Talking Points: Will indiscipline cost Arsenal?
But the aggression shown by Wenger’s teams was matched by an unprecedented run of trophy success.
In recent seasons they have been accused of lacking bite and a lack of fight.
But a second red card of the season for summer signing Granit Xhaka did not go down so well with the Arsenal manager, who also felt the need to apologise for his own dismissal for protesting a Burnley penalty and then appearing to shove fourth official Anthony Taylor.
WATCH: Wenger could be in trouble for pushing fourth official, says Graeme Souness. More: https://t.co/H143u9NPKv https://t.co/xSbs2ninlO
— Sky Sports Premier League (@SkySportsPL) January 22, 2017
Arsenal have suffered more than most with injuries in midfield this season and Xhaka was supposed to be a key man in bridging the gap at the top of the table.
He is now out for their next four matches — including a trip to leaders Chelsea.
Wenger’s behaviour and Xhaka’s rashness shows the pressure Arsenal are under, but will it be what ultimately costs them the title?
When will Claudio Bravo start making saves?
Claudio Bravo’s statistical incompetence continued in the Manchester City goal, begging the question as to how much longer Pep Guardiola can persist with the Chilean in his starting line-up.
Perhaps we have reached the point where Guardiola, a manager who clearly has a stubborn streak, is simply keeping Bravo in his side in an attempt to show he knows better than his critics and his decision to allow Joe Hart to leave the club last summer was the right one.
But, even if it was hard to blame Bravo directly for either of Tottenham’s goals, his remarkable statistic of failure in stopping on-target shots continued against Spurs.
Tottenham had two on-target efforts at the Etihad and converted them both meaning that Bravo has now let in 16 goals from the last 24 on-target shots that he has faced.
Worse yet, of his eight “saves,” two were in fact efforts blocked by his team-mates meaning Bravo has personally stopped six of the last 24 attempts on his goal.
In short, every Premier League opponent currently knows that an on-target shot on Bravo’s goal has a 75% chance of beating the keeper.
Liverpool’s title credentials lack a solid defence
Three seasons ago, Liverpool came within a whisker of becoming England’s champions for the first time since 1990, but a prolific attack was let down by a porous defence. They are unlikely to go quite as close this time, but a similar story is unfolding.
Jurgen Klopp’s side look as if they could score against anyone. They also look as if they could concede against anyone. Some of the defending in defeat against Swansea on Saturday had no place in the Premier League.
Klopp, a defender during his playing days in Germany with Mainz, could barely contain his disbelief at the slackness that allowed an unmarked Fernando Llorente to fire in the first of his two goals from eight yards, or the chaos that left Gylfi Sigurdsson free to score the winner.
The Hollywood actor Will Ferrell, watching from the main stand, could probably have come up with a memorable phrase or two, in the guise of his news anchorman character Ron Burgundy, to describe such a shambles. Klopp could only express exasperation at the difficulty his defenders had in spotting the movement of Llorente, who is 6ft 4in.
As the Liverpool manager put it: “It’s pretty difficult to overlook him, huh?”
Maguire shows defenders can join culture club
John Stones has carried the hopes of those wanting to see a ball-playing defender of genuine world class emerge from the Premier League’s own ranks.
While that burden has so far proved too onerous for the error-prone Manchester City centre-back who appears to have been diminished rather than enhanced by Pep Guardiola’s ‘play at all costs’ policy, Hull’s Harry Maguire made a compelling case for a different kind of defender.
The 23-year-old bears a formidable physique and while this may limit his speed on the turn, Maguire showed himself to be much more than a bruising stopper, bringing the ball out of defence whenever the opportunity arose at Stamford Bridge, while never forgetting his priority was to nullify Diego Costa and the rest of the Chelsea forwards.
Hull’s failure to prevent Chelsea scoring was nothing to do with Maguire and the youngster is certain to be a key figure in his club’s relegation battle.
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