Premier League 25th round recap: The top three of the championship are clinging to the promotion of the relegation zone

On February 20, it was reported that the 25th round of the Premier League, if Manchester City's make-up match is counted as 3 points, the top three in the standings are Liverpool 57, Manchester City 56, Arsenal 55, and the troika for the championship is indeed very tight.

The three promoted sides lost at the same time in this round, with Luton City losing and Burnley and Sheffield United both losing by five goals, and they are still relegation favourites.

Everton were deducted 10 points, but they were desperately scrambling to get out of the relegation zone. Crystal Palace and Nottingham Forest also remain relegation threats.

Brentford 1-4 Liverpool

Jota is likely to have the medial collateral ligament in his knee crushed by Nordgaard. Liverpool's recent attacking campaign has been all based on Jota, and if he can't return in March, it will have a big impact on Liverpool.

Jones is a little bit of a problem with the ankle upper, so it shouldn't be serious.

The situation is similar to Nunez, who is estimated to be resting at most for Luton City.

Liverpool's injured line-up

Goalkeeper: Alisson

Defenders: Alexander-Arnold, Joel Matip, Williams

Midfielders: Szobosloy, Thiago, Bajcetic, Jones

Forwards: Jota, Nunez, Doke

In the Carabao Cup final against Chelsea on 25 February and the league title clash against Manchester City on 10 March, it will be difficult for several of Liverpool's key players not to return.

The opponent behind may think about a question, against Liverpool, when you attack by yourself, is it enough to keep two central defenders behind?

Liverpool's positional ability is average, and set-pieces are not very strong this season, but no one in the entire Premier League can compare to Liverpool's ability to seize offensive and defensive transition opportunities.

Last night's game, when the Bees pressed hard, Liverpool had at least four quick counter-attacks, scored one, and three chances were wasted. And these 4 chances were all big kicks from the defenders, Jota's header to Nunez, Salah's possession of the ball was a pity, Nunez was in the air, and the power was great, otherwise Diaz might have volleyed.

Combined with Chelsea's away 1-1 Manchester City game, Liverpool wants to beat Chelsea in the League Cup final, or to seize the conversion, and Chelsea actually counterattacked quickly, but the opportunity in front of the goal is not good. On March 10, the league against Manchester City, Liverpool also had to catch the conversion. The Manchester City back line pressed relatively high and did not chase back fast enough. Yesterday, Jackson and Nkunku did not handle several goals well, and if they were replaced by Jota and Salah, the game would have been won a long time ago.

Burnley 0-5 Arsenal

A month ago, the talk around Arsenal was that they had to add a high-level centre-forward in the winter window.

Prior to the short winter break, the Gunners had won just one of their seven games and scoring was a problem.

I didn't expect to go to Dubai to bask in the sun for a week, and after coming back, the Gunners began to shoot, winning 5 in a row, scoring 21 goals, conceding only 2 goals, and playing weak teams is basically 5 goals, this state is too terrifying!

And now Arsenal are more blooming, last night 5 goals were scored by 4 players, no one is talking about the center forward anymore, right? No one criticizes Jesus, right? (Gabriel Jesus missed the last 3 games with a knee injury, and people are almost forgetting about him)

Odegaard is handsome and quiet-looking, but he is actually a very ruthless character.

This ruthlessness is not a big kicking action, and the shoveling of Ramsey down is not intentional.

This ruthlessness is reflected in the enthusiasm of pressing high when there is no ball, and the organizational ability of the side when there is the ball.

In today's Premier League, one is really a No. 10 player, one is Tottenham's Maddison, and the other is the more outstanding Odegaard.

Odegaard broke the deadlock last night after four minutes and Arsenal's game went smoothly.

What is even more powerful is that his left foot is close to the ground, diagonal passes, like a sharp dagger, piercing the opponent's defense and sending the ball to the feet of his teammates with precision.

Arsenal's five-game winning streak and 21 goals have a lot to do with Odegaard's rapid improvement.

Odegaard's key stats from last night's game:

37 passes in the final third

Opportunity Creation 3

Attack 1

Running distance: 12 km

All four of these stats are the first in the team!

So, the captain is working so hard and the rest of the Arsenal players have to keep up.

Odegaard's Arsenal have also scored 28 league goals, the same level as another decorated captain, Patrick Vieira.

The Telegraph counts the positions of Odegaard's 28 Premier League goals, which can be seen in the attached map, mostly in the area between the top of the box and the penalty spot.

Arsenal's opponents will need to be wary of this, denying Odegaard a chance to get the ball in this area, the ball is at his feet, and his shot is so fast that it is too late to block. And the angle of the shot is tricky, the speed is fast, and it is difficult for the goalkeeper to save.

When Odegaard plays well, Arsenal have no problem attacking, he can shoot himself, he can link up with Bukayo Saka on the right, he can feed the ball to centre-forward Leandro Trossard, and he can find Martinelli on the left with long diagonal passes.

