LONDON -- With about 10 minutes left at Craven Cottage, a fizzing cross was delivered into the Fulham area from Tottenham's left flank, the sort of ball a centre-forward dreams of. Fernando Llorente rose to meet the header but seemed to just hold back very slightly as the ball arrived. The ball skimmed off his forehead and missed the far post. Had he jabbed his head forwards just a little, he would have made more forceful contact and almost certainly have at least put his effort on target. He...

LONDON -- If the first rule of football management is that you should never criticise your players in public, Maurizio Sarri broke it in spectacular style by condemning his Chelsea team after Saturday's 2-0 defeat at Arsenal.

This was the day when Sarri took a leaf out of Jose Mourinho's book by pointing the finger of blame at those on the pitch rather than the tactics they had been told to employ, and only time will tell whether it was a bold move or the first sign of his inability to succeed as...

LONDON -- With 95 minutes on the clock and Manchester United leading 1-0, Ole Gunnar Solskjaer stood on the edge of his technical area and urged substitute Diogo Dalot to move away from the touchline on the far side to congest space in midfield and restrict Tottenham options through the centre of the pitch.

Seconds later, Mike Dean's final whistle ensured that Solskjaer passed his first big test as United caretaker manager in emphatic fashion, with that small instruction serving as a microcosm of...

BRIGHTON, England -- In any title-winning season there are games that end up being almost forgotten: staging posts along the road that offer essential nourishment but nothing in the way of vivid scenery.

Should Liverpool see the job through in May, this laborious win over an excellently drilled Brighton side will only merit a few seconds of the highlight reel. It will not matter one bit, because these may prove to be their most important three points of the entire campaign.

Make no mistake,...

If, before Saturday's 1-0 win over Arsenal, you had informed a West Ham supporter that Samir Nasri and Marko Arnautovic would be substituted together after 70 minutes, they probably would have imagined a very different storyline. Nasri was seemingly lacking match fitness and making his first league start for the club. Arnautovic was said to be unhappy, having recently declared his intention to leave.

But, somewhat surprisingly, the pair departed to great acclaim. West Ham were 1-0 up courtesy of...

LONDON -- When Stuart Pearce was England Under-21s manager, he went to visit Pep Guardiola at Barcelona. The two spent a few days together, Guardiola offered various pieces of advice on all aspects of the game, but as the two men parted he turned around and offered one final suggestion: "By the way, get a Messi in your side."

Mauricio Pochettino might say something similar about Harry Kane.

Kane's first-half penalty was the difference between Tottenham and Chelsea in the first leg of their...