Jürgen Klopp's revitalized midfield leads Liverpool's title fight | Arsenal

Player of the week

After a month without winning, Arsenal recovered with a 5-0 win of a lazy and uninspired Crystal Palace. Gabriel Magalhaes He led Arsenal to an early lead (and effectively ended the game in the 11th minute) when he headed in Declan Rice's corner. It was almost as if the centre-back was fed up with his team's forwards failing to find the net, so he took on the role of goalscorer. Why should Mikel Arteta bother looking for a new striker when he has Gabriel to do the job?

Saturday was Gabriel's best performance of the season to date. He was the complete package: a leader, a rock in the backline and a fierce presence in the air.

More broadly, Gabriel's individual excellence is just a small part of what Arsenal need if they are to remain in the title race. The victory looked impressive on paper, but his performance wasn't perfect. Of course, they didn't need to play at their best level. All they had to do was enough – considering how defeated and confused Roy Hodgson's team looked.

Arsenal ran out of steam during their title challenge last season. For extended periods this season, they have been more inconsistent and arrhythmic than their individual talent suggests they should be. Saturday showed that Arteta's team can still create the kind of combinations that can destroy any opponent. Maintaining that sense of confidence and control over the next month will be crucial to maintaining the title fight. Up next: a difficult visit to Nottingham Forest. After that, it is Liverpool at home, before traveling to West Ham, Burnley and a home game against Newcastle. The next five games (both performances and results) will define Arsenal's season.

Goal of the week

Speaking of Arsenal, it only took 10 seconds for the ball to go from one end of the Emirates to the other. At the appointed time Leandro Trossard A good finish made it three for the Gunners. But it is the preparation that deserves the applause:

From David Raya's quick distribution to Gabriel Jesús' perfectly timed pass, it was one of those team plays that stops being sport and borders on art.

The Undertaker award for the most dramatic comeback in the Premier League

After eight long months for Brentford fans, prized goalscorer Ivan Toney stepped onto the field again for the first time after being banned by the FA for violating playing regulations. As if no time had passed, Toney scored his club's first goal. although in controversial circumstances – in the 3-2 win over Nottingham Forest.

Toney seemed relieved of expectations, which is exactly what the Bees need right now. Thomas Frank's team is struggling, but the return of his talisman comes at the right time. Before Saturday's victory, Brentford had taken just three points from their last eight Premier League games. Since the beginning of the season they have been disjointed without Toney leading from the front, so it is no surprise that upon his return he was greeted by a WrestleMania-like atmosphere. The best way to get your fans excited for the return of your star striker is playing at full volume the legendary music of The Undertaker?

As the music roared through the Gtech Arena and the montage of Toney's goal progressed, no one seemed to care that the striker had taken all the necessary measures. Public opportunity to push for a transfer. to a “bigger” club. Nor did anyone of the Brentford persuasion mind that Toney repositioned his free-kick before doubling it around the Forest wall.

Call it deception or cunning or getting your way, depending on your perspective. The referee missed it in real time, and the The VAR could not intervene. Forest responded to Toney's sleight of hand in the most British way possible: by writing a strongly worded letter.

Brentford won't care how the goals flow as long as they keep coming. And they will hope to fend off the vultures in the final days of the January transfer window so they can hold onto Toney until the summer.

VAR controversy of the week

Continuing with the theme, it would not be an edition of the first division Awards if we don't mention VAR a couple of times. Write this down on this season's growing list of inconsistencies:

After first challenging Liverpool midfielder Alexis Mac Allister, Bournemouth's Justin Kluivert he flew towards Luis Díaz, launching a high tackle to Díaz's right leg. While the Liverpool players shouted for a red card, the VAR did not consider it a foul and Kluivert escaped without a card.

Curtis Jones was sent off for a almost identical challenge against Spurs at the beginning of the season. Just like in the Jones incident, Kluivert rolled over the ball. One was seen as reckless; the other, apparently, as unfortunate. How does one player get a red card and the other get nothing? $2 in the jar of inconsistencies, please. Paul Tierney.

