Beyond The Score

With three top sides battling it out at the top, this season’s title race already seems as though it is destined for the history books. It’ll be a Premier League year that many will sit down in years to come and watch in awe. There will be Tiktok’s made about “Prime Opta” when football was much better. Nostalgia is a beast.

In all seriousness though, with three sides split by just a point, the next two months are sure to be a roller coaster with an incredible story dangling at the end. The final straight is commencing, the finish line is in sight.

Whether it will smash the ceiling of the famous 2011/12 campaign or even 2018/19 when Guardiola’s Giants faced Klopp’s Kings, remains to be seen. Yet the added ingredient of a third army creates a new element of fascination and entertainment.

In terms of point tallies, it cannot eclipse what Guardiola and Klopp’s heavyweights reached. The most Arsenal or Liverpool could get is 94 compared with the 97 and 98 of 2018/19. However with three sides going hammer and tongue you could argue that it’s got the writing of just as special a finale, even if it doesn’t break the statistical ceiling

What makes it more alluring (as if we needed something else), is that all three clubs have their own narrative developing. The question becomes who will have the happy ending?

Arsenal – the Gunners came so close yet so far last season and will be vying to put it right with Mikel Arteta’s first league title in North London. Sitting eight points in front with a game in hand, Arsenal saw their form fall off a cliff leading them to be labelled “bottle-jobs” by many online critics.

After 29 games they were in imperious form, Manchester City’s dominance was in great trouble. Then they travelled to Anfield, a place that Arteta has great respect for, but not such a great record. Playing You’ll Never Walk Alone in training speakers didn’t have the desired effect.

2-0 up and cruising after just 28 minutes, this was a side who looked destined to put an end to their Premier League drought. Everything about them – the movement, the tempo, the ice-cool composure – resembled champions in the making. In reality, it was the start of a nine game run where a winning percentage of 78% dropped to 23%. They would bag three more victories in the last nine outings.

The are now just one game off the nine games to go stage. The question is: are we going to see another collapse?

It’s likely not. The circumstances are different, just as Arsenal are. Adding Declan Rice to their midfield armour has helped along with the likes of Kai Havertz joining the force. Plus, the situation is different. Despite sitting top, they don’t carry the burden of bookies’ favouritism, and any claim that losing the league from here would be a bottle job would be ridiculous.

As for Liverpool, there is the small factor of Jurgen Klopp announcing his departure this summer. The romanticism seems too good to be true. Could the German sail off into the Sunset with another League title in his armour?

Truth be told, many Liverpool fans didn’t expect to be in a title race at this stage of the rebuild. As the season started a solid top-four finish would have been satisfactory in the eyes of many.

The transition though, has been seamless. Twenty points better off at this stage and just three short of last season’s full tally, the turnaround has been somewhat miraculous.

The rebuild of the side that slumped in 2020/21 after a heroic 2018/19 and 2019/20 seems to be nearly complete with key figures such as Mane and Firminio leaving and Diaz and Nunez replacing.

In (still at club)	Out
Nunez (ST)	Mane (LW)
Gakpo (LW)	Origi (ST)
Konate (CB)	Firminio (CF)
Diaz (LW)	Shaquiri (RW)
Carvahlo (CAM)	Williams (RB)
Ramsay (RB)	Minamino (LW)
Szoboszlai (CM)	Henderson(CM)
Mac Allister(CM)	Fabinho(CDM)
Gravenberch (CM)	Wijnaludum (CM)
Endo (CDM)	Oxlade-Chamberlin (CM)
Diaz (LW)	Keita (CM)
	Milner (CM)

Still a relatively new group, the ceiling is sky-high with the new appointment this Summer vital.

And, of course there is Manchester City, last season’s treble-winners, this season’s double-treble chasers. There is a genuine possibility that they could repeat this feat. After all, they still remain favourites to become the first team in English top flight history to win four titles on the bounce.

Admittedly, they haven’t quite hit the heights this season that they so often do. Still, it is usually around this stage of the season, after the final international break when they click into gear. After all last season they found themselves in a similar situation, only one point better off.

City’s previous standings at this time of the season (Bold for league titles)

Season (after 28 matches)	Position	PTS	GD
2023/24	3	63	35
2022/23	2	64	45
2021/22	1	69	50
2020/21	1	65	37
2019/20	2	57	37
2018/19	2	68	55
2017/18	1	75	62
2016/17	3	56	24

As for the XI now, what we have all been waiting for, I’ve been deliberately awkward and played a three-box three, just for the fun of it. A formation of course which none of the teams really play, only Liverpool experimented with it towards the tail end of last season.

