Hits & Misses: Old greats step up for Liverpool, Villa set up perfect season finish

Salah and Van Dijk step up for Reds

Mohamed Salah and Virgil van Dijk have won the lot at Liverpool so you could detect a certain reluctance from them to overstate the significance of their 2-1 win in the first ever Merseyside derby at Hill Dickinson Stadium. But it was notable who stepped up.

Credit to Cody Gakpo for his fine assist for the opener and to Dominik Szoboszlai for setting up the winner. Curtis Jones impressed out of position at right-back. But Salah and Van Dijk scored the goals, the latter’s winning header coming in the 100th minute.

The pair have been much maligned this season and understandably so with Salah’s level, in particular, dipping alarmingly. But on derby day these Liverpool legends delivered two more big moments. Who will produce for this team when they are gone?

It was not an afternoon to be persuaded that Alexander Isak and Florian Wirtz are ready for that mantle. Isak, clearly nowhere near back to full fitness and fluency, was quiet throughout. Wirtz had less of an excuse as he struggled to cope with the demands.

Both men cost in excess of £100m each last summer and there will be patience at the top of the club, a trust that there is much more to come from the pair. But it was Salah and Van Dijk, even past their best, who showed what it takes to be Liverpool heroes.Adam Bate

Man City are the perfect opportunists

Manchester City could only have dreamed of being in this position a few months back. Everything about this title charge, now looking more likely than not, is opportunistic. It’s landed in their lap.

Who could have imagined circumstances would fall this kindly? A Carabao Cup final at Wembley to wrestle the momentum from Arsenal’s grasp at the perfect juncture. Next comes a 2-1 beating at the Etihad; another blow delivered at a crucial time. And now the chase really is on.

April is Man City’s best month under Pep Guardiola in terms of points-per-game and win rate – why should this year be any different? Meanwhile, it’s proved to be Arsenal’s worst under Mikel Arteta. In a game of narrow margins and fine lines, it was therefore no surprise to see City come out on the right side of balance.

Because this, after all, is what the City machine was built for. It’s all they know under Pep, winners in six of the last nine Premier League editions. No inhibitions from here, just freestyle until the end of the season by playing as if pressure is obsolete.

“City are definitely favourites now,” said Gary Neville on his podcast, in a complete break with all previous predictions. Opta puts City’s title chances at 27 per cent but history will tell you that is a modest reading of a situation that realistically feels far more 50/50.

Arteta put a brave face on it by asserting “game on” afterwards. City surely need no further encouragement.Laura Hunter

How do Arsenal recover from Man City loss?

“Panic on the streets of London,” read the Manchester City banner at full-time. With his hair down, Erling Haaland was singing Flo Rida’s: “Oh, sometimes, I get a good feeling.”. We’ve all heard those songs before.

Despite being Premier League leaders for 201 consecutive days, Arsenal could lose their spot at the summit on Wednesday night to a City side chasing just their seventh day at the top of the pile this season.

It was the same story three seasons ago, when Mikel Arteta’s side led the 2022/23 table for 247 days, only to lose it to City in the final weeks of the season. In that campaign, a long-locked Haaland pulled his hair down and sent City to an important win over Arsenal in April. The title race wasn’t done, but ominous from there.

History is repeating itself, as a familiar but strange feeling falls upon Arsenal. There is disappointment at not getting the result, but unlike three seasons ago where Arsenal were pulled apart to a 4-1 loss, this performance was a positive one. It went against all the pre-match form and predictions.

Both title rivals have strengths, both teams have weaknesses. Come Wednesday night, both teams could sit on 70 points with the same number of games left.

City’s win and Arsenal’s defeat will look like a standout moment but Guardiola’s side have only earned the right to make the title race neck-and-neck. The race, or the shoot-out as many are putting it, is on.Sam Blitz

Villa set up for perfect finish – but no more blood-pressure raising please

Aston Villa are doing it the hard way, but are quietly setting themselves up for a historic end to the season.

Despite taking just five points from six matches with last weekend’s draw at Nottm Forest, seven days later the Villans are all-but home and hosed in the race for the Champions League and emphatically into the semi-finals of the Europa League.

They’ve not made things easy for themselves this season, failing to win a game or even score a goal until late September and their normally reliable top scorer Ollie Watkins netting only once between the start of February and Sunday’s win over Sunderland.

But after a double from the England forward and the latest of late wins to move 10 points clear inside the top five, things are looking as rosy as they have done all year.

Conceivably, by the time of Villa’s Europa League semi-final first leg with Forest a week on Thursday, they can be mathematically guaranteed of a Champions League spot – or near enough – while Vitor Pereira’s side are unlikely to be out of the woods of Premier League survival.

There’s a reason Unai Emery is such a master of the tournament. Yet again, everything is falling into place at the right time.Ron Walker

Everton’s defeat means there’s everything to play for in race for Europe

Everton haven’t played in Europe since 2017/18, but had they won the Merseyside derby, they would have stormed up to sixth and into pole position for a place in next season’s Europa League.

The fact they did not win means the battle to finish in sixth and seventh in the final month of the season should be gripping.

Right now, Chelsea sit sixth, with Brentford in seventh. Both teams have collected 48 points, along with Bournemouth, who are eighth, owing to an inferior goal difference.

Then come Brighton and Everton in ninth and 10th – both on 47 points – Sunderland in 11th on 46 points and Fulham in 12th on 45 points.

Expect plenty of movement in the final five matchweeks. This race is far from run.Dan Long

Gibbs-White leads from the front in Forest fightback

Morgan Gibbs-White was the undisputed star of the show as Nottingham Forest, leading from the front as a true captain.

Forest knew that a win would greatly boost their chances of avoiding relegation, but they were made to work for it after a flat first half.

In those moments, you need your senior players to step up, hold themselves and their team accountable and give everything for the cause – Gibbs-White epitomised that and more. His equaliser opened the floodgates to a superb half an hour of football from Forest.

He had the most shots in the game (5) and the highest individual xG (0.73) – a number he wildly exceeded. His three shots on target were all goals, and he won both of his tackles, the joint-second highest among his team-mates.

All of his finishes were superb for his first career hat-trick, although Burnley have to ask why he was allowed so much space for all three goals.

Forest won’t mind at all though, with Vitor Pereira saying of his captain: “He’s a top player with a character, even when the first half was not his best… He showed what a captain must do in a difficult situation.”

The Forest hierarchy have made some poor decisions this season, but convincing Gibbs-White to stay in the summer was their best business of all.Charlotte Marsh

Inconsistency costs Burnley yet again

Nottingham Forest had not won at home in the Premier League since December 14 heading into this weekend, and Burnley would have smelt an opportunity.

This would have been enforced further with the ultimate psychological sucker punch in a relegation showdown as they went ahead just before the break.

And for 60-odd minutes, Burnley kept their shape well, did not concede any shots on target and took advantage of a Forest’s European exertions on Thursday.

But as Scott Parker admitted himself, once Morgan Gibbs-White’s equaliser went in, the floodgates opened in the wrong direction.

Burnley seemingly forgot the Forest captain was on the pitch, such was the lack of marking for his goals. Gibbs-White needs little encouragement to shoot, but in a game like this, it was fatal for the Clarets’ survival hopes.

There were still glimpses of their own attacking prowess, but it was not enough.

Burnley have not produced a consistent performance for an entire 90 minutes this season, and haven’t been strong enough to keep from collapsing in those bad moments.

They are closing in on yet another return to the Championship and in doing so, would be only second club in Premier League era to be promoted or relegated in five successive seasons.Charlotte Marsh