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By IAN LADYMAN, FOOTBALL EDITOR Published: 23: 00 AEDT, 2 February 2026 | Updated: 00: 00 AEDT, 3 February 2026 6 View comments At the end of a week when their own mental strength was questioned it now appears that Arsenal have a psychological grip of their own on the rest of the Premier League. Mikel Arteta's team now have such a reputation for the chaos they cause at attacking set pieces that they are profiting from sheer panic as much as anything else. The manner in which they scored their second goal at Leeds on Saturday is a case in point. When Noni Madueke's inswinging corner arrives at the near post, the five players nearest to the ball are all Leeds defenders. The only two Arsenal players in the vicinity - William Saliba and Martin Zubimendi - make no attempt to get there and as such never leave the ground. But still – blinded by fear and confusion – Dominic Calvert-Lewin and goalkeeper Karl Darlow manage to combine to hand Arsenal an utterly needless own-goal and with it a stranglehold on the game. It appears that leaders Arsenal have a psychological grip on the rest of the Premier League It is time for Premier League coaches to come up with ways to combat Arsenal from corners Before the game Leeds manager Daniel Farke admitted that he had told his players not to concede corners and that in itself smacks of a strange kind of inferiority complex. As the excellent Shay Given pointed out on Match of the Day, it's about time the Premier League and its sophisticated coaches started to worry less about Arsenal's aerial prowess and instead come up with ways to combat it it.   They are just corner kicks after all. At least the Leeds fans stayed to the end at Elland Road. On Sunday at Tottenham – as their team were struggling against Manchester City – my eyewitness tells me that some fans were off and home as early as half-time.  That's a huge call to make given the price of tickets at the Tottenham Hotspur Stadium. What is it about English football fans and their strange sense of entitlement? Both Tottenham and Chelsea recorded significant wins in the Champions League last week and it was noticeable that fans of the vanquished Eintracht Frankfurt and Napoli stayed until the end to applaud their players from the field. Neither team have qualified for the next stage. Yet here in the Premier League, Spurs fans are leaving halfway through the game and Chelsea goalkeeper Robert Sanchez is having to tell supporters at Stamford Bridge to calm down and stick with the team after a miserable first-half effort against West Ham. In the end both teams turned things around to leave those who stayed breathless and glad that they did. It's football, folks. Nobody wins every week. Some Spurs fans (not those pictured) left the stadium at half-time against Manchester City Napoli's struggles in Europe – they won just two games – maybe places in context some of the fuss about expat Premier League players doing well down in Italy's south. The likes of Scott Mc Tominay – who has surprised everyone – Billy Gilmour and now Kevin de Bruyne are all making their living in Naples now, but the truth is that Serie A is a step down in terms of quality and intensity from the Premier League. It's easier to do well there. With that in mind, it's interesting to see that Aston Villa have offered old boy Tammy Abraham a route back in to English football. Abraham scored bundles of goals for Villa in the Championship back in the day while on loan from Chelsea and briefly shone when playing in the top flight back at his parent club. Indeed he has 11 England caps from that period. But the widely held view in the English game was that Abraham was a level down from that required to score regularly in the top flight and this is why he ended up building his reputation back up with Roma and then Milan. Villa have paid £18m to sign him from Besiktas and that feels like a gamble. The Midlands club's Champions League qualification hopes may depend on it paying off. Has he really improved that much?   Aston Villa's £18million signing of striker Tammy Abraham from Besiktas feels like a gamble Line of the weekend on TV came from TNT Sports' Darren Fletcher who declared 'the Liverpool shirt looks a perfect fit on the shoulders of Hugo Ekitike' and it was superbly put. Some players shrivel when they get to a big club. Others – like Florian Wirtz – take time to settle. While some just look as though they are born to be there. From the moment he scored on his debut in the Community Shield last summer, Ekitike has looked right at home in the latter category. He and Wirtz were excellent against Newcastle on Saturday night as Liverpool finally found a little of their true selves for Arne Slot. This Sunday's home meeting against Manchester City may be a humdinger after all. Watching the duo play it was hard not to think that Liverpool's future will be bright – whoever the manager is in the long-term. Wirtz, Ekitike and maybe even Alexander Isak should have their best years ahead of them while the likes of Ryan Gravenberch – criminally under-discussed – Alexis Mac Allister and Dominik Szoboszlai would all get in most top Premier League teams. And then there is Mo Salah. The great Egyptian is not having a stellar season but it was impossible not to notice on Saturday that his football was rather less selfish than it was in the days when he just saw every moment of ball possession as an opportunity to score. It's a big 'if' but if indeed the 33-year-old can accept that there are new heroes at Anfield now and settle in to life as a team player then Liverpool may get a significant contribution from him before – as expected – he takes his leave next summer. It's up to him. .. Mohamed