By NATHAN SALT
Published: 07:01 EST, 16 December 2024 | Updated: 07:20 EST, 16 December 2024
Amad Diallo has a penchant for late goals against Manchester United's biggest rivals and he served up one of his best yet to down Man City.
The Ivorian produced the moment of the weekend with his 90th-minute at the Etihad Stadium, but there was also plenty of drama at Anfield, Molineux and down at St Mary's.
Two managers lost their jobs amid the relegation scrap, while a precious stoppage time win for Ipswich Town came as a big shot in the arm for Kieran McKenna and the Tractor Boys.
Arsenal's stalling title bid took another dent as they were shut out at home to Everton, while Chelsea defeated Brentford to give themselves a chance of going top of the league before Liverpool next play.
Elsewhere, it was derby bragging rights for Crystal Palace against Brighton and Nottingham Forest kept up their pursuit of an unlikely top four berth with a last-gasp win at home to Aston Villa.
In the latest instalment of this weekly column, Mail Sport picks out five of the most interesting talking points to emerge from the Premier League over the weekend.
Amad Diallo (right) was Manchester United's hero as they won 2-1 at Man City on Sunday
O'NEIL AND MARTIN SACKINGS HURT ENGLISH COACHES
The first thing to say is that both Gary O'Neil at Wolves and Russell Martin at Southampton had reached the end of their respective roads. Both found themselves sacked before the weekend was out. Both were deserved.
The fall-out will rumble on. Martin's stubbornness to prioritise style over substance. O'Neil's inability to pull a rabbit out a hat after having his squad decimated. His decision to point the finger at his players on Saturday felt a poor choice, too.
But the wider picture here is that this is just the latest indictment on English coaching. No wonder the FA ran to the door of Thomas Tuchel.
The sackings of Martin, who was born in Brighton but represented Scotland as a player, and O'Neil mean just two English coaches remain in post in the Premier League: Eddie Howe at Newcastle and Sean Dyche at Everton.
Extrapolate it out even further and after the recent sacking of Steve Cooper at Leicester there are no Welsh coaches in England's top flight, no Scots either. Kieran McKenna is on his own flying the flag for Northern Ireland.
This is an issue that feels very Premier League focused. Europe's other top leagues are brimming with coaches that are the envy of many chairmen on these shores.
In Serie A there are 16 Italian managers; in LaLiga it's 14 Spanish managers out of 20; there are 10 French managers in Ligue 1, while the Bundesliga boasts nine German coaches from its 18 clubs.
Across those four rival leagues, there are just two English managers in post: Will Still (RC Lens) and Liam Rosenior (Strasbourg).
There are issues aplenty at Wolves and Southampton right now that do stretch beyond the poor performance of a manager.
But Sunday's double sacking should be sounding alarm bells at the FA that with opportunities already at a premium, the door seems to be closing on English coaches.
Wolves sacked manager Gary O'Neil on Sunday
Russell Martin was axed as Southampton boss later that day too
Will Still is one of only two English managers in Europe's top-five leagues - working at Lens
AMORIM WON'T SHIRK THE BIG CALLS
'I don't want to send a message,' Ruben Amorim said, before doing just that.
'It's simply an evaluation, and they know it.
'I pay attention to everything, the way you eat, the way you put on your clothes to go the game. Everything. I make my evaluation and then I have to decide. I have a lot of players to choose.'
So much said without much being said at all.
The decision to leave Marcus Rashford and Alejandro Garnacho out of his matchday squad in its entirety was ballsy from the new United head coach.
Ruben Amorim's (pictured) decision to drop Marcus Rashford and Alejandro Garnacho worked
It would have been so easy to avoid scrutiny by putting both on the bench and again pointing to his policy of rotation.
Only that wouldn't have sent a strong enough message about the standards he and his coaching staff demand. Being left out of a derby match certainly gets the message across.
'They are really talented and we need Garna and Rash a lot,' he said afterwards.
'It was not a disciplinary thing. It's just that we have to improve our standards. They will get used to this.'
Erik ten Hag had a reputation of being something of a cold disciplinarian and while Amorim has been painted as a warmer character, he's not one to mess with and in one move he proved that he won't shirk the big calls.
Going into the game United's top two scorers in the Premier League so far this season were Rashford and Garnacho. And yet he felt comfortable taking on the reigning league champions without either in tow.
Amorim won't be backed with millions and millions in the upcoming January transfer window due to United struggling to comply with PSR rules having splashed out £200m in the summer.
That means that Amorim will largely have to work with what he has got for the remainder of the campaign and he has already realised the size of the task ahead.
After a few weeks in the job, his infectious smile is no longer proving as deceptive as it was upon his arrival.
Amorim and his coaches mean business - and they don't care how many egos they bruise.
Garnacho (centre left) and Rashford (centre right) were both dropped for the Manchester derby
ROBINSON NEEDS TESTING AT THE NEXT LEVEL
Antonee Robinson is the best left back in the Premier League. That much was underlined once again this weekend, this time away to Liverpool.
Since the start of last season, the American's 11 Premier League assists ranks No 1 of any defender. He is the best in class.
