With the FA Cup action taking up this past weekend, the Premier League resumed in midweek with many of its teams rested and some teams fighting off fatigue from their cup ties. Some of them managed it better than others. If you want to find out who did, read on:
Premier League winners from Matchday 30
Bukayo Saka
At least some part of Arsenal’s recent struggles have been down to his absence due to injury. It must have felt good for him and everyone else wearing Arsenal colors to see him come back and score the goal that capped the Gunners’ win over Fulham. What an assist, too, from Gabriel Martinelli to backheel the ball to the open winger.
Murillo
With Forest looking gassed after playing all of extra time in the weekend’s FA Cup match, Manchester United were sniffing a chance to come away with a point at the City Ground. A stoppage-time goalmouth scrum saw Harry Maguire stab the ball past keeper Matz Sels, but Sels’ teammate came to his rescue by clearing the shot off the goalline to preserve the win. When the final whistle blew, the Brazilian defender fell to his knees to thank God, and some Forest fans probably joined him. The last time Nottingham beat Manchester United twice in a season was in 1992, before the Premier League’s existence.
Aston Villa
We’ve already sung the praises of their winter loanees Marcus Rashford and Marco Asensio, and they both scored in Villa’s road win over Brighton. The other scorer was Donyell Malen, who netted his first in a Villa jersey after joining them from Borussia Dortmund three months ago. That was a permanent signing and not a loan. If you work in Villa’s front office, your bosses are happy and you’re happy.
Robert Sánchez
We’ve been rough on the Chelsea keeper, but he came up big in the latter stages of his team’s 1-0 win over Spurs. Brennan Johnson’s square ball to an unmarked Son Heung-min should by all rights have equalized for Tottenham, but Sánchez threw himself along the mouth of his goal to keep out Son’s shot. The win keeps the Blues in fourth place.
Ipswich Town
Stuff finally clicked into place in their win over Bournemouth. If the Blues played like this consistently, they wouldn’t be trying to escape relegation.
Wolverhampton
In a game full of blown chances, it was Jørgen Strand Larsen who netted the only goal against West Ham. Wolves visit Ipswich next week, and a win there will effectively guarantee their safety and consign their opponents to the Championship.
Diogo Jota
He reminded everybody of a certain fellow Portuguese winger when he did a series of stepovers through Everton’s defense before scoring Liverpool’s winning goal. The Reds’ massive lead in the standings is built on players stepping up like this in finely balanced games.
Sandro Tonali
“How did that happen?” asked the NBC commentator, and the rest of us were wondering the same thing, as the Newcastle midfielder’s shot from somewhere around the corner flag managed to arc over Brentford goalkeeper Mark Flekken and then dip underneath his crossbar to give the Magpies a 2-1 win at home. The Italian already distinguished himself in Newcastle’s Carabao Cup triumph, and this win keeps his team in the hunt for European play.
Premier League losers from Matchday 30
Manchester United
Their corner kick five minutes after the start of the game resulted in Anthony Elanga picking up the clearance and dribbling from inside his own half all the way through United’s defenders to score the game’s only goal. On a day when Alejandro Garnacho missed a ton of shots (I know, what else is new?), the Swedish forward showed his former team what they were missing. Not only did United get shown up by their ex-player, they used Harry Maguire off the bench as a center forward, and he created some of their best chances. Maybe they should start him as a striker for the rest of the season.
The south coast teams
They all played at home this midweek, and there was misery all around. Brighton and Bournemouth’s losses severely dinged their hopes for Champions League soccer next season, while Southampton had a win in sight when a failed defensive clearance in stoppage time came to Crystal Palace’s Jefferson Lerma, who crossed for Matheus França to grab the equalizer for Palace. Bournemouth now have one point out of their last possible 15, and Southampton still have a chance to outdo Derby County’s historically bad 2007-08 Premier League season. Good thing England’s southern coast has nice weather and beaches, because it looks like all these teams will be grumbling through the summer.
Samuel Barrott
Liverpool’s fans are ready to put the official in referee jail for the yellow card on James Tarkowski that they feel should have been red during Liverpool’s win in the Merseyside derby. I can see both sides of that call, but Barrott’s yellow card on Dárwin Núñez was totally inexplicable, since the Uruguayan striker had his legs taken out by Jordan Pickford while chasing down a loose ball. Maybe it wasn’t a penalty because the whistle had blown, but the Everton keeper should have been booked instead of Núñez.
Leicester City
Another team might have seized the opportunity to take on Manchester City without an injured Erling Haaland, but the Foxes made City look like the smooth-running machine of old in a 2-0 defeat, creating precious little against their blunted opponents.