Premier League winners and losers: Howe, West Ham, Lewis-Skelly, Liverpool, Dasilva, De Zerbi, Carrick
If Manchester United are ruthless with the second coming of Ole Gunnar Solskjaer then it could work perfectly with Michael Carrick.
It was a massive Premier League weekend at both ends of the table, with Arsenal reinforcing their lead at the summit and Manchester United making Champions League qualification look easy.
The same cannot be said for Liverpool and Aston Villa, while Spurs might finally have sorted themselves out.
Premier League winners
Louis van Gaal
Eddie Howe
On an alternate timeline, the sounding of the Ornstein klaxon with a Newcastle update on the Sunday afternoon following their game at home to Brighton 24 hours before could entirely feasibly have heralded monumental change at St James’ Park.
A home defeat in front of watching chairman Yasir Al-Rumayyan, after high-powered meetings with his superiors earlier in the week, might have forced Howe out.
That starting line-up was deemed by many to be a resignation letter of sorts; the bench cost £76.4m more to sign than the first XI, largely due to the Howe family’s transfer market failings.
Will Osula, Dan Burn and Jacob Murphy were especially controversial picks of trusted lieutenants over ostensibly more talented players but all contributed to goals in a victory the manager desperately needed as proof he retains the backing of this squad – and the fans who chanted about Howe’s “black and white army”.
There remains a long and arduous war ahead for the troops on and off the pitch, but this was a battle Howe had to win.
Myles Lewis-Skelly
Mikel Arteta was right: “It was a big risk because I knew what was going to happen. If it works it’s great, if we’d have lost the game – ‘How do you play a kid at this age in this scenario in a position he hasn’t played?’.”
Some might argue that his assessment of why he had never played Lewis-Skelly in the 19-year-old’s actual position before – “because probably I don’t have a clue” – was even more accurate.
But the theme was the same. Had it gone wrong, especially at this juncture of a title race in which Arsenal have once again threatened ruin, Arteta would have been crucified and Lewis-Skelly’s Gunners career might well have been tainted.
That it went so well is testament to the player’s ability and mental resilience, as well as the manager’s faith in him.
Arteta could have used this squad better at times. Injuries can only account for so much of his lack of rotation in certain moments. But that call has reenergised Arsenal and helped transform the mood ahead of what Lewis-Skelly called “three finals”, with their place in one actual showpiece still to be earned too.
Josh Dasilva
On his last appearance for Brentford before the weekend, Dasilva was sent on by the departed Thomas Frank to replace the offloaded Mads Roerslev in a team with bygone captain Christian Norgaard at the helm, in which Ivan Toney and Neal Maupay were the scorers.
Perhaps the most telling sign that 822 days had passed was that Spurs went fourth that day by beating the Bees, whose coaching setup Keith Andrews had not yet joined.
Dasilva had undergone three operations on his knee and signed two contract extensions since then; Brentford have shown admirable support and loyalty to one of the last remaining members of their Championship promotion squad.
That the fans felt comfortable calling for him to be introduced from the bench in a game they had to win to maintain hopes of Champions League qualification in May speaks volumes of how far Andrews and Brentford have come, but barely scratches the surface of Dasilva’s arduous journey back.
Roberto De Zerbi
It was a perfect encapsulation of the seemingly insurmountable issues facing him that a single game into a five-year contract worth £60m, De Zerbi was reduced to confidently stating that “if we are able to win a game then everything will change”.
That was after an insipid defeat to Sunderland; one draw with Brighton later and the Italian was convinced that “this team is able to win five games in a row” despite only once having won as many as two consecutively this season – in the first couple of August weekends.
And the most absurd thing is that he might not be wrong. That one win has revived Spurs’ conviction and De Zerbi has timed his parachuted arrival perfectly to land in a period of kind fixture computer prescience.
Spurs have dispatched the worst team and the most distracted team in the league in successive games, with a basically safe Leeds, Chelsea three days after an FA Cup final and Everton very possibly with nothing to play for on the final day in their last three games.
If the difference in a relegation battle can often simply be belief and momentum, Spurs have manufactured some at the perfect moment out of remarkably thin air.
That is not intended to denigrate De Zerbi’s impact. His words have clearly had the desired impact on a squad depressed by the bumbling Thomas Frank and uninspiring Igor Tudor, and the Italian’s tactics should not be downplayed either.
A determined, tireless Spurs performance was summed up by the wild, arm-pumping celebrations of Joao Palhinha and Pedro Porro at winning a free-kick and throw-in in their own half.
But De Zerbi’s ability to engender a fundamental shift in the confidence levels of a broken team has been most impressive. He believed even when they didn’t. The five-game winning run shout might actually match Ange Postecoglou’s second-season trophy promise for ballsiness.
Michael Carrick
In 17 games as Manchester United manager, Carrick has beaten Arsenal (twice), Manchester City, Spurs, Aston Villa, Chelsea and Liverpool, while winning his only Champions League match.
There remain a great many question marks surrounding his long-term viability, too many asterisks to overlook when considering who Manchester United should ultimately appoint to take them forwards.
But the players back him, the majority of the fanbase seems to be onside and there is no realistic candidate who offers a guarantee of improvement on what Carrick has delivered.
It does all feel quite Ole Gunnar Solskjaer. But the Norwegian did guide them to second and a Europa League final before hitting his glass ceiling. If Carrick can do similar in laying the groundwork but Manchester United are more ruthless down the line in timing a managerial upgrade far better to capitalise on his work, it could make the most sense of the avenues which lay ahead.