And while Fulham are by no means eager to sell one of their most prized possessions, they will be well aware that they have on their hands a player that each of the Big Six should be fighting tooth and nail to get.
Manchester United desperately need a left-sided player to play wing-back in Amorim's 3-4-3 system; Liverpool need to start planning on replacing a declining Andy Robertson; Manchester City need a total overhaul with left back a real area of concern; Robinson is unquestionably an upgrade on Marc Cucurella at Chelsea; Tottenham have been leaning on Destiny Udogie who, while good, isn't as good as Robinson.
Antonee Robinson was superb for Fulham in their 2-2 draw at Liverpool on Saturday afternoon
Robinson underlined his credentials with two brilliant assists, first for Andreas Pereira and then later for Rodrigo Muniz as Fulham twice took the lead at Anfield.
'I don't want to talk too much about him because I know in January the same story is going to follow about Robinson. I don't want to go in that direction!' Fulham boss Marco Silva said of his left back, who is under contract until 2028.
'He's really focused in the way he plays, so let's keep him like that.
'It's crucial for us. If he's the best or not, that's not for me to decide, my players are always the best!'
Robinson's improvement has been something to behold in the past 18 months and his trajectory between now and the end of the season could trigger an almighty bidding war to snag him.
ARSENAL CHANNELING IN WRONG DIRECTION
Last week I mentioned the alarming realisation that Arsenal's threat from open play was waning by the game.
Well, let's further extrapolate the stats behind Arsenal's season-on-season slide after a truly dismal shutout against an Everton side that got toyed with and hit for four by Manchester United just a few weeks ago.
An analysis of Arsenal after 16 games across the last three seasons does present genuine cause for concern.
By this stage in 2022-23, the Gunners had scored 40 goals, taken 252 shots and converted 15.9 per cent. A year later those totals stood at 33 goals, 243 shots and a conversion rate of 13.6 per cent.
Now, in 2024-25, Arsenal are down to 29 goals, 226 shots and a 12.8 per cent conversion.
Arsenal failed to break down Everton on Saturday afternoon as they were held to a 0-0 draw
Their 'Expected Goals' is down significantly too, at 27.7 this season whereas it was up at 31.53 (2022-23) and 29.71 (2023-24).
Given Arsenal's emergence as a genuine title contender under Mikel Arteta, teams are naturally sitting in to make it compact and as a result this Arsenal team seemingly cannot figure out how to break them down, case-in-point this past weekend.
They are rightly being lauded for their evolution of the game from set pieces through specialist coach Nicolas Jover, but it is now inescapable that they are regressing in almost every other attacking metric as Liverpool and Chelsea begin to stretch clear.
'We have to manage the frustration,' Arteta said.
'If nobody start to speed up the game, or there is no room to speed it up and we start to watch the game, we need to understand that nobody starts to force [the opponent] to make mistakes and to lose a grab of the game.
'It won't continue. We will score goals. If we have the chances like we have done today, I am sure we will score.'
No team in the top seven has drawn more games than Arsenal (6) and with tricky trips to a rejuvenated Crystal Palace, Brentford - who boast the best home form in the league - and Brighton in three of their next four games, it's imperative they snap their bad habits before this season stops being about the title race and more about simply making the top four.
Mikel Arteta's side are finding it hard to score in open play and have a lower output this season
HAS GLASNER FINALLY FOUND A FORMULA?
Crystal Palace went into the season daring to dream of a European push under highly-rated boss Oliver Glasner.
After 13 games where Palace had just one win to their name - a 1-0 win over Tottenham - that bubble was soon burst and the grim reality of a relegation dogfight had set in.
Palace started this season horribly, without a win through the first eight games, but their 3-1 win over rivals Brighton at the weekend was a nod that perhaps Glasner has finally found a formula that works.
He elected to name an unchanged XI to the side that drew 2-2 with Manchester City.
That is particularly significant because it is the first time this season that Palace have been unchanged in the Premier League this season.
It is still the 3-4-2-1 system they adopted earlier in the season but they have now found a structure and a flair that can give them hope that a relegation battle is in fact not on the agenda this season.
Tyrick Mitchell and Daniel Munoz are offering them a genuine threat as wing-backs, which in turn allows Eberechi Eze and Ismaila Sarr to cause havoc in the pockets behind the striker.
Jefferson Lerma is giving them a physicality in the middle of the park, while Will Hughes looks a reliable partner alongside him.
'The fans have always supported us the whole season,' a relieved Glasner said afterwards.
'Even when we had the defeats at the beginning of the season, they were always behind the team, behind us, and we said maybe it's an opportunity for us to give them a little bit back, and maybe a first Christmas gift!
'The players - I mention it quite often - are great characters, so they gave the first Christmas gift to our fans, and I hope they enjoyed the afternoon.'
Glasner won't be getting too carried away. Arsenal, Bournemouth and Chelsea are three of their next four games but Palace and their fans can now go into those games armed with the belief that they aren't the soft touch they were a month or two back.
It's taken until December but the Eagles finally have their wings under them.