'%20x='0'%20y='0'%20height='100%25'%20width='100%25'%20%0A%20%20%20%20%20%20%20%20%20%20xlink%3Ahref='data:image/jpg;base64,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'%3E%3C/image%3E%3C/svg%3E)
It was another action-packed weekend of football in the Premier League, as we saw a total of 27 goals across the 10 games on offer, with Liverpool extending their lead at the top of the table by defeating Spurs, and Manchester City thumping relegation-threatened Aston Villa.
Elsewhere there were big wins for Manchester United, Chelsea, Southampton and Watford, while Bournemouth and Norwich slipped further into trouble at the bottom of the table.
Here are 5 talking points from the weekend’s Premier League action.
#1 Can anyone stop Liverpool?
Nobody really expected Tottenham Hotspur to be the team to end Liverpool’s lengthy unbeaten streak – which now dates back to over a year – but it was tough to count Jose Mourinho’s side out at the same time. As it happened, Spurs had the chances to take at least a point from Saturday’s game in North London, but some poor finishing meant that in the end, the Reds picked up their 20th win of 2019-20.
With just 17 games remaining for Jurgen Klopp’s side, the question is beginning to become not about whether they can win their first Premier League title – they’re now 14 points clear with a game in hand – but whether they can match Arsenal’s 2003-04 achievement and go through the whole season without a loss.
This week’s game against Spurs was a clear banana skin, but despite not playing brilliantly, the Reds again came through. It won’t be easy for them to match the ‘Invincibles’ as they still have another 4 fixtures to play against the Premier League’s ‘Big Six’, including a showdown with bitter rivals Manchester United this weekend, and they’re also involved in the Champions League, but if any side can do it, it’ll be Klopp’s.
The German boss has put together a remarkable deep squad in all areas – they’ve survived a handful of key injuries this season already – and their front trio of Roberto Firmino, Mohamed Salah and Sadio Mane is so good that if one or even two of them doesn’t play so well, the other one always seems to find a way to hurt their opponents.
Right now Liverpool appear to have everything – including a bit of luck – on their side. It’ll be fascinating to see them attempt to match Arsenal’s famous feat, and a huge achievement if they can do so.
#2 Is Aguero the greatest striker the Premier League has ever seen?
Aston Villa’s defence might’ve made things easier than they should’ve been, but it was another fantastic weekend for Sergio Aguero as he scored his 12th Premier League hat-trick in Manchester City’s match against the Midlands side, helping Pep Guardiola’s men to a thumping 1-6 victory. The Argentine also broke some records in the process.
Aguero’s hat-trick gave him the most trebles in Premier League history, while his second goal made him the highest overseas goalscorer in the competition’s history too, taking him past the legendary Thierry Henry. And finally, his third moved him level with Frank Lampard on 177 goals, putting him in joint 4th place in the Premier League’s list of all-time top goalscorers – behind only Andy Cole, Wayne Rooney and Alan Shearer.
So is the Argentine now the best striker the Premier League has ever seen? It’s certainly a fair debate. The Argentine notably has the highest goals to games ratio in the upper echelon of the all-time scoring chart, with a ratio of 0.69, compared to 0.29 for Lampard, 0.45 for Cole, 0.42 for Rooney and 0.59 for Shearer.
That would suggest that Aguero is the best, but there are of course a couple of caveats; for starters, Shearer scored a total of 260 Premier League goals, but he’d already played a total of 5 seasons in what was England’s top flight prior to the inauguration of the competition. Had the Premier League existed back then, you could add a further 23 goals to the Geordie striker’s overall haul.
It’s worth noting too that Aguero has only ever played for Manchester City, and in each of his seasons, his side have been amongst the best in the league, always challenging for the title. Shearer won the Premier League title with Blackburn in 1994-95, but with Newcastle, he spent a lot of time toiling in the mid-table.
For me, Shearer still slightly edges the Argentine hitman out, but for anyone to claim Aguero is the greatest Premier League striker ever is probably fair too.
#3 Can Southgate find a replacement for Kane for England?
The news that Harry Kane will be out until the spring with a serious hamstring injury didn’t just mean problems for Tottenham Hotspur, it also likely rang alarm bells for England boss Gareth Southgate, too. The Three Lions next play in March – a pair of friendly games against Italy and Denmark – but if Kane does not return until late April, there’s every chance he won’t be fully match-sharp by the start of Euro 2020 in June.
Thankfully for Southgate, it appears that at least a handful of potential replacements for his star striker exist. This weekend’s matches saw 3 of those candidates stand out yet again with more goals. Firstly, Chelsea’s Tammy Abraham hit the net again in the Blues’ 3-0 victory over Burnley. The goal was Abraham’s 13th in the Premier League inside 21 appearances, and once again the 22-year old led the line excellently for Frank Lampard’s side.
