With the holidays upon us, a few teams in the Premier League received some goodies before Christmas Day, while others weren’t so lucky.
Liverpool was handed an early Christmas present with Crystal Palace shocking Manchester City this past Saturday, increasing the gap to four points entering the festive period of matches.
Meanwhile, Chelsea’s attackers and Everton’s defence will probably be receiving coal in their stockings after a pair of woeful performances over the weekend.
Here are four winners and four losers from Matchday 18 in the Premier League.
WINNERS
Crystal Palace defence
Sure, Andros Townsend scored a goal that was out of this world and Crystal Palace might’ve benefitted from some clinical finishing based on the expected goals from the game. However, that shouldn’t overwrite a brilliant display from the defence.
xG map for City – Palace.
So, yeah, it's ridiculous to concede two goals from those first two shots. But also, City did pretty much nothing in the last 60 minutes of the game, which is bad. pic.twitter.com/GkpQiDJIPB
— Caley Graphics (@Caley_graphics) December 22, 2018
Right-back Aaron Wan-Bissaka, who has been dominant against the Premier League’s marquee clubs, delivered another majestic performance on Saturday. The 21-year-old produced seven tackles and nullified the threat of Leroy Sane as a result.
https://twitter.com/FTalentScout/status/1076521663045558274
While Man City’s attack sputtered in the second half, Palace should be praised for keeping arguably the strongest attack at bay in their own ground.
Manchester United’s front three
This might be a case of the clichéd “new manager bounce” but Manchester United’s front three was sensational in Ole Gunnar Solskjaer’s managerial debut with the club.
Anthony Martial, Marcus Rashford and Jesse Lingard constantly interchanged, which caused fits for Cardiff City’s defence. This resulted in the trio being involved in four of United’s five goals on the day.
The third goal, scored by Martial, showed off that free-flowing movement and one-touch passing.
The key will be replicating this form for the rest of the season, but there were certainly positive signs on Saturday in Wales.
Virgil van Dijk
What else can be said about Virgil van Dijk at this point?
Liverpool is still unbeaten and has conceded just seven goals in 18 matches. That’s a testament to van Dijk and Alisson, the most expensive defender and goalkeeper in the world, respectively. They might’ve cost a pretty penny, but they’re repaying those exorbitant fees with every passing match.
The 2-0 win over Wolverhampton Wanderers was no different. Van Dijk helped limit Wolves to 11 shots, most of which were lacking in quality. Wolverhampton is normally consistent in terms of producing excellent opportunities at home, but it proved difficult against the Dutch centre-back.
Liverpool’s expected goals against (xGA) in the match shows that Wolves still conjured up some decent chances.
However, that’s where a goalkeeper like Alisson comes in handy. He will pull off the necessary saves, which is why Liverpool is outperforming its own xGA by a wider margin than any other side this season, per Understat.com. Having van Dijk marshalling the defence is a nice perk as well.
Hamza Choudhury
Maurizio Sarri’s system emphasizes strong play from his midfield, so it’s imperative that the opposition covers a ton of ground in the middle of the pitch.
Leicester City was able to shut out Chelsea at Stamford Bridge for this reason and it was largely due to the play of 21-year-old academy product Hamza Choudhury.
Choudhury, who only made 12 senior appearances with Leicester prior to Saturday’s game, completed three tackles, three interceptions and four ball recoveries. But his best work was breaking up Chelsea’s passing sequences, most of which were generated on the left. The England youth international stuck to that side and restricted Eden Hazard, who eventually switched flanks.
Coupled with his excellent display versus Manchester City in the Carabao Cup on Tuesday, Choudhury might’ve earned himself a spot in Claude Puel’s lineup for the foreseeable future.
LOSERS
Pep Guardiola
Fantasy Premier League players know all about Pep Guardiola’s rotation policy. This time around, it might’ve cost Manchester City a victory on Saturday.
Guardiola made eight changes from the Carabao Cup quarterfinal versus Leicester City and it appeared that the team was severely affected by the heavy rotation.
There were far more individual errors than usual, especially defensively, and it directly led to two of Crystal Palace’s goals. The attack also struggled in the second half until Kevin De Bruyne checked into the match. De Bruyne was stringing passes together with ease and consistently breaking through Palace’s midfield, despite being on the pitch for just 28 minutes.
Guardiola admitted that De Bruyne “could have started” but reiterated the narrative whenever a manager rotates his side. He is correct, but when struggling to create quality opportunities against Palace at home, then the selection should be questioned.
Chelsea’s finishing
While Man City couldn’t really penetrate Crystal Palace’s defence, Chelsea had the chances in their 1-0 loss to Leicester City. There just wasn’t enough composure in the box.
Marcos Alonso shooting a clear-cut chance off the inside of a post defined Chelsea’s afternoon at Stamford Bridge. Expected goals favoured the Blues, so it’s not like there are many concerns to be drawn from the performance.
xG map for Chelsea – Leicester. There were many times in this game when I was surprised Chelsea didn't score. Other than the not scoring good chances, they seemed fine! pic.twitter.com/BOF223MeHb
— Caley Graphics (@Caley_graphics) December 22, 2018
There will be matches when a team struggles to finish opportunities. As long as the chances are there and they control the game, then there shouldn’t be too much bother over this performance.
Everton defence
During halftime of Tottenham’s 6-2 win over Everton, NBC’s Kyle Martino eloquently pointed out that if a team uses a high line of defence, there has to be pressure towards the ball, otherwise the back line will be exposed.
Everton has used a high line under manager Marco Silva, yet there was very little pressing towards the Spurs players in possession. As a result, Tottenham’s attack had a field day.
Harry Kane and Son Heung-min partnered up front and received several long passes thanks to Everton’s high positioning. This led to a handful of dangerous chances for Tottenham.
Jordan Pickford might’ve committed a bizarre error for Tottenham’s opening goal, but there is no reason for Everton to be conceding that much space in the first place.
Huddersfield Town attack
It’s been nearly a month since Huddersfield Town last scored multiple goals in a Premier League match, and it’s understandable.
The Terriers are 15th in shots per game in the Premier League, per WhoScored.com and own the worst xG this season as well. They desperately need creativity and a proper goal-scorer in January as well.
Yes, Huddersfield generated 16 shots against Southampton in a 3-1 defeat, but the vast majority of those attempts didn’t trouble the Saints defence.
xG map for Huddersfield – Southampton.
hmm, I wonder what has happened recently which could explain this uptick in the Saints' form pic.twitter.com/6EGVI1p5bf
— Caley Graphics (@Caley_graphics) December 22, 2018
If this trend continues, Huddersfield will be doomed.
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