Arsenal 2-0 Hull
Kicking off the weekend, Hull City showed why they have been securing good results against top clubs in recent weeks. Lazar Markovic in particular was excellent, running second choice left back Kieran Gibbs ragged as Hull created plenty of chances to win the game, as well as largely defending solidly.
The introduction of video replays in football has been a point of contention for as long as I can remember but it honestly is embarrassing how far ahead of football every other sport is when it comes to refereeing. Rugby isn't exactly the gold standard but frankly the officiating is light years ahead of football, which is turning into an absolute joke. Games like this make football look absolutely pathetic, as Arsenal's first goal was a handball, their second was a penalty that shouldn't have been given for handball, and Gibbs was given a huge let off as he hauled down Markovic when the latter was in on goal. A stonewall red card.
Two of the biggest arguments against video refereeing are that it will slow down play and that it will undermine referees. These are both absolutely nonsense. If you have an official watching video replays that can talk to the referee, all he has to do is intervene when he sees something blatant that the referee has got wrong, especially where goals are concerned, as there's already a 20-30 second gap when a team scores a goal. Even the Gibbs booking, the amount of time between the referee blowing his whistle and Hull taking the free kick is more than enough time for the official to look at a replay. It's a laughable argument, given that viewers at home can see an incident two or three times before the game begins again, yet the referee doesn't even get the option of a second glance.
As for the argument for undermining referees, that simply doesn't happen in rugby or cricket. Referees can undermine themselves by making dreadful decisions, and do all the time, but having another look at a decision that a referee has made can reinforce the decision, as the referee himself can say: "I'm not sure about that, let's have another look". Moreover, when we're sat every week talking about how games are constantly decided by bad refereeing, surely not having that happen by itself increases faith and competency in referees?
In any case, this is another big game that has been totally decided by poor refereeing and as such, it's hard to draw any tangible conclusions from it about either team's chances moving forward. However, it is fair to say that Hull look significantly better than they have done under Mike Phelan. Moreover, they've had a rotten run of fixtures. So it'll be interesting to see if they can keep their momentum going when they're playing teams in and around them. We should find out soon, as their next three games are Burnley at home, Leicester away and Swansea at home. Huge fixtures coming up for them.
As for Arsenal, they've simply not played well all season and after back to back defeats and a scrappy win over Burnley, this game will not have filled anyone with confidence that they are capable of shaking off their rocky form and maintaining their top four challenge.
Man United 2-0 Watford
United have got very good at winning games like this: quelling opposition that aren't playing particularly well. And in true United fashion, they were totally dominant from the first kick to the last, with Mata and Martial scoring the goals. Missing chances and scoring goals remains a huge problem for United (with an xG of 3.3 from this game and only 38 goals this season in the league) but if they can keep rolling over opposition like Watford in this fashion, they'll be in the mix for top four, although they're still rightfully an outside bet.
As for Watford, they're another team that has fallen away having started the season well, but to suggest that they're in relegation trouble or underperforming isn't accurate. They're ten points clear of Hull (and crucially nine points clear of Leicester) and look exactly like the team that they are, which is a lower-mid-table team. And for a team only in their second season in the top flight, lower-mid-table is no bad thing.
Boro 0-0 Everton
I watched this game. It's 90 minutes of my life that I'll never get back, the highlight being when Romelu Lukaku managed to fall over in a shooting position. Boro of course, deserve a lot of credit for that, as they're a very solid defensive unit. But the other side of Boro's game was in equal display in this game, which is a total lack of cutting edge. Everton looked patchy at best at the back and yet Boro never caused them any problems. Whether draws will be enough for Boro is an interesting question. Games like this one certainly don't hurt their cause, and whilst it's easy to argue that one win is better than three draws, Leicester and Crystal Palace in particular don't look like winning a single game at the moment. Moreover, Boro are capable of nicking 1-0 wins against teams in and around them when said teams (Palace, Leicester and Sunderland in particular) are not so much patchy defensively as an outright train wreck.
As for Everton, it's hard to see them finishing anywhere other than seventh. They're not good enough to close the gap (currently seven points) to the top six, and they should have enough firepower to keep West Brom below them. This was Everton nowhere near their best, but they ran into a tough nut to crack in Boro, especially at the Riverside, where they've only lost by more than one goal on two occasions.
Sunderland 0-4 Southampton
So Sunderland are back to being relegation fodder. It's honestly strange how Sunderland can play pretty well on occasion, and then the next week go back to reminding everyone why they are rock bottom with a pretty awful display against a Southampton side who played quite well. There was some rumblings that Saints might find themselves dragged into a battle with relegation after a pretty wretched run of form, but they showed here why that simply won't happen. Southampton are too good to go down. When they play teams in this league that are truly bad, they generally win.
And make no mistake, Sunderland are terrible. Whilst new signing Gabbiadini had a field day, the defending for his second goal, and then for Shane Long's two late efforts, was truly out of this world bad. The Sunderland fans had long since ejected the stadium when Southampton's fourth went in, and you wouldn't be blamed for thinking that the Sunderland defence had left with them, so little effort was put into stopping Long scoring. Sunderland may yet survive, but if they do, it'll be because they didn't play as badly as this. Moyes is living on borrowed time.
Liverpool 2-0 Spurs
I don't want to say too much on this one, as I already have elsewhere, but Liverpool were as excellent as Spurs were abject. Spurs seem to have a problem away from home against the top six, having picked up just two points from those five games this season, but luckily for them they only have to play the top sides twice more, Arsenal and Man United at the Lane, where they've picked up seven points against the top teams this season, beating Chelsea and City already.
