4:29 On Monday Night Football, Jamie Carragher and Conor Coady take an in-depth look at the Sheffield United’s style and how they utilise the wide areas under Chris Wilder.
A tweaked midfield three has brought defensive solidarity – only the top two have conceded fewer – yet also encouraged goals from midfield runners. There is cohesion and continuity – along with Leicester, they have made the joint-fewest (17) changes to their starting XI in the league this season – but underrated technical ability, too; the ball-carrying, line-breaking John Fleck; the passing range of Oliver Norwood and the link-up play of David McGoldrick. The Blades have created more big chances (31) than Tottenham, Wolves, Manchester United and Arsenal.
It is easy for outsiders to dismiss their form as unsustainable. This is the Premier League, granted, but Wilder’s side have previous when it comes to going up through the gears. Take the League One campaign where, promotion long secured, they powered onto a club-record 100 points. Or last season, when they suffered just one defeat to Leeds’ seven after the turn of the year and, in Wilder’s words, “steamrolled it”.
Injuries and suspensions will bite – Wilder has credited the club’s conditioning team for the fact he has so far been able to field a settled side – and so January will be key. Wilder recently admitted himself that, were the Blades lower in the table, he would be inclined to advise Prince Abdullah to keep his hand in his pocket. As it stands, the ambitious Blades boss – who at the very least needs reinforcements in defence and midfield – smells another opportunity.
Wilder is too steely, too relentless to let his side luxuriate in their lofty position. Survival, though expectations have shifted, would still be remarkable with his resources yet a top-10 finish – an extended flirtation with the Europa League places even given the travails of sides expected to compete – no longer seems fanciful. Neville is urging caution – but has seen enough positive signs.
“It’s still the right thing to do to show restraint; they won’t get carried away. I hope it continues and they don’t blow up – but I don’t think they will. Their football’s too good and they’ve got too much confidence.”
Who qualifies for Europe?
- Top four teams in the PL qualify for CL group stage.
- Fifth-placed team and FA Cup winners qualify for EL group stage; Carabao Cup winners qualify for second qualifying round.
- If FA Cup winners finish in PL top five, their EL group stage place goes to next-highest ranked team not yet qualified.
- If the EFL Cup winners finish in PL top five, the top five (or top six if FA Cup winners in top five), EL second qualifying round place goes to the next-highest ranked team not yet qualified.
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Tottenham on rise as Chelsea stutter
Tottenham were 12 points off Chelsea when Jose Mourinho was appointed towards the end of November; now the sides are preparing to meet on Super Sunday, where a win for Spurs would lift them above their London rivals into fourth place.
Mourinho’s side snatched victory at Wolves with that injury-time Jan Vertonghen header; they were content to counter but this was the winning mentality he has been determined to cultivate. Mourinho has overseen four league wins in five, his players passing less but racking up more points and goals per game, while facing fewer shots on target than they did in the early, miserable start to the season under Mauricio Pochettino.
Tottenham vs Chelsea
December 22, 2019, 4:00pm
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Harry Kane, Dele Alli, Heung-Min Son and Lucas Moura are rejuvenated regulars and Mourinho has been talking bullishly about Spurs’ top-four chances. “We know where we belong and we believe at the end of the season we are going to be there,” he said last weekend and Kane agrees momentum is building. “Chelsea is the big one,” he said. “If we can win and push into the top four, we have fixtures over the Christmas period we feel we can definitely win.”
With games against Brighton, Norwich and Southampton following Sunday’s showdown, Spurs certainly look best placed to seize on Chelsea’s slip. The Blues’ fine start under Lampard raised hopes that had initially been tempered by the club’s transfer ban; this felt a season for reconnecting for fans, for a free-spirited project led by the club’s youthful attacking core.
3:01 Paul Merson says Chelsea need to invest in the January transfer window because he doesn’t believe the current squad will finish in the top four.
But the goals have dried up – just four have come in their last five league games – midfield output has dipped and their final-third play short on spark as opponents have learned to sit deep. Defence – and the goalkeeping position – pose cause for concern, too; Chelsea have faced fewer shots (158) than any of the sides around them but have conceded five more goals than Opta’s expected goals against metric.
While Lampard has publicly described himself as “happy” with his squad, Chelsea are unlikely to pass up an opportunity to strengthen their squad in January having been banned from making signings during the summer – and there is talk of a big budget to play with following the money-spinning sales of Eden Hazard, Alvaro Morata and David Luiz in the summer.
“They’re easy to play against, to defend against at the moment,” said Paul Merson. “They have to go into the market. I don’t think this squad gets into the top four.” Lampard’s challenge as he seeks to juggle Premier League and Champions League duties will be to add quality and experience while maintaining morale and balance.
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Man Utd the top-four ‘outsiders’?
