
A very eventful gameweek came to a close with Everton vs Leeds on Monday night, which ended 1-1, meaning Everton failed to really put themselves firmly in the conversation for European spots again. Elsewhere in the league, Arsenal and Manchester United went head-to-head again, Aston Villa and Manchester City tried to close in on the league leaders, and drama continued at the bottom of the table. Here are the winners and losers from the gameweek's action.
Unai Emery's team stumbled against Everton last gameweek, and a defeat to Newcastle would have probably had people writing them out of the title race altogether. It didn't help that they had to visit Saint James Park, a ground they haven't won at since 2005, and face a team in great form with four wins in their last five games. But winners find a way to win, and Villa found a way. Emi Buendia's outrageous strike and Ollie Watkins' header secured the goals, but it was really another remarkable performance by Emi Martinez that sealed the win. With Arsenal dropping points at the weekend, some people at Villa Park will be dreaming of an unlikely Villa title charge again, as they should.
Tottenham's woes continued against Burnley as they failed to get maximum points from another encounter with a club in the bottom three. This, despite victory over Borussia Dortmund in the Champions League in midweek providing some much needed relief at the London stadium. However, the issue remains, in the Premier League, against opponents who sit back and ask Spurs to break them down, Thomas Frank has no answer yet. Not good ones anyway. Needing a last-minute goal by a centre back to nick a draw against the 19th-placed team on the table is just embarrassing.
The new manager bounce continues at Stamford Bridge. Liam Rosenior knows that there were mixed reactions to his appointment as manager, and the only way to win over hearts and minds is to keep putting points on the board. So far, he's been doing a great job at doing just that. On Sunday, Chelsea beat Crystal Palace 3-1 to keep themselves very well in contention for a top 4 finish. Granted, the win came against a depleted Crystal Palace side still regrouping after the loss of their best player, but no one at the Bridge will care about all that too much. It's another 3 points in the bag, and there is a kind run of fixtures coming up with West Ham, Wolves, Leeds, and Burnley. In a month, Chelsea might have pulled ahead of the other two teams battling for a 4th place finish.
The cracks had been showing in the Premier League for a while before Arsenal's 3-2 defeat to Manchester United. Two draws in the league preceded this result, one against an uninspiring Liverpool and the other against a struggling Nottingham Forest. The nature of those games suggested that something needed to change in Arsenal's attacking dynamic, but the urgency of that need was tempered by Arsenal's strong performances in other competitions during that period. A 3-2 defeat of Chelsea in the Carabao Cup and a 3-1 victory over Inter Milan in the Champions League seemed to suggest that Arsenal are doing just fine. But the fact is that most Premier League teams don't play Arsenal the way Chelsea and Inter Milan did. Liverpool sat back and defended compactly, asking the Gunners to break them down, and so did Nottingham Forest, but neither team was capable of creating much goal threat. Manchester United sat back, struck on the break, and dealt the Gunners a really bad blow at a crucial point in the season. Mikel Arteta has to change something now before it's too late.
The dream start to life as a manager for Michael Carrick continues. He's gone from beating United's rivals from across town last gameweek to putting the best team in the league so far this season to the sword in the space of a week. In football, some wins are statement wins. In some games, it doesn't matter how you win; all that matters is that you win. This was one such game for United as they renewed an old rivalry with Arsenal at the most difficult ground to visit in all of Europe this season. And Carrick's boys found a way to win. It's more than likely that this win will propel United higher as they compete with Chelsea and Liverpool for the final Champions League spot.
The attention has shifted away from Arne Slot and Liverpool's downturn in recent times, thanks to managerial upheavals at Chelsea and Manchester United, but make no mistake, they are still in a downward spiral. They've stopped losing games, but they've not been winning them either. They'd drawn their last four games coming into the week, and the consensus seemed to be that at least Slot had plugged the defensive holes and could now focus on improving the attack. Bournemouth shattered all such illusions by beating Liverpool 3-2. Whatever happens next, one thing is abundantly clear: the defence is still very shaky. If this Bournemouth side can put three past it, then it's not great.

