Gameweek 5 – Liverpool Officially the Frontrunners
Raise your hand if you saw the Canaries pulling 3 points out of a hat against reigning champs Manchester City? I think I would have rather bet on a rabbit appearing.
It’s more than well known that this year’s title will inevitably end with a collision of league’s two best teams, Manchester City and Liverpool. The quality of the squads – not to mention the precedent they set with last year’s 1-point differential – ensures both clubs that the season is set to be a dead heat ‘til May.
Which is all to say that at the end of Gameweek 5, no one expected the Reds to hold a five-point lead over their counterparts.
Yet with that surprising early lead comes hefty pressure and responsibility for keeping City at bay. Or at least an arm’s length distance. Last time Liverpool were at least five-points ahead of City was January. And while they dropped three points at the Etihad, four draws in six matches after that period ultimately proved the difference in their title hopes.
So while the temptation to relax may permeate through Anfield in the season’s waxing months, the Reds should consider what it’s like dealing with the pressure of being chased, rather than the doing the chasing.
Let’s recap the wonderful weekend that was Gameweek 5.
Upset of the Weekend
So about those hands being raised. None of you raised them. Not even one finger.
In a result that little to know one expected, Norwich City upended a lackluster Manchester City 3-2 at Carrow Road.
With nigh-on a full team of players out injured (eight! to be exact), the odds of stopping Manchester City looked insurmountable. Instead Daniel Farke’s men gave their best performance of the season by far, not only cutting the champions open but looking solid at the back for the first time.
My first impression from the match – other than just a look of confusion as to what I was witnessing – was to give pure credit to Daniel Farke for setting Norwich up in a pressing mood.
After their 4-1 defeat to Liverpool in the opening week, most everyone labeled the Canaries and their German helmsman as naïve. Playing in the same attacking style which won them promotion from the Championship wasn’t going to provide success in England’s top flight. Except this time, it did.
Emi Buendía and Marco Stiepermann were central in staving off City’s possession through their central players via an energetic press, and regularly sparked crucial counter attacks. Teemu Pukki continued his fine scoring form against some of the league’s best opposition (that’s two goals in two game against City and Liverpool for those who are counting). Todd Cantwell is a roman candle ready to explode forward at any moment.
Don’t get it wrong. City didn’t lay a yellow and green egg. Norwich earned this victory and deserve to celebrate. Norwich are team that look prime to push for a mid-table finish come season’s end and shake off their ‘yo-yo club’ moniker.
EXTRA: A Bit on City
O.K. so we couldn’t let City get way without some form of criticism. And from their perspective, this match might prove more harmful in the future than it does in the present.
Norwich exposed City’s Achilles’ Heel – their central defenders.
One of the question marks given to City over the summer was their decision to not sign a new center-back after long time club captain Vincent Kompany left for home-grown club, Anderlecht. Obviously, “replacing” Kompany is nigh on impossible considering his impact in the dressing room, but you figured they would want to bring in someone new to shore up alongside Aymeric Laporte.
But they instead decided to take a very non-City approach go with what they had. Worst case scenario (which unfortunately came to fruition with Laporte’s knee injury), John Stones and Nicolas Otamendi would be able to hold the fort. Yet their performance on Saturday suggests Pep might have made an error in not bringing in fresh talent.
It’s not that Stones and Otamendi are poor defenders. But the way in which Pep teams play out of the back doesn’t suit their more traditional approach of needing to possess the ball closer to the half way line than their own penalty area.
City are by no means in a crisis after this loss. But it has become clear that while Laporte is out, Pep must find a way to tinker his back line via positional shifts. Expect some ‘Fernandinho at center-back’ to come to a City match near you.
Kids of the Week
Dear old Molineux had been a fortress for Wolves for most of this year, with Nuno Espírito Santo’s team unbeaten at home in any competition since January.
But that era run of form came to a crashing halt against a youth movement bathed in blue.
Come the end of Chelsea’s 5-2 beatdown of Wolverhampton at the Molineax, Frank Lampard was brimming with the confidence of a newly minted father. Confidence which was frankly (sorry) warranted considering the performance of the young players he has tipped to be the next wave of Chelsea greats.
All 11 goals scored by Cheslea this season have come from former academy graduates – Fikayo Tomori, Mason Mount, and Tammy Abraham. The latter of which leads the Blues with 7, helped by the three he netted against the Wolves on Saturday.
Lampard’s youth experiment, not necessarily by choice thanks to their one-year transfer window ban, appears to paying dividends early in the season. The three players mentioned earlier are set to be joined by Reece James, Ruben Loftus-Cheek, and Callum Hudson-Odoi after they recover from injuries.
Growing pains are certain to occur, but Chelsea have been able to flip their future prospects in a matter of months. All of a sudden, the mood has lightened at Stamford Bridge. Maybe the thin veil of patience associated with the fan base is finally withering away. Amazing what a breath of fresh players can bring.
