Just when you think the Premier League table is taking shape, shock results occur to change the landscape in the top tier of English football. It happened again this weekend and we’re here to cover the biggest talking points.
By Sam McGuire, Premier League expert
Too easy for Erling
Erling Haaland is making it look too easy in the Premier League. The Manchester City marksman added another treble this weekend in the 3-0 win over Wolves. The former BVB attacker now has 24 goals for the season – enough to win the Golden Boot in the previous four campaigns.
He did break another record this weekend. Haaland scored his fourth hattrick of the season in only his 19th appearance. Prior to that, Ruud Van Nistelrooy was the quickest to four trebles in the Premier League, achieving the feat in 65 matches.
While the focus was on yet another Haaland masterclass in the penalty area, the win did keep City in the title race.
The sign of Champions
Arsenal needed a last-minute winner to overcome a Manchester United side at the Emirates. However, the scoreline did not tell the entire story.
In truth, the away side offered very little and finished with an Expected Goals total of just 0.36. Erik ten Hag’s men needed a Marcus Rashford stunner and an Aaron Ramsdale mistake to make it a competitive match.
Arsenal controlled the ball, the space and the match, taking a total of 25 shots and limiting United to just six. They also racked up an extraordinarily high Expected Goals total of 3.25.
They kept going right until the very end and Eddie Nketiah’s winner was deserved.
The Lampard era comes to an end
Frank Lampard’s final game as Everton manager arrived against the club he made his debut for. It must’ve felt like déjà vu for the Blues on Saturday as they dominated the ball with 68% possession but did absolutely nothing with it.
They managed just five shots in total and created chances worth 0.55 Expected Goals. West Ham, on the other hand, carved out opportunities worth 2.27 Expected Goals. The hosts sacrificed possession to dictate the space and had a lot of success hitting the Toffees on the break.
It had been an issue that had plagued Lampard’s side all season. The next Everton manager will have to find a way to turn possession into goals.
Mitoma magic
Kaoru Mitoma was the player of the match for Brighton in their 2-2 draw with Leicester City, earning himself an 8.5 rating on the FotMob app.
He has been a revelation for the Seagulls ever since the appointment of Roberto De Zerbi and he really caught the eye against the Foxes.
The 25-year-old opened the scoring for the visitors, created two chances, completed 60% of his dribbles and recovered the ball on seven occasions. It takes some doing to steal the spotlight away from Alexis Max Allister and Moises Caicedo, but Mitoma did just that.
Ray(a) of light
Leeds and Brentford played out a 0-0 draw on Sunday and there wasn’t much to take from the game. However, without the exploits of David Raya between the sticks for the Bees, it might’ve been a different story.
He made five saves and prevented an Expected Goals on Target value of 1.25. Leeds will feel unlucky not to have picked up all three points at Elland Road but sometimes a keeper puts in a Player of the Match performance and you just have to rue your luck.
(Cover image from IMAGO)
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