TOURE IN CONTROL, GIROUD’S VALUE AND MKHITARYAN GLORY
THE most important player in a Pep Guardiola team is the “organising midfielder”, which is why he moved so quickly to sign Ilkay Gundogan in the off-season. But with Gundogan out long term, City need a replacement, and who better than Yaya Toure?
He cannot play like he did in his 20s any more, but he proved at Hull City on Monday he still has the brain and the skill for that role.
He completed more than 100 passes, giving City control of the game which they eventually broke open thanks to his penalty. He may only have six months left at City, but he clearly still has a lot to offer.
Olivier Giroud is no longer first choice at Arsenal but he can still score goals that no-one else on his team can score.
His headed winner with four minutes left against West Bromwich Albion was a classic Giroud goal, holding off Gareth McAuley and still getting enough power on the ball.
One month ago he did the same at Old Trafford, leaping in the last minute up at the far post to head in an equalising goal.
Arsenal want to go in a new direction now, away from Giroud, and understandably so. But he still has unique skills and Arsenal are far more dangerous if he is their Plan B.
Whether he is happy to be that is a different question.
Four straight league wins makes this Manchester United’s best run since April last year, back in Louis van Gaal’s first season at Old Trafford. Jose Mourinho has got the balance right, with a team that can dominate possession, getting the most out of his two stars, Paul Pogba and Zlatan Ibrahimovic, and a potential third in Henirkh Mkhitaryan.
Absent on Boxing Day though was Wayne Rooney, the United captain struggling with a muscle problem.
If Rooney and Mkhitaryan are to compete for one place on the team it is not much of a competition, now that the Armenian looks to have adjusted to the pace of the English game. The questions about Rooney’s future will continue.
After West Ham United lost 5-1 to Arsenal on December 3, Slaven Bilic decided to hammer his players in the press conference. He said they had “lost their intensity” and that they were not too good to go down.
It felt like the last roll of the dice from a man who was losing the dressing room. But it worked.
West Ham have not lost since, drawing at Anfield before beating Burnley, Hull City and now Swansea City.
Their injured players are returning and suddenly they look like a functioning team again, which is a genuine achievement after that Arsenal game.
What is so impressive about this Chelsea team is that they are not over-dependent on individuals. This week they batted away Bournemouth without Diego Costa or N’Golo Kante, two of the lynchpins down the middle of the team.
Even Eden Hazard or David Luiz, their next best players, could be plausibly replaced within this system.
This team is a triumph of coaching, tactics and management, a unit first and foremost, thanks to the remarkably quick fruits of Antonio Conte’s work.
It would take a catastrophic injury crisis, rather than just one or two missing, to stop them from winning the title from here.
Burnley have a simple plan to stay up, and it is going very well. They have only taken one point in away games this season, the worst record in the division. But they are more than half way to keeping themselves up through their home record alone.
This week they did enough to beat Middlesbrough 1-0, Andre Gray forcing a mistake from Victor Valdes to win the game.
That was their sixth home league win this year, one more than Manchester City have. Teams tend to need 10 league wins to avoid relegation. Four more will do it for Sean Dyche even if they lose every other away game this season.
Swansea City, Burnley, Crystal Palace, Manchester City: spot the odd one out. Those are the only four teams that reigning champions Leicester City have beaten in the Premier League this season.
It is a list that speaks to the drastically new reality for Leicester, one in which they are in the Champions League knockout rounds, and also in a relegation fight.
But it is also a list which shows the remarkable naivety of Guardiola’s high-line against Jamie Vardy’s pace.
Ronald Koeman had a counter-attacking plan and it was far more effective, earning a deserved 2-0 win on Boxing Day. – The Independent