Bournemouth, David Moyes and Lucas Digne are living the life. But Ruud van Nistelrooy and Ange Postecoglou are in trouble with Ruben Amorim not far behind.
Bournemouth fans
In general, of course, supporting as they do a paragon of sustainable, scalable and achievable Premier League brilliance who refused to stay in their lane and can still remember the dread fear of falling out of the Football League entirely. But more specifically those who decided a 12-hour round trip in the middle of winter to visit the home of the country’s form team was in any way a sensible use of their time.
Much like when the club’s hierarchy decided to replace Gary O’Neil with Andoni Iraola, it was a foolhardy, naive and potentially ruinous decision in which the possible reward far outweighed and entirely justified the risk.
And as seems so often to be the case with the Cherries, they absolutely nailed it. The stunningly well-worked early opener. The conceptually perfect high-pressing second. The nervous, anxious lead. The euphoric stoppage-time goals. The academy product debut with the result secured. Playing and battering Newcastle at their own game. Those are memories for life.
It remains an egregious example of the utterly ludicrous scheduling which perennially takes fans for granted but they made the best of it and should be envied for living the knackered dream.
Andoni Iraola
Ten first-team absentees, half of whom were bought this season including their club-record signing, and a bench with almost as many double-barrelled surnames (four) as prior outfield Premier League appearances (ten).
With Lewis Cook at right-back in a staggeringly young defence, Dango Ouattara used as an unconventional centre-forward and David Brooks and Tyler Adams maximising opportunities given to them in unrelentingly difficult circumstances, Iraola is establishing himself as one of the best coaches in the division.
David Moyes
The first Everton manager since David Moyes to beat Tottenham at home in the Premier League.
Sean Dyche’s last decision at Goodison Park was his best. It is thought that he told the hierarchy he had essentially lost the dressing-room and was no longer the best person for the role.
Moyes might not be either but he benefits from that past connection at a time Everton need to re-establish something vaguely resembling an identity beyond ‘low block and punt it to Iliman’.
Ndiaye did conjure his usual moment of inspiration but it was part of a wider performance rather than the silver lining to the darkest of clouds. The difference in performance of Dominic Calvert-Lewin and Jesper Lindstrom were particularly stark.
While these players should and will not shirk responsibility for the failures of the previous reign, this was compelling proof they can make things work under Moyes.
That seemed true for a time under Dyche, whose first month in charge was underpinned by inspiring home victories he struggled to build on. It soon became an awkward fit of club, fanbase and manager. But Moyes patrolling the dugout as Everton swept aside a purported member of the elite felt just right.
Brighton
Finally they have managed to stitch together their customary victories over Manchester United to register a Premier League Double over them.
The Seagulls seem to win as often at Old Trafford as Manchester United do and few sides have their number quite as emphatically. It is precisely how meetings between one of the best and one of the worst-run clubs in the country should go.
Fabian Hurzeler deserves credit for steering his side out of a sticky patch of eight games without a win to fashion a six-game unbeaten run which has them back in European contention. And while the concept is barely hanging on by a thread, no team has more points against the Big Six this season than Brighton (14).
Harvey Elliott
The spotlight had to fall on Darwin Nunez but the other cameo from a player who might consider himself underused this season was arguably just as influential.
Jurgen Klopp admitted his final season “regret” that Elliott “didn’t play often enough” but the fresh start afforded by Arne Slot soon soured after starting the campaign out of the side before fracturing his foot.
The long lay-off put Elliott at an obvious disadvantage when trying to establish himself as a trustable starter but there is only so much that can be done in nine Premier and Champions League cameos, the longest of which has totalled 16 minutes.
Elliott will not wish to box himself in as a phenomenal substitute option but the reputation he developed under Klopp might be his short-term future role for Slot, in which case playing a crucial role in both goals – with movement, passes and runs which few others in the squad can replicate – is a welcome step forward.
The manager tried to siphon off some of the post-match Nunez media focus to shift to Elliott, whose attitude has been exemplary. It undoubtedly helps being part of a trophy-chasing juggernaut but other 21-year-olds in his position would be playing up to the transfer speculation instead of seeking out the manager for specific advice on how to break into the team and speaking with brutal honesty about where he personally feels he must improve.
Nuno Espirito Santo
Maybe the perfect win for a manager in his position: a resounding lead to show the gulf between what Nottingham Forest were and now are, before a mild panic to show how transient this brilliance could be.
Nuno will take the three points but also an opportunity to remind his players of the standards and how they have to be met over 90 minutes as opposed to 60.
As he said: “You can never ever underestimate it and think the game is over. It was a warning for everybody to realise this league is very tough.” The real message is that Ola Aina can’t be expected to clear one off the line every match.
