What we learned from Matchweek 17

Football writer Alex Keble highlights the hot topics and tactical lessons from Matchweek 17, including:

- Cherki's creativity could be the difference in the title race
- Another tense Arsenal win is a concerning contrast to Man City
- Newcastle’s two-halved performance shows the pros and cons of their pressing game
- Rogers' brilliance should not detract from Man Utd’s new tactical dexterity
- Slot continues to show creativity in the search for tactical solutions
- Brentford take giant step in relegation battle
- Broja's late equaliser is a crushing blow for struggling Bournemouth
- Sunderland's resilience bodes well for tricky AFCON period
- Calvert-Lewin and set-piece goals are propelling Leeds out of danger
- Fulham’s stealth streak is narrowing the relegation battle

Cherki's creativity could be the difference in the title race

His start to the season was so slow, and his team's was so underwhelming, that it’s easy to forget just how big a deal it was when Manchester City signed one of the most exciting playmakers in the world in the summer.

Rayan Cherki is starting to look like the elite player we saw at Lyon.

Cherki did not directly assist a goal against West Ham United but he was a constant threat in the centre-right space, as his through-balls and crosses pinned the visitors back and ensured Man City created numerous chances, despite playing without a winger against an ultra-narrow diamond 4-4-2.

Usually it requires width to beat a team in that system. Usually teams just cannot pick the lock when the centre is so cluttered with bodies. Not when Cherki is playing.

Cherki created six chances in this game, more than any other player, taking his Premier League average up to 3.9 per 90 – the highest of any player in the division (with a minimum of 500 minutes on the pitch).

Most chances created per 90 minutes - PL 2025/26

As the clean sheets continue (three in three) and Erling Haaland’s goals continue to flow, Man City – who briefly went top on Saturday – are starting to look like title favourites. Cherki could be the difference between first and second.

Another tense Arsenal win is a concerning contrast to Man City

“There's not really any emotions in it,” Bukayo Saka told Sky Sports after Arsenal squeezed past Everton in a game that, from the outside, looked a little bit emotional.

“We take the emotions out. We just know we focus on our job this week, after last week we focused on coming here and winning.

“We did that today. We're back on top of the table but we're not watching Man City too much, or the other teams.”

Perhaps, then, the tension and the nervousness – the feeling that Arsenal could wobble and fall at any moment – is entirely the invention of fans and neutrals projecting onto a calmly efficient Arsenal side.

But it’s difficult to fully embrace that narrative, because while Man City soar, no Arsenal player has scored a non-penalty goal in the last two Premier League matches.

Mikel Arteta's side had just two shots on target at Everton. One was Viktor Gyokeres' match-winning penalty.

Watch: Gyokeres' match-winning penalty

By the season’s end maybe these will be the victories - the hard-fought, scrappy away points - that win Arsenal their first Premier League title in 20 years. But right now, with Man City breathing down their necks, it feels ominous that Arsenal lack the attacking attributes that come so easily to their rivals.

There is a sense that Man City simply get the job done while Arsenal must fight tooth and nail – against the opponent, against themselves, against history – to record a Premier League victory.

If that pattern continues for the next five months, there’s only one team who will come out on top.

Newcastle’s two-halved performance shows the pros and cons of their pressing game

For the first 45 minutes at St James' Park, Newcastle United swarmed all over Chelsea, who could not get a foothold as the hosts sailed into a 2-0 lead.

Eddie Howe’s man-to-man press created individual battles that Newcastle won through sheer energy and will, most notably Anthony Gordon versus Malo Gusto and Nick Woltemade versus Trevor Chalobah. Chelsea couldn’t breathe.

Enzo Maresca's response was to bring on Enzo Fernandez to wrest some control of midfield, although far more significant to the Chelsea comeback was Newcastle’s frenetic press wearing off.

Howe is unusual in lining up in a 4-1-4-1 when out of possession, rather than in a 4-4-2. It means that, without a hounding press to rush the opposition players, there is only one player in the first line (Woltemade) to block the passing lanes into central midfield, and only one player in defensive midfield (Sandro Tonali) to cope with the opposition No 10s.

That’s why, once Chelsea had time on the ball to look up, they could thread the pass beyond the two No 8s, creating a two-on-one against Tonali. Below is a classic example of a move that happened throughout the second half to create an open, end-to-end game.

Chelsea's Moises Caicedo presses effectively to create space...

...and sets Fernandez free in midfield, supported by his team-mates, on the counter-attack.

It was a brilliant watch for the neutral, but not for Howe. Here was evidence of the best and worst of his hard-pressing game; evidence that it can work in bursts only.

Perhaps refreshing sooner in midfield would have helped – the only change here, Joe Willock for Jacob Ramsey, came in the 89th minute but not necessarily. Newcastle’s tactical downfall is woven into the system.

Rogers' brilliance should not detract from Man Utd’s new tactical dexterity

Aston Villa’s Midas touch continues. Another brilliant double from Morgan Rogers means 10 consecutive victories in all competitions and an implausible title challenge that is well and truly underway, yet once again the result did not quite match the performance.

Unai Emery’s side keep on winning without necessarily playing excellent football, and certainly Manchester United were the better team at Villa Park thanks to another surprising tactical switch from Ruben Amorim, whose newfound flexibility is a significant plot twist this winter.

After moving to a back four during the 4-4 draw with AFC Bournemouth, Man Utd reverted to the three-man defence here but with a major change in midfield. The highly unusual formation, as shown below, was something like a 3-1-5-1, as shown below.

The effect of that three-man central line ahead of Manuel Ugarte was to nullify Villa’s usual command of central midfield. In a wider context, the effect was to show Amorim is capable of (and willing to) make big tactical changes in order to react to opposition strengths.

