Last weekend was something of a paradise for fans of English football. While Saturday saw the incredibly competitive relegation battle unfold in the Premier League, Sunday witnessed Manchester United take on Chelsea in a tight affair at Old Trafford, followed by a Carabao Cup final that has created talking points for predominantly the wrong reasons.
As ever in football, the weekend produced its winners and losers – so here’s a look back with a rundown of those who triumphed and those who toiled.
Losers – Arsenal
Arsenal have suffered countless lows during the declining years of Arsene Wenger’s tutelage but the grandness of their stage on Sunday made the 3-0 defeat to Manchester City in the Carabao Cup final particularly significant. While there’s no disgrace in losing to easily the best side in English football if not Europe this season, the manner of the defeat was the ultimate issue at Wembley.
Arsenal gave as good as they got until the first goal went in, but Shkodran Mustafi’s pathetic reaction to Sergio Aguero’s challenge before the Argentine latched onto Claudio Bravo’s pass and lobbed David Ospina epitomised their performance from that point; toothless, spineless and without any real conviction.
Out of the FA Cup already and way behind the rest of the Big Six, Arsenal’s domestic season has ended in February. It’s hard to tell where the north Londoners and Arsene Wenger go from here.
Winner – Gary Neville
Speaking of Arsenal, a mid-game rant may have etched Gary Neville’s name into commentary and punditry folklore on Sunday.
Some would prescribe the Manchester United’s critique as overzealous but it perfectly encapsulated how pathetic Arsenal’s performance was in the Carabao Cup final, branding the Emirates outfit an ‘absolute disgrace’ and particularly targeting an engine room of Granit Xhaka, Aaron Ramsey and Mesut Ozil, who Neville all accused of walking just moments before some ingenuity from David Silva sealed City’s third goal and the first trophy of Pep Guardiola’s reign.
Delivered with real passion and genuine anger by the former right-back, Neville’s swipe at Arsenal won’t be forgotten quickly.
Winner – Romelu Lukaku
Romelu Lukaku will be hoping Sunday’s 2-1 win over Chelsea proves to be something of a turning point when he looks back on his Manchester United career in the years to come. This was Lukaku’s first goal against a member of the Premier League’s big six since moving to Old Trafford and it set the Belgium international on his way for his best performance against such calibre of opposition as well.
Continuously growing into what was an incredibly cagey game, Lukaku occupied Chelsea’s three centre-halves and provided a second moment of magic when he curled in a cross for Jesse Lingard to head home the winner.
Come the final few minutes, as Lukaku jinked past one defender and attempted to charge through Chelsea’s entire defence single-handed, the United faithful let out one of the loudest roars heard at Old Trafford this season, laced with encouragement for and acceptance of the club’s £75million purchase.
Loser – Jonjo Shelvey
Just when Jonjo Shelvey appears to be on the verge of a breakthrough, eradicating the long-standing inconsistencies in his game, the Newcastle United midfielder is picked up by Match of the Day for his refusal to track back.
And it was hard to argue with the scathing assessment; after allowing Adam Smith to maraud his way inside from the left back position virtually uncontested, Shelvey loitered aimlessly outside the box, seemingly waiting for the ball, as Dan Gosling charged into it and completed Bournemouth’s comeback after going two goals down.
For all of Shelvey’s undoubted technical quality, he cost his side two vital points on Saturday. That could be incredibly costly come the summer; not only are Newcastle in relegation bother, but Gareth Southgate is still running the rule over England’s engine room options.
Shelvey’s performance on Saturday will have bumped him down the pecking order.
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Loser – Serge Aurier
Many Tottenham fans argued their club had pulled off some of the best business the transfer market has seen this century when they sold Kyle Walker for £50million and replaced him with PSG man Serge Aurier, but Serge Aurier is no Kyle Walker.
Not only did the Ivorian miss a glaring chance to score as Tottenham battled it out in a subdued early kickoff with Crystal Palace on Sunday, somehow overstepping and stopping the ball dead two yards out from goal, but he also became the first player in Premier League history to commit three foul throws in the same game.
It’s a dishonourable record to be the proprietor of, and isn’t exactly the first instance of inexplicable stupidity Aurier has been involved in this season.
Winner – Willian
It’s been an incredible week in the life of Willian, even if it did end in defeat at Old Trafford. The Brazil international was Chelsea’s driving force on Tuesday night as they drew with Barcelona in the Champions League, finding the net after twice hitting the woodwork, and Willian was at his explosive best once again on Sunday, blasting the ball past David De Gea to open the scoring after instigating the counter-attack in his own penalty box.
Jose Mourinho even reserved special praise for his one-time player after the match and considering how performances haven’t even guaranteed him a spot in what has been an unspectacular Chelsea side on the most part this season, the 29-year-old might just take that as encouragement from the Special One to seek a summer move up to Old Trafford.
Losers – West Brom
Alan Pardew is a dead man walking, and at this point his stay of execution has become unbearably painful. The sacking of the two men who appointed him in the same week as four of his players were cautioned by the Spanish authorities for commandeering a taxi amid a drunken rampage at McDonalds has created a hellfire at the Hawthorns, one that they failed to extinguish against Huddersfield on Sunday.
Despite the Terriers’ modest record on the road, they still scored twice before the Baggies managed to respond and eventually sealed a huge victory that could well determine their fate come the end of the season. West Brom though, now appear dead in the water as they’re seven points adrift of safety with just ten games remaining. Next up are Watford.
Winner – Vincent Kompany
When Vincent Kompany swung his foot at an Ilkay Gundogan shot to prod home City’s second goal, the emotion quite simply poured out of him. His celebration was anything other than co-ordinated, City’s skipper flailing his limbs like a man possessed and bellowing out towards the fans who’d travelled all the way to London.
It was a deserved moment considering Kompany, still a world-class centre-back when fit, has endured so many injury problems over the last few years.
But the goal also highlighted the key difference between the two teams at Wembley; no Arsenal player came close to replicating the leadership, physicality and ability to organise that the Belgium international brought to this City team during the most important match of Guardiola’s era so far. If anybody thought Kompany was just along for the ride this season, Sunday’s performance showed how important he still is for the Premier League’s champions in waiting.
Loser – Antonio Conte
Would it be a stretch to suggest Antonio Conte has fallen victim to what Jose Mourinho does best? Since the two exchanged verbal blows at the start of 2018, Chelsea have endured a modest run of form and while their performance at Old Trafford yesterday was hardly embarrassing, the Blues did end up conceding three valuable points to a divisional rival that they hope to beat to second place come the end of May.
Mourinho shook the hand of every Chelsea player before the match, seemingly in attempt to agitate his successor, and Conte’s decisions proved to be the more costly of the two – a few minutes after bizarrely taking off Eden Hazard, Jesse Lingard netted United’s winner. What’s the lesson here? Don’t get involved in mind games with Mourinho.