San Francisco Frontiers - Arsenal control title race as Manchester United fall into bottom three

Our chief football writer reviews the main talking points from the weekend's action This is The Score, a subscriber-only newsletter from The i Paper. If you’d like to get this direct to your inbox, every single week, you can sign up here.

Boring, isn’t it? Winning the league in second gear by grinding out results. Not for Arsenal. They are loving it because nothing tastes sweeter, and they are winding up absolutely everyone in the process. It is often painful to watch. At the start of the season, there was a suspicion that Mikel Arteta’s team might defend their title by a greater margin without necessarily improving on last season’s performances. They had greater squad depth, had shaken off the psychological angst of a title drought and their supposed rivals were at various stages of disrepair or recovery. All those suspicions are proving correct.

Their defence is underpinning this progress. Arsenal have conceded five goals in 10 Premier League matches this season. Remove the Brighton defeat and that figure drops to two in nine games. You can certainly unsettle Arsenal by swarming them with technically gifted attacking midfielders and wingers. Brighton may be the only team with those tools, but, and Arsenal already have a healthy lead at the top. There are plenty more reasons to believe this will continue. Go back to the end of last season and Arsenal had conceded just six goals in their final 15 league matches, keeping 11 clean sheets in the process. Extrapolate that record across a full season and they would concede just 15 goals.

Arsenal have faced the fewest shots on target, just 26 in 10 games. They have as well allowed the lowest expected goals against, at just 7.6. They have already played five of the other seven teams in the top eight. The defeat to Brighton was an aberration, but we already know perfection will not be required to win the league this season. Their relentless brilliance, built on an increasingly formidable defence, is particularly evident at home. Arsenal have won their last 10 matches at the Emirates in all competitions and kept eight clean sheets during that run. Only once have they managed a better sequence under Arteta.

Finally, their ruthlessness is best reflected in their results against teams in the bottom half of the table this season: 1-0, 1-0, 1-0, 2-0 and 3-0 (against Coventry City). Is it wildly exciting? No. Do they care when it is this effective? Not a bit. This is elite football, not horse dancing. Michael Carrick’s time is up at Man Utd

A match that ended with half of Old Trafford singing Michael Carrick’s name and the other half having left at 4-2. Manchester United are appointment television in every sense. But this cannot save Carrick if those in charge are thinking clearly. United are in the bottom three of the Premier League heading into the second international break of the season. A quarter of the way through the campaign, they are already haunted by the threat of relegation. It is all very well showing some fight when behind, but they have conceded 15 goals in their last five matches.

Someone needs to act like a grown-up here. Carrick has won just one of his 10 league matches as a permanent manager. There are other options available who would take the job. It is funny for everybody else, but United need to nip this nonsense in the bud. Enzo Maresca’s significant Man City blind spot

Perhaps the distractions surrounding Manchester City this season make that an unfair question, but I am becoming increasingly suspicious that Enzo Maresca has a significant blind spot when it comes to leaving his elite teams exposed to goals from transitions. First, the evidence. As Chelsea manager, Maresca’s side conceded at a rate of over one goal per game, shipping 64 in 57 matches despite significant investment in defenders and central midfielders. As Manchester City manager, the figure stands at 25 goals in 17 games.

None of it is working, and all of it is interrelated. Gianluigi Donnarumma looks shaky because he has little confidence in his defenders, while the back line is constantly changing. Marc Guehi was dismal for Forest’s first two goals, being dribbled past by Jair Cunha before failing to engage Liam Delap. The first goal initially looks like an individual error, with Josko Gvardiol caught in possession. But that is partly because he has too few passing options. Elliot Anderson is effectively operating as a one-man midfield because, in a 4-2-3-1 formation, Enzo Fernandez wants to push further up the pitch. Press this City team aggressively and chances will come. Their goalkeeper is struggling to keep them out.

Promoted goalkeepers are feeling the heat The three promoted clubs have collected points at a rate above most reasonable expectations. In a congested bottom half, none are in serious trouble and none occupy the relegation places.

