Premier League: Arsenal in crisis, Guardiola giving his doubters ammunition – 10 things we learned – Daily Mail, Dailymail.co.uk

It was the Premier League weekend that saw dramatic late winners fromLiverpooland Manchester City,Arsenalfail to win again andBournemouthend Manchester United’s mini revival.

There was also more VAR controversy inChelsea‘s game at Watford and a rare win on the road for Newcastle.

Here,Sportsmail’sJORDAN SEWARD takes a look at 10 things we learned from the 11 th round of the Premier League season .

1) Liverpool and City show the mark of champions

This title race is not getting any easier to predict.

At one point on Saturday both Liverpool and Manchester City were losing. Then City were closing the gap to just four points before Sadio Mane popped up with a last-gasp winner to keep the lead at six.

Just when you think cracks are beginning to appear in the armor, Liverpool and City show the hallmark of true champions.

Southampton were only four minutes away from an unexpected draw at the Etihad Stadium when unlikely hero Kyle Walker fired in the winner.

At Aston Villa, Liverpool left it even later to bag the three points with Mane scoring with only seconds remaining on the clock to complete their comeback.

Saturday’s climatic endings make for an intriguing subplot in this title race, which can take another turn when these two sides meet next weekend. Who is going to blink first is anyone’s guess right now.

2) Arsenal are a team in crisis

Fans revolting against one of their own, calls for Unai Emery’s head and another game gone by without three points.

The last few weeks at Arsenal have been troubling to say the least, and Saturday’s performance did little to allay concerns.

Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang has been the one silver lining in an otherwise bleak beginning to the season for Arsenal, and he provided the opening goal against Wolves.

Arsenal managed to cling on to their one-goal lead until the 76 th minute when Raul Jiminez scored to secure a point for the visitors.

On reflection, it was only right that Wolves did not leave empty handed, having dominated for much of the game.

Given Arsenal’s recent struggles, Emery decided to experiment with some new ideas on Saturday in a bid to evoke a change of fortune, using a diamond formation in midfield and handing Mesut Ozil just his second Premier League start.

Despite the result, Emery bizarrely claimed a tactical victory – much to the displeasure of the fans – after Saturday’s match.

He may be enthusiastic about Arsenal’s current outlook, but there has been nothing to indicate they have turned a corner yet.

3) Norwich are in serious trouble of going down

At the start of the season, Norwich looked like they may have enough to stave off relegation.

Not so sure many people will be thinking that now. If anything, Norwich were going to be good value and entertaining, but even that box-office, gung-ho, naivety about them has been absent in recent weeks.

Since their brilliant 3-2 victory over Manchester City in September, Norwich have only claimed one point.

In that time, they have lost against Burnley, Crystal Palace, Aston Villa and Brighton. If Norwich are going to stay up, they need to be picking up points in those types of games.

They started well enough against Brighton at the weekend but looked more and more vulnerable as time wore on and they were convincingly beaten 2-0 in the end.

Daniel Farke’s men face Watford next – the only team in the league with fewer wins than them. Fail to win that one, and it will begin to look even more ominous for Norwich.

4) Bournemouth can be dark horses for Europe

Bournemouth have quietly been going about their business in recent weeks.

Slowly but surely, they have crept up the table and now have the European places in sight.

Eddie Howe’s men moved up toseventh after beating Manchester United on Saturday and are now just one point behind Arsenal in fifth.

Wolves, Leicester and West Ham were spoken of in the preamble to this season as potential top-six candidates.

But the Cherries are showing they also deserve to be included in the conversation after beating an in-form United side.

5) Penalty decisions are taking VAR, VAR too long

It is taking far too long for VAR to make decisions on penalties.

How can VAR be trusted to make such big calls when the amount of time it takes to make them not only suggests that they aren’t 100 per cent sure, but also that the error is not clear and obvious in the first place.

At Vicarage Road on Saturday, everyone was made to wait for more than two minutes before Watford were eventually awarded a penalty after Jorginho was deemed to have tripped Gerard Deulofeu.

And twice at Goodison Park on Sunday, VAR took what seemed an eternity to make a decision on two separate penalty incidents – both of which were not given.

