Chelsea revert to pre-Maresca type as Haaland shines and Saint embarrassed: F365’s 3pm Blackout
Chelsea’s title race is run as Erling Haaland embarrassed West Ham but not as much as Brentford embarrassed Southampton. Here’s the 3pm Blackout.
Crystal Palace 1-1 Chelsea: Blues revert to pre-Maresca type as title challenge ends at Selhurst Park
Chelsea are certainly not in a title challenge and may have a fight on their hands to qualify for the Champions League after another game in which they had the worrying tropes of a pre-Enzo Maresca side.
Cole Palmer’s quick touch and finish was great, but it’s Cole Palmer so unless he now does something absurd with a football – a pretty regular occurrence in itself – we tend to shrug while he shivers. He created four chances inside the first 40 minutes here, two of them the sort of passes a Sunday league player might pull off once in every 100 attempts. But again, the extraordinary is now his norm.
The goal was more about Jadon Sancho, who made Chris Richards look silly once on the halfway line as he skipped over the ball and ran in behind him, and then for a second time in the box as he jinked one way and then the other before teeing up Palmer.
Enzo Maresca will have been pleased with Josh Acheampong’s display. The perennially crocked Wesley Fofana is now likely out for the season and none of Tosin Adarabioyo, Axel Disasi or Benoit Badiashile have looked fit for purpose for a position that has been one of Chelsea’s two major concerns under Maresca – along with the goalkeeper – even with Fofana in the team.
The 18-year-old’s first contribution on his full Premier League debut was to take the ball out of the sky with his instep and volley the ball out wide for Pedro Neto to run onto. Sounds simple enough but yer da couldn’t do it and it was a moment that exemplified his quality and composure on the ball, which once or twice led to turnovers of possession, but more often than not saw Chelsea progress the ball more effectively than they typically do through their other centre-back options.
Acheampong – who signed a new five-year deal with Chelsea last month – also dealt admirably with one of the more uncomfortable Premier League opponents in Jean-Philippe Mateta, with the Palace players clearly told to test the teenager as much as possible by getting it launched towards the big man as much as possible. It wasn’t his fault Mateta got his goal.
It was Palmer’s. The playmaker put his side in a pickle by losing the ball in his own half, at which point Palace made light work of scoring the equaliser, with Eberechi Eze putting the ball on a plate for Mateta to tap in.
There was an inevitability to it that felt like the pre-Maresca days. Having been by far the better team in the first half, with control and plenty of chances to boot, Chelsea failed to make the most of their pressure and then lost their way after the break.
After four games without a win talk of a title challenge has quickly reverted to questions over Chelsea’s presumed return to the Champions League.
Aston Villa 2-1 Leicester: A win’s a win as unconvincing Villa squeeze past damed Foxes
Groans from the home fans at having to endure an extra three minutes at the end of the first half at Villa Park tells you everything you need to know about this game and the general apathy of the Villa fans towards their team right now. Without their Champions League dalliance this would have been a distinctly mediocre season.
Ross Barkley was a positive on just his third Premier League start, and took his goal in a style to make you wonder why he doesn’t play more. Have we said that before? Yes. Always.
But his rifled shot into the bottom corner arguably came against the run of play as Leicester raised the tempo in the second half having sat off the hosts in the first, and the Foxes were level five minutes later as Stephy Mavididi followed in after Jamie Vardy’s effort was saved by Emiliano Martinez.
It could have gone either way at that point but Ian Maatsen came off the bench to make the difference for Villa, stealing possession high up before squaring the ball for Leon Bailey to sweep home in the six-yard box. A big goal for him, his first of the season, and a big goal for Villa, who despite a not insignificant slump of late somehow find themselves just four points off fourth after Chelsea’s draw at Selhurst Park.
Five defeats on the bounce meanwhile for Leicester, who surely need significant additions in January to avoid the drop with Southampton.
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Man City 4-1 West Ham: Haaland back with the Citizens as Hammers wasteful
Normality was far from resuming despite Manchester City’s two-goal lead against West Ham, with the visitors wasting some golden opportunities to score in the first half.
The Hammers were still in the game at 2-0 but two goals in three minutes put it out of sight. Julen Lopetegui’s side were nice enough to give Erling Haaland and Phil Foden confidence-boosting goals. It was only Foden’s second in the Premier League in 2024/25 and it’s now three in two for the Nordic robot after a run of only three in 13, which is bloody tragic for his ridiculous standards.
