The Preview - Premier League Round-Up
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The Athletic FC Podcast Network. Hello, I'm Michael Bailey. Welcome to the Athletic FC Christmas Special, where we'll be reviewing the biggest moments from Boxing Day, as well as looking ahead to the next round of Premier League fixtures. ♪

With me today are the athletics football writer Tim Spears, as well as data and tactics writer and editor Duncan Alexander. Duncan, let's kick off with a Boxing Day stat. I'm sure you have one up your sleeve. Well, I've got a few, as you'd expect, but I think we can be glad that once again Boxing Day 1963 is safe, that no one scored 10 goals in a game, that will continue to get mentioned every year for eternity. On a more sort of modern scale,

we could say there was three red cards this day. Cards, obviously, part of the Christmas tradition. That's the most since there were four on Boxing Day back in 2013. So a feisty and entertaining day it was. As I'm sure it was across the land. Just to say, it was lovely to hear those stats from Duncan. It did make me kind of think,

what stats do you have on things throughout your life? Because you seem to have a stat for everything. Do you have stats for Christmas presents that people were getting you as well? Like, oh, that's the best present someone's got me since the Sky Electrics in 1998 kind of thing. No, that would be way too self-indulgent. I apply it only to our beloved Association of Football. Fair enough.

Let's start, shall we, in West London, where Marco Silva's Fulham came from behind to win at Stamford Bridge for the first time in 45 years. The Athletic's Chelsea writer, Liam Toomey, was watching. Are Chelsea in the Premier League title race? Well, on this evidence, you'd have to say that Enzo Morisca's pretty justified in his repeated assertions that they're not ready yet to compete with Liverpool at the top of the table. Chelsea have been opened up here and they've won it!

Defeat to Fulham, a shock defeat to Fulham on Boxing Day. Leaves them closer to Nottingham Forest in third than it does to the Premier League summit. And while you can't say it was necessarily a deserved defeat, I think it was a very close game. It could have gone either way. Chelsea were caught up

trying to win a game at 1-1 that they were always in danger of losing and maybe showed a little bit of immaturity that we haven't seen from this team too much this season under Enzo Maresca. Chelsea never put Fulham away. They couldn't find a second goal. Marco Silva made some intelligent substitutions and switched things up a bit out of his 5-4-1 low block shape, which had successfully frustrated Chelsea for long spells.

They found an equaliser and then they found a winner and Chelsea have to be careful that they don't lose too much momentum at this stage of the season when the games come thick and fast. But overall, for their own expectations, they're still on track for the Champions League. Though this one will leave a sour taste.

Chelsea had gone nine games without defeat in the Premier League, but this loss leaves them seven points behind table-topping Liverpool, who we'll come on to next. Tim, Liam mentioned maturity. Was this performance a bit of a reminder that Chelsea are still a little bit off where they need to be to really challenge? Yeah, I kind of felt like Chelsea had been riding a bit of a wave of positivity and momentum, as Liam was saying, and I think that's

It probably wasn't a true reflection of exactly where they're at. And it's also felt like they haven't been true proper title contenders. And I guess we saw both of those things against...

against Fulham really they have got defensive weaknesses which sort of came to the fore it also says how far they've come in a short space of time that there's disappointment at this result and at them falling further behind Liverpool also you know Fulham are great Fulham will pick up surprise results all season they held Arsenal they held Liverpool they beat Brighton they've had a great run of form recently so

I know they haven't won there for almost half a century, but I didn't look at that result on that game and think that that was a huge surprise, to be honest. No, you're right. We're going to speak about Fulham in a minute. I suppose the interesting thing, Duncan, you can kind of be in a title race maybe without actually...

really looking like you're going to win the thing, which is kind of where I've always felt Chelsea would probably be this year. And I guess we're all desperate for Liverpool to have a challenge at the moment because they're in danger of cutting a drift. Duncan, has the past week indicated teams maybe are starting to figure out how to play against this Chelsea side? Yeah, I think I did a piece the other day about splitting the Premier League so far into four separate sections. And I think people kind of forget that

you look back at season it's 38 games but really it's a load of little mini sort of sprints and managers have to kind of adapt to other teams and you know other opposition managers kind of work out what your team's doing and I think we maybe you know Maresca's had a good couple of months but maybe we've got to a point where teams have worked them out a little bit and to Tim's point I think Fulham are really good Fulham are

arguably one of the top six teams in the league. They've given all three of the title contenders, if we're going to call them that, a tough time in recent weeks. And it's obviously a painful defeat for Chelsea losing to Fulham. Not something that many fans there yesterday probably have ever seen. But I

