Premier League: Five things we learnt from gameweek 16 | OneFootball

Some days, an own goal from your opponents is what gets you over the line. On even rarer days, it takes two! As Premier League clubs see their African players depart for the continent’s Cup of Nations, FromTheSpot discusses five talking points from last week’s action.

The Tyne-Wear rivalry has grown with time

Nine years, eight months, and 24 days. That’s how long it had been since Sunderland and Newcastle last played each other in the Premier League game.

It’s safe to say that the fixture is one of the biggest derbies in the country, and this perhaps the most intriguing iteration yet. The high-flying Black Cats had proven doubters wrong so far, with Régis Le Bris leading them to the heights of eighth after 16 games. Their rivals experienced a more mixed start in the bottom half, but hopes were likely high with captain Bruno Guimarães and Nick Woltemade firing on all cylinders.

Except Woltemade completely misfired by heading into the wrong net, handing Sunderland a 1-0 victory.

Every football fan knows the price of losing a derby game. They’re highly unenjoyable while they’re happening, let alone after you’ve lost. But this one in particular will sting quite badly for the Magpies.

Unlike the North London Derby, in which Arsenal and Spurs seem to be going in opposite directions, Sunderland are going from strength to strength and Newcastle competing in the Champions League. The stakes only increase the better your rivals get.

And the tension does too. During the game, Sunderland didn’t have it in them to display the visitors’ club badge on the big screen. In fact, it read as just that. ‘Visitors’.

Newcastle boss Eddie Howe revealed that out of the 60,000 running past him when he started the Great North Run in 2023, half of them were Sunderland fans shouting abuse at him.

It seems the longer the acquaintances had gone unrenewed, the more pronounced the rivalry between Sunderland and Newcastle has become. With that said, it’s fantastic to have it back.

Bournemouth struggling at the back

Bournemouth have relished playing at Old Trafford over the past few years, picking up seven points in three visits while going the last five unbeaten against the Red Devils – they have a habit of being a bogey team for teams in the North West.

This includes back-to-back 3-0 victories, the latest of which saw them rise to fifth in the Premier League last campaign and inflict a third defeat in four matches for Ruben Amorim.

In the game of the season so far, it quickly became clear where the Cherries are struggling given past results against Manchester United.

And no prizes are on offer for saying it’s their defence.

Dean Huijsen played a starring role in that statement win with a towering header into the net, and the likes of Milos Kerkez at left back and Huijsen’s centre-back partner Illia Zabarnyi both impressing defensively.

While the goals were still flowing in the 4-4 draw, it was alarmingly easy for United to carve the visitors open for the opening goal, with the back line featuring Bafodé Diakaté and Adrien Truffert making costly errors in the lead up to the winner.

Bournemouth have simply conceded too many as of late – two against strugglers West Ham, one to Everton, and three to Sunderland – and it’s damaged their chances of challenging for a European place, and it can be traced to the departures of Huijsen and Zabarnyi which they haven’t dealt with convincingly.

Spurs have made little progress with Frank

The damning 3-0 loss to Nottingham Forest on Sunday is a pretty sobering diagnostic for Tottenham Hotspur’s season on the whole.

Having won only once in the league since November, Thomas Frank’s side again struggled to carve out big opportunities with an expected goals return of just 0.33. Meanwhile, the hosts breezed past them with a brace from Callum Hudson-Odoi and a brilliant long-range effort from Ibrahim Sangaré, who departs for AFCON.

Goalkeeper Guglielmo Vicario and defensive midfielder Archie Gray were unconvincing at best under pressure, handing the hosts their first with an erroneous pass out by the Italian, before he was beaten by what seemed to begin as a looping cross towards the back post from Hudson-Odoi.

While Frank has a provenly well-organised, robust system involving a compact mid-block and command over transitions, these aspects of his game are yet to truly manifest at Spurs. They looked messy, and if asked to operate similarly to how Brentford did under the Dane’s leadership then they aren’t listening.

Being in the bottom half is a nervy sight for Spurs fans, as having gained only six places from where they finished under Ange Postecoglou is not enough for the team to justify their presence in this season’s Champions League, nor qualify for the next one.

Frank is known to be more flexible than his predecessor, moving between 4-3-3 and 5-3-2 set ups whilst with the Bees when playing opponents of varying quality. This might offer a slim yet needed feeling of respite during a difficult Christmas period. But with Liverpool next up, things run the risk of going from bad to worse before they get better.

Leeds have a good shot at survival

How many people would’ve predicted Leeds United to score once or twice in their ties against Chelsea, Manchester City, and Liverpool, never might eight times?

Although Sunderland are currently doing the best job of rectifying the performances of promoted clubs over the last two seasons, all of which were relegated, Daniel Farke’s side have looked more than competitive as of late.

They’ve operated with a brave high press and some much-needed aggression, and it’s paid off with a haul of four points from going up against the Premier League big boys. The gap to West Ham in 18th may only be three points, but it exists for a reason.

Dominic Calvert-Lewin has been in red hot form with four goals in as many games, yet dynamic midfielders Ao Tanaka and Anton Stach have also contributed in front of goal, meaning they aren’t relying solely on the attacking output of their forwards.

They managed 17 shots to Brentford’s seven, despite only walking away from the Gtech Community Stadium with a point. If this is how they can perform against both the league’s best teams and the mid pack, there’s no reason why they can’t stay up.

And Farke has beaten both the Hammers and bottom club Wolves.

Wolves are set to be worst at Christmas

Some things are inevitable in life. Taxes, one of them. Another is Wolves reaching new lows.

Following their 4-1 defeat at home to Manchester United, the West Midlands side equalled their worst ever run dating back to the 1981-82 season.

They also found the net against league leaders Arsenal, three times too. Unbelievably, two of them ended up in their own. With only Brentford left to go before the 25th, Wolves will also register the joint-lowest points haul on Christmas Day of just two points, should they lose again.

We previously said that Wolves may have hired Rob Edwards knowing that the Championship is already beckoning, and their recent struggles in front of goal have all but confirmed that.

In fact, the club has never gone into December with no player scoring more than a single goal – a stat made all the more frustrating for Wolves supporters given that they’ve underperformed in terms of their 12.74 expected goals, having found the net just nine times.

The discussion of whether Wolves will break the all-time lowest Premier League points tally of 11 – set by the infamous Derby County side of 2007/08 – is now a constant.

Unfortunately for them, there are little signs of even a win coming their way.