There have been noticeable absentees, to cut me a bit of slack that was always going to be the case, as this is three genuinely world class sides.

GK

Signed for a hefty fee of £70 million in the summer of 2018, Alisson Becker has managed to somehow make that look as though a bargain. There have been so many iconic moments over the years such as unforgettable assists to Salah against Manchester United and Manchester City, to the Napoli save which kept the Reds in the Champions League the season they were victorious, or the West Brom late header which swung the pendulum in the Covid Season for Liverpool’s top four hopes.

However, his brilliance goes beyond moments. Structurally, he is vital to Klopp’s gegenpress style. His sweeping skills and incredible reading of the game allow Liverpool to play an incredibly high line and squeeze the park to their advantage.

Just at the weekend against Manchester United, the type of goals Manchester United scored weren’t as a result of poor goalkeeping by Kelleher. However, with Alisson in between the sticks there is a great chance he would have pulled a save out of the bag that he had no right to do. How often in those types of affairs have Liverpool had Alisson to thank?

This was one of the easier decisions to make. For all of Ederson’s incredible distribution, the stats do not lie. Without Alisson Liverpool would be in a different place.

Team	Goals Conceded	Expected Goals Conceded	Differential
Arsenal	24	22.85	-1.15
Liverpool	26	35.15	+9.15
Man City	28	27.96	-0.01

Defence

It get’s a little tougher…

John Stones

The Man City centre-back is the most technically gifted of the three. The fact that he has played so often in the midfield role as part of a double-pivot is testament to that. Yet, his defensive acumen isn’t to be scoffed at either, even if it is admittedly slightly worse than the other two mentioned and some who didn’t make the cut. The stats don’t make for terrible reading though. In this season, he has been dribbled past only once every five games, and he has not made an error leading to a shot.

His ball-playing ability is what propelled me to select him though. At first glance a 96% pass rate for Man City may be expected for a centre-back, yet with his change in role so many of those passes have been from a progressive midfield position.

Gabriel

The Brazilian has been simply sensational this season. Often Saliba gets the plaudits for Arsenal’s defensive work but Gabriel has been less error-prone even if a little less flashy in possession. Arsenal’s downfall last season coincided with the loss of Saliba, but it’s unfair to dismiss his partner as equally essential. Gabriel has been paramount in what has been a super defence this season and has popped up with four goals to add to that.

Season	Best defensive Team (after 28 games)	Goals Conceded (after 28 games)
2023/24	Arsenal	24
2022/23	Man City	26
2021/22	Man City	18
2020/21	Man City	19
2019/20	Liverpool	20
2018/19	Liverpool	15
2017/18	Man City and Man United	20
2016/17	Chelsea and Spurs	21
2015/16	Spurs	22
2014/15	Chelsea	23
2013/14	Chelsea	22

Virgil Van Dijk

Taking the armband this season, he has relished the challenge and not looked a step out of place. He is quite often branded one of the greatest centre backs in the Premier League era. Can you really argue? Critics may point to a performance away to Arsenal where he was distinctly off colour in his work in and out of possession. While that’s true, his reaction has been simply sensational.

There was the cup final against Chelsea where he scored the all important header late on to be victorious, plus a game against Manchester City where he policed Erling Haaland to just one single shot off target (0.1xg). That could prove to be crucial come the end of the season.

Nonetheless, this isn’t a prime Virgil Van Dijk. He hasn’t reached the same heights since he broke his leg in October 2020. A Virgil Van Dijk operating at 90% still deserves a place though.

Midfield

Rodri

He can take the ball anywhere on the pitch with numerous men on him, yet he never looks for a second as though losing the ball is a possibility.

Even as a holding midfielder, the Spaniard still has crucial goals to his name. His strike to break the deadlock against Bayern last season in the quarter final was crucial in turning the tide and of course he came up with the all important one in Istanbul to end the wait for Manchester City’s first Champions League trophy.

While some would argue that playing for Manchester City is an easier task due to the vast amount of options that present themselves, what the stats show is that Guardiola’s side rely heavily on Rodri in controlling games the way Guardiola wishes them to. In games such as Arsenal and Wolves away when he has been absent, they failed to dominate the midfield routinely as usual. In transition they were much more vulnerable as well, often finding their defenders facing their own goal and backtracking, which is something we don’t usually see from the Champions.

This Sunday they welcome Arsenal to the Etihad, and while he missed the last game a return to the side for this fixture could prove to be all important

Waturo Endo

The other three midfielders were shoe-ins. It left us with one space and for balance I believe Endo deserves this for his doggedness and work ethic. He is also quite a good footballer to be fair!