I think it's one you can sort of take on the chin. I don't think it's going to derail their title bid or at least top four slash five bid. Chelsea will be looking to get back on track when they head to Portman Road on Monday to face Ipswich Town while Fulham host Bournemouth, they drew 0-0 to Crystal Palace at home on Boxing Day. I mean, Tim, both Fulham and Bournemouth, they're in great spots at eighth and sixth respectively and should be a decent game, those two coming up against each other. It's going to be very watchable and

Craven Cottage is sort of you know a great place to watch football at the moment you know all these sort of clubs that are sort of I guess unexpectedly in the higher echelons of the table I've visited a few of them in recent weeks and there's this real sort of you know positivity and belief that they can do something special this season like a real sort of tangible feel good factor you know Forest was there yesterday and

at Fulham at Brentford at Bournemouth you know they've all sort of got real trust in their managers and trust in their players and they're kind of riding the crest of a wave unexpectedly because they haven't spent millions and millions and millions like you know maybe Newcastle did and sort of expected to climb the table you know a couple years ago you know that kind of thing

So it's great to see. It's great for the Premier League as well. It's probably the most interesting Premier League in quite a few years, I think. I mean, these two sides do both have a chance of getting into Europe. Do you both want to have a go at who you feel might make it from here? Well, Duncan's got to stick with his guns, I think. Yeah, I did predict Fulham to do very well this season. I mean, I think for both teams, you know, it's testament to how good the managers are and that level of planning and adaptability. And the concern for clubs like Bournemouth and Fulham is, you know, if other big clubs...

lose managers for whatever reason they are very tempting coaches to potentially bring in and that is sort of the bane of the middle class of the Premier League if you like but

You know, as Tim says, I think this is an unusual season. I think there's a real chance for one of these two, maybe both, even Forrest, to finish really high up. And, you know, people have kind of forgotten that fifth place could be Champions League spot. So we could end up with some, yeah, some unusual entrance into next season's competition. Well, fifth place could be Champions League, but also if Chelsea win the Conference League, as everyone would expect them to do, wouldn't that open up a place as well? Yeah. So we'll be going down to eighth in the table. And then if you look at,

I'd say Fulham and Bournemouth are both a pretty decent shot to finish eighth. You know, when you look at the sort of inconsistencies of Villa, Man United and Spurs not improving anytime soon, I think the only thing you'd say for Bournemouth is they haven't really got a regular goal scorer. I think Kluivert's their top scorer with six, but he did have three penalties at Wolves one day, which kind of inflates his numbers a little bit. And Jimenez is Fulham's top scorer with five, but he's, you know, he went on that run and has gone back to being a little bit inconsistent. So if they had like a whistle or a,

I think you'd say both of these teams are really well placed, but they do both lack a regular goal scorer, but I still think they can both be top eight. Love that. Let's turn our attention to the league leaders then. The Athletics Liverpool writer James Pearce was at Anfield on Boxing Day.

Well, it was just about the perfect boxing day for Arnaz Slot's Liverpool title rivals, Chelsea, beaten earlier on in the day and then Liverpool getting their business done against Leicester City to move seven points clear at the top of the Premier League with a game in hand. None of the fireworks that we saw in the emphatic rout of Tottenham just a few days earlier. They had to fight hard for it against Ruud van Nistelrooy's side.

after au's goal had stunned the host really despite dominating possession they created very little the decision making was really poor at times lots of careless mistakes lots of aimless crosses thrown into the box but what we've seen time and time again this season is slot is so adept

making the required changes at half-time in matches that triggers a big second-half improvement. And this was another example. Of course, it helped that Liverpool were back on level terms just before the interval. It was a brilliant goal from Cody Gagpo. I thought he was Liverpool's man of the match here tonight. Second half, I just thought Liverpool showed a lot more patience, a lot more composure, worked the ball better, waited for the openings to appear and then cut through Leicester. And that was what they did for the second goal with McAllister's

low centre turned home by Curtis Jones great way for him to mark his 100th appearance for the club and then Salah curling one into the far corner to just put the icing on the cake late on Liverpool fans around me have just been chanting about them being top of the league and of course they're going to take some shifting at the minute seven points clear with a game in hand and now the focus will turn to that trip down to West Ham Liverpool will head to the capital full of confidence and momentum firmly behind them

