Gabriel and Arsenal falter under pressure, Crystal Palace have a problem with fan behaviour, Sunderland must keep Didier Ndong while Hull’s Harry Maguire continues his excellent form
Clockwise from top left: Burnley’s James Tarkowski is hit by an object from the crowd, Jack Butland makes a fine stop, Marcus Rashford goes to ground, and Sunderland manager David Moyes. Composite: PA/Reuters/BT Sport
1) Palace fans throwing objects gives cause for concern
Sean Dyche laughed off the fact James Tarkowski had been struck by a plastic cigarette lighter as Burnley’s players celebrated their first goal but Crystal Palacewill find the incident far from amusing. This was the third time a visiting player has been struck by an object thrown from that corner of the Holmesdale stand since the club returned to the Premier League in 2013. Wayne Rooney and more recently Fabricio Coloccini were the others hit and the Metropolitan police appealed for witnesses over the coin flung at the Newcastle defender. The Football Association spoke with Palace on both occasions but took no action. The incident is sure to be included in the referee Bobby Madley’s match report. Palace upgraded their CCTV after the Newcastle incident. “It’ll be dealt with, but it’s very disappointing,” Sam Allardyce said. “You don’t want to see that.” Dominic Fifield
2) Koeman knows Everton have hit glass ceiling in top flight
Ronald Koeman is looking increasingly annoyed at Everton’s present situation – held at West Ham last week, overrun in the end by Chelsea to end a sequence of eight wins on the bounce at Goodison – yet he knew the score when he came to Merseyside from Southampton. Everton are best of the rest, a nailed-on seventh. This season, with Chelsea back, Spurs going well and Arsenal hanging in there as usual, a top-six finish was always likely to be beyond Everton’s grasp. That situation will apply most seasons unless one or more of the big six unexpectedly hit the buffers, and it is for that reason that Everton face a difficult summer trying to keep Romelu Lukaku. Everton are not quite successful enough to retain their best performers, yet in playing if not in financial terms they cannot afford to sell them. Everton have improved under Koeman, though the significant step upwards seems as far away as ever. Paul Wilson
3) Clement makes heartfelt plea for video replays
After Marcus Rashford wrongly won a penalty when diving in this 1-1 draw, Paul Clement made a strong argument regarding video technology. Swansea’s manager said: “When we played Burnley at home, a cross went into the box, their player has handled it, and he [the referee] gave a penalty to Burnley. A simple look at any kind of device sorts it out in less than a minute. I saw in the France-Spain game they trialled it. They reviewed an offside decision, it took 48 seconds and the correct decision was given. It’s unbelievable that in this day and age with the technology available, the only people that don’t get help are the ones who most need it. We can see it, you can, the fans, everyone apart from the officials. It has to be done. It’s long overdue.” Neil Swarbrick, the referee here, deserved help to avoid making the latest mistake a quick replay would have avoided. Jamie Jackson
4) Mourinho running out of defenders for run in
Manchester United missed the chance to move third with a 1-1 draw against Swansea, but the damage to their top-four aspirations was relatively light given Manchester City’s slip at Middlesbrough. The damage to their Europa League campaign could be far greater, however: Eric Bailly and Luke Shaw both hobbled off and are doubts for Thursday’s semi-final first leg at Celta Vigo, joining Chris Smalling, Phil Jones, Marcos Rojo and Timothy Fosu-Mensah on an alarmingly long list of injured defenders. United finished the game with a patched-up back four of Antonio Valencia, Matteo Darmian, Daley Blind and Ashley Young and this underwhelming quartet will likely line up in Vigo. After the match Mourinho blamed a busy fixture list for “punishing” his team’s success in cup competitions, and threatened to play the reserves in their last league game of the season in order to rest his team for the Europa League final three days later – but a depleted United must get there first, or risk missing out on Champions League football and regretting the 10 Premier League home draws, like this one, which have stalled their season. Lawrence Ostlere
5) Guardiola waiting anxiously on Agüero injury update
While Pep Guardiola faces an anxious wait to discover whether the injury to Sergio Agüero here will sideline his key striker, Steve Agnew is similarly concerned to learn if he has done enough to become Middlesbrough’s manager next season. Like Guardiola at City, Aitor Karanka’s interim successor has not always convinced but this was the Teessiders’ best performance of the season and suggested he could yet mastermind a Championship promotion bid. Although Boro are not mathematically down, their survival chances are fading in much the same manner that City’s hopes of a top‑four finish will recede should Agüero be unavailable. “I think he has a leg injury,” said Guardiola. “We’ll make the assessment on Monday. Now we have three games at home and they’ll decide whether we deserve to be in the Champions League next season.” Louise Taylor
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