Abraham has all of the tools to be England’s primary backup to Kane; he plays alongside a pair of wide forwards in a similar system to the one preferred by Southgate, helps to link up attacking moves by holding the ball up well, and has brilliant finishing instincts. And yet, somehow the London-born hitman isn’t the highest English goalscorer in the Premier League right now.
That title belongs to Jamie Vardy of Leicester, but ignoring him as he’s retired from international football, two other strikers currently sit above Abraham. One is very much a fixture in Southgate’s thoughts already; Marcus Rashford scored another 2 goals this weekend, helping Manchester United to a 4-0 win over struggling Norwich.
United fans might have some fair gripes with boss Ole Gunnar Solskjaer, but there’s no disputing the fact that he’s getting the best out of Rashford this season, as he already has 19 goals in all competitions, more than he’s ever managed in any previous season, and he also has 4 assists. With that said, he’s rarely been deployed as a central striker in recent matches – and all of the evidence seems to point to his best position being as a wide forward.
Which brings us to the third man in discussion – Southampton’s Danny Ings. Arguably, there is no hotter striker in the Premier League right now. The former Liverpool man has been on fire since September, and has now scored 14 goals in the Premier League to elevate the Saints into 12th place, far above a relegation battle.
There’s no disputing Ings’ current hot streak, and his finishing ability has looked phenomenal too – as we saw with his sneaky finish in Southampton’s 1-2 win over Leicester this weekend. But it’s also hard to shake the idea that this could be nothing more than a purple patch; Ings is 27 years old and has never displayed form anything close to this before.
So it seems like Southgate has quite the decision on his hands in the upcoming weeks regarding a replacement for Kane – but the England boss should be happy that he has the options.
#4 Who is going down?
With Liverpool extending their lead at the top of the Premier League to 14 points with a game in hand, it seems like the title race is all but over. One race that appears to be only just beginning, however, is the race for survival at the bottom of the table.
This weekend saw Aston Villa slip back into the drop zone after losing 1-6 to Manchester City, while Norwich remain rooted to the foot of the table after their 4-0 loss to Manchester United. Bournemouth meanwhile cannot seem to buy a win right now; Eddie Howe’s side were defeated 0-3 by Watford and now have just 1 win in their last 11 matches.
Watford’s win, meanwhile, was their 4th in 7 games under new boss Nigel Pearson, and took them out of the relegation zone for the first time in a long time. Suddenly, it seems like the Hornets may not be doomed after all.
So can we now write off the bottom 3 clubs? Perhaps not. Despite Watford’s win, they’re still only 2 points ahead of 19th-placed Bournemouth, while West Ham and Burnley – who occupy 16th and 15th place respectively – both lost this weekend and now find themselves in trouble too. Sean Dyche’s Clarets in fact are on the worst run in the Premier League right now with 4 straight losses. Even 14th place Brighton are just 3 points above the drop zone.
Essentially, we could have the closest race for survival in some years, with only Norwich – who are now 8 points from survival – looking likely to be marooned in the upcoming months.
#5 Will there ever be a week without VAR controversy?
This weekend’s big VAR controversy came during Friday night’s game that saw Sheffield United defeat West Ham 1-0 to remain in the chase for a European spot. There was no controversy around the Blades’ goal, scored by Oli McBurnie, but instead, heads were turned by the decision to rule out a last-gasp equaliser from Hammers substitute Robert Snodgrass.
England midfielder Declan Rice broke from his own half to charge a loose ball down, and raced into the box before crossing for Snodgrass to score, but VAR cut their celebrations short by disallowing the goal after a replay appeared to suggest the ball had touched Rice’s hand in the build-up to the goal.
This was a baffling decision as it looked like the ball only touched Rice’s hand when a defender had headed it directly against it, and there was clearly no intention on the midfielder’s part to handle. Hammers fans were naturally furious while Rice himself stated that VAR is “not wanted” by the Premier League’s players.
What made the issue even worse was when Liverpool’s goal against Tottenham on Saturday was allowed by VAR despite the ball appearing to strike Jordan Henderson’s hand in the build-up, again through no fault of the midfielder. It just feels like there’s no consistency across the board from the system, and with David Moyes’ Hammers just a couple of points above the relegation zone, this kind of call could prove pivotal later down the line.
The controversial call was just the latest in a series of them from the VAR system being used in the Premier League this season – a system that surely needs to be looked at once 2019-20 comes to an end.
