Three talking points from the Premier League weekend

City are the only side with four wins from four games as Erling Haaland's unstoppable form continued with a double in a 2-1 win over Brentford. But it was a weekend to forget for Liverpool, who lost for the first time under Arne Slot in a shock 1-0 defeat to Nottingham Forest. AFP Sport looks at the major talking points from the weekend's action.

Arsenal's set-piece specialist strikes again

While Gabriel Magalhaes soaked up the acclaim of the delirious Arsenal fans crammed into one corner of the Tottenham Hotspur Stadium, Gunners boss Mikel Arteta knew where the real credit lay for his side's latest victory in the north London derby. Gabriel's thumping second half header from Bukayo Saka's corner was the example of Arsenal's peerless ability to torment opponents with expertly crafted set-piece routines.

Since the start of last season, Arteta's men have scored more goals (23) from dead-ball positions than any other team in the Premier League. No wonder the Spaniard turned to embrace Nicolas Jover, the French assistant coach poached from Manchester City as Arsenal's set-piece guru, immediately after Gabriel's goal and again at the final whistle.

It helped that Arsenal were facing a profligate Tottenham team who have conceded more set-piece goals over the last two seasons than any top-flight team except Forest. Thanks to Jover's clever scheme, Arsenal will face City next weekend sitting just two points behind Pep Guardiola's men and no doubt with a routine or two in store for the champions.

Liverpool's reality check

Slot's start to the daunting task of succeeding Jurgen Klopp had been going swimmingly until the reality check of Forest's first win at Anfield for 55 years. The Reds had won their opening three games without conceding as the Dutch coach seeks to instill more control than the all action, heavy metal football Klopp became famed for in his near nine-year reign.

But Liverpool could have done with some of their old verve as Forest sat back to soak up the home side's possession with ease before striking decisively on the counter-attack through Callum Hudson-Odoi. "If you play so much in their half, we need to do much better," said a disgruntled Slot.

Mohamed Salah's stunning early season form and an impressive start from Luis Diaz had masked some question marks over Liverpool's attacking options. A change in manager has not had the desired effect in rejuvenating Darwin Nunez or Cody Gakpo, who had shone for the Netherlands at Euro 2024.

Rashford's 'ketchup bottle'

Manchester United needed a response after back-to-back defeats to ease the scrutiny on Erik ten Hag and they enjoyed a near perfect afternoon in a 3-0 win at Southampton. Andre Onana's penalty save swung momentum in United's favour before Matthijs de Ligt headed in his first goal for the club. But just as significant was Marcus Rashford's first for six months.

Rashford has been the lightning rod for much of the criticism coming United's way in recent weeks after going 12 games without a goal since March. "(Marcus has) had too much negativity towards him," said Ten Hag. The Dutchman exchanged in a war of words with Cristiano Ronaldo this week, but Ten Hag borrowed a phrase from the former United forward for how Rashford can now kick on.

"Once a striker was talking about a ketchup bottle, once it's going, it's coming more," he added. "To get on to the score sheet for any striker is so important in a season, then you build momentum, you build belief and that will turn into more goals."

 

September 15, 2024