An injury to Bruno Fernandes adds to a list of absentees that leaves Man Utd in a difficult situation, but for the first time since Amorim’s tenure began, they have a coherent and flexible structure that should see them through difficult days.

Slot continues to show creativity in the search for tactical solutions

The away dugout greeted the full-time whistle with a huge sigh of relief. If Liverpool had thrown away a two-goal lead against nine men, Arne Slot would be facing fresh crisis talk.

Instead, the revival – the Mohamed Salah-less revival – continued at Tottenham Hotspur, a third win in five in the Premier League taking Liverpool up to fifth and level on points with Chelsea.

It would be wrong to suggest Liverpool are past their wobble but it should encourage their supporters that Slot remains full of creative ideas to solve their tactical issues.

On Saturday evening, he used a 3-2-2-3 formation with Curtis Jones slotting into a back three, a system often referred to as ‘3-box-3’ in tactical circles because four central midfielders, in two lines of two, create a box-shape in the middle of the park, as shown below.

The issue was that Liverpool therefore only had two wide players, the full-backs, and neither one was their most attacking full-back, Jeremie Frimpong, who only later came off the bench to assist the winner.

Slot abandoned the formation at half-time to bring on an extra attacking player in response to Spurs going down to 10 men, although the 3-box-3 could return if Alexander Isak’s injury is as bad as first feared.

The formation did not exactly blow Spurs away, but Slot’s continuing adaptations and tactical experiments are a sign that he still has plenty of ideas; that he is still energised and very much up for the fight.

Brentford take giant step in relegation battle

Although it wasn’t particularly surprising to see Brentford beat Wolverhampton Wanderers at Molineux, the position it leaves them in the table is quite the upset.

Wolves' nightmare start to the season continues - they have just two points from 17 fixtures, while Brentford will now feel confident of avoiding a relegation scrap. They will need more points than their current 23, of course, but probably only around 10 more from 21 matches. It is very difficult to imagine Keith Andrews' side not achieving that.

The Bees are currently 10 points clear of the relegation zone and just a handful off the European places. Indeed, after achieving just their second away win of the season, renewed confidence on the road leaves Brentford more likely to climb higher than fall down.

Andrews was written off by a lot of people before a ball had been kicked. Those people owe him an apology.

Broja's late equaliser is a crushing blow for struggling Bournemouth

Stoppage-time equalisers always sting – but rarely quite this much. Bournemouth were just minutes away from a victory to end their winless run and put Andoni Iraola’s side back on track as we enter the festive period.

A draw at home to a side in 19th rarely feels like anything more than defeat. That feeling intensifies when the team is denied by a late leveller, when the opponents’ very first shot came in the 86th minute, and when that goal extends the streak to eight Premier League matches without a win.

Bournemouth would have been two points off sixth. Now they are 14th and three points above Leeds United.

It’s the kind of moment that can make heads drop. Iraola has a job on his hands to raise spirits again before the trip to Brentford this weekend.

Sunderland’s resilience bodes well for tricky AFCON period

Sunderland have six players at AFCON, which is twice as many as any other club. The expectation was that Regis Le Bris’ side would begin to fall down the Premier League table while they stagger on with a depleted squad.

Instead, Sunderland were robust and cohesive in a 0-0 draw at Brighton & Hove Albion, tempering the hosts while creating enough chances themselves to steal a rare away win. They had an Expected Goals (xG) figure of 1.39 from six shots on target.

It was a result and performance that built upon an increasing resilience on the road, which began with Sunderland's 2-1 victory at Chelsea in October.

This was their third away clean sheet of the campaign, taking their tally to six shutouts in 17 Premier League games, as many as they managed in the whole of their last campaign in the division back in 2016/17.

Defensive strength might just keep Sunderland in good form until players return from international duty.

Calvert-Lewin and set-piece goals are propelling Leeds out of danger

Dominic Calvert-Lewin’s incredible run continues – and so does that of Leeds.

Daniel Farke's side were under huge pressure at the beginning of December but the month has gone better than anyone could have hoped: eight points from four matches, courtesy of a formation change, that has lifted Leeds six points clear of the bottom three.

Calvert-Lewin has scored in each of his last five outings in the Premier League and his brace against Crystal Palace continued a remarkable renaissance that surely puts him in the early conversation for signing of the season.

On Saturday, he became the first Leeds player to score in five successive Premier League games since Mark Viduka in August 2003.

But Calvert-Lewin's revival isn’t the only reason for Leeds' upturn in form. Another is their attacking set-pieces: all four of their goals came from dead balls to take their total to a division-leading 12.

All of a sudden, Leeds look like they truly belong at this level. 

Fulham’s stealth streak is narrowing the relegation battle

Fulham’s winning streak has flown completely under the radar but Raul Jimenez’s first-half penalty made it four wins from six in the Premier League, as many victories as in their previous 15 before that.

At the beginning of November it looked certain Fulham would be dragged into the relegation battle, yet since 1 November, only Man City (21), Villa (21) and Arsenal (17) have won more points than Marco Silva’s side (15).

That’s a remarkable record given Fulham’s slow start and even slower summer window. It’s also very bad news for those clubs mired in the bottom three.

Fulham need 17 points from 21 matches to get to the magic 40-point mark. Assuming Spurs and Bournemouth are not in danger, that only leaves two clubs below Fulham who could fail to get to 40: Leeds and Nottingham Forest.

Despite the latter losing on Monday evening, Forest have won four of their last seven matches and are recovering at speed under Sean Dyche.

Either the Premier League relegation battle is soon going to be down to four clubs or, for the first time since 2002/03, 40 points won’t be enough to stay up. West Ham, Burnley, and Wolves have a lot of work to do.