Even in this phase of mild uncertainty and without the injured Kevin De Bruyne, the champions are still only a point off the top There was a pathway between Julián Álvarez, Manual Akanji and Rúben Dias and it led just inside the left-hand post, but it was almost impossibly narrow. Trent-Alexander Arnold guided his shot along it. By design? By instinct? By luck? It was very hard to say, and because of that Manchester City did not win a 24th successive home game and Liverpool successfully protected the record their former manager Tom Watson had set during his stint at Sunderland. More consequent ..read more

It’s not time for Pep Guardiola to panic, but Chelsea’s unpredictable style removed what the manager covets most: control Sign up to Jonathan’s weekly newsletter here Perhaps what was most striking in Chelsea’s 4-4 draw with Manchester City on Sunday was how one team played entirely to type, and one team didn’t. That’s a situation that should give hope not only to Chelsea but to the rest of the league: perhaps this iteration of City is not quite so relentless and remorseless as had been thought. They go into the international break only a point clear of Arsenal and Liverpool, whom they face ..read more

Pep Guardiola’s side have yet to fully hit their stride but by comparison with their derby rivals the doubts are minor On the face of it, Jérémy Doku has had an impressive start to life at Manchester City. He scored the equaliser early in the second half against West Ham, helped himself to another goal against RB Leipzig, and was brilliant in the first half against Brighton last Saturday, darting to the line to cut the ball back for Julian Álvarez’s opener and generally tormenting James Milner. His check and acceleration to swoop past Igor Julio before his cross for Álvarez was simple but deva ..read more

A bunker mentality is not enough to unsettle champions: there must be a threat from players carrying the ball in wide areas How do you beat Manchester City? It’s a question football has been trying and largely failing to answer for six years. The two best options seem to be to wait for some traumatic external event to disrupt the season and scramble everybody’s minds, or hope that Pep Guardiola becomes so obsessed by the possibility of being counterattacked that he does something eccentric with his formation (although that tends to work best in Europe). Or you could just wait for Rodri to be u ..read more

Striker was becoming more of an all-round Guardiola player by the end of last term but has reverted to cutting-edge specialist As the players of Manchester City and RB Leipzig stood in the tunnel at the Red Bull Arena before kick-off on Wednesday night, the usual flip-chart of clenched jaws and event-horizon stares, Erling Haaland could be seen lolling out last in line from the City dressing room. Haaland spotted the equally blond and chiselled Xaver Schlager, a teammate from RB Salzburg days, crept up behind him and enveloped him in a kind of laughing Nordic bro-hug, beaming with such tender ..read more

Whatever happens with his doping case, do not forget just how talented he was before the injuries and tactical struggles ‘Sometimes,” Paul Pogba said, “I don’t want to have money any more. I just don’t want to play any more. I just want to be with normal people, so they will love me for me – not for the fame, not for the money. Sometimes it’s tough.” That was Pogba speaking to Al-Jazeera in an interview released on Sunday . A day later, he tested positive for excess non-endogenous testosterone metabolites. It’s just over seven years since Manchester United broke the world transfer record to re ..read more

Kai Havertz at Arsenal and Mason Mount at Manchester United are yet to fit in – but this is not a simple issue of personnel Afew years ago, the future seemed a world in which football teams would comprise 11 midfielders. Then it became 11 full-backs, at which it became apparent that nobody quite knew the difference any more. Then Pep Guardiola found his inner Tony Pulis and started fielding four centre-backs and it turned out that, while the present may be very much possession-driven, the future may not. The composition of the midfield is suddenly up for debate again. The most common setup amo ..read more

Familiar talking points arose from the win at Newcastle but its key figure embodied the manic unscripted drama we love Chaos. Chaos in the first half, chaos in the second half. Chaos in the Liverpool defence and chaos in the Newcastle defence. Chaos in Trent Alexander-Arnold’s mind, in Virgil van Dijk’s mind, perhaps in the referee’s mind. Chaos so thoroughly chaotic that it rendered the most chaotic Premier League player of all into a clanking totem of clinically icy finishing. Football is a sport we try to rationalise. We try to explain it with data and diagrams. We try to reduce the random ..read more

The thrashing at Newcastle exposed flaws in the Spaniard’s gameplan – a glitch or a real measure of his side’s standing? Heavy defeats perhaps aren’t what they used to be. Spain won the Women’s World Cup despite a 4-0 defeat to Japan in the group stage. Manchester United finished third in the Premier League last year despite losing 7-0 at Liverpool. Brighton came sixth despite losing 5-1 at home to Everton. There may still be a stigma to a heavy loss, but it is perhaps not the indicator of fundamental flaws it once was. Still, it was intriguing to hear Sir Alex Ferguson say that Aston Villa ha ..read more

Lionesses face a different kind of challenge so they may have to vary their approach to disrupt Bonmatí and co At last year’s Euros quarter-final in Brighton, Spain gave England the biggest scare of the tournament they won. In the 2019 World Cup, Spain narrowly lost to the US, who won it in the end. They may very well have been the second-best team at both tournaments. A year on from the Amex, and for differing reasons, the teams feature different players but they still go into Sunday’s World Cup final as the two best teams in the tournament. I don’t think it makes sense to speak about the mis ..read more