West Ham pile pressure on Frank Lampard while Mykhailo Mudryk excites at Anfield – Premier League hits and misses | Football News

Master Moyes teaches Lampard a lesson

“I knew I would win,” beamed David Moyes as he faced the press after a week where men potentially losing their jobs had reached pantomime levels. Instead, it was Frank Lampard, not Moyes, facing the difficult questions about his future. Perhaps the experience of Moyes won the day for him here.

He knew a clean sheet was the most important aspect of this decisive encounter. West Ham played in a pretty dour and defensive fashion yet Everton could have still been playing late into the night at The London Stadium and not found a way to score a goal. Such is West Ham’s quality on the counter-attack – as seen for much of the Moyes era – he knew he could rely on his attackers to pounce at key moments in the match.

Jarrod Bowen provided the spark and quality when required, doubling his season tally in an important seven-minute period that may just have kickstarted West Ham’s season.

“I am trying to get West Ham into the best position and to try and win a trophy,” added Moyes. It seems fending off relegation isn’t even seen as success by the West Ham boss. He knows this team have huge capabilities. And now he just may get the time to try and take them to such outlandish heights.
Lewis Jones

Mudryk’s potential already obvious

There are a few caveats required here before getting too excited. Chelsea’s goalless draw at Liverpool was not the most difficult of games to lift given the miserable lack of quality on offer, while 37-year-old James Milner is hardly the quickest full-back in the competition.

Mykhailo Mudryk might feel he should have marked the occasion of his Chelsea debut with the winning goal too. Even so, the £88.5m signing from Shakhtar Donetsk showed more than enough at Anfield to suggest that he can be an exciting addition to the Premier League.

Graham Potter insisted that Mudryk was not ready to start the game. “He has not played since November,” explained the Chelsea head coach. “It was about managing his minutes at the back end of the game.” But the 22-year-old winger looked particularly lively.

“He will get better the more he is with us,” added Potter. “He has only had two sessions with us but from watching him at Shakhtar and seeing his quality there, he is dangerous in one-on-one situations, makes things happen, gets the supporters off their seats.”

There were signs of that, encouraging interplay with others too, just as Joao Felix had impressed prior to his red card on debut. “Sometimes coaches think we magically turn these players into top players but they are top players.” Both could be huge for Chelsea.
Adam Bate

Silva still a class act for Chelsea

Competition was not exactly fierce for player of the match but Thiago Silva shaded it for doing more than anyone else to secure the clean sheet at Anfield. Playing alongside an inexperienced centre-back partner in Benoit Badiashile, Silva was as serene as ever.

“I am sure he benefits from playing with Thiago Silva,” said Potter of the new defender. “Everyone benefits.” Chelsea are a team in transition and how long the 38-year-old Brazilian will be part of it remains to be seen, but they are not ready for life without him yet.

There was a moment in the second half when he was exposed one-on-one against Darwin Nunez. The home crowd were up but the old maestro saw out the danger. “He has got a footballing brain that is above everybody, pretty much,” added Potter. That sums it up.
Adam Bate

Klopp looking for positives as Reds toil

Jurgen Klopp is trying to be upbeat. In the press conference after the draw with Chelsea, he even pointed out that Arsene Wenger lost his own 1000th game as a manager by six goals. A point at Anfield was something to build on, he argued. But it was not entirely convincing.

His team certainly aren’t convincing at the moment. As Klopp acknowledged, his best players are struggling for form. “Even Thiago, who is obviously a great player, gave the ball away with unforced errors.” When he is doing that, you know you are in trouble.

“I expect progress and I think from the last league game it was progress, definitely. That is important.” Important but not difficult after they were outplayed so comprehensively at Brighton. Much more will be needed to close that alarming gap to the top four.

It starts with the defence and back-to-back clean sheets this week, in the FA Cup and here, is an encouraging sign. “Massive,” said Klopp. “Sometimes you have to defend with passion. We did not do that two weeks ago. Today we did. These things are positives.”

The worry is that the cohesion further forward is absent. It has not clicked for Cody Gakpo. Others are below par. If that changes, Liverpool’s ceiling could yet be high. “All of a sudden it looks completely different.” Right now, finding it still feels some way away.
Adam Bate

Emery’s Villa winning with or without the ball

After winning five of his first seven Premier League games in charge, it’s fair to say Unai Emery has made a highly impressive start to life at Aston Villa.

The wins at home to Manchester United in his first game in charge and at Tottenham on New Year’s Day stand out, but the former Villarreal boss may take even greater encouragement from Villa’s past two results.

After being held at Villa Park by Wolves and then suffering a shock home defeat to Stevenage in the FA Cup, Emery told Sky Sports that he wanted his side to “improve with the ball” against sides who were happy to concede possession.

Leeds – Villa’s opponents last Friday – and Southampton did just that, but Villa found a way to take maximum points from both games.

