six Premier League matches, Amorim has deployed three different wing-back pairings, changed at least one member of the back three in every match, changed the midfield two every game (using four different pairs in total) and changed the inside-forward pair every game (using five different partnerships overall).
A more consistent team selection might create the conditions for the structure and order that United are missing.
Spurs’ press allows Trent to cause havoc
Liverpool’s surreal 6-3 victory at the Tottenham Hotspur Stadium was another example of Ange Postecoglou’s tactical dogmatism allowing an opponent to predict their set-up and plan for it, hence Arne Slot’s instructions to play a more direct game on Sunday.
Slot's side tried to split Tottenham Hotspur's high line repeatedly and played constant long diagonals, the aim being to arrive quickly into the final third without stretching their own shape too much.
TV Info - Broadcasters
There’s nothing too new about that, although it’s worth pointing out what a huge role Trent Alexander-Arnold played against a Spurs press that couldn’t work out how to contain him.
From the off, Alexander-Arnold was finding enormous amounts of room on the right wing, with Son Heung-min rarely closing him down quickly enough.
Alexander-Arnold attempted 10 crosses and completed five, his highest figures in the Premier League this season, with one of these assisting Liverpool’s first goal.
After the opener, Postecoglou appeared to start gesturing for Djed Spence and Son to get tighter to Alexander-Arnold – only for this to backfire when Spence, rushing to press the Liverpool right-back, left Spurs short in defence for the visitors’ crucial third goal.
Liverpool's third goal v Spurs
A well-deserved goal for Szobo 👏 pic.twitter.com/CoTVewtjN0
— Liverpool FC (@LFC) December 22, 2024
So far under Slot, Alexander-Arnold has been efficient without really hitting his best form. If this is the start of something, then Liverpool can go up yet another gear.
Onana and Kamara star in new midfield configuration
To casual observers, the most interesting aspect of Unai Emery’s team selection against Manchester City was starting Jhon Duran ahead of Ollie Watkins, a decision that paid off not only with Duran’s opening goal but with his best all-round performance in an Aston Villa shirt.
Yet the bigger reason for Villa’s superb display was the partnership between Amadou Onana and Boubacar Kamara, starting together in central midfield for the very first time.
TV Info - Broadcasters
Kamara’s control in tight spaces, his distribution, and his defensive screening offer close to what Douglas Luiz gave Villa last season, and indeed his 92.9 per cent pass accuracy is the third highest among Premier League midfielders who have played at least 90 minutes, behind only Mateo Kovacic (93.5 per cent) and Curtis Jones (94.6 per cent).
Alongside Onana, Villa now have a powerful and athletic midfield combo to rival Luiz’s and Kamara’s in the first half of 2023/24.
Kamara and Onana made nine tackles and committed seven fouls between them against City, dominating the middle of the park.
Better still, their selection meant Youri Tielemans was played further forward, where his brilliant passing range could do more damage, as we saw with his game-changing through-ball in the build-up to Villa's first goal.
Villa's first goal v City
Youri's ball through then Morgz and JD did the rest 🎯 pic.twitter.com/7ycaab9Asn
— Aston Villa (@AVFCOfficial) December 21, 2024
As if that wasn’t enough, Morgan Rogers was more difficult to mark after being moved out to the left wing, from where he ghosted into central spaces unseen.
He attempted eight take-ons, his most in a Premier League match to date, and almost all of these – including those in the build-up to his winning goal – were in central areas. City just couldn’t track his movement.
Emery has found his best XI. The triangle of Kamara, Onana, and Tielemans can take Villa back to their very best.
Southampton earn a clean sheet by changing Martin’s tactics
Southampton kept their second clean sheet of the season – and first away from St. Mary’s Stadium – by pretty much ditching the entire strategy of the last 18 months.
By sacrificing possession, stopping playing out from the back, and stopping the hard press, Saints were considerably more defensively secure against Fulham.
With interim boss Simon Rusk in charge again - before new manager Ivan Juric assumes control - Southampton completed just over 80 per cent of their passes at Craven Cottage.
It was the fifth-lowest pass accuracy of all teams in Matchweek 17, and Saints' lowest in a league match since facing Liverpool in May 2023 under Ruben Selles.
They also made 36 clearances, more than in any other game this season, and won possession in the final third just once, down from an average of 2.8 prior to Sunday’s match.
As a direct result, Southampton were dispossessed four times – only doing so less this season against Chelsea, Liverpool, and Man City, games in which Saints took fewer risks – and miscontrolled the ball eight times, only doing so less against Ipswich Town.
Clearly this is what Southampton must do going forward, no matter the level of opponent. They must be just as humble in upcoming matches against West Ham United, Crystal Palace, and Brentford.
Southampton's next three fixtures
Wolves are transformed by a classic new-manager bounce
Vitor Pereira didn’t change much from a tactical perspective, but a fresh voice in the dressing clearly lifted the spirits of a more purposeful, energetic, and clinical Wolverhampton Wanderers at the King Power Stadium.
TV Info - Broadcasters
"I told the players before the game: in the end, we need to be proud about what we did on the pitch and make our supporters proud," Pereira said.