READ MORE: 16 Conclusions from Man Utd 3-2 Liverpool: Carrick, Slot, Wirtz, Mainoo and Van Dijk
Bournemouth
And on they go. It is ridiculous that this current Bournemouth unbeaten run of 15 games is longer than anything Spurs, Leeds, Aston Villa, Blackburn, Leicester and Everton have ever put together in the Premier League.
But it also makes perfect sense. Only four keepers have more clean sheets than theirs. The defence is resolute and settled, starting 16 of the last 17 league games together. The midfield is combative and cultured, creating and stifling chances seamlessly between transitions. The attack is founded on an exceptional blend of hard work, intelligence and skill.
It is all just inherently fun; Bournemouth have both scored and conceded the fifth-most goals in the division.
How Andoni Iraola has made sense of it all and managed to work the club’s stepping-stone recruitment philosophy to his advantage is astonishing. The best pound-for-pound coach in Europe has more than earned whatever big summer move he lands.
That there might be a reunion with Bournemouth in continental competition as early as next season is preposterous but perfectly explicable.
Leeds
“We had smart and sustainable recruitment,” said a typically understated Daniel Farke after delivering the win which essentially confirmed his first Premier League survival season.
In his previous attempts at Norwich, the balance was always miles off. The recruitment could only ever be said to have been sustainable, although there are other adjectives for a summer in which the Canaries spent £1m on a Championship squad, with free agent Josip Drmic their statement striker signing.
But it is about how you spend rather than what you spend. Burnley are among the 15 teams with a bigger outlay in terms of transfer fees than Leeds this season, yet Dominic Calvert-Lewin and Lukas Nmecha have proved the brilliance of the Bosman when utilised properly in the right team structure.
The last 15 Leeds goals in the Premier League have been scored by players who joined in the summer. They are the only club with four new signings on at least five goals. Manchester United are next on three, with Benjamin Sesko, Bryan Mbeumo and Matheus Cunha costing £201.1m.
Leeds spent £33.7m on Calvert-Lewin, Nmecha, Noah Okafar and Anton Stach. There is never a guarantee of replicating that sort of hit rate in the transfer market, but if they can recruit at a similar level again the Whites will establish themselves as a top-flight force.
Premier League losers
West Ham
A thoroughly sub-optimal set of results has swung momentum away from West Ham and feels particularly inexorable at this point in the season.
They lost and Spurs won, which is not ideal in itself. But West Ham’s final three opponents were all victorious too, with a couple of them racking up vibe-changing victories.
Spurs will surely need at least a couple more points against Leeds, Chelsea and Everton, but it also isn’t difficult to envisage West Ham picking up nothing against an invigorated Arsenal and Newcastle before that Leeds game on the final day.
The Hammers have played far worse at times this campaign than they did against Brentford, but the manner of the collapse and how they “lost composure” was crushing.
And they are now basically obliged to appoint Scott Parker and accept his inescapable promotion-relegation two-year cycle of standing still at best.
Unai Emery
The best manager in Europa League history. Very possibly the worst manager in history at balancing the Europa and Premier League.
Liverpool
Mo Salah described it as “one of the main concerns for me”, the idea that without him Liverpool do not have “an example”, that no-one will be there to “put the standard high”.
It does feel as though that culture has eroded even before his exit. The squad turnover has rid Liverpool of leaders on and off the pitch and Arne Slot does not possess the requisite cult of personality to manufacture it in the same way Jurgen Klopp did.
There is proof of that residual winning culture, but now it exists as part of the stick with which to beat Liverpool: the Manchester United defeat was the seventh time the Reds have gone behind, equalised and still lost in the Premier League this season. The mentality monsters are still there, but more often than not are left petrified by their own reflection.
Not counting the Community Shield, this was Liverpool’s 18th defeat of the campaign. That is a ridiculous numbers for champions to incur after a net spend of £200m, even with the injuries Slot will forever point to.
Burnley
The idea that Burnley and Leeds could mark their returns to the Premier League by parting with the managers who delivered 100-point promotion seasons was floated briefly but not entirely unseriously last May.
Leeds even felt compelled to publicly refute speculation over Daniel Farke’s future, with Burnley never entertaining anything other than the eternally false pretence that Parker might be capable of avoiding a top-flight relegation.
A year later, one of those teams essentially confirmed their survival by reaching a famously unrelegatable points tally against a side on their second caretaker run under Mike Jackson in five seasons.
Burnley presumably will be back soon, but without fundamental changes to their approach, it won’t be for long.
Crystal Palace
“Let’s say you have a friend’s birthday and your wedding is a few days later. You are more excited for the wedding. This is the same.”
We’ll miss Oliver Glasner, if indeed Premier League chairmen have been sufficiently put off by his particular brand of trophy-adjacent obdurateness to let him win stuff elsewhere when he leaves Selhurst Park.
Crystal Palace had won two, drawn three and lost six of their Premier League games played straight after midweek Conference League matches. A drop in the performance levels of a squad not built for competitiveness on multiple fronts has been an inevitable story of their season.
And as Glasner said, “Bournemouth’s semi-final was today – ours is Thursday”. An actual European final should soften the blow of what might very well end up being a six-match losing run to end a Premier League campaign which for months has been a means to an end.
Brighton
Did quite foolishly literally lose, but that consolation goal was sensational one-touching between three of the classiest operators imaginable.
Jack Hinshelwood might also have the single greatest selection of role models for a young Premier League player in 2026: Danny Welbeck, James Milner and Pascal Gross is a ludicrous, unfair and potentially bottomless fountain of knowledge.
Fulham
A virus that leaves Raul Jimenez up against Bukayo Saka at left-back? Sounds awful.