Crystal Palace
It was a ropey summer followed by what Oliver Glasner called “the worst start in the Premier League history of Crystal Palace” but patience has paid off. The Eagles are as close to the Champions League qualification places as they are the bottom three in terms of points and have far more reason to look up than down.
In 13 games since the November international break, Palace have admittedly rather shamefully only lost to Arsenal and continued their particularly sparking away form. No Premier League side has conceded fewer goals on the road this season and the signing of Romain Esse only reinforces their identity as the place to be for the best young Football League players.
Manchester City
Having been thrashed 4-0 by Tottenham in their first game after Pep Guardiola extended his contract, Manchester City might have feared just what equally relegation-threatened Ipswich would do to them in the aftermath of Erling Haaland’s ridiculous new deal.
The champions have thrown enough hopeful solutions at this troubled season and might finally have stumbled upon the best of all, although handing out decade-long contracts does not seem particularly sustainable.
And while the standard of opponent must be taken into account, Manchester City trouncing teams by eight and six goals before making a £60m forward signing does suggest they are at least on the right track again.
Sander Berge
Not enough is really made of how Fulham have so seamlessly absorbed the two biggest sales in their entire history while continuing to improve.
Marco Silva replaced the goals of Aleksandar Mitrovic by sharing the burden so equally between Raul Jimenez and Rodrigo Muniz that when one is in incredible form, the other must forget how to kick a ball.
So it should be no surprise that his solution to losing Joao Palhinha was to sign twice-relegated Berge from the Championship for about half the price and turn him into a tackling machine with almost flawless pass accuracy.
Fulham have lost just two of the 11 Premier League matches the Norwegian has started this season – either side of the October international break to Manchester City and Aston Villa. That Leicester game was his first appearance since December 22 because of injury and he played the full 90 minutes. The Cottagers have a new midfield machine to worship.
Lucas Digne
Silva always was a visionary. It was not exactly common consensus in April 2019 that Digne is better than Andy Robertson but perhaps the Portuguese simply expressed his views six years too early.
While the Liverpool full-back is on the decline, Digne remains unshiftable at 31. Having seen off the challenge of Alex Moreno it was instructive that Unai Emery’s first unenforced changed against Arsenal was to bring on his trusted lieutenant in place of Ian Maatsen.
Digne shut down the threat on the left with five tackles and four clearances in 45 minutes, as well as a sumptuous assist for the first goal. One of Villa’s most quietly important players was almost sold in the last two summers.
And fair play to Matty Alexander-Arnold-Cash for completing the Liverpool full-back comparison by defending poorly before putting in a stunning ball for the equaliser.
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Premier League losers
Leicester and Ruud van Nistelrooy
That line from Rob Tanner of The Athletic in explaining why Leicester appointed Ruud van Nistelrooy still sticks out: ‘They think he can unite the club and fanbase, lift the players and restore a feel-good factor.’
If that was the aim, act quicker on Steve Cooper and bring in Claudio Ranieri for the final leg of his retirement tour. It is worth a reminder that the Foxes were 16th when they decided to change managers – all was far from lost – but if their desire was to simply generate some positivity then this has been even more of an unmitigated failure than any attempt to avoid relegation or spend money sensibly.
The fans are jeering at the manager’s substitutions, calling for the director of football to leave and even turning on the owner and board. It is an irretrievably toxic situation which could become cataclysmic upon a relegation they seem powerless to avoid.
It is not just that the Van Nistelrooy honeymoon is over; an annulment already feels inevitable. This is such a laughably poor fit of forward-foot manager and Championship-level squad that it is unthinkable quite how Leicester could have played this any worse. They needed a firefighter – having sacked one of the precious few willing to inherit this mess – but instead just closed their eyes and poured petrol everywhere.
Dean Smith was an atrocious choice of parachutist in their last top-flight campaign but at least there was some logic behind that decision. He wasn’t picked just because he had already beaten them twice that season for a start, and would probably make more sense than trusting Van Nistelrooy now.
Tottenham and Ange Postecoglou
‘Spurs remain intent on trying to help Postecoglou rather then removing him from his position’ is the claim from Alasdair Gold and it might just be the most depressing start to a sentence one could wish to read when coming towards the end of the January transfer window.
When their ‘intent on trying to help’ Postecoglou has thus far resulted in the signing of a young, potentially excellent keeper who has already been reduced to picking the ball out of his net thrice at Goodison Park, and one of the few teenagers deemed too callow not to chuck on somewhere, it does not bode particularly well.
And at this stage it’s starting to seem like ‘removing’ Postecoglou from all of this would be a kindness. He speaks well about taking “responsibility” and has resisted overplaying the transfer card like so many of his predecessors but ultimately it just feels beyond him to salvage anything from the wreckage.
The injury crisis is largely out of his hands but the change in system was catastrophic and he is long enough in the tooth to know whose shoulders that falls on.
