The Boxing Day Premier League bonanza proved to be a cracker with a sackful of goals up and down the country on Wednesday.Liverpool strengthened their lead at the top of the table with victory over Newcastle as Tottenham moved into second after another defeat for Manchester City at Leicester.Here, AMITAI WINEHOUSE assesses 10 things we learned from this batch of midweek fixtures... 1. Jurgen Klopp said he wants his Liverpool side to create their own history. Well, how about some precedent not filtered through the Anfield lens?Only three teams had been unbeaten at the halfway stage of a Premier League season before Wednesday. Liverpool added themselves to a list containing Arsenal in 2003-04, Man Utd in 2010-11 and Man City in 2017-18 with their 4-0 win against Newcastle.You may note that all of those sides won the title. Whether or not Klopp is dampening down title talk, they’re beginning to look a lot like probable champions. 2. Statistically, the new-manager bounce does not really exist. The idea of the shackles coming off depends on the people involved in the change, not just by sacking and appointing.But Ole Gunnar Solskjaer has had a clear impact at Manchester United where one man is concerned — Paul Pogba. His double against Huddersfield gave him four goal involvements in the two games under Solskjaer (two goals, two assists). That’s the same total he had registered in his last 12 games under Jose Mourinho (one goal, three assists).Whether it is motivation or instruction, Solskjaer is working for United’s crown jewel. 3. The problem with Pep Guardiola’s football will always be the fact that, when it goes badly, it goes very badly. This is the first time they have lost two in a row in the Premier League since December 2016.Those were bad days and culminated in a 4-2 thrashing at Leicester, the site of their loss on Wednesday. This also had the hallmarks of that era, not least the fact Ederson conceded from his first shot faced. That has also been the case in three of their last four games.This vintage is far better than the 2016-17 campaign but Guardiola really needs to pull this together before their title slips away entirely. 4. Fernandinho was absent at the King Power Stadium and it is staggering just how important he is to this City team — and how atrociously they have planned his succession.The Brazilian is 33 years old and there is no one in the squad who can replace him adequately. City have won just 59.3 per cent of games without him under Guardiola, compared to 71.3 per cent with him.Guardiola was desperate to bring in a back-up player in the summer. He knew then what his absence would mean. It is now bearing fruit. 5. If Arsenal’s recruitment team want to know how to support Unai Emery going forward, there’s one place that needs fixing — the defence.They have stars up front in Alexandre Lacazette and the brilliant Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang but their back line is weak. After the 1-1 draw at Brighton, they have failed to keep
Shackles are off for Pogba at Man United: 10 THINGS WE LEARNED - YouTube |
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