In association with Planet Sport Bet, Robbie Savage will give us his own Winners and Losers from the weekend’s Premier League action…
Robbie has been in Kyle Walker’s position and understands the embarrassment the Man City defender will feel in the wake of Manchester turning red…
Robbie’s winners
My biggest winners of the weekend have to be Manchester United and Amad Diallo.
Two moments of pure brilliance from the youngster. First to win the penalty with a great little turn, and then the second goal, the touch over Ederson and the finish – absolutely brilliant.
Amad has been outstanding under Ruben Amorim, probably United’s best player under the new manager. He can play out wide, or as a 10 – he’s fits the system beautifully.
And well played, Ruben Amorim. In recent weeks, Amorim has beaten Pep Guardiola by an aggregate of 6-2 – it was 4-1 with his Sporting team and now 2-1 with United.
Crystal Palace also deserve a huge amount of credit for their own derby – of a sort – win on Sunday, That’s five unbeaten now for Oliver Glasner’s side and one defeat in nine. After a slow start, they seem to be clicking into gear and there’s beating the rivals on their own turf highlights to the supporters that they are going in the right direction.
Sean Dyche and Everton enjoyed a massive result on Saturday at Arsenal. Dyche-ball isn’t always pretty but when the Toffees carry out the manager’s plan, they are so hard to break down, as Arsenal found at the Emirates. And being in the position they are, that’s a huge point for the Toffees.
And three more for Nottingham Forest! It’s a remarkable achievement to be in the top four, above City and only two points behind Arsenal. And what a way to beat Villa, coming form behind late on. I’m so pleased for Anthony Elanga – we spoke to him on 606 after his first goal since February. He seems like a really humble lad. He and Forest deserves all the plaudits coming their way.
And finally, what a huge win for Ipswich that could prove to be at Wolves. You could see at the end how much victory and defeat meant to both clubs. It’s three years today since Kieran McKenna took over, when Ipswich were in League One. We need to keep reminding ourselves of that, and Jack Taylor’s last-gasp goal is massive for keeping them in touch with the teams just above the relegation zone.
Robbie’s losers
That’s just one win in 11 now for Manchester City. And, for me, Kyle Walker and Gary Neville have been the best right-backs in the Premier League era. But the City defender will look back at the incident with Rasmus Hojlund with massive disappointment.
It happened to me a few times in my career. My thoughts were, as a professional in the heat of the moment, if I can reduce the opposition to 10 men, that would give my team a better chance of winning the game. But when you wake up the next morning, you’re embarrassed. It was bad enough with all the cameras when I played, but now, with VAR, Walker will be as disappointed as I was.
It was a rough Manchester derby too for Marcus Rashford and Alejandro Garnacho. They have to get the message sent by Ruben Amorim in dropping the pair and react in the right way. The manager has set his standards and, hopefully, training at Carrington while their team-mates prepared for a derby serves as a massive wake-up call for both.
It was sad to see two managers lose their jobs on Sunday. Gary O’Neil has been fighting the tide at Molineux for some time, with all the sales depleting the quality in his squad, and though he never really seemed to lose the fans, Wolves obviously felt a change is necessary.
Russell Martin stuck to his principles and hopefully Southampton fans remember in the long run what a fantastic job he did getting them back to the Premier League. But Saints have been far too easy to beat, as Tottenham highlighted on Sunday night, and disappearing down the tunnel before half-time, missing James Maddison’s second goal, was not a good look.
Arsenal missed a big opportunity to close the gap on Liverpool, who dropped points themselves but at least they took something having played most of the game against Fulham with 10 men. Everton were solid but the Gunners simply have to find ways other than corners to break down teams when they sit in at the Emirates.
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