A hammering is exactly what City needed because they have some testing fixtures coming up. Salford at home in the FA Cup should be as comfortable as they come but trips to Brentford and Ipswich could be awkward Then it’s PSG, Chelsea, Club Brugge, Arsenal, Newcastle, Liverpool, bogey team Tottenham, Nottingham Forest and Brighton. Yikes.
It should not have been as comfortable as it was. West Ham had some cracking chances in the first half and should have scored a couple through Mohammed Kudus. They did eventually get a consolation thanks to Niclas Fullkrug but the Irons were characteristically wasteful in attack which set them up to get smashed, just as they did against Liverpool in their last game.
Like showing up at your nemesis’ funeral, David Moyes was in attendance at the Etihad. Lopetegui may have just managed his last West Ham match in front of the Scot with a tricky FA Cup tie at Aston Villa up next. West Ham have been miserable under the Spaniard and briefly alleviating pressure with narrow wins over Southampton and Wolves during dismal runs has only got him so far.
Moyes in for a third stint, anyone?
Southampton 0-5 Brentford: New manager, same old s**t for the Saints
Going into Saturday’s clash at Southampton, Thomas Frank’s Brentford were second in the Premier League home table and second-bottom in the Premier League away table. Their only away win all season came against League Two Colchester in the Carabao Cup and against a similar level of opposition on Saturday, they doubled their tally.
Southampton are doomed, pure and simple, and a new manager is not going to change that. It was far too easy for their opposition yet again and Ivan Juric was lucky it was only five. Speaking about the Saints and their inevitable relegation is pointless at this stage; it is not a case of if, but when.
Victory for Brentford means they are in the top half again and Frank will hope this result can springboard an upturn in away form. Bryan Mbeumo was fantastic again, scoring his 12th and 13th Premier League goals of the season and notching a cheeky two assists as well. Yoane Wissa was also pretty good again and scored Brentford’s fifth in the 94th minute, while Keane Lewis-Potter (from left-back!) and Kevin Schade also found the back of the net.
Brentford don’t just end a dismal run on the road but a poor run of form in general. They had not won since December 7 and most recently lost at home to Arsenal. Thankfully they had a timely appointment with Dr Southampton and next week’s FA Cup tie at home to Plymouth Argyle gives Frank the chance to rotate and rest Mbeumo and co.
Southampton host Championship side Swansea next and need to use it as a confidence-booster as they look to avoid a worse points tally than Derby’s in 2007/08. Just one more win between now and the end of the season should do the trick, but based on this display they may need to pull a rabbit out of the hat.
Bournemouth 1-0 Everton: Cherries keep pushing for Europe as Iraola stock rises with Everton win
Not an awful lot happened in Bournemouth’s 1-0 win over Everton on Saturday. David Brooks scored (which is always nice) and that was enough in the end.
The Cherries are now seventh with 33 points from 20 matches, which leaves them only three off Chelsea in fourth and a win away from leapfrogging Manchester City and Newcastle.
There are so many impressive players in this Bournemouth squad but they have Andoni Iraola to thank for their outstanding form this season. Milos Kerkez is absolutely tremendous and should be Liverpool’s top choice to replace Andy Robertson given he is six years younger than Fulham’s Antonee Robinson, another left-back the Reds are surely looking at.
The Hungarian assisted Brook’s 77th-minute winner and also won two tackles, made two interceptions and created one big chance. He is a serious talent and rightly on the radar of Liverpool and Manchester United.
Another who is thriving under Iraola is Lewis Cook, who is in his prime years and playing the football we all knew he was capable of before being ravaged by injuries.
The starting XI looks solid on paper but Iraola is bringing the absolute best out of these players. There is also a perfect balance of youth and experience, with Dean Huijsen, 19, and Illia Zabarnyi, 22, at the back behind Ryan Christie, 29, and Cook, 27. Finishing in a European place is absolutely possible for this group of players if Iraola is not poached from elsewhere.
Everton, meanwhile, are fortunate that Southampton and Leicester are much worse than them but they are looking over their shoulder with Wolves improving under Vitor Pereira and Kieran McKenna’s Ipswich getting there as well.
Crystal Palace and West Ham might be dragged into the relegation battle but it is between these five as things stand. Despite positive results against Chelsea, Arsenal and Manchester City recently, the Toffees’ fans should be very scared of relegation.