Emery can now claim to have a team capable of winning games when they spend more than half of the game out of possession – such as against Man Utd and Spurs – and when they have to take the initiative, such as at St Mary’s.

They may remain 11th in the Premier League, but Emery’s team are now just five points behind fifth-placed Spurs. The sky’s the limit during the second half of the season.
Joe Shread

No comfort for Jones as ire switches towards officials

Aston Villa snaffle victory at St Mary’s after a debatable VAR decision. We’ve been here before. Another game marred by controversy and one that was ultimately not settled on the pitch, but 70 miles away at Stockley Park.

Southampton were toppled 1-0 by Villa under similar circumstances back in January 2021 – when Ralph Hasenhuttl was manager – where VAR was once again in the spotlight after refusing Saints a blatant penalty.

In this instance, video assistant referee Richard West instructed on-field referee Michael Salisbury to consult the monitor after James Ward-Prowse established Saints’ lead, directing him towards a supposed foul on Jacob Ramsey by Mohamed Elyounoussi in the preamble.

The incident looked innocuous. Certainly not enough to be deemed a “clear and obvious error” but less than a minute later, the goal had been chalked off. Whose to say whether Jones’ side would have held onto their advantage, should the goal have stood, but odds are they wouldn’t have finished the day empty-handed.

Saints have won fewer home points (six) than any other side in the top four tiers of English football this term.

It’s a desperate state of affairs on the south coast. “The referee blew up at every single opportunity, he couldn’t wait to give free-kicks,” Jones said afterwards. The irony is, on the occasion in question, the referee’s whistle stayed silent – unfortunately for Southampton, VAR did not.
Laura Hunter

Foxes can take heart from battling draw

This was a hugely important match for Brendan Rodgers and Leicester, who came into it on the back of a worrying four-game losing streak since the return to Premier League action after the World Cup and were left with hearts broken as Brighton snatched a deserved late draw at the King Power.

The Foxes face Midlands rivals Aston Villa, then Tottenham, Manchester United and runaway league leaders Arsenal in their next four league games, meaning they really needed a result against an in-form and high-flying Brighton team.

After showing great spirit to turn the contest on its head and lead 2-1, having trailed to Kaoru Mitoma’s solo stunner, Rodgers and Co will feel this was a defeat, rather than a draw, after conceding late on.

It would have been worse, though, had the visitors been more clinical in front of goal, or indeed the Video Assistant Referee Lee Mason decided Danny Welbeck had been tripped in the box after the break, and Rodgers will hope his players can use this battling display to stir memories of their form earlier in the season, when they won five out of eight in October and November.
Richard Morgan

Ouattara stars on Bournemouth debut

As far as Premier League debuts go, Bournemouth winger Dango Ouattara’s was a pretty impressive one.

The 20-year-old Burkina Faso international, who joined the club for £20m from French club Lorient this week, was thrown straight into the starting line-up for Saturday’s game against Nottingham Forest. He did not disappoint.

Ouattara was a threat all afternoon down the right-hand side. His raw pace and bravery on the ball gave Bournemouth’s attack a new dimension. He set up Jaidon Anthony’s opener with some brilliant wide play and almost capped his first appearance in English football with a goal late on.

The first Bournemouth player to provide an assist on his Premier League debut, Ouattara has already shown head coach Gary O’Neil what his side’s been missing in recent weeks. The Cherries had lost six games in a row since top-flight football resumed after the World Cup. They had failed to score in five of those.

Bournemouth didn’t win this weekend, but crucially they found the net and ended that woeful losing run. Ouattara’s arrival could breathe some much-needed life into their fight for survival.

More signings are needed on the south coast before the January transfer window closes, but Ouattara’s instant impact will give the Cherries confidence they have what it takes to beat the drop.
Dan Sansom

Forest growing in belief as unbeaten run continues

Snatching a last-gasp draw against strugglers Bournemouth may not raise excitement levels at Nottingham Forest too much, but in the context of their season it could prove to be a vital point and crucially kept them heading in the right direction.

Steve Cooper’s side have now collected 11 points from their past six league matches, more than they managed in their opening 14 fixtures this season. That impressive run has seen them climb to 13th in the table and move four points clear of the relegation zone.

Forest are a different team from the one that were bottom as recently as November. They’re now playing with more confidence on the ball, have tightened up their defence, and demonstrated against Bournemouth they can grind out results when not at their best.

The 1-1 draw at the Vitality Stadium extended their unbeaten streak in the Premier League to four games. Including a penalty shoot-out victory over Wolves in the Carabao Cup, they’ve won six of their last 10 in all competitions.

Forest have taken a giant stride towards Premier League safety in recent weeks and look in no immediate danger of slipping back into the bottom three. With a cup semi-final against Manchester United to look forward to this week as well, the future at the City Ground is shaping up to be a promising one.
Dan Sansom