Beatdown of the Week
I know Norwich has traditionally been crowned the ‘yo-yo club’ of the Premier League, but Tottenham sure are making a strong case for a similar status of their own.
After dropping three-points at home to lowly Newcastle and being outmatched in their draw against Arsenal, Mauricio Pochettino’s men came out and thoroughly spanked a Crystal Palace side 4-0 that had gathered the third-most points in the Premier League since February.
Hey – maybe Mauricio Pochettino was right when he suggested that it was the distraction of the transfer window that was causing Tottenham’s early season woes. The return of Son and Eriksen has the Spurs offense humming once more. And a reviving performance from wing-back outcast Serge Aurier has the North London side looking up once more.
Collapse of the Week
Arsenal didn’t have to travel far for their away fixture against a Watford side who just came off the back of firing the manger which got them to the FA Cup final last season. Quique Sanchez Flores, returning to the club which sacked him prior to the recently sacked Javi Gracia, managed an energetic Hornet side to a 2-2 draw against visiting Arsenal on Sunday.
At some point for Arsenal, Unai Emery will have to realize the ingredients he has do not fit the recipe he is attempting to create. Arsenal are the furthest thing from being a side that can build out of the back. Yet Emery seems determined to play in such style, even though it may end in calamity as it did against Watford.
In a moment similar to Otamendi’s against Norwich, Sokratis Papastathopoulos’s sloppiness allowed Tom Cleverley to hand Watford a lifeline off a routine goal kick. In the end, the Hornets outshot the Gunners 31-7 – not a typo – and were an Abdoulaye Doucouré gilt-edged opportunity from taking all three points.
For all of Arsenal’s prowess up front – five goals in five for Aubameyang – their lack of awareness and discipline in the back leave this squad as low hanging fruit against teams that play the high press against them.
Unsatisfied Feeling of the Week
Call me selfish, but I really wanted and expected more from this matchup. Leicester, a spritely team who love their attack, against a Manchester United who prey on opposing teams opening up space in behind when on the press.
In a match that should have provided end-to-end action, a dismal 1-0 result off a penalty kick from Marcus Rashford ensured United all three points. A result that Ole Gunnar Solskjaer should take with pride considering his Red Devils were missing a number of key players with injury.
Leicester weren’t without their opportunities. The main difference was placed on their poor efforts in the final third. For all their possession, the Foxes never found a pass to release Vardy. The onslaught that might have been anticipated in the final 20 minutes never really materialized against a United back line helmed by former Leicester heavyweight Harry McGuire.
After the match, Solskjaer was quoted by saying, “We want to play better than this. Of course we want to dominate games but sometimes you play against a team that plays well and I thought we rode out the threat well.”
Ultimately, Solskjær and his players can reflect on a decent afternoon’s work bearing in mind Leicester have ambitions of their own to break into the Premier League’s top four.
Goal of the Week
Southampton haven’t had much to write home about so far this season. One bright spot to have stood out amongst a shaky start comes from the 21-year-old Malian winger, Moussa Djenepo.
Being billed as the next Sadio Mane is a difficult status to live up to. But scoring goals like this winner against Sheffield at Brammall Lane might help Dejenpo’s case. His sublime solo run helped his side bring three tough points back to the south coast; and hopefully some momentum along with it
Escape of the Week
It was Dycheball versus Potterball at the Amex. Heavy on defense versus creative attacking abilities. The two sides differentiated by their playing styles just as much as their home cities couldn’t be split, settling for a 1-1 draw in the end.
After a goalless first half Neal Maupay broke the deadlock, striking a superb volley from the edge of the box. The Seagulls looked to be heading towards victory. But late in the second half, the ball peaked perfectly for Jeff Hendrick outside the penalty area and he sent a powerful drive past Mathew Ryan.
Brighton have not won at home in the Premier League since their 1-0 victory over Huddersfield on 2 March. They have now lost five and drawn three of their last eight games there, leaking 17 goals while scoring only four as Graham Potter’s wait for a first home win goes on.
Brighton are a team in the experimental phase, but dropping late points is a risky game to play considering they escaped relegation by a hair last season.
Time to Panic of the Week?
Should we be concerned about Wolves? Of course, being beaten soundly at home by Chelsea might not set immediate alarm bells ringing. And even if they are ringing the natural instinct is to think they’re just struggling with the demands of the Europa League.
But they not only haven’t won a game, they’re the only Premier League team not to lead in any of their games so far. Those have been tough games, and Wolves have definitely brought home some gritty points – Manchester United comes to mind. Yet something feels off-kilter about this side.
Perhaps we should not have been so quick to assume they could repeat the successes of last term, when they were pretty lucky with injuries and essentially finished seventh with 16 or 17 players. Is doing that sort of thing twice realistic in modern football? In short, maybe people should expect some regression from them this season.
Final Whistle
Champions League matches always throw a wrench into top of the table performers. We’ll see this week just how teams like Spurs and Chelsea handle the early season pressures of Champions League football.
Until next week – enjoy UCL.
Zeke Ouellette Media 