The 25th round of England’s topmost level of football has intensified the races at the two contrasting ends of the standings table. While Chelsea have been gliding through the league, any slip-ups in the race for a Champions League spot could prove fatal in the long run.
In a week where each of Arsenal, Manchester United and Manchester City won 2-0 against lowly opponents, all eyes were on the game between Liverpool and Tottenham. The latter was in pole position amongst the Champions League chasing pack, but a defeat this weekend has further reduced the points gap. Manchester City, in second place, are just four points ahead of Manchester United in sixth.
Although Chelsea drew 1-1 away at Burnley and City sprung from 5th on the day to 2nd, cutting Chelsea’s lead to 8 points, the Blues aren't under any severe threat.
On the other end of the spectrum, Swansea emerged victorious against reigning champions Leicester City, leapfrogging their opponents and Middlesbrough in the process to the 15th spot. Besides Swansea, no other team in the bottom 8 managed to grab the three points.
Leicester is home to Liverpool next, and if the Reds take home maximum points, Leicester could find themselves in the relegation zone by the end of Gameweek 26.
As always, there have been a few noteworthy performances this week. Anthony Martial dominated from the left wing with a goal and an assist against Watford and teammate Eric Bailly led from the back with a combative display. Alexis Sanchez managed to grab a controversial brace against Hull City.
Alfie Mawson has emerged as a new hero within the Swansea ranks, this time scoring a thunderous volley against Leicester. Burnley’s Michael Keane played out a man of the match performance against runaway leaders Chelsea.
Unlike the previous gameweek, there were no standout horrendous performers this week. A few of the poorer ones this week include the likes of the attacking units of Hull City, Watford and Bournemouth. In particular, the likes of Ryan Fraser, M’Baye Niang, Troy Deeney and Alfred N’Diaye were guilty of rather toothless performances.
In defence, Sunderland had a torrid time against Southampton. Lamine Kone was turned inside out for the second goal while gaps existed all over their backline in a thumping defeat.
Honourable Mention for Best Player of the Week – Manolo Gabbiadini
An Italian import fresh from the coast of Naples, Gabbiadini has infused life into a demoralised Southampton outfit. Although his debut against West Ham last week had no impact on the eventual result, this time his performance led Southampton to a convincing win over last-placed Sunderland.
At the half hour mark, Gabbiadini glanced a cross from Ryan Bertrand with his upper body past a hapless Vito Mannone at the front post.
Just before half time, Gabbiadini received the ball from Dusan Tadic inside the box and turned past Lamine Kone unexpectedly and smashed home his second on the night. His movement inside the box oozed calm and composure and was pivotal in the overall result.
With a rating of 8.8 given by whoscored, a performance score of 77 from Squawka and a man of the match gong, Gabbiadini is well on his way to repaying the amount Southampton splashed on him two weeks back.
Honourable Mention for Worst Player of the Week – Marc Albrighton
It’s difficult to criminalise Albrighton over the other Leicester players for yet another uninspiring and defensively unsound performance this week. Swansea’s first goal came from a free-kick. Robert Huth managed to win the aerial duel with Fernando Llorente but the clearance fell to an unmarked Federico Fernandez, who in turn headed the ball to Mawson and his resulting volley was unstoppable.
Albrighton, in charge of Leicester’s left end of the free kick setup, should have been tracking back around Fernandez instead of standing aimlessly at the edge of the box.
On a similar note, Swansea breached the Leicester net for the second time but this time there was a gap in Leicester’s right side of the defence. Who was the right midfielder at the time? Marc Albrighton.
Although the right side of the back four was out of place due to the intricate passing, Swansea’s left-back Martin Olsson was left to run through and score off a Gylfi Sigurdsson through ball. Once again, Albrighton did not track back and had no sense of where Olsson was.
Worst Player of the Week – Eric Dier
It so happens that every time Tottenham begin proving their doubters wrong by putting in a fantastic run of performances, they collapse against the big sides away from home. Their season has been undone by their poor form away against the top six. And once again, Tottenham were wiped away by a swift Liverpool unit at Anfield.
Tottenham was left to cope without two of their first choice defenders. Jan Vertonghen and Danny Rose were ruled out for a few weeks and the inclusions of Eric Dier alongside Toby Alderweireld and Ben Davies on the left were unconvincing.
Dier, in particular, had a horrific outing and could be blamed for both the goals scored by Mane. As Alderweireld went in ahead for a challenge, Giorgino Wijnaldum found a huge gap on the side of Dier. While Davies tracked Mane, the Senegalese sprung past him and got behind Dier to latch onto the pass and score past Hugo Lloris.
For the second, Dier was directly responsible as his defensive error handed the ball to the Liverpool forward and the move subsequently led to Mane’s second on the night. Tottenham and Dier’s performance have put the club in a precarious situation.
With such a congested and tight race for the top 4 going on, their performances without their regular back line has to improve if they want to qualify for the Champions League.
Best Player of the Week – Sadio Mane
The player of the week has to be Liverpool’s Sadio Mane. Liverpool had a miserable January without their summer signing. Prior to the game against Tottenham, Liverpool, in their last 10 games had emerged victorious on just one occasion.
This run commenced on 2nd January, Mane’s last game before he headed off for the AFCON 2017. It is no coincidence that a high-flying Liverpool underwent a sour patch only when Mane was absent from the squad.
Well, now the Senegalese has returned and this week he was in full flow against the aforementioned hapless Spurs. He scored a brace in the first half, capitalising on defensive errors by Eric Dier and his ineffective partnership with Alderweireld.
Statistically, besides the brace, his performance might not resonate the effect he had, but he was the pivotal difference between the two sides. Liverpool have heavily missed his influence on the front end and will be hoping his performances continue to lift the spirits of the Reds.
