Arsenal’s charge towards a first Premier League title in 22 years was halted by Manchester United’s stunning 3-2 victory at the Emirates on Sunday to pull Manchester City and Aston Villa back into the title race.
City and Villa, who beat Wolves and Newcastle 2-0 respectively this weekend, are now just four points behind the Gunners.
United’s victory also lifted them into the top four at Liverpool’s expense after the defending champions’ long unbeaten run came undone at Bournemouth.
AFP Sports looks at three talking points from the Premier League weekend:
Michael Carrick looked to have been handed a baptism of fire with Manchester City and Arsenal dished up in the first two games of his reign.
The former Red Devils midfielder returned to Old Trafford to take over a side that had won just once in seven matches.
But Carrick has delivered two memorable victories that will already spark speculation over whether the 44-year-old deserves to remain in the role beyond the end of the season.
United were lured into that trap once before when Ole Gunnar Solskjaer’s brilliant start to his interim role as manager in 2019 earned him a three-year deal.
Carrick still has plenty to prove but could not have made a better start to his quest to deliver Champions League football back to Old Trafford for the first time in three seasons.
“I’m enjoying it. It’s a fantastic position to be in,” said Carrick.
“We won’t get carried away with two massive results - it’s always about what’s next, keeping our feet on the ground and doing the right things this week.”
A 13-game unbeaten run in all competitions had steadied the ship for the English champions but the underlying issues that persisted during that spell were laid bare in Bournemouth.
For the third time this season, Arne Slot’s men conceded an injury time winner in slumping to their seventh league defeat of the campaign.
Already depleted at the back, Liverpool also lost another centre-back when Joe Gomez hobbled off, forcing midfielder Wataru Endo to deputise in defence.
Slot blamed fatigue for the way his side wilted in the final 10 minutes after hauling themselves back level from 2-0 down.
Despite splashing out nearly £450 million ($614 million) in the summer transfer market, Liverpool have left themselves remarkably light on bodies in certain areas.
Long-term injuries to Alexander Isak, Giovanni Leoni and Conor Bradley have left Slot with precious few options both in defence and up front.
Mohamed Salah has been welcomed back from the Africa Cup of Nations with open arms due to a lack of firepower up front despite his public broadside towards Slot last month.
The Dutchman said on Friday that he does not expect Liverpool to add to his squad during the remainder of the transfer window.
But the Reds run a real risk of missing out on Champions League football next season as a result.
Slot’s men are winless in their last five league games and have slipped to sixth, behind United and Chelsea.
Thomas Frank may have been handed a stay of execution by the Tottenham board, but the Dane is no closer to winning over a fan base in open revolt at his results and style of play just seven months into his reign.
Cristian Romero’s bullet header saved Spurs from another embarrassing defeat and denied Burnley a first Premier League win since October on Saturday.
But a 2-2 draw did little to quell the dissatisfaction among the travelling support, who again called for the former Brentford boss to be sacked.
Spurs have won just twice in their last 14 league games to tumble down to 14th in the table.
“I think the message to the fans, as I’ve said all the time, is that we’re working very hard to make sure everything is going (in) the right direction and that we’ll keep doing that,” said Frank.
However, it appears a matter of time before he is put out of his misery in north London.
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