A scintillating victory in the Manchester derby was followed, familiarly, it feels for Manchester United, with points dropped at Everton but while Ole Gunnar Solskjaer’s side are a point worse off than they were when the Norwegian succeeded Jose Mourinho on December 19 last year, they are only four points off the top four – as opposed to 13 when Mourinho left.
“It’s never been ridiculous (finishing in the top four),” Solskjaer told reporters before the 1-1 draw at Goodison Park. “We’re not talking about winning the league now but I have said all along that this group needs time. There are too many games in December, January, February, March, April. We need to keep doing what we’re doing… I believe then that the result will come.”
The Old Trafford boss maintained that his side were “on the right track” after being indebted to youngster Mason Greenwood’s leveller but his side, for now, remain frustratingly inconsistent. They have beaten Tottenham and Manchester City but dropped points against the likes of West Ham and Bournemouth, as well as the Toffees.
2:33 Manchester United must be ‘ruthless’ with their January spending to help their young players reach their potential, Gary Neville tells Monday Night Football.
“They are outsiders,” Neville said of Manchester United’s top-four chances on his podcast. “They have a far greater chance than they had 10 days ago; I would have snapped your hand off if you’d said they would have taken seven points from nine. But they’re winning two and then dropping points against the team in the bottom five.
“(The Everton game) was important because Chelsea are wobbling in that fourth position; it needed the impetus of three points to make them concerned that Manchester United were coming for them. They still could be – but it is a little step back in terms of where they would have liked to have been.
“After the City game, I was so proud as a Manchester United fan by what I’d seen – but my gut feeling was to show restrain in the sense that they still need those transfer windows, they still need those players into the club. We’re still going to see inconsistency. There just isn’t that quality, experience, patience; how to navigate a team that plays compact. If a team comes at Manchester United and they can play on the counter-attack, they’re devastating but they struggle in games where teams sit off them a bit. That just tells you where this team is at.”
Top six appears more realistic than a top-four finish while they blow hot and cold but much may depend on Solskjaer’s January signings – as well as his ability to get Paul Pogba back and pulling strings again.
Second-half Arsenal surge?
Arsenal were overpowered and ruthlessly exposed by Kevin De Bruyne and Manchester City last weekend. Their problems are myriad – from their midfield dynamic and their disconnected fans to a defence that has not kept a clean sheet in 14 games and, in Carragher’s words, look “like they don’t know what they’re doing.”
Securing top-four football for the first time in four seasons was firmly in Unai Emery’s remit after a summer outlay of close to £140m; director Josh Kroenke has said he believes the timing of Emery’s departure in November makes that ambition still achievable.
The Gunners, for all the disenchantment at the Emirates, are seven points off the top four, though a tricky run of fixtures looms – games against Chelsea and Manchester United are on the horizon after trips to resurgent Everton and a Bournemouth buoyed by a shock win at Stamford Bridge.
1:56 Bacary Sagna and Jamie Carragher analyse Raheem Sterling’s goal against Arsenal, and Carra says the Arsenal defenders dropping off attackers is a ‘disease’ sweeping through the squad.
“I don’t see them finishing in the top four this season,” said Sky Sports’ Danny Higginbotham. “They’ve got some outstanding individual players but it’s bringing them together collectively. “You look at some of the teams above them; if they have to, they’ll win the battle first and that’s something they need to rediscover.
A top-six finish appears a tough enough challenge; the bigger picture for incoming Mikel Arteta is restoring identity and style.
Wolves to challenge again, Everton upturn?
3:50 Conor Coady discusses playing with Jamie Carragher, life at Wolves and more on Monday Night Football
Wolves might have suffered ill-merited defeat to Spurs last time out but Mourinho reckons Nuno Espirito Santo’s side, who secured Europa League football last season by finishing seventh, are in the top-four hunt this time.
“They are with us, Chelsea, United, Arsenal,” Mourinho said. “They are with us fighting for top six, and smelling the top four. I think that’s what they do.”
Nuno’s side are a 22/1 shot – 10/3 for a top-six finish – but are admirably in the pack again, despite having already played 31 games in total this campaign, with progress to the knockout stage of the Europa League ensuring there will be no let-up just yet. A gruelling schedule could yet take its toll but Nuno’s side look dangerous challengers again, with Adama Traore starring and Joao Moutinho effortlessly bossing midfield.
Wolves and Sheffield United are six and seven points respectively ahead of Everton in the table, but with Carlo Ancelotti heading to the blue half of Merseyside, the bookmakers rate them 11/1 shots for the top six.
“The job for any Everton manager is to get them in the top six, challenging,” said Carragher. “The real target for Ancelotti is can he get them to be a consistent top six club and maybe make the next step of winning a cup.”
The Toffees have certainly been ambitious in their managerial recruitment; can Ancelotti build on the feelgood factor restored by caretaker Duncan Ferguson and prompt an unlikely turnaround?
An intriguing festive period awaits.
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