Looking back at the number of games Arsenal have lost, it is basically when Odegaard does not play well.

Manchester City 1-1 Chelsea

One controversial player is Jackson.

Clearly, in Pochettino's tactical system, Jackson is a fulcrum up front and an important pillar of Chelsea's quick counter-attack.

When Chelsea couldn't get the ball out of the way when they were pressed from the high, they would open their feet to Jackson, and Jackson could often hold the ball and act as a teammate who plugged in, forming a counter-attacking posture in an instant.

Chelsea's goal came down to a clever combination between Jackson and Palmer, with Jackson cutting in in time and crossing for Raheem Sterling to score past Walker.

However, Gusto had sent the same cross before, and Jackson hesitated, mixing garlic on the bottom of his foot, which was broken by Ederson's attack. Another time I wanted to burst shot, but Enzo grabbed it and the ball missed, and Jackson was very angry. The Chelsea coaching staff may need to find a shooting coach for Jackson to focus on the basics.

Nkunku, who came off the bench, looked soft and useless.

Judging from this game, Pochettino's tactical system has several key points, Palmer is a connecting point, Jackson is a fulcrum, and Gusto is a breaking point.

The next opponents, including Liverpool in the Carabao Cup final, need to limit these points, and Chelsea's system will not work.

Tottenham 1-2 Wolves

Wolves can win against Tottenham and what we see is set-pieces and quick counter-attacks.

And the whole game can make Tottenham, which has strong attacking power, unhappy, and the most important thing is that Wolves' double back is too desperate.

Joao Gomez scored for the first time of the season and scored twice. Needless to say, the offensive performance was excellent. Looking at his defensive stats, he made four clearances, six tackles and won seven of his 16 ground tackles.

Another midfielder, Lemina, is also ubiquitous, often returning to his own penalty area to help defend, and has made three clearances.

Wolves' away win is inseparable from the diligent fighting of these midfielders, and the two of them drive the rhythm of the whole team.

Wolves' quick counter-attacks are worth learning from, right?

I have always believed that if the Chinese want to play football well, they should first emphasize their advantages, speed.

Athletics and swimming are the two basic sports of sports, and we are not bad at racing, right? From Su Bingtian to Pan Zhanle, this has been proved.

In football, we are good at speed, from the seal Li Huajun to the peak of the prodigal son.

Sun Jihai was able to gain a foothold in the Premier League back then, let's chase back quickly!

The comeback of the AFC Champions League motorcycle is eye-catching, and the naturalized player Fernando also relies on speed!

No matter who is the head coach of the Chinese team, think about it, how to form a fast and sharp counterattack style of the national football team?

After watching the Asian Cup, knowledgeable fans know very well that at this stage, we can only play defensive counterattacks in most games in Asia.

And the counterattack, whether it's a wingback, a fullback, a full-back, a winger, how can you do it without a fast horse?!

Tottenham's second goal came from a poor corner kick from their own corner.

We often have this kind of embarrassing situation when we play, and we don't get a corner kick and we get counter-attacked.

So, how can this be avoided?

Normally, there is an attacking player at the top of the arc, who can shoot from the periphery, such as Qatar's Haydos, and is also the first line of protection for the second penalty.

If you have a super fast horse, it will generally be arranged in the middle circle, and the opponent will play a quick counterattack, and this batch of fast horses will not be too slow to chase back at least.

It stands to reason that Royal is not slow, but he is just lazy, but if he starts to get close to Neto early and drives Neto to the sideline, it will not be possible for Neto to assist Gomez to score.

Why did Tottenham lose to Wolves in the lower middle of the table?

Two goals were conceded, one was that the corner kick was not tightly marked, and the other was that his corner kick was unsuccessful and was counterattacked by the opponent.

However, Tottenham's attack was not good in nature, with only four shots on target in 70 per cent possession.

The fundamental reason for the lack of offensive strength is that the two main fullbacks Udogie and Polo are both suspended and absent.

In Postecoglou's tactical system, when attacking with the ball, the wingers will be stretched wide, step on the sideline, and the two full-backs will go forward to the ribs, a bit like the "insider" of classical football.

Tottenham's attacking formation will become 226, Romero and Van der Ven two central defenders are dragging behind, in front of them are the two backs Bissouma and Sarr, on the sides are two wingers, the ribs are two full-backs, the center forward is in the penalty area, and the forward midfielder Maddison is roaming around.

But Ben Davies and Royal, who started last night, are not very good at playing this system, and the two of them are still relatively traditional full-backs, and they are okay with side crosses, inserting ribs, not inserting! The soles of the feet are also rough, and the explosiveness is not as good as Udogie and Polo, so you will feel that Tottenham's attack is very jerky, which also makes Son Xingmin unable to play.

