Football writer Alex Keble highlights the hot topics and tactical lessons from Matchweek 33 so far, including:
- Pereira should be a candidate for Barclays Manager of the Season
- Alexander-Arnold provides another iconic moment
- Emery's three No 10s put Villa in a strong position
- Fulham react too late after initial tactical success
- Mbeumo and Wissa are league's most lethal duo
- Why both Man City and Everton need reinforcements
- Ipswich's inability to contain Saka and Odegaard sums up their demise
- Bournemouth may live to regret failure to score against 10 men
- West Ham suffer another blow with late equaliser
Pereira should be a candidate for Barclays Manager of the Season
Victory at Old Trafford has finally put Vitor Pereira’s Wolverhampton Wanderers in the spotlight.
It’s about time. Five consecutive Premier League victories (for the first time in the top flight since 1970/71) has lifted Wolves a staggering 17 points clear of the relegation zone, an unfeasible target when Pereira arrived in late December with Wolves on nine points from 17 matches.
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They seemed to be dead and buried, with years of below-par recruitment finally taking its toll. Many Wolves supporters were braced for the worst.
Instead, since Pereira’s debut, only four clubs have won more than Wolves’ 29 points from 17 matches.
Premier League table since Pereira took charge of Wolves
| Team | Games | Won | Goal difference | Points |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Liverpool | 18 | 13 | +26 | 43 |
| Arsenal | 16 | 9 | +16 | 33 |
| Newcastle | 16 | 11 | +12 | 33 |
| Man City | 16 | 9 | +18 | 31 |
| Aston Villa | 16 | 8 | +6 | 29 |
| Wolves | 17 | 9 | +3 | 29 |
| Crystal Palace | 16 | 8 | +4 | 28 |
| Nottingham Forest | 15 | 8 | +9 | 26 |
| Bournemouth | 17 | 6 | +9 | 24 |
| Fulham | 17 | 7 | +1 | 24 |
The 1-0 win at Manchester United on Sunday was a perfect example of how he’s done it: simplified tactical instructions, reinstating a 3-4-3 formation familiar to the players, and rebuilding confidence.
It’s fair to say Pereira has had some luck, too, in how the fixtures have fallen.
His first three games against Leicester City, Man Utd, and an injury-hit Tottenham Hotspur helped him get off to a flyer. More recently, Wolves have defeated teams in deep water across this run: Southampton, Ipswich Town, West Ham United, and – again – struggling Spurs and United.
Nevertheless the efficiency with which Wolves have beaten bottom-half sides has been mightily impressive. Pereira ought to be on the shortlist for the Barclays Manager of the Season.
Alexander-Arnold provides another iconic moment
Trent Alexander-Arnold planting his shirt on the corner flag in the aftermath of his match-winning goal at Leicester City will be one of the iconic images of Liverpool’s season.
But it was a moment perhaps tinged with sadness, the gesture giving the effect of a man hanging up his shirt; providing one final moment in red.
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Alexander-Arnold is yet to sign a new contract for Liverpool and it has been widely reported he is likely to join Real Madrid this summer, although moments like that one – a precious goal, a rapturous celebration with the supporters – could just play on his mind as he mulls over the decision.
"I said all season I’m not going to speak on my situation or comment on details, but days like today are special," Alexander-Arnold told Sky Sports after the game. "Scoring goals, winning games and being close to winning titles are special moments that will live with me for ever."
It will live with the fans for ever, too. When the dust settles on his time at Anfield – whenever that might be – Alexander-Arnold will be remembered as one of the all-time great Liverpool players, and almost certainly the right-back in every supporter’s all-time XI.
The goal at Leicester might prove to be a parting gift. Or it might be the moment he decided that winning titles at his hometown club was worth staying for.
Emery's three No 10s put Villa in a strong position
As we highlighted in our post-match analysis, Aston Villa’s destruction of Newcastle United at Villa Park was built on dominating central midfield.
Unai Emery sprung a surprise by instructing both of his wingers, John McGinn and Morgan Rogers, to come infield, meaning three No 10s up against a solitary No 6 in Sandro Tonali.
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It completely overwhelmed the visitors, with Villa’s crucial second and third goals being the culmination of a tactical mismatch assistant manager Jason Tindall was unable to fix.
This image pretty much sums up the game.
Villa, who have won five consecutive Premier League games for the first time since March/April 2023, are fast becoming favourites to get back into the UEFA Champions League.
They remain outside the top five on goal difference but they are only two points off third place and will back themselves to keep this momentum going.
Manchester City at the Etihad Stadium on Tuesday night is a huge game.
Win that, and Villa are in total control. Lose it, and they could crash back down to earth just days before their FA Cup semi-final against Crystal Palace.
Fulham react too late after initial tactical success
Considering how easily they had dominated Chelsea in the first 45 minutes at Craven Cottage, any neutrals watching this one might have been bemused at how Marco Silva’s side managed to lose the game.
Fulham fans won’t be. Their team have dropped 25 points from winning positions this season, the second-most in the division behind Ipswich's 27.
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Had they clung on to just a few of these, Fulham would be playing Europa League football next season.
