Arsenal showed they are stepping up a gear this season against West Ham vs Wolves – Premier League hits and misses | Soccer News

West Ham settle at Molineux

There was so much pessimism among supporters that every club must have feared for some time that they would be the one to beat Wolves for the first time. It seems fitting that it was West Ham. A team playing with even less confidence than the clubs at the bottom of the table.

The Timberwolves have led in just three of their last 19 games this season, never leading by more than one point, and failed to win any of them. West Ham’s attempts to go three down at half-time showed just how miserable they were, unable to win duels or trackrunners. terrible.

The away fans started shouting about their relegation early on. They participated in songs that mocked their team. Homegrown player Max Kilman was also booed. It was Wolves fans who sang Nuno’s name, not them. There were jeers at both halftime and fulltime.

The lack of meaningful response after the interval was almost abysmal. Wolves had also not kept a clean sheet so far, but West Ham failed to force a save from Jose Sa. They were asked to play catch-up in the second half, but they didn’t have anything offensively.

Unlike Wolves, West Ham have time to regain their Premier League status. But that game at Forest’s home is now even more important. Lose it and you’re seven points away from safety. To stop it, the atmosphere needs to change rapidly.
Adam Bate

Arsenal showed another new gear

Arsenal won a game in which they would have lost points last season. I feel like I’ve been told that a lot this season.

This wasn’t a vintage Gunners display, but they got the job done. The wheels almost came off early on as Gabriel gave the lead to bogey team Bournemouth. But two things stand out.

First, Arsenal’s resilience. Gabriel was another example of an Arsenal player bouncing back from a mistake to score, as he raised the bar after a problematic start to equalize. Gabriel did it again against Fulham in 2022 and Bukayo Saka did it in another game against the Cottage 12 months later.

And another big feature of Arsenal’s current form is their ability to step up a gear in the second half. Declan Rice’s first goal against Bournemouth was Arsenal’s 10th goal in the first 10 minutes of the second half. He also scored 12 points in the first 15 minutes of the second period. When the going gets tough, this Arsenal team can now step up a gear or two.

In their last four league games they have beaten Everton away, Wolves and Brighton at home, and this time they beat Bournemouth away. Last season we didn’t win any of those games, but now we’ve won them all.

With such a big team, Eberechi Eze has not come off the bench in the last four league games, but how many wins will he be able to win in May?
Sam Blitz

Big weeks ahead for Burnley and Parker

The pressure has been on Scott Parker for some time now, with his repeated claims that only a narrow margin separates him from Burnley’s better results this season, even receiving ridicule from his former club Fulham’s X account.

But even the Clarets manager himself was unable to hold the line after a weak defeat against Brighton. Especially when defender Hjalmar Ekdal had just described his performance at the Amex as “weak” and “embarrassing”.

Burnley have had more than that on many occasions this season, but their inability to put together a consistent 90-minute performance and the toothless attacking build-up that has dogged Parker for much of his managerial career have regularly held them back.

That still isn’t enough to excuse a 10-game winless streak, but the 11th game without a win will be even more concerning.

They were unable to touch a Brighton side who had not won in six games for more than an hour, and aside from a brief fightback when Marcus Edwards and Rum Chauna came off the bench, things weren’t looking much better after half-time.

Burnley spent more of the summer than Leeds but could only watch as Daniel Farke found a winning formula and took his side to seven points clear.

That would only rub salt in the wound for Parker – if he doesn’t follow suit, Burnley’s bosses may sooner or later think that another manager could emulate Falke and improve their side too.
Ron Walker

Daichi is extremely cautious.

Nottingham Forest have a huge problem scoring goals and as long as this continues their position in the league will worsen. After the 3-1 defeat to Aston Villa, Sean Dyche was asked if he was worried about being placed in 17th place, and his sharp response spoke to the pressure he was under: “I’m better than when I got here.”

Dyche has scored 13 points since joining in October, but after an impressive initial recovery, he appears to have started to regress. Statement wins against Liverpool and Tottenham helped boost confidence, and Dyche should have used that belief to help build confidence in the attacking phase of play. It was clear he wasn’t doing that against Villa. Through their last four defeats, Forest have scored just two goals from an xG of 3.66, and their chance creation has fallen dangerously low.

No team has failed to score in more games (10) this season, and only the Wolves have fewer points. Some of the problems have been inherited, so Dyche can point to the previous manager’s failings, but his most important driver now must be to inject creativity and momentum into a front line that has been underperforming. Counter-attack structures only work if there is a real intention to attack at the moment of transition.

Being passive in a match for so long is a recipe for trouble, and if the “whole game plan” is simply to “frustrate them”, as Dyche later admitted, then the ambition is surely already lost.
laura hunter

Tielemans wins Villa again

Youri Tielemans’ name may not have been on the scoresheet, but his fingerprints were on Aston Villa’s important victory.

The Belgian midfielder completed 32 line-breaking passes in the 3-1 win, including the assist for John McGinn’s second goal of the game, which sealed the victory, the most by any Premier League player this season.

From dropping deep and pushing the team forward to linking plays in the final third. Everything positive for Villa came through from the midfield maestro, who was in Villa’s best performance during the much-needed win after the loss to Arsenal.

He led the team in touches, pass completions, passes to thirds, and the aforementioned stats.

Ollie Watkins’ stunner and McGinn’s double will grab the headlines, but without Tielemans that performance at Villa Park would have been a very different story.
Patrick Lowe

Bournemouth are interesting but not efficient

Bournemouth are the best ticket in town this season. Coach Andoni Iraola’s high-pressing, high-risk football has seen the Cherries score 69 goals, more than any other team.

The only problem? Bournemouth are not benefiting from that.

Of those 69 goals, 38 found the back of the Bournemouth net. A lack of defensive focus has weakened a fairly stout offensive line.

Bournemouth played well against Arsenal and Chelsea, but conceded five goals in those two games. At Old Trafford they were level with Manchester United on eight goals. There was also a 3-3 draw with Crystal Palace and a 4-2 loss in the opening game against Liverpool.

The problem for Bournemouth is that they are set to lose a key attacker in Antoine Semenyo. If they are unreliable on defense and sluggish on offense, how can they break their 11-game winless record?
Sam Blitz