Premier League hits and misses: Is Kevin De Bruyne the greatest-ever Premier League player? | Football News

Is KBD on course to becoming the greatest?

The beauty of the way Manchester City play football is that they can attack you from all angles. Whether it is Joao Cancelo pinging defence-splitting passes from the left or Raheem Sterling darting in between defenders, you rarely get a moment’s peace defending against Pep Guardiola’s side.

However, there is one constant to the City attacks. The source. The key component that makes the City machine work so efficiently. His name is Kevin De Bruyne.

He overpowered and outthought Thiago Alcantara, Fabinho and Jordan Henderson in the Liverpool midfield.

City’s star man stepped up and delivered inside five minutes when his deflected strike flew in off a post to get the defending champions going. This is the first time in his career he has scored in four consecutive matches in all competitions. He is also on track to break his personal tally of goals in a Premier League season – this being his 11th with his record standing at 13.

He had his head in his hands on the half-hour when he hit the side netting, but he repeatedly passed through the Liverpool lines and was very unfortunate not to register an assist for Sterling when he raced through and scored until VAR got involved.

The devastating Belgian is in the form of his life. A scary thought when you think he’s a back-to-back PFA Player of the Year winner. No player has ever won the award three years on the spin but his end-of-season brilliance could turn the vote away from Mohamed Salah, who has been odds-on favourite for the award for many months now. A potential fourth Premier League title and a third major PFA award would surely send this magnificent footballer to the top of the tree in terms of the greatest player to have played in the Premier League.

He might even be there already.
Lewis Jones

Liverpool comeback shows their potency

It was tough for Jurgen Klopp’s team for much of the first half in Manchester and yet they scored a goal against City and were almost through on a number of other occasions. Sadio Mane was the quietest of the front three in the first half but then found his goal at the start of the second.

Containing this team for a whole game, even for the Premier League champions, is almost impossible. For all City’s good play, it would not have been a huge shock had Mohamed Salah been able to curl the ball into the corner and win the game with his late chance.

Styles make fights and this title race is made epic because these teams have different strengths. City had more of the ball and more shots but when it came to quality chances measured by the expected goals model, Liverpool won that battle 1.22 to 1.2.

City maintained a level of control over the game but they never strangled Liverpool – a sign that Pep Guardiola’s team are at their best. They couldn’t get that comfortable, not against this Liverpool team.
Lewis Jones

Burnley final-third woes to cost top-flight status?

Norwich showed a spirit in their win over fellow relegation battlers Burnley which may well have secured top-flight status – had it sparked a month or so earlier, while Burnley were uncharacteristically toothless in their familiar battle to avoid the drop.

Sean Dyche was understandably dismissive about the severity of defeat against the division’s rock-bottom side and suggested it could inject a freedom as the odds begin to stack against his team – but his admission of deficiencies in the final third were telling and candid.

Maxwel Cornet has been Burnley’s shining light but spurned a gaping opportunity to level the scores midway through the second half. For all the attacking endeavour, that lack of cutting edge was epitomised by Wout Weghorst trudging off after an eighth-successive goalless run-out.

Burnley are, indeed, now favourites to face the drop come May over 17th-placed Everton, with four points now dividing the sides – and so Dyche has his wish for freedom from being widely written off. Few would categorically dismiss a great escape – but the Clarets need a striker to rekindle the club’s customary efficiency in front of goal during this run-in.
Adam Smith

One hangover too many for the Hammers?

With Manchester United, Arsenal and Wolves all losing this weekend the platform was there for West Ham seize the initiative in the race for European football but a toothless, lethargic display from the Hammers saw David Moyes’ side lose crucial ground.

Clearly feeling the effects of Thursday’s Europa League exploits against Lyon, where they played the majority of the game with 10 men after Aaron Cresswell’s dismissal, the Hammers looked off-colour before a ball had been kicked.

West Ham looked there for the taking in the warm-ups, which lacked intensity, saw passes fail to find their target, and saw the Hammers strikers seldom finding the net when conducting their pre-match shooting drills.

There was little improvement once the game started. West Ham never looked like scoring and managed just a single attempt on target. Their hopes of getting anything only lasting as long as they did due to Brentford’s profligacy.

With Moyes conceding after the game that it was an opportunity missed, West Ham’s hopes of qualifying for the Champions League now look to rest on their Europa League campaign.

The Hammers head to Lyon for Thursday’s second leg on the back of this alarming performance which only fuels fears that burnout could hamper them at the business end of the season. Now it’s over the Moyes and his players to dispel those concerns.
Jack Wilkinson

Toney, Mbeumo get Bees buzzing

Brentford have won four of their last five Premier League matches to move into what has to surely be an unassailable 12-point lead over the sides in the bottom three.

With 36 points secured with just six games remaining, Thomas Frank’s side have almost certainly staved off the kind of relegation fears all newly-promoted sides have to manage in the top flight, a testament to the project he has expertly overseen in west London.

Christian Eriksen has been influential, the Dane has four wins from his four starts since resuming his playing career with the Bees after suffering a cardiac arrest while playing for Denmark at Euro 2020.

But this latest victory was just reward for another influential showing from strikeforce Bryan Mbeumo and Ivan Toney, who set each other up for Brentford’s goals.

Only West Ham’s Said Benrahma and Michail Antonio (5) and Tottenham’s Heung-Min Son and Harry Kane (6) have combined for more league goals than Toney and Mbeumo (4).

The pair fired Brentford to their second-ever league double over West Ham and the first since the 1953/54 campaign, but the near confirmation of another season of Premier League football for the Bees was testament not only to Sunday’s performance but to their campaign as a whole.
Jack Wilkinson

Leicester show their strength in depth

It’s not often two teams play each other in the Premier League with their focus on other competitions, but that was the case for Leicester and Crystal Palace.

Brendan Rodgers made seven changes to freshen up his side following their 0-0 draw on Thursday night with PSV in their Europa Conference League quarter-final ahead of the second leg this week. The Foxes had the energy to press the visitors from the start which led to the opening goal when Youri Tielemans won the ball in the Palace half.

Palace were unchanged after hammering Arsenal 3-0 on Monday Night Football with manager Patrick Vieira aiming to continue the form which had seen them lose just once in 11 matches before they take on Chelsea at Wembley in Sunday’s FA Cup semi-final.

Leicester proved the quality in depth they hold despite changing their entire back four and front line. Kiernan Dewsbury-Hall was the star with his first Premier League goal and an assist for Ademola Lookman’s opener.

Rodgers delivered high praise of the 23-year-old, saying: “He’s everything that I’d want in a player in the team. He’s very honest, he works very, very hard and he has quality.”

He will have some difficult selection decisions to make when they head to PSV on Thursday while Vieira may have to rethink his starting XI for Chelsea.
David Richardson