In the opening 45, Fulham’s aggressive pressing disrupted Chelsea’s passing, while the longer balls up to Raul Jimenez helped them storm through a visiting midfield that looked hopelessly decompressed.
Moises Caicedo was pulled out of position as Sander Berge dominated, and Fulham looked set to run away with the game.
But Fulham tired notably in the second half, and as Chelsea began to crank up the pressure, Silva was too slow to react. By the time he took off a laboured Jimenez, who was no longer able to hold up the ball, Chelsea had already pulled level.
Click here to zoom in on image.
Fulham had this game in the palm of their hands only to lose their grip. Come May, fans might look back on this game as the story of their season in a microcosm.
Mbeumo and Wissa are league's most lethal duo
Finally, a home win. Brentford’s last victory at the Gtech Community Stadium came way back in December when, nine matches ago, they beat Newcastle 4-2.
It was another chaotic game, and another 4-2, that ended the run: a fitting result in a season defined by goals flying in at both ends.
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Only Liverpool and Arsenal have scored more home goals than Brentford’s 34. Only the bottom three have conceded more home goals than Brentford’s 29. That makes for entertaining football, but Thomas Frank will know they need to be less open if they are to qualify for Europe.
But for now we ought to focus on the positives, and chief among them is the partnership between Bryan Mbeumo and Yoane Wissa. They combined for another two goals on Saturday, continuing a relationship that is fast-becoming one of the best the competition has ever seen.
Mbeumo and Wissa have scored in the same game seven times this season (more than any other pair) and 18 times in the Premier League overall. Only seven pairs in Premier League history have done so more often for the same side.
Click here to zoom in on image.
They could yet fire Brentford to a top-eight finish and possible European football, although with Brentford three points and three places short it will require something Frank’s side haven’t managed all season: stringing together wins both at home and away.
Why both Man City and Everton need reinforcements
For long periods of this match, a 0-0 draw looked inevitable.
Everton were defensively solid but lacked pace to counter-attack effectively, while Man City seemed too vulnerable in the full-back positions to commit forward, creating a stodgy attacking set-up lacking in conviction.
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In the end, Pep Guardiola’s team selection was vindicated as his two central midfielders playing as full-backs combined to score the breakthrough goal.
Young left-back Nico O’Reilly, who has scored or assisted six goals in his last six appearances in all competitions, popped up in the six-yard box to justify Guardiola’s instructions for both full-backs to invert rather than overlap.
But for long periods this is what made Man City too narrow and too safe. There is little doubt that Guardiola needs reinforcements at right-back and left-back this summer.
In fact, the reason City scored wasn’t anything tactical on their part, but rather Everton’s defensive decline after James Tarkowski went off injured.
Michael Keane made several minor errors at the back, culminating in a missed tackle in the build-up to City’s opener followed by a failure to track O’Reilly’s run at the near post.
David Moyes, like Guardiola, will be hoping for a big summer.
Ipswich's inability to contain Saka and Odegaard sums up their demise
Arsenal probably won’t have an easier win all season. They breezed past Ipswich on Sunday afternoon after the hosts seemingly failed to plan for Bukayo Saka and Martin Odegaard, who in typical fashion dominated down Arsenal’s right flank.
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Ipswich’s Jack Clarke, starting on the left wing, repeatedly failed to drop back into the midfield line, which allowed Arsenal to clip passes out to Saka and Odegaard.
With Leif Davis then overwhelmed on that side, the visitors eased through, scoring the first two goals through combinations down the right.
Arsenal attacking areas v Ipswich
According to Squawka, Odegaard completed more final-third passes than any other player in the Premier League this weekend, with 70 – and more than Everton, Wolves, Fulham, Palace, Leicester City, and Ipswich managed as a whole team.
Ipswich’s tactical plans have sadly become less effective, not more, as the season wears on.
Bournemouth may live to regret failure to score against 10 men
In the second half at Selhurst Park, which Palace defended with 10 men following Chris Richards’ dismissal just before the break, AFC Bournemouth held 79-per-cent possession and mustered a meagre nine shots on goal, two of which were on target.
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Andoni Iraola was understandably left frustrated.
“It’s disappointing, yes,” he told BBC's Match of the Day. “I think we didn’t have the creativity. They were defending basically their box, so it has to be smaller spaces [and] you have to be super creative.”
But with Palace crowding the space Bournemouth just couldn’t fashion opportunities to win the game.
They may live to regret that come the end of the season.
They remain in eighth, one point above the chasing pack, but with Man Utd, Arsenal, Villa, and Man City in their next four, the dropped points at Palace could be the difference between a top-10 finish and European football next season.
West Ham suffer another blow with late equaliser
Joy has been hard to come by at the London Stadium this season and so, despite West Ham United having little to play for, Southampton’s 92nd-minute equaliser will have stung.
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Graham Potter’s side have now gone six Premier League games without a victory, their longest such run in over a year, and following Wolves’ victory on Sunday, they now sit 17th in the table.
West Ham haven’t finished a season so low in the table since they were relegated in 2010/11. Considering they were a top-half team last season and won a European trophy in 2022/23, that’s quite the decline.