He may be 31 years old and coming from a Stuggart side who finished 16th out of 18th in the Bundesliga last season. He may have only cost £16 million. He may have been a back-up option who many English football fans wouldn’t have heard of. Toss all this to the side, and you have one of the signings of the season.

No game sums up his qualities greater than the Carabao Cup final against Chelsea. 120 minutes later he left Wembley on crutches, yet he soldiered on with his mouthguard protecting and his legs in tact.

The day that Moises Caiecedo picked Chelsea over Liverpool left many Anfield fans bitterly disappointed. I wonder which is the disappointed party now?

Martin Odegaard

On this site I’ve already raved about what a quality player Martin Odegaard is. He could play in any midfield in the world, of which I am convinced.

For Arsenal, it just makes sense. While Arteta hasn’t built a system around him it’s clear it allows the Norwegian to flourish.

If you allow Odegaard to get into the right half-spaces, it becomes extremely difficult to stop Arsenal. In previous seasons we have seen him improving his goalscoring return as well. The timing of his runs has been more intelligent, and Arsenal have reaped the rewards. Just look at these examples:

Away to Sheffield United:

Home to Wolves

Home to Manchester United

And Home to Lens

If Arsenal are to break their Premier league duck he will be vital.

Kevin De Bruyne

One of the greatest midfielders the Premier League has ever seen may be slowing down slightly but he still commands a place in this combined XI.

Combining with Haaland incredibly often, the Belgian’s return has propelled Manchester City back into form as they now sit one point off the summit.

Having missed much of the season De Bruyne returned away to Newcastle for an out of sort of Man City who were losing 2-1 and looking like making it just three wins in nine games. The minute he took to the field the emphasis flipped. Scoring and setting up one for Oscar Bobb in injury time, it felt as though Guardiola’s men had announced themselves. They aren’t going anywhere anytime soon.

Attack

Mohammed Salah

Yes, I’ve included the man who has scored over twenty goals for seven consecutive seasons. Crazy consistency.

First signed in 2017/18 after Michael Edwards persuaded Jurgen Klopp to go with the Egyptian instead of Julian Brandt, the Egyptian has never looked back. While we’ll never know how well the Dortmund playmaker may have done, Klopp certainly won’t be too frustrated that he listened to the sporting director.

With so many influential years in the bank, the question is how many are left to give?

The dilemma becomes when another bid from Saudi inevitably comes this summer. While during Klopp’s time Liverpool have rarely let go of their stars when they are reaching the end of their peak, you wonder how that changes with managerial change come July.

The £200 million fee allows a new manager to manoeuvre the squad to their liking, but will Salah’s contributions over the next season outweigh it if he stays?

Haaland

He is a physical freak by nature.

I’ll admit that when he first came to Manchester City I was skeptical. It wasn’t that I felt he would struggle, my feeling was that Guardiola’s side would diminish as a unit and lose what made them so difficult to play against, the rotational quality of their frontline. The inability to suss out a goal scorer as goals come from so many sources.

Little did I expect fifty-two goals in his opening season. I repeat, fifty-two goals.

It’s true, City aren’t quite as entertaining as the play is more engineered to find Haaland therefore becoming slower and more methodical.

Yet, it’s added a quality that they struggled slightly with before. They can now win more games ugly. It was never a quality you associated with City as usually they were so scinitilating in blowing away teams. Nevertheless, in a season with 19 league wins to date, on 3 occasions Haaland has been their only scorer.

Saka

Of course, the England international is far from a natural left-winger, yet it felt unfair to leave him out of this eleven due to the incredible attacking season he and Arsenal are having.

The Englishman is one of the best one-on-one dribblers in the world but hasn’t posted the goalscoring numbers of the elite.

This season that has improved as on his current projection the gunner is set to meet nineteen league goals this season and if Arsenal make it just to the semi Finals of the champions league it would be 23 in all competitions. Football isn’t an exact science with too many variables to make such predictions, although we can still use it as a good barometer.

His performances in the major games against the likes of Liverpool, Manchester United and Spurs have been monumental and could be telling come the end of the season.

Not to mention his response to adversity as during the Christmas period where him and Arsenal seemed to lose form he has bounced back, doing what all great players do.

That leaves us with:

What a weird looking side

Honourable mentions

Seriously, this list could go on for days yet there are some who can feel really hard done by not to get a place. Whether it’s a systematic or injury related issue here are those I agonised over leaving out in no particular order:

• Ben White
• Trent Alexander-Arnold
• William Saliba
• Ruben Dias
• Declan Rice
• Bernardo Silva
• Kai Havertz
• Darwin Nunez
• Phil Foden
• Alexis Mac Allister