Arsenal and Manchester City traded blows in the Premier League title race on Saturday, each registering handsome home wins.
We pick the bones out of those two matches in our latest Scout Notes article.
NO DOUBLE GAMEWEEK 37 DEAD RUBBER FOR CITY…
Victories for the top two ensured we won’t get a repeat of last season’s Double Gameweek 37 debacle: a dead rubber for Manchester City.
No matter what the results next weekend, there’ll be something riding on City’s trip to Tottenham Hotspur the following Tuesday.
This is less about player motivation, more about Pep Guardiola’s teamsheets.
A year ago, City were handed the title without kicking a ball in Gameweek 37 thanks to Arsenal’s loss to Nottingham Forest.
Guardiola responded by resting his big guns, making nine changes, and sending this motley crew out to face Chelsea:
The image above comes from Transfermarkt
City could have only had one Double Gameweek 37 dead rubber at most before today’s action; now even that scenario can’t happen.
We may still see some horses-for-courses selections from Pep, maybe a surprise or two. But at least the threat of wholesale rotation is now lifted.
…BUT THE GOLDEN BOOT RACE MAY BE OVER
The title race is still very much alive but the tussle for the Golden Boot may have been ended.
Four goals for Erling Haaland (£14.2m) took him to 25 for the season, five clear of his nearest challenger:
We’ve still got Messrs Palmer, Salah and Watkins to come on Sunday but barring a similar goal blitz from one of the pretenders, Haaland is going to be hard to catch.
There are possible wider implications elsewhere. Would Alexander Isak (£8.3m) have taken Newcastle United’s penalty at Turf Moor if he was not gunning for the Golden Boot?
Haaland had endured a bit of an anaemic winter/spring, returning only two double-digit hauls in 15 matches. He hadn’t looked easy on the eye, perhaps affected by his rhythm-disrupting two-month absence.
But there were ominous signs last Sunday in a sharp, goalscoring comeback cameo at Forest.
Wolves then bore the brunt of his system reboot at the Etihad.
Spot kicks can arrive in any game but his two non-penalty goals were more impressive. A towering header, followed by a superb curling shot. Jose Sa (£5.0m) prevented further damage.
“Erling is back to business. Penalties are a guarantee but the second and fourth were unbelievable. To come back to his best form, he needs time.” – Pep Guardiola, in quotes from The Guardian
The cross words between player and manager upon Haaland’s withdrawal were downplayed by Guardiola after the match.
As for Gameweek 37, there’s no question that Haaland’s captain poll numbers will have been inflated by this 21-point haul. Opposing him just got that bit more risky.
THE SUPPORTING CAST
Haaland’s goals ensured everyone else was a footnote.
Phil Foden (£8.4m) supplied the assist for the Norwegian’s fourth strike but was otherwise relatively quiet. Kevin De Bruyne (£10.5m) was surprisingly wasteful, something his manager mentioned in post-match interviews. Both have hauled in recent weeks, both could easily do so again in Gameweek 37.
Ederson (£5.5m) made a swift return from injury, achieving the usual feat of losing a clean sheet to a side posing little threat (Wolves only had two shots). This time he was directly culpable, flapping at a cross that Hwang Hee-chan (£5.4m) finished well.
Catching the eye yet again was Josko Gvardiol (£5.1m). Advanced high up the left flank once more, it was he who won the first of City’s penalties. He should have scored himself from a corner, while a further assist ought to have arrived when he fed Haaland.
ARSENAL’S “BEST FIRST HALF”
“We started the game with probably the best first half we’ve played all season. I think we were unbelievable, we were super composed on the ball, really aggressive without the ball, we generated so many chances, we could have scored three, four or five easily.” – Mikel Arteta
Bukayo Saka (£9.0m) and Kai Havertz (£7.5m) both emerged from the early kick-off with an attacking return apiece but non-owners got away with one here.
Arsenal battered the Bournemouth goal in the opening 45 minutes. A combination of wastefulness and heroic Cherries defending kept the game goalless until Havertz ‘won’ the penalty that Saka converted.
Martin Odegaard (£8.6m) wasted a Saka assist. Saka and Declan Rice (£5.5m) wasted Havertz assists. William Saliba (£5.9m) had a shot saved from close range, Gabriel Magalhaes (£5.4m) saw a rocket of a goal chalked off for a narrow offside, and Ben White (£6.1m) could have at least had one assist.
Odegaard ended the day with the highest non-penalty expected goal involvement (NPxGI) figure of Gameweek 36 so far. Saka finished with seven shots and five chances created.
Given how leaky Manchester United have been of late (most shots conceded in the league in the last six matches), there could be further hauls to be had in Gameweek 37.
“He was unbelievable today, honestly. Everything that he did, intelligent, timing, the movements, how he keeps the ball, the way he goes to the press, how he links the play, understanding of the game. He was unbelievable today.” – Mikel Arteta on Kai Havertz
Rice was involved in the other two goals, assisting Leandro Trossard (£6.5m) before scoring himself. That’s now 11 attacking returns in 12 starts for Rice, who has been unleashed by first Jorginho (£5.3m) and now Thomas Partey (£4.8m) operating as the ‘six’ instead of him.
Finally, David Raya (£5.2m) is now guaranteed the Golden Glove. He was before this match, in fact, but he capped it off by recording Arsenal’s 17th clean sheet of the season. Aside from a controversially chalked-off goal and a decent Dominic Solanke (£7.2m) chance, there were few scares.
