How did Arsenal not beat Manchester United? How good is Liverpool’s attack at the moment? And how much work does Sam Allardyce have to do at Everton?
The whole point of this column is to inspire you to look beyond the scoreline of a match. If ever a game illustrated that notion to perfection, then it is Arsenal’s 3-1 home defeat to Manchester United.
Prior to the match, the signs for United were not positive. The Red Devils did win 4-2 at Watford in midweek, but the result flattered them somewhat. The previous edition of this column pointed out their attack hasn’t been great away from Old Trafford for over two months.
United’s other issue was Jose Mourinho’s appalling record when playing away in matches between clubs in the big six. In his previous 11 such games for Chelsea and United, Mourinho had five 0-0s and six defeats to show for his efforts.
Yet within 11 minutes of this match United were two goals to the good, thanks to pressurizing Arsenal into making some dreadful mistakes. What would then follow was record breaking in various senses. For starters, David de Gea made the joint-most saves in a Premier League match since records began.
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The finances of the big clubs in England mean mismatches are commonplace. Goalkeepers often bail out their teammates when a small team takes unlikely points from one of the big boys. This shouldn’t be happening when two big guns face off though.
It wasn’t just the volume of shots for Arsenal, but the quality too. The Gunners generated an expected goals tally of 5.4, which is the most by any side in the English top flight since the start of 2016-17. It was a stunningly bad defensive effort by a Mourinho team.
Sometimes you have to shrug when your team don’t get what they deserve, but a loss to a direct rival is always painful. This wasn’t just painful for Arsenal, it was nonsensical.
Liverpool have one of Europe’s most reliable attacks
Since their horrendous capitulation to Spurs at Wembley, Liverpool have been in great form. The Reds have won six and drawn two, and scored 25 goals along the way.
Considering the final score, Liverpool’s narrow expected goals win over Brighton of 2.3 to 1.8 initially appears surprising. They did get the benefit of an own goal in dispatching the Seagulls 5-1 on Saturday, but they conceded a questionable spot kick too.
Graham Scott is a relatively new referee at Premier League level, and only two of the current refs in the top flight give penalties more often than he does. He seemed keen to award one here, and it wasn’t entirely clear what Brighton’s penalty was given for.
It was only a small bump in the road for Jürgen Klopp’s team though. Swift counter attacks were the key to Liverpool’s success on the south coast. The Reds have scored more goals via fast breaks than any other team in Europe’s top five leagues. Roberto Firmino scored two here, and only nine other teams in the big leagues have more in total this season.
Liverpool have now registered at least two expected goals in 12 of their 15 league matches this season. They failed to do so against Manchester City, Spurs and Chelsea, but there’s no shame in that.
Their attack is the most consistent in the Premier League in 2017-18. Yes, even more so than Manchester City. Pep’s boys may have generated more expected goals in total, but they have only amassed two expected goals in 10 of their matches.
There will always be question marks around Liverpool’s defense, but if their attack can keep up this form then they will certainly be in the mix for a top four finish.
Next: United (somehow) beat Arsenal: 3 things we learned
Big Sam still has a lot of work to do
The Sam Allardyce era at Goodison Park began with a 2-0 victory over Huddersfield. Having won their previous match against West Ham, Everton suddenly find themselves in mid-table. Now that they are eight points clear of the relegation zone, do they even need a firefighter of Allardyce’s repute?
Whether they do or not, they’ve got him for the next 18 months. The former England manager can’t rest on his laurels despite this victory though.
Huddersfield’s aim in matches is to concede as few shots as possible. Indeed, going into this weekend only the big six teams had allowed fewer opposition shots than David Wagner’s Terriers.
Even allowing for that, Everton’s tally of six was a paltry return from a home match. Huddersfield have conceded 1.9 expected goals per match on the road this season, but the Toffees only tallied 0.8.
Of the three goals attempts Everton had from closer than the edge of the box, one went out near the corner flag and the other two were scored. It’s lovely to be so clinical in the area of course, but it won’t happen every week.
With a chronic lack of pace in their side, Everton may also struggle to play Allardyce’s usual style of football. He’ll be able to organize them defensively, no question, but will they also be able to spring into counter-attacks?
But for now, Big Sam has his new side up and running, and he’d love nothing more than to end Everton’s lengthy win-less run at Anfield in next weekend’s Merseyside derby. The stats suggest it would be a massive surprise if that happened.