Liverpool have all sorts of momentum and they look like they can find what they need to Duncan on a slot side head to West Ham next I just wonder I mean I guess we're all waiting for them to trip up and maybe a trip to West Ham is the sort of place they might trip up he says wrinkling his nose maybe I mean yeah London Stadium can bring teams you know down a little bit I think but

they're strange at the moment because their defence has got a bit rubbish you know the only team since the start of December not to score against them in the Premier League is Manchester City and we all know that they're not very good anymore so so they are letting in goals I mean obviously three at Spurs three at Newcastle two against Fulham but

As James said in the clip, they're so adept at kind of just not panicking. And Salah is in just incredible form. I think that was his 250th goal involvement for Liverpool. And what was his 250th start, which is elite numbers.

just no signs of slowing down really and when you've got that when you've got Gakpo in the form of his life off the left you know when you can kind of rotate Jota or play Diaz up front or even Nunes come on they kind of know that even if they go down that they probably will come back and that you know people say oh that's the sign of a title winner well yeah it is because that's what happens when you win titles it's kind of chicken and egg isn't it really so

yeah I mean they're in a great position it is slightly reminiscent of 2019-20 when they did sort of just pull away yeah hopefully we don't have a massive pause for three months that we did that season but yeah it's looking looking very good I mean Gakpo's

goal was a wonderful finish and Tim I've seen Mohamed Salah's goal a few times I can't work out how he scores it because he just he's looking to cross the ball all the way through yet he then just strokes this shot to a completely different angle and it nestles in the far corner he's just he's almost untouchable as a footballer right now yeah the powers of deception just like takes such a high level of

football intelligence to do that and it's great to see I don't think it sort of gets spoken about enough really sort of his resurgence in terms of the numbers that he's producing at his age it's almost unthinkable to think that he's going to be a free agent in five six months time and yeah I think that that's the only that's the only sort of weird apart from Duncan mentioned as a defense in the last month but it's weird that they're arguably their three best players could all leave for free this summer I do find it absolutely bizarre I think that's

one of the things that's got to get sorted out sooner rather than later. But you've got to say, it's certainly not affecting the individual performances of those three players or the dressing room or the fans, to be honest. It's quite remarkable. Okay, well, after the break, we'll reflect on Manchester United's defeat at Molineux. Tim is smiling. And talk about Newcastle's return to form, most recently beating Aston Villa.

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And the yellow card for Bruno Fernandes is his second of the game. He was a little bit late to it, but the manner of the way he went in, which I think made the referee reach that pocket so quickly. Don straight in, a water, a touch. Kunya's claiming it. Is anything beyond Kunya in this form? And they're away here to wrap it up. Away from Kunya's unselfish pass.

Yes, Wolves 2 Manchester United 0. Back-to-back wins under new boss Vito Pereira. Tim, Wolves are now out of the relegation zone as well. This is turning point territory, isn't it? It's an hallelujah, Michael. It's a Christmas miracle is what it is. Yeah, I didn't really see any of this coming. Yeah, I mean, it's the same team, it's the same players.

It's the same system. They just are completely transformed, as are their supporters, who started smiling again. Yeah, consecutive clean sheets. Wolves have only kept two clean sheets in the league since January, by the way. They were at home to Sheffield United last season and at home to Southampton this season. So basically the two worst teams they could have played at home. Scoring goals just hasn't been a problem. They're still on track to score like 60 this season, which would smash their Premier League record this

And I think only the top seven teams in the Premier League managed to score 60 last year. So scoring goals has not been an issue. And obviously, Kunya is a big part of that and such a talismanic figure. But yeah, the brittle defence and complete lack of confidence and discipline, all those things have just been eradicated in the last two games.

You know, they did just need a new voice. It was pretty clear that they were no longer sort of listening to Gary O'Neill's instructions as he basically admitted himself after his last game. So yeah, Vito Pereira's come in with a real sort of air of confidence and self-assurance and positive messages and sort of giving them that belief. It's the pure epitome of a new manager bounce. You know, I don't expect this to be Wolves now for the rest of the season necessarily. They just needed that confidence and that belief that someone with a bit of a sort of different personality

set of attributes to Gary O'Neill could bring in. So yeah, we've discussed, we've discussed Michael, haven't we, that Pereira's got a history of being explosive and falling out with players, which is never going to happen at Christmas. So that might come. Wolves are not out of trouble by any means, but if you look at the bottom four...

