Liverpool will be hoping Joël Matip gets fit quickly, while Sunderland begin to look more solid and Burnley have to find some goals from somewhere
1) Long-term Matip injury would be significant
Hands have been wrung and doom predicted about Philippe Coutinho’s injury, likely to keep him out of the Liverpool team until next month. And to an extent, rightly so: he has been their most impressive attacking threat this season, and the sight of that front four dovetailing has perhaps been the most pleasing in the division. However, the 4-3 defeat to Bournemouth on Sunday suggested that another injury absence might be more significant, namely Joël Matip. The Cameroonian centre-half has been a quiet, calm example of consistency, exactly the sort of thing that Liverpool missed against Bournemouth. The simple scoreline, plus a cursory viewing of the game, indicated Jürgen Klopp’s men will be okay scoring goals without Coutinho, but preventing them without Matip who has a minor ankle injury, could be more problematic. Nick Miller
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2) Ledley and Puncheon do the damage
The mood at Selhurst Park after this result was of a corner turned. That, it seems fair to say, is a tad premature. Six defeats in a row do not happen by chance and Alan Pardew faces Manchester United and Chelsea after the crucial fixture at Hull City next weekend. But one distinct positive for Crystal Palace’s fans will have been the resilience shown by Pardew’s players in a disciplined win against Southampton. Key to the performance were three players who starred in Tony Pulis’s Palace incarnation: Damien Delaney, Joe Ledley and Jason Puncheon. Their play was characterised by hard work, physicality, and taking the right decisions at the right times. Delaney kept Charlie Austin shackled, Ledley unsettled Saints’ passing rhythm and it was a typically smart piece of anticipation from Puncheon that led to their third goal. It all added up to Palace never truly being threatened by Claude Puel’s misfiring side, who lost concentration at crucial moments. Paul MacInnes
3) Mourinho losing his touch and United losing points
The troubling thing about José Mourinho in the past 18 months or so is that new weaknesses keep emerging in his teams. His apparent ability to get players to do anything for him went west, as did defensive solidity, and now there is apparently a lack of mental fortitude. The late penalty conceded fairly clownishly by Marouane Fellaini, then converted by Leighton Baines, was the fifth goal Manchester United have conceded in the last 10 minutes of games this season, costing them eight points. Those points would have put them just one behind Manchester City and snapping around the Champions League places: as it is they are a fairly distant sixth. Mourinho protested after the game that in all his team’s six draws they have been the better side, but it’s not much use if they continually throw results and points away at the last. NM
4) Cleverley fails to impose himself on Everton team
It was interesting that, in response to a series of lacklustre performances, Ross Barkley was the man dropped from the Everton side by Ronald Koeman against Manchester United. Yet whether you think his demotion was harsh or not, not many could defend the identity of his replacement. It was tricky not to feel sorry for Tom Cleverley, removed after 65 insipid minutes to the sound of cheers from his own fans, but you can also understand why those fans were happy to see him go. It’s seven years since he made his senior debut and, in that time, he hasn’t really made clear exactly what sort of player he is, and the question that poses itself is: what’s he for? The moment that seemed to irk the Goodison crowd most came when he played a backwards pass near the edge of the United area as an attack built, thus removing all momentum from it, and seemed to sum him up neatly. Perhaps Barkley does need a spell out of the team, but replacing him with Cleverley, a player for whom a sideways pass seems to represent the height of ambition, is not the way to go. NM
5) City have no excuse despite referee mistake
Leaving aside the touchline fracas when the game was won, the major debate at the Etihad Stadium was over whether David Luiz should have stayed on the pitch long enough to be fouled by Sergio Agüero in the final minute. The fact that he was the last defender when he illegally blocked Agüero’s run on goal in the first half is not really the point. The rulebook makes no mention of last defender, despite the term’s common usage, focusing instead on whether a clear goalscoring opportunity has been denied. That is of course harder to judge, and it seemed to everyone present that Anthony Taylor bottled out of making a judgment by pretending nothing had happened. Doubtless the referee would have been criticised too had he dismissed David Luiz, because he was still a long way from goal, and there would have been even greater outrage had he booked the defender, which is the least the offence deserved, and let him stay on the field. Yet some sympathy for the official is possible. There is no room for compromise in these situations, referees must choose between all or nothing. Taylor chose nothing, perhaps wrongly. Manchester City still had an hour of football and the useful gift of an own goal to try to get over it. Paul Wilson
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