Arsenal second as Manchester City approach sprint speed despite Guardiola complaints – 3pm Blackout | OneFootball

Manchester City don’t half feel imperious after catching Arsenal despite Pep Guardiola saying they must improve. And Wolves really might go down.

Bournemouth and Burnley also continued their respective dreadful form with a draw on the south coast.

Brighton and Sunderland, meanwhile, will be wishing these next few weeks away.

Bournemouth 1-1 Burnley: Cherries, Clarets both eight without a win

Bournemouth and Burnley, locked in 18th and 19th in the Premier League form table, were both hoping to end miserable runs.

Burnley travelled to the Vitality on a seven-match losing streak with Scott Parker staring down the barrel, while the Cherries were without a win in seven, at least picking up a few draws along the way.

Their most recent result had been a dramatic 4-4 draw away at Manchester United, and despite not winning at a ground where they’ve won 3-0 in each of the last two seasons, Bournemouth would have gone into the weekend on a high.

Unsurprisingly, they looked the more dangerous team. Burnley didn’t register their first shot until the 85th minute, when they were already 1-0 down.

The opening goal came thanks to some horrendous Burnley defending, but Antoine Semenyo still had a lot to do. It was the mark of an elite player in a match that might otherwise have been forgettable. Semenyo is destined for a January transfer, but Bournemouth still somehow decided to concede for some reason.

It’s unclear how much significance Armando Broja’s equaliser will hold. Parker is still under pressure, with Burnley now winless in eight rather than pointless in seven. A point only puts them five more from safety, though they could leapfrog West Ham next matchweek after the Hammers’ loss to Man City.

Meanwhile, we’re left wondering what on earth is going on with Bournemouth, possibly the streakiest team we’ve ever seen in Our League. They are always on a terrific or terrible run; there’s no in between. Andoni Iraola is either destined for a big move or a complete fraud; again, there’s no in between.

Just like Burnley, Bournemouth are now on a run of eight Premier League games without a win. A season that started with so much promise is already petering out. Luckily for the streakiest team in Premier League streakyville, when their next win finally comes, it will probably kick off an 11-match unbeaten run, with Europe briefly back in the conversation, before finishing the season with two points from their last seven.

Brighton 0-0 Sunderland: AFCON absences = dull draw

People have been barking about how badly Sunderland would be affected by the Africa Cup of Nations, but it was Carlos Baleba’s absence that made the biggest impact. Brighton lacked control, and despite the Cameroonian’s iffy form this season, he was sorely missed.

Jack Hinshelwood made only his fourth Premier League start of the season to partner Yasin Ayari, who had played just 26 minutes over Brighton’s previous three games but has been a regular starter in midfield in 2025/26.

Baleba isn’t much of a final-third player. He isn’t known for unlocking defences or producing an elite final ball, but his physicality and defensive nous bring balance and midfield dominance – both of which Brighton lacked against Sunderland.

Sunderland looked the more likely side throughout and struck the bar early in the second half. Omar Alderete’s thunderous header was tipped onto the crossbar by Bart Verbruggen, who is quietly having a very good season.

But did the Black Cats do enough to win the game? Not really. It wasn’t a very good game of football in a pretty disappointing batch of 3pm kick-offs.

It shouldn’t have been a surprise that this game finished as a draw. Both teams are middle of the road in the Premier League form table, with two wins, two draws, and two losses from their last six games.

The biggest surprise is that a point is enough to put Sunderland fifth in the actual table…for 45 minutes or so.

Manchester City 3-0 West Ham: It’s happened again, it’s happened again…

Second again, ole, ole. Arsenal have the opportunity to change that in a matter of hours when they visit Everton, but that sinking feeling of a months-long title race with Manchester City has settled in.

This might be the way until May: two touch-tight tusslers trading places and scouring schedules for kick-off times to see when they will be allocated the notional roles of leader or chaser.

The alternative is that one pulls away into the distance. And on current evidence it would be the winner of both previous races between these teams and managers.

Manchester City are in imperious form, their trademark winter winning run having seemingly arrived. West Ham were a willing and predictable seventh consecutive victim, Pep Guardiola’s side having now scored ten goals without reply against their last four opponents across three competitions.

The Spaniard believes Manchester City “have to do better” in the Premier League and suggested their “level is not quite enough” to win the Champions League just yet, but he knows how important it is to ensure they are in the best possible place to capitalise when the season enters the home stretch.

Even against West Ham his displeasure at certain elements of his team was clear in a triple substitution at 2-0 up around the hour mark. That Savinho and Rico Lewis both came on to contribute to Erling Haaland’s second goal of the afternoon within a couple of minutes underlined the depth and hunger Guardiola will seek to hone and harness from here on in.

And Haaland is at the stage where his ridiculous rate of Premier League goalscoring is reeling in and surpassing such names as Cristiano Ronaldo and Didier Drogba.

It was around this time last year that the wheels fell off, hit Guardiola in the absurdly bald head and disintegrated in the cold Manchester air. Twelve months later, Manchester City are top of the table and starting to look themselves, even with ample room for improvement.

It should come as precisely zero surprise that Wolves simply cannot be trusted to do basically anything other than thoroughly depress a set of supporters who only half a decade ago were watching cup ties at Wembley and taking in matchdays across Europe.

But the sheer descent of their fall remains stark. Against the second-worst away team in the Premier League – Wolves themselves were obviously propping up that particular table – they somehow managed to plumb newer depths still.

Keane Lewis-Potter doubled his Premier League career goal tally in 90 minutes at Molineux. Jorgen Strand Larsen missed the most miserable of penalties. Rob Edwards is making Wilfried Nancy wince by losing each of his first six games in charge. The brave new era under interim executive chairman Nathan Shi looks an awful lot like the gutless, insipid last.

A home game against Brentford, 15th and winless in four with pressure mounting on Keith Andrews, was about as soft a ball as Wolves have left this season. And all the visitors really had to do was play long enough for them to collapse in on themselves, as Ladislav Krejci did when letting a speculative Vitaly Janelt ball bounce over him for the waiting Lewis-Potter.

At this stage, the Derby 2007/08 comparisons really do seem harsh to Paul Jewell and the lads.