Obviously, at the moment, they look by far the best bet to stay up. And a bit of momentum goes a long way at the bottom end of the table. I mean, Mateus Cunha, I thought he was sensational on Boxing Day. Do we have any idea when and how and what he might have to face in terms of absences through his impending FA charge? It's unprecedented. There's never been a suspension for removing someone's glasses before. So we don't know how long...

he will get but yeah I'm amazed and stunned and very grateful that he has not been banned yet I don't understand it I think the evidence is probably quite clear and I imagine Wolves are trying to kick the can down the road as much as they can but still I guess everybody's just off for Christmas and for some reason he's managed to play two games and played a vital role in both

We've got Bristol City away in the cup coming up, so he can be suspended for that. That's fine. We've always known there was a huge loophole in the Premier League that if you grab someone's glasses just for Christmas and hit top form and no one can do anything about it. And here we are. As for Manchester United, Duncan, it's four losses in their last five Premier League games. They're 14th in the table overall.

And they've also conceded two Olympicos, which is a goal straight from a corner, in two games. Why are they... Well, I mean, I could ask you why they're so susceptible to conceding those goals or from set pieces in general, but it's a bit like where do you start with them at the moment? Yeah, it's quite bad, isn't it? I mean, I think they're kind of a combination of... They're quite unlucky at the moment and also not very good. And put those two things together and you get runs of results like this. I mean, Amarim's the first United manager to lose...

as many as five of his first ten games in charge in all competitions since a guy called Walter Krikma. Good manager. In January 1932. Yeah, good tactician. But anyway, yeah, it's not been the start. I think it's interesting that they played Wolves and as Tim said that Pereira's been able to make a big difference quite quickly. I don't think that was going to happen at United because they are just...

they're a big work in progress and it's not like they were just players slightly out of form it's you know they've had to take on a whole new formation as well and I don't think that's worked so far or the players haven't adapted to it it's fair to say and when you're that susceptible to set pieces yeah you're going to be in big trouble and I mean we are living through the sort of peak era of the in swinging corner I mean

have perfected it to a level that's almost... They're almost as good as penalties. Some of them are just arcing in, but neither Manchester United goalkeeper is particularly dominant in the box. I mean, you think back to a keeper like Peter Schmeichel and he had probably barged 14 players out of the way to grab that. But I don't think modern keepers really do that anymore. And if you look at the amount of people that are in penalty areas and six-yard boxes, in particular corners, it's... I think the phrase is a crowd scene, but it's almost...

It's made the Olimpico more profitable, I think, because there's so many people there that it's actually hard for a keeper or a defender to get a good run and clear the ball. So I would imagine there might be more of them to come. Duncan, could you give me a sentence on where the term Olimpico comes from? Yes, it's from an Olympic game in the Olympics back between Uruguay and Argentina, back a long time ago. And yeah, a player did this back when it was presumably harder to do.

and someone came up with a fairly obvious but very well long-lasting nickname. Love that. Brilliant work. Thank you. You'd love to have something like that named after you, wouldn't you? That's why if you take the glasses off a man's face, it's called a cunio. Touche. Also, Tim, where do you stand on rescinded red cards? Do they still count as a red card? Can I interject here? Because...

This is one of my biggest bugbears in football. Red cards are not rescinded. The red card happened and it stays on a player's record. What's rescinded is the suspension often, you know. So, like, you know, Bruno Fernandes has been sent off three times this season. One of those, the ban was overturned, but the red card remains on the player's record. So we need to start some sort of campaign for commentators to stop saying that phrase because it's wrong.

