1
Moyes has Everton looking up
Premier League safety is all that matters to David Moyes and an eight-game unbeaten run – Everton’s best sequence since going nine matches without defeat under Ronald Koeman in 2016-17 – has almost accomplished a task that looked much more onerous when he returned in January. Publicly, the Everton manager maintains the job is not done and that no contract issues will be resolved until the club’s top-flight status is mathematically confirmed. Privately, and beneath the more relaxed demeanour that he has brought back with him to Goodison Park, there may also be a fierce ambition to finish above two clubs who deemed him surplus to requirements. Everton can go three points clear of one, West Ham, and leapfrog another, Manchester United, with victory over Graham Potter’s visitors on Saturday. With Liverpool, Arsenal, Nottingham Forest, Manchester City and Chelsea to come after an impending two-week break, Moyes could do with a more clinical display from Everton to step closer to his aims. Andy Hunter
2
Forest show another way is possible
Every so often, a video circulates on social media showing Clogger Athletic, of Agricultural League Division 6, keeping possession for 17 hours before scoring a team goal of ludicrous intricacy. Which is to say that there has been, for a while, a sense that Pep Guardiola’s style of play is the pro forma that works best. Football, though, has not become humanity’s most popular creation on account of its homogeneity, rather quite the reverse, and Nottingham Forest are leading the rebellion against the orthodoxy, last weekend’s win over Manchester City an important symbolic moment. Rather than seek to press and dominate the ball, they defend properly and in numbers, then attack swiftly and in numbers, a style that is simple to explain but much harder to execute. Now, though, everyone is wise to the ruse, so the question is whether Nuno Espírito Santo can develop his system because clever coaches – Kieran McKenna, say – will be working hard to exploit its holes. Daniel Harris
3
European ambitions collide at the Etihad
Brighton arrive at the Etihad Stadium posing a threat to Manchester City’s Champions League qualification ambitions. Fabian Hürzeler’s men have reeled off four consecutive wins from their past four Premier League games, while Pep Guardiola’s team have two victories and two defeats from theirs. Form, then, casts Brighton, in seventh place on 46 points, as favourites to beat the champions, who are fifth with 47. City’s manager is sure to use competing again next term in the club tournament he adores as changing room motivation to rouse his players before sending them out. But, so is Hürzeler, meaning a fascinating afternoon in east Manchester awaits. Jamie Jackson
4
Wolves still in danger of drop
It is a generally believed that the relegation battle is already resolved: the three promoted clubs will be returning whence they came. However, Wolves lead Ipswich by only six points with the teams due to meet at Portman Road in the next round of fixtures. So, if the gap remains similar, a win for McKenna’s men would leave things very much in the balance. And there is one very big reason to think that first part might happen: Matheus Cunha, whose 13 goals and four assists mean he has been directly involved in 44% of his team’s league goals and who has scored at least once in each of their six league victories, is suspended until that trip to Suffolk. As such, Wolves must show – this weekend, but also next, at home to West Ham – a hitherto unseen ability to do anything decent without their talisman. If they cannot, they may yet find themselves playing Championship football next term. DH
5
Bournemouth must finish as they started
It has been an amazing season for Bournemouth, whose high-energy, risk-taking style makes them one of the country’s most entertaining teams. But after three defeats and a draw in their past five games – the win came over Southampton, while a two-goal lead was spurned at Spurs – they sit ninth in the table, a European spot still possible if they restore the ruthlessness that enabled them to beat Manchester United, Newcastle and Nottingham Forest 3-0, 4-1 and 5-0 respectively. Brentford, though, are – at least in terms of directness and physicality – the side in the league most similar to them, and will not turn up at the Vitality to wait and see. They will test the ability of Bournemouth’s back four to run towards their own goal by playing passes in behind; to defend their box by sending in crosses and to play out by getting men around the ball. This contest promises to be a physical test of will and skill that could develop into the most entertaining of the weekend. DH
after newsletter promotion
6
Lewis-Skelly to make case as a midfielder?
