Manchester United were finally bit in the backside as an alarming trend continued as Arsenal continue to plunder in goals.
Elsewhere, a once-maligned winger is leading Aston Villa’s charge to the Champions League while the fight for survival is all but over for two teams courtesy of the Premier League’s newest manager.
Foxsports.com.au takes a look at the weekend that was in the latest edition of Premier League Talking Points!
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PL wrap: Mixed bag for Manchester clubs | 02:03
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RED DEVILS ‘FOUND OUT’ AS ALARMING TREND FINALLY BITES
Prior to Manchester United’s clash against Fulham, they’d gone unbeaten in five Premier League matches with four wins in that time.
Those victories had rocketed the Red Devils right back into the conversation for Champions League football and were only five points behind fourth-placed Aston Villa.
But look below the surface and even though United were winning, they had been getting away with defensive murder.
In the first game of the unbeaten run, a 2-2 draw at home against Tottenham, United conceded 16 shots.
United escaped with a 4-3 victory against Wolves despite the latter enjoying 16 shots and followed it up with a 3-0 win over West Ham who had 22 shots.
Despite conceding 23 shots, Erik ten Hag’s side beat Aston Villa 2-1 and allowed Luton to have 22 shots in a 2-1 win for the Red Devils.
Against Fulham, the trend continued as the Cottagers enjoyed 17 shots but they did what the other teams failed to do, as Alex Iwobi’s 97th-minute strike condemned United to a 2-1 defeat.
Looking back on United’s run, it’s perhaps a minor miracle they were unbeaten in five despite conceding a minimum of 16 shots in every match.
It’s why former England international Paul Merson believed the run had been “covering over the cracks” as the Fulham defeat finally exposed United’s luck.
“They have all been ‘Pollyfilla’ results in the last five or six weeks,” Merson told Sky Sports.
“They have just been covering over the cracks.
“They scored with the last kick of the game against Wolves. It was snatch and grab at Aston Villa. They weren’t better than Villa that day. They beat West Ham 3-0 but that was never a 3-0 football match.
“They were covering over the cracks and they got found out again today.”
With a trip to cross-town rivals Manchester City up next, Ten Hag and his troops can ill afford to allow so many shots to a team blessed with one of the most formidable attacks in world football.
If they can’t tighten up, it could get very, very ugly.
GUNNER’S NINE-YEAR FIRST UNDERLINES RUTHLESS STREAK
When Arsenal wobbled over the festive period with a draw against Liverpool and subsequent defeats against West Ham and Fulham, it left some thinking the Gunners would slip out of the title race.
Well, six wins in a row was as perfect a response Arsenal boss Mikel Arteta could have demanded from his players.
But it’s not just the wins that have been most impressive. It’s how dominant Arsenal have been.
The theme of utterly pulverising their rivals continued for the Gunners as Newcastle became the latest victims of a rampant attacking unit in a 4-1 win for Arteta’s side.
Those four goals took Arsenal’s tally to 25 scored in their last six — an average of 4.2 goals per game — showcasing the team’s ruthless streak intent on burying every chance they get.
But it has been matched by a steeliness at the back, with just three goals conceded in those six games.
One figure central to the goalfest has been superstar winger Bukayo Saka.
The England international’s goal against Newcastle meant he’d scored in five consecutive games, the first Arsenal player to do so since Olivier Giroud back in 2015.
To further illustrate the 22-year-old’s remarkable run of form, his seven goals since the turn of the year is the most of anyone in the Premier League.
“His consistency has become freakishly normal for someone his age,” The Athletic’s Art de Roché wrote.
Up next for the Gunners is a trip to Sheffield United, a team that has conceded an average of three goals per match in their last five games.
With Saka and the rest of Arsenal’s forwards in blistering form, Blades fans would be forgiven if they are accused of taking part in a fire drill before half time at Bramall Lane.
STAR’S STUNNING 12-MONTH TURNAROUND BEHIND DARK HORSE’S CL PUSH
A lot can happen in the space of 12 months.
Just ask Aston Villa winger Leon Bailey, who joined the Birmingham-based club for $57 million in 2021.
In January last year, the Jamaican winger was in a flood of tears and had to be picked up off the ground by his teammates after missing an open goal in a 1-1 draw against Wolves at Villa Park.
But in Villa’s 4-2 win over Nottingham Forest, Bailey was one of the home side’s best.
In fact, Bailey has been in superb form for quite some time and was deservedly rewarded with an upgraded contract until 2027.
His performance against Forest underlined yet another reason why he earned a new deal, scoring Villa’s fourth and providing the sweetest of assists for Ollie Watkins to kickstart the goal fest.
Bailey breezed past Forest left back Moussa Niakhate with an intelligent run on the right wing before collecting the ball where he subsequently nutmegged two defenders and squared it across goal for an easy tap-in for Watkins.
A deeper look at the numbers behind Bailey’s resurgence paints a picture of why he’s become so dangerous.
Per Opta, Bailey has the second-highest expected assists (xA) figure this season with 0.31, behind only Manchester City’s Jeremy Doku.
That puts Bailey ahead of the likes of Mohamed Salah, Cole Palmer, Martin Odegaard, Bukayo Saka and Bruno Fernandes.
Yet what makes it even more remarkable is that group of five players have played a minimum of 1577 minutes this season, with Fernandes even clocking 2160 minutes.
As for Bailey, he’s played only 1169, meaning he is making significant impacts in a shortened period of time.
With the end of the 23/24 Premier League season just months away, Bailey’s brilliance will be pivotal as Villa chases a Champions League spot.
DREADED RETURN NEARS FOR STRUGGLING DUO AS NEW BOSS OFFERS NEEDED BREATH OF FRESH AIR
With every passing game, Burnley and Sheffield United trudge closer and closer to an instant return to the Championship.
Both teams racked up their 19th defeats of the season over the weekend, with a 10-man Burnley going down 3-0 to Crystal Palace while Sheffield United fought amongst themselves in a 1-0 loss to Wolves.
The pair are stuck on 13 points each, eight adrift from safety, as Burnley remain ahead only on goal difference.
It’s hard to see any reality in which one of the two somehow survive and if they do, Vincent Kompany (Burnley) or Chris Wilder (Sheffield United) would be fully deserving of the manager of the year award.
One team who has managed to pull away from the gravitational pull of the relegation fight is Palace, as new boss Oliver Glasner began his Selhurst Park reign in style.
Kitted out in a Canada Goose jacket and a pair of white Nike TN’s, Glasner oversaw a comfortable win in which they restricted Burnley to just two shots the entire game.
Granted, the Eagles took until the 68th minute to break the deadlock — 33 minutes after Burnley were reduced to ten men — but from there the goals flowed.
Of course, there should be cautious optimism at Palace given it was a win over Burnley, the team with the second-highest number of goals conceded.
But, crucially, it is a platform with which Glasner and his new team can build from.
The win pushed Palace up to 13th and onto 28 points, eight points away from the relegation zone.
It certainly seems like the magical 40-point mark for safety won’t be needed this season and with a home double against Luton and Newcastle coming up, Palace might be able to secure survival within the coming games.
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