I wish I'd asked you that while I was covering the game at Molyneux. Well, in that case, I mean, on Bruno Fernandes, that's three, as we now know, red cards this season for the Manchester United captain and

I don't know, is that just careless? How would you best describe something like that? And what it means for the way that Fernandes is leading this squad of players? I mean, there was a case for saying it was harsh at Molineux, but I thought, you know, it gave the ref a decision to make. Fernandes is not the kind of captain that I would be choosing for my team personally. I thought that at the time. I thought it was a bit of a strange decision from Ten Hag. He has a habit of

sort of losing his head when the chips are down. He's an inspirational footballer, but not necessarily sort of an inspirational leader, I don't think. There's problems with leadership all throughout that squad, and I definitely have some sympathy for

I mean, he's been brought in to change things, but this is the worst time of year to change things because there's the least amount of time on the training ground. You don't want to change formation at this time of year, but that's what he's been brought in to do. So the guy needs a full pre-season and I'm sure things will be better for Man United next season if they can get recruitment right. But you can just see the smile draining from his face week after week. He came in with such positivity. Poor guy. I think it's going to be a painful few months before what's going to be a huge rebuilding job in the summer.

Well, next up for Manchester United are Newcastle United. They beat Aston Villa 3-0 on Boxing Day. Let's check in with The Athletic's Newcastle writer, Chris Woff, who was watching at St James' Park. ♪

What a transformative festive period this has been for NICAS United. It's been four successive victories in all competitions. It's lifted them into the Carabao Cup semi-finals and now up to fifth place in the Premier League having been 12th before this run. Four straight wins, the first time they've achieved that since September or October 2023, the last of which was

There's that famous 4-1 demolition of Paris Saint-Germain. First time they've won three straight Premier League matches since then as well. There's been 11 goals scored in those Premier League games. Three clean sheets. Newcastle are really purring now. It's certainly a far more positive outlook on Tyneside than it was not so long ago. But a massive, massive win and a massive, massive run for Newcastle United. Yes!

That was very five live, by the way. I really liked that. And you can hear the excitement in Chris' water voice, which I just love. I mean, Duncan, Newcastle are going to go to Old Trafford and quite fancy this. Yeah, I think, as Chris said in the clip, I think they did have a bit of a gloomy autumn and it did look like they'd really sort of regressed. But I think he's kind of worked out how to play Sandro Tonali as a six and that's obviously freed up

Bruno Grimm-Reichen and you know if you could guarantee Isak was fit for a whole season it's got to be the best forward in the Premier League right now a sense forward so yeah I think they can go to Old Trafford you know historically a place back in the

back in Manchester United's pump where they struggled with a lot of confidence because I think they're perfectly set up to take advantage of all the flaws that we've seen in United's play. They do seem to have been a bit streaky in the last couple of years, Tim. Newcastle sort of coming good or tripping over themselves a bit. You get to make a prediction on this one if you want to. Blimey. If you have to predict based on form, you've got to predict a handsome away win, to be honest. I mean, Newcastle are scoring a lot of goals and keeping clean sheets. You know, in the run they've had

They've beat Leicester, Ipswich, Brentford at home, which is sort of a banker, and then Villa where they were helped by a bit of a controversial red card. But yeah, as Duncan says, the confidence that they've gleaned from that, they've sort of rocketed from 12th to 5th in the table in the semi-final of the Carabao Cup. So yeah, it's the worst time to play Newcastle.

So it's bad luck for Man United and you'd have to predict that Newcastle win, I think. Yeah, would concur. And I'm going to go 3-1. I'm that precise. MUSIC

Nottingham Forest have moved into, checks script, third position at the time of recording and a point behind Chelsea after beating Tottenham 1-0 thanks to Anthony Alanga's 28th minute winner. Tim, you were at the city ground covering this one. How did Nuno Espirito Santo get one over his former club and did he enjoy it? It's hard to tell if he enjoyed it, but no, yeah, the whole place went mental at full time. Players were carrying each other off the pitch,

No one wanted to leave. The fans just did not want to go at all. They were singing Free From Desire for many minutes after the full-time whistle. Yeah, it was a great place to be. It was very much like watching Wolves circa 2018.