Nottingham Forest 2-0 West Ham United

West Ham's defeat was due to the objective reasons of Paqueta's absence due to injury, the problem of low morale, and the questioning of Moyes's conservative tactics.

But in essence, it's the quality of the players that determines the game.

If it weren't for goalkeeper Areola's quick reaction, this game would have conceded six goals like the previous one.

On the left side of Forest, left wing-back Tavares, who played at Arsenal, and left winger Hudson-Odoi, who was a former Chelsea mainstay and won the Champions League.

The duo teamed up to blow up the right side of West Ham.

The right wing-back of the Hammers, Czech international Coufal, is worth 8 million pounds, which is indeed of average level.

Forest are also strong on the right, with right wing-back Neco Williams a Liverpool academy player and right winger Anthony Elanga who played at Manchester United. Hammers left-back Emerson, a mediocre Brazilian.

It will not be easy for David Moyes to bring West Ham to where they are today.

The weirdest thing is that I don't know what West Ham United likes about Phillips, the back man who was loaned from Manchester City in the winter window is not a helper, but a suicide attacker!

In terms of squad hardness, West Ham United is indeed strong in attack and weak in defense, and it seems that there are a lot of international players from all over the world, and there are few stars who really belong to the level of the European Division.

Fulham 1-2 Aston Villa

Watkins is definitely an underrated striker, he has a lot of brains that a striker doesn't have, and in short, he plays smart, which is completely different from Chelsea's Jackson's physical gifts.

Villa's second goal was a testament to Watkins' wisdom.

He first dropped back to bring out Fulham's centre-back Diop, and then when Thielemans delivered a through ball, Watkins turned faster and he was already moving forward at high speed. At this time, Diop chased again, and he couldn't catch up with Watkins.

So, the striker can't always stand and wait for the ball, he has to be on the move all the time, only if you are moving, the opponent can be taken away by you, and your teammates have room to pass the ball.

When we usually play football, do we always have that kind of striker, standing there with his waist crossed and shouting, "Give"!

Newcastle 2-2 Bournemouth

Newcastle have conceded eight goals in their last three games and are shaky at the back, with Eddie Howe unable to come up with a solution at the moment.

Left wing-back Dan Byrne was a weakness and teams were attacking this flank. The big man Bourne has long legs, but his movement speed is simply too slow.

Newcastle's second goal, Dan Byrne should have been close to Semenyo earlier, but he has been breached too many times lately and kept a little distance for fear of being passed by his opponents.

And because there was no interference, I could only watch Semenyo burst into the far corner.

When we usually play, we actually have two defensive philosophies. One is to stop him, don't stretch your feet, don't be overlooked! The other is to interfere with him and press him closely!

Which one do you prefer?

Sheffield United 0-5 Brighton

Sheffield United manager Wilder also admitted after the game that Brighton would not have won five had it not been for Holgate's red card.

Holgate was sent off in the 13th minute, Brighton scored seven minutes later, and doubled the lead in the 24th minute.

Wilderd may have avoided a heavy defeat at home in the previous game, replacing centre-forward Ossula with centre-back Trasti in the 30th minute, and then held on for more than 40 minutes.

But under Brighton's repeated tearing, the defence began to crumble in the 75th minute.

This brings up a problem, the strength of the side is already weaker than the opponent, and there is one less player, 0-2 behind, how to play?

If you press out and attack, it could be a tragedy. And what about retracting and defending? Judging from the results, it was still a fiasco.

Sheffield United have lost 0-5 at home for the second time in a row.

Luton Town 1-2 Manchester United

Manchester United's starters are worth 10 times as much as Luton City, how should a weak team meet a strong team?

In fact, Luton City played quite well at home this season, drawing 1-1 with Liverpool and losing by one goal against Manchester City, Tottenham and Arsenal.

In fact, manager Edwards doesn't have any tricks, that is, each player in Luton City runs a little more and grabs a few more times, which can be seen from the attached picture Lokonga shoveling B Fee's shot, how desperate Luton City's players are.

It's the same with our usual football, when we encounter a strong opponent, if we don't want to surrender, then run more, grab more, fill in more positions, and keep calling to encourage our teammates to make up for it. When you get the ball, you have to dare to put more manpower into the counter-attack.

Everton 1-1 Crystal Palace

A brutal relegation battle with fierce confrontation. The ball flew around in the air, and the two sides fought fiercely for the second penalty. If you're a nostalgic fan, watching this game will surely recall the Premier League in the 90s.

Crystal Palace's incoming new boss Glasner was somewhat stunned in the stands, unlike the Bundesliga he was familiar with, and the Premier League was too fierce.

Crystal Palace's attack was lackluster, but Ayew's stroke of genius took the lead.

Everton Onana equalised with a header from a corner.

Everton have scored 17 from set-pieces this season, ranking first in the Premier League! If Shaun Days has brought anything to Everton, at least the set-piece attacking routine has been practiced.