Beyond that, it's hard to draw much to look forward for either of these teams, since we already knew that Liverpool can get themselves up for this sort of game, and that Spurs can't. Liverpool's problem remains beating smaller teams, something that will be tested against Leicester away on the 27th, whilst Spurs should get back to winning ways at home to Stoke. Both of these teams remain serious top four contenders.
Burnley 1-1 Chelsea
Again, not much to see here. Burnley are very tough to beat at home, so it was never going to be a walk in the park for the Champions elect (yes they are come on). I said on Friday that this would be a good point for Chelsea should they fail to win as long as Spurs didn't win at Anfield and sure enough, here we are. Yes City closed the gap to eight points on Monday night (coming to that in a moment), but Chelsea are still very much in cruise control and there was nothing here to suggest an imminent implosion.
That's not to say that Chelsea played particularly well, because they didn't, but nor did they play particularly poorly. This is the Chelsea that we've been watching for months. Rarely explosive, but always solid, and usually good enough to get exactly what they needed. Following four points from two games against Liverpool and Arsenal, Chelsea ground out another good point in a tough game away from home. This was a similar performance (and to be honest result), that saw them grind out 1-0 and 2-0 wins around the Christmas period.
As for Burnley, again little to take away from this game of any major consequence. Robbie Brady looks like a cracking signing, which is a boost for them. But they defended admirably at home, played very well overall and didn't deserve to lose. The time will come when either they play well away from home or they start to crack under pressure at home, but that time was, thankfully for them, not this weekend.
Swansea 2-0 Leicester
Leicester are getting relegated. I know snap conclusions at this stage of the season shouldn't be drawn because you're inevitably wrong, but Leicester need to step up or they are going down. I don't even think that it's a possibility at this stage, they're currently one of my favourites for the drop. Since the turn of the year they have been categorically the worst team in the Premier League and there are no signs of an up turn. This defeat, 2-0 against a resurgent Swansea side, was frankly pathetic. There was no fight, no quality, no defensive organisation and no class in this Leicester team.
Swansea played a very good game, but they weren't exactly world class. I thought that they played well in the first half but once they scored two goals: a thumping volley from Mawson and a lovely finish from Olsson, the game was over. Leicester created one genuine chance in the second half: a clever pass from Mahrez freeing Slimani who was denied by Fabianski, but really they were never in it as Swansea shut the game down well in the second half.
It wasn't so much the result that convinced me that Leicester were doomed as the performance. This was a reasonably tight game for the most part, but Swansea were 2-0 up at half time and Leicester simply didn't play like it. They never looked like scoring, they never looked confident or hungry or even angry.
I wonder about the attitude of the players. The likes of Mahrez, Vardy and Gray (who ironically is the only player even trying) will probably leave to play Premier League football again next season whether Leicester go down or not, even though Vardy in particular looks increasingly like a one season wonder and has returned to his pretty awful form of the 2014-15 season. The heart of their mdifield is a gaping black hole where nothing good comes out. Andy King, Amartey, Ndidi and Mendy have all been tested alongside Danny Drinkwater and none of them are even close to Premier League quality. Defensively they're a shambles, with Huth and Morgan embarrassingly bad and Simpson and Fuchs no better. The first goal was unbelievably bad, as three Leicester players were stood aimlessly in the six yard box, but none thought that picking up Mawson, stood completely free on the penalty spot, was their problem.
As for Swansea, this was another solid performance and another excellent result to lift them four points clear of the drop zone. They look wholly rejuvenated under Paul Clement and with them and Hull both heavily improved under new managers, it'll be interesting to see which of the teams down the bottom pulls the trigger next (my money is on Sunderland - because Sunderland).
Bournemouth 0-2 Man City
This was honestly a cracking game of football. Both teams played open, expansive football and looked all the better for it. Ultimately, as is often the case with these kinds of games, the bigger, more powerful side was the one who had the firepower to win the game, and on balance it was hard to argue with the scoreline. As much as Bournemouth had their chances, including a good save from Caballero and Josh King's disallowed strike, both at 1-0, City had more than enough good chances to win the game, as Sterling hit the post, Sane hit the bar and Aguero missed a sitter, on top of the two goals that they did score: Sterling's back post finish and an OG from Mings.
City always look impressive coming forwards, and with De Bruyne and Silva at the hub at the heart of the midfield that's no surprise. But with all of the headlines about the Jesus/Aguero battle up top, one that Aguero will be winning for a while as Jesus broke his metatarsal (ouch), it was the two wingers: Sane and Sterling who lit up the show for City. Sane in particular was excellent all evening, running Adam Smith riot down Bournemouth's right hand side. Smith was the man beaten for both goals, first by a wicked cross from Sane to pick out Sterling, and then Sterling himself turning provider, Aguero getting a touch on the low cross before Mings diverted it past his keeper. The wingers in any Pep Guardiola system are of vital importance, so it will be very good news for City that these two are playing well.
The other area that I wanted to highlight was the performance of John Stones, who was excellent last night. Whilst Kolarov is certainly not the centre-back partner that Stones needs to improve, the English defender was in fine form last night, with crucial tackles and interceptions for his side. Caballero behind him was also impressive, as he continued in goal ahead of the struggling Claudio Bravo.
Whether City will make the top four is still very much an open question. Right now five teams are fighting for three spots and on current form there is very little between them. But wins like this will certainly help City on the way. As for Bournemouth, they should be fine to avoid the drop, but if they carry on in current form then there's no two ways about it, they need to be looking over their shoulder; they could well be dragged into the relegation battle.
The Hard and Fast Section
- Finn in for Willey for England. Pace.
- George Ford back at Leicester. Tasty.
- PSG v Barca tonight. Goal fest.
- England two wins out of two. Grand Slam?
- Ireland bounced back to pummel Italy.
- France saw off Scotland. Not much between them.
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