Revamped Reds’ attack ‘through the roof’; Blues and Spurs share big issue — PL Talking Pts

Liverpool inflicted a historic humiliation on bitter rivals Manchester United. Leaders Arsenal showed the spirit of champions to beat Bournemouth, while Chelsea’s Wesley Fofana gave beleaguered boss Graham Potter some breathing space.

Here are the biggest talking points from a huge weekend in the Premier League!

Liverpool charge towards top four

When Liverpool lost 3-0 at Wolves a month ago, a return to the Champions League next season looked a distant dream with Jurgen Klopp’s men down in 10th and 11 points off the top four.

Now, the gap to fourth-placed Tottenham is just three points with a game in hand after a historic 7-0 rout of Manchester United at Anfield.

By a distance Liverpool’s best performance of the season confirmed a return to the form in recent weeks.

The Reds have taken 13 points from a possible 15 and kept five consecutive clean sheets in the Premier League.

At the other end of the pitch, a long-term plan is also coming together. Darwin Nunez and Cody Gakpo showed they could yet be fitting heirs to Roberto Firmino and Sadio Mane in Liverpool’s attack by each scoring twice.

But Mohamed Salah remains Liverpool’s greatest source of goals and the Egyptian grabbed a double in the United demolition to move outright as the club’s leading goalscorer in the Premier League era with 129.

“It was like a new variation of the old front three at Liverpool,” Birmingham striker and pundit Troy Deeney said on BBC.

“Younger, faster and stronger. Gakpo is a new 2.0 of Bobby Firmino. The best thing I love is there was always one of them in the middle of the goal. They are like the flying arrows.

“Nunez and Gakpo are 23 years old. Their ceiling [is] through the roof. They are frightening.”

Former Reds midfielder Graeme Souness said on Sky Sports: “In the second half, that was the Liverpool of old. They were first to everything.

“When you watch the very best teams, when you watch Liverpool and Manchester City play at their best, you think they have an extra man. That’s how it appeared today in the second half.”

White hails Arsenal spirit

Ben White soaked in the jubilant scenes that followed Arsenal’s incredible 3-2 win against Bournemouth and saluted the team-spirit that kept them in pole position to win the title.

Mikel Arteta’s side roared back from two goals down to complete a potentially season-defining comeback at a raucous Emirates Stadium on Saturday.

With Manchester City beating Newcastle just hours earlier, Arsenal’s lead was already down to two points before Bournemouth scored the second fastest goal in Premier League history through Philip Billing after 9.11 seconds.

Marcos Senesi doubled the lead in the second half but Arsenal underlined their tenacity and togetherness as they chase a first title since 2004.

Thomas Partey tapped home to start the fightback and Ben White scored his first-ever Arsenal goal to equalise before Reiss Nelson struck deep into stoppage-time to restore their five-point lead.

It was the third time in their last six games that Arsenal had scored a winner in or after the 90th minute.

“I think it is all down to the boys and how we work each day, it is a result we fully deserve,” White said.

“Every week we keep building and winning games and that’s what we managed to do. We just keep going, play the way we play and the goals will come.”

Manager Mikel Arteta said: “I’m incredibly happy. It was just mad. It was a really special win and it took until the last second to earn it,” Arteta said.

Spurs’ ploy backfires but Conte returns just in time

Like many Premier League teams, Tottenham opted to rest a host of players for a midweek FA Cup clash – and paid the price with a 1-0 boilover defeat to Sheffield United.

Spurs had 17 shots to Sheffield’s seven, but were very wasteful in front of goal.

And the decision to rest their players to prioritise the Premier League backfired further on the weekend in a 1-0 defeat to Wolves, courtesy of Adama Traore’s 82nd-minute strike.

Again, Spurs took far more attempts than their rivals, this time 21 to eight. In fact, they took 14 shots before Wolves even managed one.

Spurs also struck the woodwork twice through Pedro Porro and Son Heung-Min without finding the back of the net.

The latter has scored five times in 24 league appearances this season – well below his golden-boot-worthy 23 in 35 last season, or 17 from 37 the season before. By this time last season, he had 11 goals in 24 games, and each one of those goals came in a different game.

However, Son struck 12 goals in the final 11 games of last year’s season – something Spurs will be desperate to see repeated this time around.

Son looks to be lacking in confidence, which can be seen in his tendency to take an additional touch or two before shooting.

With Dejan Kulusevski’s form also waning (no assists in nine league games since the World Cup, just two goals in 18 games this league campaign in total), Spurs have serious problems trying to hold onto a top four spot and Champions League qualification.

They are currently three points above Liverpool, but the Reds have a game in hand.

If there’s one piece of good news, coach Antonio Conte has returned to the team after surgery.

“Antonio will be a massive boost for us from tomorrow [Sunday] to the end of the season,” assistant head coach Cristian Stellini said. “It is important that Antonio is back. We’d want him back with a different result but I think the team showed to Antonio that the team is alive, they want to win, they want to control the game, they want to dominate the game and this is important.”

Potter gets boost from Fofana but big question remains

Graham Potter hailed Wesley Fofana’s game-changing return to the Chelsea team after his second-half header earned a much-needed 1-0 win over Leeds at Stamford Bridge.

French defender Fofana was making his first start since the knee injury he sustained against AC Milan in October.

Remarkably, his goal was Chelsea’s first in four games and their second in seven.

With Thiago Silva sidelined for around six weeks, Fofana’s return is well-timed for Potter, who desperately needs a long winning run to end the talk that he could be sacked – especially with the club 10th in the Premier League and already out of both domestic cups.

Just their third victory in 16 games provided optimism ahead of Wednesday morning’s Champions League last 16 second leg against Borussia Dortmund, with the Blues trailing 1-0 after the first match.

“We’ve missed Wesley. He brings something different, he lets you defend a little bit higher up the pitch because he’s got the pace and physicality to recover,” Potter said.

“He can attack the ball well. He’s a young player, he’s adapting to Chelsea. He’s got the personality.”

But Chelsea’s biggest problem remains goals.

“We have to attack better as a team,” said Potter. “That’s my responsibility. It’s too easy to zoom in on individuals and blame them. It’s a collective, we have to create more, do better, and that starts with me.

“Helping the team get better chances, more chances. I don’t doubt the quality of the players.”

That includes the likes of Ukrainian Mykhailo Mudryk, who signed for an initial 70 million euros rising to 100 million euros in add-ons – but hasn’t started in the last three games and was an unused substitute against Leeds despite Potter making all five available changes.

He hasn’t scored in his five league appearances, while Joao Felix has one in four games and Hakim Ziyech none in 13 appearances.

Getting them firing – as well as the repeatedly injury-hit Raheem Sterling – will be crucial to getting anything out of this season.