Manchester United overwhelmed Manchester City in Michael Carrick’s latest turn as interim manager. The Red Devils scored twice and had three other goals disallowed for offside in an aggressive performance seldom seen under former manager Ruben Amorim. Bryan Mbeumo and Patrick Dorgu had the goals that counted in the 2-0 victory which extended Manchester City’s winless run in the Premier League to four matches. A drab performance by the visitors did damage to City’s title hopes and brought attention to the drought which continues for Golden Boot leader Erling Haaland. Haaland has but one goal in his last seven matches after finding the net 24 times in his first 23 contests this season. Fatigue could be showing as Haaland has logged more than 200 minutes more than any other Manchester City player. Helping to stymie the Norwegian striker on Sunday were outstanding performances by Manchester United center backs Harry Maguire and Lisandro Martinez. Defensive midfielder Kobbie Maino, freed from Amorim’s doghouse, aligned alongside Casemiro to provide further protection in delivering the team’s third clean sheet of the season.
While the loss was far from helpful, the damage to Manchester City’s title chances was mitigated somewhat when Arsenal was held to a goalless draw at Nottingham Forest. Additional pressure was levelled on the Tricky trees when West Ham grabbed a surprise victory at Tottenham Hotspur, narrowing the distance to Nottingham Forest and the final safe space in the table. Forest responded with a defensive focus which left the Trees without a shot on goal but enabled them to shut down the Gunners.
Aston Villa had a golden opportunity to make strides in the three-team title race but failed its test at Villa Park versus Everton. Victory would have brought Villa to within four points of Arsenal. The 1-0 defeat, however, leaves both Aston Villa and Manchester City seven points behind the Gunners. Thierno Barry capitalized on a fumbled save by Aston Villa goalkeeper Emi Martinez to deposit the game’s winner in the 59th minute for the Toffees.
Liverpool drew for a fourth consecutive league match as Anfield supporters saw their hometown heroes drop more points in a 1-1 draw with Burnley. Liverpool is unbeaten in 12 matches across all competitions but the inability to claim all three points in their league matches has become maddening. Thirty-two shots and 11 shots on target were unable to deliver a winning result for wasteful Liverpool versus a team headed for relegation. Saturday’s draw means that Liverpool were unable to defeat any of the newly promoted sides at Anfield this season, the first time that has ever happened to Liverpool in a Premier League season.
Happier home supporters could be found at Stamford Bridge where Liam Rosenior led Chelsea to a 2-0 victory over Brentford in his Premier League managerial debut. Joao Pedro scored the first half opener and Cole Palmer’s second half penalty kick sealed the deal as Chelsea put an end to Brentford’s six-match unbeaten run in the league.
A different London derby made headlines as Tottenham Hotspur Manager Thomas Frank would seem all but done after Spurs were 2-1 home losers to wretched West Ham. The Hammers had been unable to defeat any other Premier League foes in their last ten attempts before ruining Frank’s day on Saturday. It was the sixth home defeat for Spurs this season against only two wins in 11 Premier League matches contested at Tottenham Hotspur Stadium. Overall, the club has lost eight of its last 14 matches and the Danish manager has lost the supporters and likely his locker room. While he is expected to remain in charge for Tuesday’s Champions League clash with Borussia Dortmund, the former Brentford manager is on the thinnest of ice.
There is no uncertainty regarding the future of Oliver Glasner at Crystal Palace. The Austrian manager ripped his team’s ownership after Saturday’s loss to Sunderland, claiming that it “abandoned” him and the players by selling off key players such as Eberechi Eze and, most recently, Marc Guehi. The sale of Guehi to Manchester City during the week seemed to be the final straw leading to Glasner’s eruption. In a seeming demonstrative act to accentuate his points, Glasner refused to make a substitution in his club’s 2-1 loss to Sunderland, highlighting the lack of depth allotted him by financially conservative ownership. Glasner also exited his last job at Eintracht Frankfurt after developing a similar caustic relationship with the German club’s ownership. The talented manager has won silverware for both clubs, but his public disparagement of employers may enter the calculus of his next hiring. In fairness to Crystal Palace and Eintracht Frankfurt, they are not financial behemoths like Manchester City and Bayern Munch and Glasner seems to expect more than he can reasonably expect from mid table clubs. Larger clubs, meanwhile, may think twice before taking a chance on the volatile Austrian. For the time being, Crystal Palace Chairman Steve Parish has indicated he wants Glasner to finish his contract which expires in June. Glasner has already indicated he will not renew and, uncomfortably, he seems disposed to an earlier exit. While the soap opera plays out between Glasner and Parish, on pitch performance has nosedived during a ten-match winless run for the Eagles.
Wolverhampton, of course, has already punched its ticket for relegation with historically bad football for much of this season. Manager Rob Edwards, however, has reintroduced respectability in recent weeks. Supporters no longer fear embarrassment at Molineux Stadium where Wolves held Newcastle to a scoreless draw on Saturday. Wolverhampton now has a four-match unbeaten run in the Premier League, five unbeaten across all competitions including a 6-1 drubbing of Shrewsbury in the FA Cup. Six of Wolves eight Premier League points this season have come from its recent four match run in the league.
Bournemouth, meanwhile, was tumbling down the table before ending an 11-match winless run versus Spurs last week. Adding to the worries for Bournemouth fans was the departure of star Antoine Semenyo to Manchester City in the January window. The Cherries were close to a morale boosting win at Brig
hton Monday but fell short when the Seagulls’ Charalampos Kostoulas executed an overhead kick in stoppage time to salvage a point for Brighton in a1-1 draw at American Express Stadium. The dramatic goal by the 18-year-old teenager extended the Seagulls’ four match unbeaten run.