"My job is to give them confidence and a tactical GPS to know what they need to do in each moment of the game."
The GPS wasn’t necessarily up and running yet, although arguably the instructions are easier to follow with the Portuguese contingent prioritised.
Pereira picked eight players from his native Portugal in the starting line-up, perhaps explaining the easy togetherness of the performance.
Although an alternative explanation is the quality of their opponents.
Leicester City looked brittle. They’ve conceded 10 goals in just four matches under Ruud van Nistelrooy, a defensive record that leaves them just two points above Wolves and the dotted line ahead of a daunting trip to Anfield on Boxing Day.
Goodison Park is becoming one of the hardest places to visit
It speaks volumes that Enzo Maresca, whose Chelsea side are firmly in the title race, said he was "more than happy with a point" on Sunday afternoon against Everton.
Goodison Park has become such a tough place to play that even a team as strong as Chelsea want to get out of there with a draw.
TV Info - Broadcasters
Sean Dyche will revel in that. Everton have kept an extraordinary five clean sheets in their last six Premier League matches and seven so far this season, the most of any team across Europe’s top five leagues.
It isn’t luck. Chelsea accumulated an Expected Goals (xG) of just 0.77, their lowest in a Premier League match this season, while Cole Palmer was conspicuously quiet and Maresca’s side seemingly ran out of ideas long before the final whistle.
Everton appeared to have the toughest Premier League fixtures in December, but after successive 0-0 draws against Arsenal and Chelsea, only 10 teams have taken more than their five points so far this month (they also beat Wolves 4-0).
On this evidence, Everton supporters will have no fears travelling to the Etihad Stadium on Boxing Day.
Jesus form can re-establish Arsenal’s title credentials
Gabriel Jesus’s EFL Cup hat-trick against Palace in midweek earned him a first Premier League start in a month and he picked up right from where he left off, scoring two excellent first-half goals and twice shooting to provide rebound goals for team-mates.
TV Info - Broadcasters
Those don’t officially go down as assists (outside of Fantasy Premier League) but they are as good as, and further evidence Arsenal have needed a proper No 9 to be their focal point in the penalty area.
Jesus is averaging 3.8 shots per 90 minutes in the Premier League this season, which is over 50 per cent more than Kai Havertz (2.4 per 90). The Brazilian looks to be the answer to Arsenal’s over-reliance on set-pieces.
He has certainly earned the chance of an extended run in the team, as the stats bear out.
Jesus, who extended his competition record of never losing when scoring in a Premier League match to 61 (W56 D5), tops the Arsenal charts for Premier League minutes per goal this season, with 176.
Forest's European ambition grows
Nuno Espirito Santo is making this look easy. Everything he touches turns to gold.
Nottingham Forest are jumping every hurdle with the minimum of fuss, this time ending Brentford’s unbeaten home record in 2024/25 by switching formation.
TV Info - Broadcasters
Playing in a 3-4-3 for the first time this season (presumably to mirror Thomas Frank’s system), Forest’s wing-backs Neco Williams and Ola Aina – freed to roam higher – combined for the opener.
From that moment on, they accelerated away, becoming the first side visiting the Gtech Community Stadium in 2024/25 to have more shots (10 v 7), shots on target (6 v 3) and a higher xG (0.84 v 0.8) than Brentford.
Forest now have 31 points from 17 matches, the earliest they’ve reached 30 or more points in a top-flight season since finishing third in 1987/88.
Newcastle have turned their season around
Two rounds ago Newcastle United were 12th in the table, on a four-game winless run, and as close to Crystal Palace in 17th as Manchester City in fourth (seven points).
But in this strangely tight Premier League season, things can turn around very quickly, and two 4-0 wins later, Newcastle are eighth in the table and a mere two points off fifth, which could be a UEFA Champions League position this season.
TV Info - Broadcasters
Add to that a 3-1 victory over Brentford in the EFL Cup on Wednesday, setting up a semi-final against Arsenal, and all the pressure on Eddie Howe has lifted.
Beat Villa at St. James' Park on Boxing Day and Newcastle will go above Emery’s side – and possibly as high as fifth.
Just six points separate fifth from 13th. Plenty more clubs will rise and fall sharply over the coming months.
West Ham have improved from last season
It was a low-key draw at the London Stadium in a low-key season for West Ham, but while they have failed to ignite, the underlying metrics do suggest Julen Lopetegui’s side have improved on last season.
TV Info - Broadcasters
West Ham’s possession share has risen significantly from 40.5 per cent to 46.9 per cent, and their xG for (higher) and xG against (lower) have both improved.
West Ham 23/24 v 24/25 compared
| Statistic | 2023/24 | 2024/25 |
|---|---|---|
| xG per match | 1.39 | 1.52 |
| xG against per match | 1.90 | 1.76 |
| Possession | 40.5% | 46.9% |
Of course what really matters is results, and West Ham are averaging 1.18 points per game, down from 1.37 in the final season under David Moyes.
Nevertheless there are plenty of green shoots.
West Ham have lost just two of their last seven Premier League matches, and on Saturday, it was the first time under Lopetegui they had recovered from conceding the first goal at the London Stadium to pick up a point.