When Son Heung-min went down in the box, the initial check was completed and no penalty was advised, but then play remained paused for a further 30 seconds as they double-checked a new angle. Why wasn’t that checked straight away if there was an inkling it could shed some light? And what if play had resumed before the new angle was checked and it actually showed it should have been a penalty? It just leaves too many doubts in the mind.

For the second one, Jamie Carragher and Martin Tyler were both adamant a penalty would be given after Dele Alli appeared to handle the ball in the area. But after at least three minutes of reviewing the incident, VAR decided against a penalty.

You could be more forgiving if VAR actually consistently reached the right decision, but that is not always the

And then, as awful as the injury to Andre Gomes was, the technology was not even used to overturn Son’s red card – which certainly shouldn’t have been given. It’s becoming more farcical, controversial and less reliable as each week passes.

6) Pulisic is getting to grips with life in the Premier League

Christian Pulisic made a slow start to his Chelsea career, but he is beginning to find his feet in the Premier League.

He followed up his perfect hat-trick against Burnley with another goal against Watford in their 2-1 victory at Vicarage Road.

The USA international is building some real momentum and is becoming one of the first names on Frank Lampard’s teamsheet despite the Chelsea boss being spoiled for options in wide areas.

Pulisic has already equalled his best goal tally in the league with four strikes this season and with the form he is in, will fancy his chances of adding to it when Chelsea take on Crystal Palace next weekend.

7) Sheffield United will not be in relegation picture

There’s no way Sheffield United will go down this season.

In fact, the way Chris Wilder’s men have started the campaign, they don’t even look like they’re going to feature in the relegation battle.

The Blades are flying high in sixth place with 16 points from their opening 11 games.

Their opponents on Saturday, Burnley, had only lost to Liverpool, Arsenal, Manchester City and Leicester this season before they traveled to Bramall Lane.

Sheffield United can now be added to that list after Wilder’s side put Burnley to the sword, winning 3-0.

They seem to be improving all the time and their target for the season should be reassessed and changed to finishing in the top 10. They are good enough to achieve that.

8) Soyuncu is getting better and better

When Harry Maguire left Leicester for Manchester United, there was a collective feeling Brendan Rodgers needed to sign an immediate replacement.

The England international had been a giant in Leicester’s team for the past few seasons and subsequently left a gaping hole in their defense when he joined United in the summer.

But instead of reinvesting the money raised from Maguire’s sale, Rodgers placed his trust in Caglar Soyuncu to fill the void.

Fast-forward to now and that decision looks like a masterstroke from Rodgers. The 23 – year-old center half has arguably been the best player in the Premier League so far this season.

He has been a defensive rock at the back and got his first goal of the season as Leicester continued their fine form by beating Crystal Palace on Sunday.

9) There is hope for Bruce yet

Steve Bruce’s appointment at Newcastle felt doomed from the word go.

The supporters, who largely did not want to see his predecessor Rafa Benitez leave, were uninspired by the decision to give Bruce the job and made that known.

Early results did not give them any reason to think otherwise. But now, after 11 games in, there is some hope for Bruce.

His side claimed a valuable victory on the road at West Ham on the weekend to move clear of the relegation zone and did so by scoring three

Finding the back of the net has proved difficult for them this season – only Watford have fewer goals – but fans will hope they can build on things after this ruthless display.

There are still plenty of improvements to be made, and they are by no means out of the woods yet, but 12 points from 11 is not an awful return. By Bruce’s standards, that’s just better than par.

10) Pressure might be getting to Guardiola?

How the tables have turned. Just two weeks ago, there were questions asked if Jurgen Klopp was starting to buckle under the pressure of delivering Liverpool’s first league title since 1990.

Now, those questions are being redirected at Pep Guardiola following his astonishing and needless pop at Sadio Mane.

The City boss fired the first shot ahead of next weekend’s title showdown against Liverpool by branding Mane a diver after he was booked for simulation in the Reds’ win over Villa.

Is it a tactical ploy from Guardiola? A bit of kidology? Or is it a sign of someone rattled by the weight of expectation?

For a man who has been here so many times before, you’d think Guardiola has broad enough shoulders to deal with the pressure.

But his accusation about Mane – which followed a touchline row with Southampton boss Ralph Hasenhuttl – will lead to suggestions to the contrary.