But a slightly more extreme version in that Forrest are so physical. You see it a bit on the TV, but to see it in person, they're just flying into challenges everywhere. Any kind of slightly weak pass that Spurs played or slightly under-hit pass, they were all over it and then they really break with gusto. Yeah, Nuno's trying to repeat a lot of what he did with Wolves and successfully so. It's the same...

sort of messages and keeping it simple and game by game and stay humble and compete and do your tasks it's all exactly the same stuff again but Forrest are much more physical you know with Yates and Anderson and Murillo they really sort of crash into players to the extent that and they're so committed they're definitely the most committed team I've seen all season there's a huge buy-in from the players to to what Nuno's asking them to do you know Spurs

Spurs have like 70% possession but they could barely even get a cross in sometimes because you just get one or two or three Forest players just charging down the ball at every opportunity so it was quite intoxicating really and the crowd you know massively buy into it into this sort of full throttle no holds barred sort of commitment and yeah seven clean sheets there was just a red wall that Spurs found impossible to play through and yeah seven clean sheets which is the joint most in the league so far and

and a great foundation on which to sort of, you know, build for the second half of the season. Because like I said, they are, they must be, and again, the same was true of Wolves a few years ago under Nuno, they must be horrible to play against. Probably one of the hardest teams in the league to play against, and that's one of the reasons why they're doing so well. And let's not forget the only team to beat Liverpool so far. Christmas often is the time, isn't it, when family members will make sweeping statements about football.

And I think this was a perfect game for the possession doesn't actually count for anything. Because as you say, Tim, Spurs dominated that nearly 400 passes more than Forest. But Forest had more XG and more points because they did what they needed to do. I mean, at this point in the season, Duncan, we must have a handle on how genuine...

Champions League hopes are for Forest going into next season? Yeah, I mean, well, firstly, they're on 34 points, which is pretty much enough to keep you up every season. So get that bunting out for starters. You're safe. But yeah, I mean, I think they probably, I think this season, maybe low 70s points will get you in the Champions League. So they're basically halfway there. So keep it up for the second half of the season. And I think,

They could come unstuck. It's a sort of all or nothing sort of approach, as Tim alluded to, but...

They are very good at it. And I mean, I don't know what business they're planning in January, but if they can kind of... I do think if the defence got any injuries, that could scupper them quite quickly. But it's a great chance. And, you know, I'm not sure if... I don't know if Forrest have played in the European Cup before. They don't like to mention it. But it would be a lovely story if they were in it next season. Wouldn't it just? You mentioned at the top, Michael, about teams playing Chelsea for the second time and sussing them out. I think there will be a case for that with Forrest in terms of like...

Teams that go to City with a low block, that was, again, just remembering Wolves of Duninna was exactly the same thing. They're a pragmatic team.

sort of team who like to counter but when they're faced with a low block it becomes difficult to play through them. Gibbs White can be someone who can unlock a defence but other than that that might be a slight weakness but yeah we'll see. And we should point out just given what we said a minute ago about Manchester United you know Alanga who they sold is just so good so quick and so like both in with his feet and his brain and yeah you wonder why United sold him and didn't

sell certain others. Yeah, equally though, can a player thrive at Man United at the moment? But anyway, that's one for a different podcast. Tim, as for Spurs, again, another side where it's really difficult to pin down what they're doing and what the plan is over the second half of the season. They host Wolves next as well. Yeah, I didn't feel like this defeat was sort of indicative of the wider debate that we constantly have about Andrew Postacoglu's principles and philosophy and tactics. It was, you know, it was game state. I wrote down

just before the first goal that Spurs need to score the first goal here because the pattern was already set in terms of Forest being happy to defend and being hard to play through and you knew if Forest scored the first goal they would just double down on that and that's exactly what happened and then Spurs just didn't have any

Any options from the bench, really. I mean, Timo Werner's their only sort of front three option to come on. And we know what Postacogna thinks of his performances recently. He was sort of thrown on as a token gesture with about eight minutes to go. So, yeah, they get allowances at the moment in terms of the amount of injuries they've got, which is pretty horrendous. You know, Richarlison and Odebeer would have made a difference yesterday. They're obviously missing Van de Ven and Romero. They're missing Vicario. Dragasin went off injured yesterday.

At the city ground, they're only available senior centre-half.

So they'll be sweating on him for Wolves because Ben Davies is also out. Jed Spence picked up a second yellow at the end of the game, so he's suspended. So it doesn't get any easier. I think January's, of all the Premier League clubs, January's the most important month for Spurs. They just, they need bodies and how this wasn't done, how and why this wasn't done in the summer, I don't know. But yeah, they're still paying for the mistakes they made in the summer transfer window. You know, Postacoglu, yes, to blame for a few things, but not for everything.

So Boxing Day's early kick-off saw Manchester City drop points again, this time drawing 1-1 at home to Everton, making it just one win in their last 13 games. Let's hear from the Athletics Tactics writer Tom Harris, who was watching at the Etihad.