A very eventful gameweek came to a close with Everton vs Leeds on Monday night, which ended 1-1, meaning Everton failed to really put themselves firmly in the conversation for European spots again. Elsewhere in the league, Arsenal and Manchester United went head-to-head again, Aston Villa and Manchester City tried to close in on the league leaders, and drama continued at the bottom of the table. Here are the winners and losers from the gameweek's action.
Unai Emery's team stumbled against Everton last gameweek, and a defeat to Newcastle would have probably had people writing them out of the title race altogether. It didn't help that they had to visit Saint James Park, a ground they haven't won at since 2005, and face a team in great form with four wins in their last five games. But winners find a way to win, and Villa found a way. Emi Buendia's outrageous strike and Ollie Watkins' header secured the goals, but it was really another remarkable performance by Emi Martinez that sealed the win. With Arsenal dropping points at the weekend, some people at Villa Park will be dreaming of an unlikely Villa title charge again, as they should.
Tottenham's woes continued against Burnley as they failed to get maximum points from another encounter with a club in the bottom three. This, despite victory over Borussia Dortmund in the Champions League in midweek providing some much needed relief at the London stadium. However, the issue remains, in the Premier League, against opponents who sit back and ask Spurs to break them down, Thomas Frank has no answer yet. Not good ones anyway. Needing a last-minute goal by a centre back to nick a draw against the 19th-placed team on the table is just embarrassing.
The new manager bounce continues at Stamford Bridge. Liam Rosenior knows that there were mixed reactions to his appointment as manager, and the only way to win over hearts and minds is to keep putting points on the board. So far, he's been doing a great job at doing just that. On Sunday, Chelsea beat Crystal Palace 3-1 to keep themselves very well in contention for a top 4 finish. Granted, the win came against a depleted Crystal Palace side still regrouping after the loss of their best player, but no one at the Bridge will care about all that too much. It's another 3 points in the bag, and there is a kind run of fixtures coming up with West Ham, Wolves, Leeds, and Burnley. In a month, Chelsea might have pulled ahead of the other two teams battling for a 4th place finish.
The cracks had been showing in the Premier League for a while before Arsenal's 3-2 defeat to Manchester United. Two draws in the league preceded this result, one against an uninspiring Liverpool and the other against a struggling Nottingham Forest. The nature of those games suggested that something needed to change in Arsenal's attacking dynamic, but the urgency of that need was tempered by Arsenal's strong performances in other competitions during that period. A 3-2 defeat of Chelsea in the Carabao Cup and a 3-1 victory over Inter Milan in the Champions League seemed to suggest that Arsenal are doing just fine. But the fact is that most Premier League teams don't play Arsenal the way Chelsea and Inter Milan did. Liverpool sat back and defended compactly, asking the Gunners to break them down, and so did Nottingham Forest, but neither team was capable of creating much goal threat. Manchester United sat back, struck on the break, and dealt the Gunners a really bad blow at a crucial point in the season. Mikel Arteta has to change something now before it's too late.
The dream start to life as a manager for Michael Carrick continues. He's gone from beating United's rivals from across town last gameweek to putting the best team in the league so far this season to the sword in the space of a week. In football, some wins are statement wins. In some games, it doesn't matter how you win; all that matters is that you win. This was one such game for United as they renewed an old rivalry with Arsenal at the most difficult ground to visit in all of Europe this season. And Carrick's boys found a way to win. It's more than likely that this win will propel United higher as they compete with Chelsea and Liverpool for the final Champions League spot.
The attention has shifted away from Arne Slot and Liverpool's downturn in recent times, thanks to managerial upheavals at Chelsea and Manchester United, but make no mistake, they are still in a downward spiral. They've stopped losing games, but they've not been winning them either. They'd drawn their last four games coming into the week, and the consensus seemed to be that at least Slot had plugged the defensive holes and could now focus on improving the attack. Bournemouth shattered all such illusions by beating Liverpool 3-2. Whatever happens next, one thing is abundantly clear: the defence is still very shaky. If this Bournemouth side can put three past it, then it's not great.
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Episode 23 of "Winners And Losers" is perhaps the most annoying one I've had to cover so far. We cover Arsenal's offensive woes, United and Chelsea enjoying a new manager bounce, and Tottenham's never-ending misery, among other things. Enjoy, unless you're an Arsenal fan of course. https://paragraph.com/@thefalsenine/epl-gw23-winners-and-losers