He is also experienced enough to know that having Tottenham in 15th with as many Premier League losses as last season makes another defeat a “familiar story” but pressure does funny things to people and no-one has attracted quite as much. The best thing Spurs could do to ‘help’ is take it off him.
Manchester United and Ruben Amorim
The honesty and sincerity is refreshing. It must be tempting and would be fair for Amorim to essentially wash his hands of the rest of this season for it is not his team, but it really is his problem.
The Portuguese is instead adamant that this is a collective failure in which he is included, a responsibility shared from boardroom to pitch and everywhere in between.
These miserable first few months are supposed to be the prelude to a stratospheric rise back to where Manchester United belong, the opening paragraphs to an Athletic long read on the 2027/28 champions. This is the short-term pain they must endure for long-term gain, a necessary learning curve to separate wheat from considerable chaff in this squad and emerge for the better.
But what if it doesn’t work? What if Amorim can’t turn this around and Manchester United’s incompetence is simply too powerful to overhaul? What if tearing it all down to try and build back up again only reveals more foundational problems?
“We are being maybe the worst team in the history of Manchester United” must be a deliberate ploy to weed out the players who are not up for the fight of forcing momentum back uphill. But they are also perfect for a managerial obituary when the revival never comes and the sack is made inevitable.
There is a balance to strike between Erik ten Hag blaming injuries or refereeing decisions against Arsenal nine months ago and Amorim ritualistically shaming everyone in public after each defeat.
Manchester United already made a difficult job harder by stupidly insisting it was now or never for Amorim, who played his own hand foolishly by taking the bait. Quite what there is to gain from the figurehead of this club routinely telling everyone how shit he, they and this all is is unknown.
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That Arsenal bench
They should never have needed the input but the liability that is Thomas Partey had to make his presence known, so Arsenal had to look to their bench for inspiration against Aston Villa.
Mikel Arteta was greeted with the depressing contents of a bare cupboard and fridge after putting off the big food shop, except in this instance there seems to be no intention to even nip out and fetch something just for tea.
It was a miserable Raheem Sterling cameo, nine minutes plus stoppage-time of ambling down blocked paths culminating in an embarrassing dribble which got him booked. But if Arsenal did not act the instant Bukayo Saka felt something go in his hamstring before Christmas then a) it seems unlikely they will do anything in January now, and b) it would be far too late in any case.
Arsenal fans
Not all of them, of course, just the most painfully online contingent who immediately cried conspiracy and produced slowed-down footage of the disallowed goal which did nothing other than prove just how thoroughly Mikel Merino’s shot struck Kai Havertz’s hand.
Sky Sports and Match of the Day should probably know better than to play up to it and stoke the fires but when an unhealthy proportion of the fanbase can instinctively tell you where a referee is from and who they support, the battle is already both lost and pointless.
West Ham
The ease with which Graham Potter added a centre-half to a shopping list which perpetually contains a shiny new centre-forward was alarming.
West Ham recouped £9.5m for Thilo Kehrer, Nayef Aguerd, Kurt Zouma, Ben Johnson and Angelo Ogbonna this summer, trading them for theoretical upgrades in Max Kilman, Jean-Clair Todibo and Aaron Wan-Bissaka at the potential cost of £90m. And they might have become worse defensively.
The Todibo injury which has necessitated a look at centre-half “options” available to the Hammers has not helped. But Konstantinos Mavropanos has been shudderingly poor in the 18 months since he joined and Kilman has not brought the sort of leadership and authority to the defence as his price tag suggested he should.
He does do a sublime Roger Johnson against Yaya Toure impression, mind.
Newcastle
Eddie Howe said “it was difficult to change the team when we had just won nine in a row” and any counter-argument could only possibly be made in hindsight; there were few complaints when the starting line-ups were announced.
But really it’s difficult to change the team because scratching below the surface at Newcastle is equivalent to scraping the bottom of the barrel. Fabian Schar, Joe Willock, Kieran Trippier and Will Osula are not substitutes designed to turn Premier League games around in big 2025 yet that is the hand Howe has been dealt and he has no choice but to play it.
There will be no further help in January and the transfer outlook in the summer does not sound particularly promising. Newcastle are on the brink of a special season but this was a timely reminder that everything seems to be built on quicksand.
Brentford
The good news is that Nottingham Forest weathered a Liverpool storm before eventually succumbing to a Darwin Nunez stoppage-time winner at home in the second half of last season, so Thomas Frank should gear up for next campaign’s title challenge.
The bad news is facing 37 shots and yeah, that’s not really ideal.
Southampton
The Derby-o-meter has them a point behind at the same stage of their respective seasons. Make no mistake, we are witnessing something historically bad. An injury to Tyler Dibling really does not help the entirely resigned mood.
Ipswich
Abel Xavier scored when Ipswich last conceded six goals in a game at Portman Road so this has to be seen as progress.
