EPL Review: Key takeaways and analysis from Boxing Day action

theScore examines the most important developments and biggest talking points from the Premier League’s Boxing Day bonanza, which featured 16 teams in action and a flurry of notable results.

Anticipating the Man United blame game

What best emphasized how broken Manchester United are in the 2-0 defeat at Wolverhampton Wanderers wasn’t Bruno Fernandes’ third red card of the season, the team’s startling lack of mettle after that dismissal, or the concession of a second Olimpico in seven days.

It was how Ruben Amorim responded to going one goal down: Amad Diallo, Kobbie Mainoo, and Manuel Ugarte withdrawn in favor of Antony, Casemiro, and Christian Eriksen.

Three apparent bright spots left over from the Erik ten Hag regime supplanted; three substitutes that – let’s be clear – better reflect the Dutchman’s legacy taking their place. The trio introduced from the bench, like plenty of other Ten Hag recruits in the squad, are expensive and tired impediments to any manager’s attempts to return United to the top, and they were asked to change the match.

They didn’t.

In some ways, the early part of Amorim’s job is easy. While supporters digest the fact that Sir Jim Ratcliffe, the man who’s supposed to save the club from the Glazer family, seems to miser exactly like a Glazer, any positivity from elsewhere will be seized. They need something – anything – right now. The bar’s been so low in recent years. Diallo winning the strikingly low-quality Manchester derby on Dec. 15 has seemed to singlehandedly obscure Amorim’s poor record to start his reign.

United’s last 14 Premier League matches

Amorim must continue to stay ahead of the blame game. More embarrassments and lapses lie ahead – it’s inevitable with these players and following years of mismanagement in the boardroom – but will the Portuguese tactician do enough to ensure Ratcliffe’s hoard of executives face the fans’ ire before him?

The early signs aren’t great for Amorim. Instead of finding an approach the best suits the team he’s inherited, he’s forcing players into a 3-4-2-1 with limited success. The team is confused, both with the formation and when defending set-pieces. More consistency needs to be found soon, or the goodwill toward the new boss will erode.

Relief for Amorim could be found in the performances of the looming figures in the boardroom, like Omar Berrada and Jason Wilcox, who have the extremely difficult task of discarding Ten Hag offal while finding players who can immediately enhance the first team and improve within it. After Ratcliffe’s unpopular moves to cut costs around the club, patience with selling and buying may be in short supply. The fans’ anger meter is currently teetering toward the executives.

Ten Hag’s management could’ve set United back at least five years. Right now, it seems unlikely that both the first-team coaching staff and the suits upstairs will be afforded the level of patience it requires to clean it up.

Quick free-kicks 📝

How will Chelsea respond?

Enzo Maresca’s continued insistence that his young team isn’t a title contender is easy enough to see through. It’s a classic deflection tactic from a manager trying to keep external pressure off his players. But the table doesn’t lie: Chelsea are in the race, whether they admit it or not. That will make Thursday’s late collapse against London rivals Fulham more difficult to digest. The Blues, up 1-0 after Cole Palmer broke a club record with his 26th Premier League goal of the calendar year, couldn’t put the game away and conceded twice in the closing minutes, including a 95th-minute decider.

It’s the first time Chelsea have lost a league match after leading at halftime since 2021. How they respond will be telling. Recovering quickly from setbacks and not allowing one bad result to snowball and ruin your season is a trait shared by all title-winning teams. Are Chelsea in that category, or has Maresca been right all along? Let’s find out.

Contrasting starts for new coaches

Is the vaunted “new manager bounce” slightly overrated? Probably. Good luck trying to convince reinvigorated Wolves fans of that right now, though. Vitor Pereira has won his first two matches since replacing Gary O’Neil, keeping clean sheets in both outings and lifting Wolves out of the relegation zone. He’s already matched O’Neil’s Premier League win total this season, which probably says more about the former coach than the current one.

Wolves are led by Matheus Cunha, who has seven goals and four assists in his last 10 league games, and boast a more talented squad than the teams directly around them in the relegation battle. That includes Southampton, who, despite an obvious tactical shift since the arrival of defensive-minded coach Ivan Juric, are still awaiting their first victory since firing Russell Martin. There have been small signs of defensive improvement for the Saints over the past week, but finding a consistent source of goals will continue to be a problem, and Juric doesn’t profile as the kind of coach who will help rectify that issue.

Sweet revenge for Nuno

He won’t admit as much publicly, but Nottingham Forest’s 1-0 win over Tottenham Hotspur had to be sweet for Nuno Espirito Santo, who was unceremoniously fired after just 17 games in charge of Spurs back in 2021. His conservative style of play, as much as the results, was deemed inadequate during his brief spell in north London. With the benefit of hindsight, it’s an interesting conversation to have now. Nuno, sticking to his tactical principles, has Forest sitting third in the Premier League; the club has four consecutive top-flight wins for the first time since 1995.

Tottenham, meanwhile, are objectively more entertaining to watch, but they’re languishing in the bottom half of the table under Ange Postecoglou after a rotten run of four losses in five league games. While Spurs concede goals for fun, Forest have the third-best defensive record in the league behind only Liverpool and Arsenal. Would the Tottenham brass like a mulligan right now?

Time to talk about Robbo?

It obviously hasn’t hampered Liverpool this season – the Reds are seven points clear at the top of the Premier League with a game in hand after Thursday’s win over Leicester City – but stalwart Andy Robertson is enduring a blip in form that, if sustained, could become an issue. The Scot, for so long a model of consistent excellence at left-back, got badly twisted out of shape by Jordan Ayew, of all people, on the Foxes’ early goal at Anfield.

Earlier this month, his mishap and subsequent red card against Fulham put Arne Slot’s team in a hole before his teammates fought back and earned a draw. That incident at least came with a caveat: Robertson seemed to pick up an injury earlier in the match and was likely going to be replaced before his sending-off. There was no such alibi this time. He’s still among the team leaders in minutes played this season – he remains a vital part of Slot’s side – but with Kostas Tsimikas now fit again and providing competition after recovering from an ankle injury, Robertson needs to tighten up his game.

Best XI 😎

(Source: FotMob)

Highlight of the day 🎥

Don’t look now, but Newcastle United have surged up to fifth in the Premier League following an impressive 3-0 win over Aston Villa. Everything Alexander Isak touches is turning to gold right now, while Anthony Gordon is providing secondary scoring with stunning efforts like this, which came 80 seconds into Thursday’s tilt at St. James’ Park.

Stat of the day 🔢

Manchester City, who have just one win in their last 13 games across all competitions following Thursday’s 1-1 home draw with Everton, are keeping some unusual company right now.

Social media moment 📱

Regardless of what happens in their next match, Tottenham will record their lowest points tally at the midway mark of a Premier League season since 2008-09. Against that backdrop, unearthing some unknown players to help turn things around isn’t such a bad idea. Announce “Ons” in the January window, Spurs.

Where we stand 👀

View more stats here.