The 'Energizer Bunny' Award

Liverpool plucking Alexis MacAllister from Brighton last summer for $45 million is one of the deals of the year.

Mac Allister had been the star of Jürgen Klopp's revitalized midfield, but earlier in the season the Argentine's lack of mobility at the base of midfield compromised part of Liverpool's vaunted pressing structure. Klopp's team have once again been a front-foot, full-pressing machine this season. They are conceding just 7.51 passes per defensive action on average, a measure of a team's pressing intensity, which is by far the most intense figure in the league.

Mac Allister normally played further up the pitch for Brighton and struggled to adapt to the demands placed on him by Klopp's style. Injuries and a suspension took him out of the team as soon as he was beginning to find his balance. With Wataru Endōs assuming the role of Mac Allister, Liverpool were able to increase the pressure even more and the team seemed more balanced in chasing the opposition.

But Mac Allister's performance against Bournemouth showed why he was Klopp's top target in the summer and why he was asked to take on the deeper role left by Fabinho and Jordan Henderson. “It's better than the six,” Klopp said after the game. “He didn't play the single six at Brighton, but he is an incredibly intelligent player. Incredibly smart. And as long as you can create a compact formation mark, he is an outstanding six.”

Despite not registering a goal or assist on Sunday, Mac Allister was influential in linking play from midfield as Bournemouth attempted to get further up the pitch. And the midfielder's security allowed Klopp's men to press even more intensely than they have even at their most frenetic this season.

Liverpool pressed at a season-high rate against Bournemouth, allowing just 5.61 passes per defensive action. With Mohamed Salah and Trent Alexander-Arnold out, Klopp's game plan was clear: win the ball high up the pitch and let the team's structure serve as his main creator.

Such an intense focus on pressing from the front can only work if there is a stable base behind it. It has taken Mac Allister some time to adjust. But his performance against Bournemouth was just what Liverpool were looking for when they signed him in the summer.

The performance of the week “so close, but so far”

Have you ever seen the meme where the dog is casually drinking coffee? while the room is engulfed in flames? This is probably how David Moyes I felt watching his team concede the first goal against Sheffield United and then concede the equalizer in the 103rd minute (!).

Moyes was outraged by late penalty decision That allowed Sheffield United to make it 2-2. But he should be equally incensed by his team's inability to gain a lead. Previously, West Ham had not conceded a goal in a month and a half of Premier League action. They gave two to a Sheffield United team that had managed just 15 goals all season until Sunday. Equally worrying: Sheffield United got the better of the expected goals showdown, largely thanks to Oliver McBurnie's late penalty.

Moyes can point to injuries to Edson Álvarez and Lucas Paquetá to explain why his team was so overwhelmed in midfield, and the absence of Mohammed Kudus (on African Cup of Nations duties) took some of the sting out of the game. team attack. .

Moyes' team remains sixth. They have a strong and distinctive identity: they create plenty of opportunities from set pieces and rely on moments of individual magic to open up chances in the final third. Those are all the characteristics of a typical Moyes team. What it is not: lapses in concentration at the back and losing the battle in midfield.

For all their success this season, West Ham continue to give away too many chances, and too many good chances. They are conceding an average of 1.81 clear shots per 90, according to StatsBomb. That puts them in the 82nd percentile among Premier League teams. And the vast majority of them are due to turnovers rather than the team being broken up by creative attacking sides; They are granting 0.64 clear Fast break shots per 90, the lowest mark in the league.

Enter: Kalvin Phillips. Word on the street is that West Ham are looking to close a loan deal for forgotten Manchester City midfielder. If they can make the move beyond the line, Phillips ought bring more balance and control to West Ham's midfield. Without that kind of supportive presence, Moyes will have to trudge through games knowing that his team will continue to concede valuable opportunities.