1-1, it finishes here at the Etihad Stadium as Everton become the latest team to take points from Pep Guardiola's Manchester City. City started well, they penned Everton back in a really aggressive opening 15 minutes. It was clearly all-out attack from the off from City who looked to get ahead early and avoid the kind of games that Chelsea and Arsenal faced against Everton in recent weeks. But City did take the lead early on, Bernardo Silva slid in and managed to get a deflection off Jared Brantway after a nice run from Jeremy Docky.

And to be honest, the game plan looked to be going well as City then reverted to a more controlled approach, dominated possession with the lead and looked like they were coasting towards half-time with that lead intact. But it was Everton's first touch in the box of the whole game. Illiman Ndai with a really nice finish. In the second half, Erling Haaland missed a penalty. Just the fourth time he's done so in a City shirt. He scored 18 from the spot while he's been at the club.

There were a few chances in the second half as they came out flying once again. Kovacic fired just wide from the edge of the box. There were some half chances as Everton dropped deeper and City turned up the pressure but they could not find a way through. There'll be questions asked about Pep Guardiola. They'll be asked about Pep Guardiola

The build-up was a bit slow and ponderous at times. There was again deficiencies defending those transitions and while there was luck going against him, this was a Guardiola in his post-match press conference who didn't seem to have many more answers.

other than we go again. So we'll see what happens in January. Maybe some new faces can pick things up for City, but this felt like a good chance for them to get going with three winnable games after their defeat to Aston Villa on the weekend. But as it stands, City are very much back to square one.

I feel like this is a bit like when a favourite for a tennis match is down and then just sort of bins off the set so they can come back next year. I feel like we're sort of in that sort of a season with Manchester City now. I don't know if anyone has any thoughts on what exactly this is at the moment for Pep and City. Yeah, I mean, it does feel like that. I mean, it feels like Groundhog Day as well. Every...

Tom, we heard from there, he's written his match piece from that game and talked about a moment where City could have broke against Everton towards the end and played a safe pass. And that does seem to have become the default approach over the last few years under Guardiola. Even once again take the lead and then kind of sit back. And that's not really what...

Guardiola teams used to do but ever since they sort of brought Haaland in a couple of years ago they've so become more functional and sort of reached a point where if stuff goes wrong they can't really get out of it obviously they want to get back in the Champions League that's fairly important for a club like Manchester City but to do that they're going to have to start winning football games again tricky tricky

tricky indeed Arsenal have the chance to move above Nottingham Forest and Chelsea if they beat Ipswich on Friday evening after that they'll be heading to Brentford on New Year's Day Bukayo Saka has been ruled out for an extended period with the

with a hamstring injury which is clearly a massive blow for Mikel Arteta what do you think Tim that Arsenal will do without him and also what that kind of means for January as well I mean yeah it might mean a dip into the market I mean they've done that before I think they bought Trossard in January a couple of years ago but obviously they signed Sterling in the summer who's made you know next to no impact and will doubtless be on decent wages and I think he's injured again at the moment so I think

I know they've scored, what was it, eight goals in the last two games, but you do feel like their sort of front five or six players are well short of what Liverpool can provide right now. Whether they can rectify that in January, I'm not sure. They've obviously been overly reliant on Saka, I think. I'm not sure January's the time you can go out and replace someone like him in the short term. One for Arteta to ponder. It's been interesting, their approach in the last couple of games, because they've gone back to sort of the...

hand-break-off, dare I say, approach of a couple of years ago, which, of course, when they came so close to win the title, and that's something that he looks to move away from and to engineer more control. So it will be interesting to see if he continues with that approach. And if they do, then that maybe makes the over-reliance on Saka less relevant because, obviously, if they're playing a more open game, then they have got players like Martellani and Trossard who can step up with a bit more space.

And with that, I reckon we're done. A big thank you to Duncan, Tim, our team of writers, plus Jay and the production team. We'll see you again on Friday the 3rd of January. Until then, enjoy the final football of 2024.

You've been listening to The Athletic FC Podcast. The producers were Guy Clark, Mike Stavrou and Jay Beal. The executive producer was Aidy Moorhead. To listen to other great athletic podcasts for free, search for The Athletic on Apple, Spotify and all the usual places. The Athletic FC Podcast is an Athletic Media Company production.

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