Salah was less selfish than before and could carve out a crucial role at Liverpool if he accepts there are new heroes at Anfield such as Florian Wirtz (left) and Hugo Ekitike It was a strange night at Anfield for Anthony Gordon as he scored a rare goal from open play and was booked for a dreadful late lunge at Liverpool goalkeeper Alisson. Sent off for such a tackle on Virgil van Dijk when the teams met in the north-east earlier in the season, Gordon seems to be emotionally unsettled when he comes up against Liverpool. Maybe – as is the suspicion in some quarters – he hasn't quite got over the fact a suggested move to Anfield in the summer of 2024 never came off. A yellow card for Gordon was the right decision but on the whole it was a thoroughly rotten weekend for referees. Pep Guardiola and his midfielder Rodri were right to be aghast that Tottenham's first goal against City was given when Dominic Solanke clearly kicked right through the back of Marc Guehi to get to the ball. Rodri is likely to face FA censure for his suggestion that referees are fed up of City winning all the time. At Old Trafford, meanwhile, sympathy was with Fulham manager Marco Silva who watched referee John Brooks give a penalty for one imaginary offence and then give Manchester United a free-kick for something else entirely on the advice of the video officials. United, rather predictably, scored. Dominic Solanke's first goal against Man City, which came after a clear kick through the back of Marc Guehi, shows that VAR is still a mess and is only getting worse in the Premier League Later on, meanwhile, Fulham had a goal ruled out for offside. It was completely the right call but why it took the VAR three and a half minutes (yes, I timed it) to get there was beyond everybody in the stadium. The use of the semi-automated technology across Europe enables these decisions to be made in seconds but as always the English game feels it knows best and has chosen to use a system that just doesn't work as well – or indeed as quickly. On the Stretford End they made their feelings know. 'F*** VAR' they sang – even though they knew it was their own team that was about to benefit from the decision! Moment of the weekend came in the press conference room at the Amex Stadium where David Moyes discussed the decision to award him a yellow card for bouncing out of his technical area in celebrating Everton's 97th-minute equaliser. Yes, there were expletives but there was humour too. Most importantly, he confirmed he would absolutely do it again if the opportunity arose. Quite right, too. Where on earth is the joy in those who administer our game? Plenty of the stuff at Old Trafford on the whole, though, as United rescued a third win for Michael Carrick in the fourth minute of added time. Fulham played their part and central midfielder Sander Berge was particularly impressive as the Londoners had more of the possession and indeed more shots on goal. Bruno Fernandes may divide opinion but his importance to Man United cannot be overstated United once considered signing Berge, as did Newcastle. As it turned out, the £20m Fulham paid Burnley two summers when he was recruited as a replacement for Joao Palhinha seems a bargain now. It was a thrilling afternoon on the whole and a game won largely on the back of the fact that United have flair players who can turn games. Carrick's squad doesn't have the capacity to dominate the ball and dictate the rhythm of a game. United need better central midfield players for that to happen. This, in short, is why players such as Bruno Fernandes remain so important. The United skipper took hold of the game in added time after Fulham's equaliser and created a winning goal for Benjamin Sesko seemingly out of sheer desire. Out of contract in the summer of 2027, the 31-year-old has spoken this season of feeling a little unloved by the United hierarchy and Carrick must find a way to change this if he can. United have recruited well in attacking areas – Bryan Mbeumo and Matheus Cunha look perfect for the role – but Fernandes remains the heartbeat of his club and is as close to irreplaceable as it comes. United should offer the Portuguese a new deal as soon as possible. He doesn't rely on pace and rarely gets injured. There quite simply is no downside. Contracts are a sensitive subject at Crystal Palace, meanwhile, as manager Oliver Glasner prepares to walk away without signing a new one at Selhurst Park. If Oliver Glasner was not going to commit himself to his club, why would he expect them to show any to him in terms of handing him the players he wanted in the transfer window?   His team took a point from a lively affair at Nottingham Forest in the absence of star striker Jean-Philippe Mateta, who looks set to move to Milan. Glasner was moaning again afterwards about mistakes he feels Palace have made in the transfer market since qualifying for Europe last season. But self-awareness doesn't seem to be a strong point for the Austrian. It was clear from the moment that Palace won the FA Cup last May that the club knew Glasner was not going to extend a contract that at that point had a year left to run. Asked about it in the interview area at Wembley, the truth was written all over the face of chairman Steve Parish. So if Glasner was not going to commit himself to his club, why would he expect them to show any to him in terms of handing him the players he wanted? Palace have got a few things wrong since that great day at Wembley and have indeed been undermined by a lack of squad depth. But Glasner must realise that the more he speaks the worse it sounds. He is making himself less attractive to potential suitors with each passing press conference.

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