But there have been signs in recent weeks that all three are feeling the pressure, and it starts close to their own goal. Carl Rushworth, the Championship’s best goalkeeper last season, looks increasingly unsettled at Coventry City in the Premier League and has repeatedly conceded from chances with a lower expected goals value. At Hull City, Konstantinos Tzolakis began the campaign in fine form, but that has since tailed off. Ipswich Town’s situation is even stranger. The club signed two goalkeepers in the summer as part of their £150m investment in the squad. Christian Walton, who started the majority of their matches in the Championship last season, is already back as first choice. Will they regret that decision?

Gameweek 10 highlights Villain of the weekend – Pierre Sage (Crystal Palace) It is unusual to get this far into a Premier League season without a manager being sacked, but surely Crystal Palace cannot wait much longer. They have just one more international break before March. If they wait and things deteriorate further, they risk putting themselves in serious relegation trouble. Palace are not entirely terrible, but the whole club has become soaked in resignation. They miss chances, are too open defensively and regularly lose control of midfield. They have won twice, in two chaotic matches they could feasibly have lost, and even the victory over Forest feels a long time ago. It is time to go. Sorry. Player of the weekend – Thierno Barry (Everton) I did not have Thierno Barry as the Premier League’s second-highest scorer on my bingo card, but he has become adept at finding space in the box and scoring scruffy goals. Both are pretty effective ways to make David Moyes fall in love with you. Everton left themselves painfully short of centre-forwards after the summer transfer window, causing widespread panic among supporters. Barry is making that look less of a problem. Goal of the weekend – Liam Delap (Forest) I could have picked one of three goals from Saturday’s late game. I as well loved Jacob Murphy’s strike for Newcastle and Rodrigo Muniz’s improvised finish for Fulham, but Delap’s second goal takes the prize. There are genuine shades of Stan Collymore in the way Delap drives directly at defences and forces defenders to make decisions. His finishing has attracted criticism this season, but the way he took that chance on his weaker foot, applying such power and direction, made it the standout moment of the Premier League weekend. Statistic of the weekend Forest’s victory over Manchester City on Saturday meant Manchester United ended a day in the bottom three of the Premier League at this stage of a season or later for the first time since 1986. And they deserve it, too. Read more: How Nottingham Forest are literally outrunning relegation trouble Villain of the weekend – Pierre Sage (Crystal Palace)

It is unusual to get this far into a Premier League season without a manager being sacked, but surely Crystal Palace cannot wait much longer. They have just one more international break before March. If they wait and things deteriorate further, they risk putting themselves in serious relegation trouble. Palace are not entirely terrible, but the whole club has become soaked in resignation. They miss chances, are too open defensively and regularly lose control of midfield. They have won twice, in two chaotic matches they could feasibly have lost, and even the victory over Forest feels a long time ago.

Player of the weekend – Thierno Barry (Everton) I did not have Thierno Barry as the Premier League’s second-highest scorer on my bingo card, but he has become adept at finding space in the box and scoring scruffy goals.

Both are pretty effective ways to make David Moyes fall in love with you. Everton left themselves painfully short of centre-forwards after the summer transfer window, causing widespread panic among supporters. Barry is making that look less of a problem.

Goal of the weekend – Liam Delap (Forest) I could have picked one of three goals from Saturday’s late game. I as well loved Jacob Murphy’s strike for Newcastle and Rodrigo Muniz’s improvised finish for Fulham, but Delap’s second goal takes the prize.

There are genuine shades of Stan Collymore in the way Delap drives directly at defences and forces defenders to make decisions. His finishing has attracted criticism this season, but the way he took that chance on his weaker foot, applying such power and direction, made it the standout moment of the Premier League weekend.

Forest’s victory over Manchester City on Saturday meant Manchester United ended a day in the bottom three of the Premier League at this stage of a season or later for the first time since 1986.

M.Hill--SFF