Myles Lewis-Skelly’s breakthrough this season at left-back has created a surplus of options for Mikel Arteta in a position that the Arsenal manager has never quite found a natural fit, with Oleksandr Zinchenko and Kieran Tierney asked to play further forward in Wednesday’s draw with PSV Eindhoven. The 18-year-old switched to central midfield when Riccardo Calafiori – who has yet to establish himself as a regular after his arrival last summer and also looks more comfortable in an advanced role – came on in the second half and Arteta hinted afterwards that Lewis-Skelly’s future could be in the engine room rather than at full-back. “He can play in both positions. And in relation to the player that he plays as a full-back as well, he can interact and change positions,” he said. “He played as a six. He was developed in the academy as a six as well. While he’s doing this season, it’s something new for him. So, yes, I think he’s much more suited to play in midfield.” Ed Aarons
7
Smith Rowe needs to step up
A meeting with an old enemy presents Emile Smith Rowe with a chance to rediscover his rhythm. The attacking midfielder, once of Arsenal, should not lack motivation when Fulham host Tottenham on Sunday. Deepening the woe of Arsenal’s north London rivals should not be Smith Rowe’s only focus, though. The 24-year-old started well after joining Fulham last summer but his recent form has been disappointing. He scored in Fulham’s win over Nottingham Forest last month but otherwise fans have been frustrated with a few insipid players. They know that Smith Rowe has vast potential. It is time for him to produce on a consistent basis. Jacob Steinberg
8
United strikers are running out of time
Joshua Zirkzee has a lovely touch and keen eye but lacks pace; Rasmus Højlund is rapid but struggles to hold the ball up and arrive in the right place at the right time. Or, put another way, if the two were combined into one, they might just make a Manchester United centre-forward, but currently neither is close and, with Chido Obi developing and a first-choice option certain to arrive in the summer, both are playing for their Old Trafford futures. And, though Zirkzee is not suddenly going to develop pace, he can add sharpness – too often he opts for an extra pass, touch or dummy when he ought to take responsibility and put his foot through one – while Højlund is surely able to run channels and attack the front post, instead of dropping off to scuffle fruitlessly with centre-backs. Ruben Amorim will not want to sell either as both have potential, but given United’s financial constraints both must prove they are worth his perseverance. DH
9
TV companies need to take responsibility
7pm on a Sunday night is no time for a football match. The late kick-off does not come without benefit – those so resolved have the entire day to get into, err, the right emotional space for proceedings – and it is also convenient for Shabbat-observant Jews, for example, who do not go to games on Saturdays. Otherwise, though, while such scheduling might work in bigger countries where hardly anyone travels away, in England it suits almost no one bar the television companies. Quite why any of them would want to screen Leicester v Manchester United is a mystery, or would be were the selection criteria based on significance not eyeballs: United being bad is, to all bar their fans, the perfect pick-me-up to allay the Sunday-night blues. Nevertheless, the creep of fixtures across the weekend makes it impossible for fans to plan: supporting a team is a major commitment but having a family and a life is too, so inserting football into places from which it was previously and deliberately excluded is unfair and irresponsible. DH
10
Premier League requires premier quality
The standard below the top of the Premier League has never been higher: every team has players good enough to trouble every other team, with even Southampton and Ipswich having Tyler Dibling and Liam Delap respectively. The standard at the top, though, leaves plenty to be desired, as illustrated by Liverpool’s tie with an improving but still embryonic Paris Saint-Germain, and though, on a game-by-game basis, this benefits the competition with matches that are often closely contested, over the piece it is unrewarding. There is no sense we are watching anything exceptional or eternal – which, when considering just how much money and expertise has gone into building so many squads, represents significant failure – nor is there much sense that any team is especially close to hitting a rarefied level, with Liverpool facing a struggle to retain Mohamed Salah, Virgil van Dijk and Trent Alexander-Arnold, Manchester City needing a rebuild and Arsenal a rethink. It may be some time before the world’s best team comes from the world’s richest league. DH
