F365’s 3pm Blackout: Frank sack imminent and Slot not far behind as Liverpool make unwelcome history | OneFootball

Thomas Frank lost El Sackico to actual Nuno Espírito Santo and Arne Slot isn’t far behind in the sack race after extending Liverpool’s rank unbeaten run to 12 games.

Elsewhere Liam Rosenior required some horrible Brentford decision-making to get off to a winning start at Chelsea, while Sunderland won to go back above Newcastle and Leeds’s 3-5-2 excellence continued.

Here’s F365’s 3pm Blackout…

Liverpool 1-1 Burnley: Edwards levels as Slot faces sack after 12 games unbeaten

After being held by both Sunderland and Leeds, a 1-1 draw with Burnley means Arne Slot’s side have failed to win all three home games against newly-promoted teams in a single season for the first time in the Premier League era. A 12-game unbeaten run may never have been met with such apathy.

It was all Liverpool for a long, long time. Burnley couldn’t get out of their own half. But as has been said far more often than not this season, the Reds lacked a creative spark. Milos Kerkez and Jeremie Frimpong were bombing on but couldn’t get the final ball right.

They were huffing and puffing without really getting anywhere before being awarded what looked to be rather a soft penalty as Cody Gakpo went over Florentino’s big left leg. Justice then perhaps that Dominik Szoboszlai stepped up and smashed his effort against the bar. Just the second penalty he’s missed of 22 in his career.

Liverpool deservedly got the breakthrough before half-time. Hugo Ekitike showed excellent persistence to get to the byline and it was an emphatic finish from Florian Wirtz, who whipped his shot past several Burnley bodies into the top corner.

“A team that plays the Liverpool way” was the chant from the Kop in the second half. And there were indeed waves of pressure crashing against the Burnley goal as those fans came to expect under Jurgen Klopp and Slot in his debut season.

But this isn’t that Liverpool; it’s the new, brittle, sh*t your pants one. And a buzz of positivity was replaced by all-too familiar groans for the last half hour of this game.

They had been given a warning seconds before when Ibrahima Konate nearly scored past his own goalkeeper as he intercepted Michael Edwards’ square pass. And it was Edward who drew the visitors level, beating Alisson from a tight angle having played through all to easily by Florentino. Liverpool were sleeping.

And basically continued to sleep as that Burnley equaliser knocked their confidence to a quite staggering degree. Boos rang out at Anfield at full-time after a fourth draw on the bounce. Is the end nigh for Slot? Any improvement in performances we’ve seen during this run is negligible.

Tottenham 1-2 West Ham: Frank sack surely secured as Spurs fans furious

A sixth home defeat in 11, aimless possession, a lack of ideas in the final third, instability at the back, is there anything good about Thomas Frank’s Tottenham? They surely won’t be his for much longer.

The boos started early and rang out as Crysencio Summerville had the absurdly simple task of cutting inside Pedro Porro – who made no attempt of note to stop him – before beating Guglielmo Vicario at his near post via a deflection to give West Ham (West Ham?!) the lead at the Tottenham Hotspur Stadium.

Having had a semblance of control in the first 15 minutes, the goal changed the game. Tottenham didn’t know how to deal with Summerville. Jarrod Bowen had a goal ruled out for offside. Vicario produced a fine save to deny Konstantinos Mavropanos. Any opportunity Spurs had to get forward came to nothing as passes were overhit or misplaced. Xavi Simons was a prime culprit.

The home-fan apathy increased through the second half and was particularly evident as the Spurs players passed the ball around aimlessly as if they had all the time in the world to claw their way back into the game, ironically just before Christian Romero levelled the scores. It was a wonderful first-time cross from Porro and a top header from the Spurs captain.

A draw against a West Ham side on a ten-game winless run may not have been enough to save Frank; enough is surely enough after defeat, with Vicario’s weak attempt to deal with the stoppage-time corner before Callum Wilson stabbed in the winner epitomising the Spurs team as a whole.

Chelsea 2-0 Brentford: Rosenior escapes Stamford Bridge with first win against dominant Bees

Keith Andrews will be scratching his head after this one. His side were the dominant force, and not through long balls and counter-attacks but by retaining possession and consistently hammering on the Chelsea door at Stamford Bridge. If it weren’t for some truly horrible decision-making in the final third and some fuzzy thinking at the back Brentford would have stormed back into the top four.

Kevin Schade left Trevoh Chalobah sprawling early on after showing outstanding pace to get to a through ball, before inexplicably trying to set Mikkel Damsgaard up when faced with only Robert Sanchez from ten yards out. Sanchez was though forced into a fine save as Tosin Adarabioyo inadvertently sent the ball towards goal.

Yehor Yarmolyuk made a similarly poor decision when in acres of space in the Chelsea box. Mathias Jensen shinned a volley against the post. Sanchez made a brilliant one-on-one save to deny Schade shortly after half time. A number of other half chances were fluffed by the Bees.

The high press worked for Chelsea to give them the lead. Enzo Fernandez – having proven his worth in that regard against Arsenal in midweek to set up Alejandro Garnacho’s first goal – blocked Michael Kayode’s clearance before Joao Pedro took a fine first touch before arrowing the ball past Caoimhin Kelleher into the roof of the net. He’s an excellent finisher when he doesn’t have time to think about it.

Alejandro Garnacho isn’t. The former Manchester United winger had a decent game before being subbed in the second half, but he missed an absolute sitter when Pedro Neto put the ball on a plate for him in the six-yard box.

Just at the point when we were considering the change of mindset from inevitable Brentford equaliser to ‘they could play all day here and not score’, Kelleher brought Liam Delap down in the box after the Brentford goalkeeper let a pass slip under his boot. Cole Palmer converted.

What did we learn about Liam Rosenior’s Chelsea? Very little. But this will feel big for the new Blues boss, against a Brentford side who gave far more than they got at Stamford Bridge.

Sunderland 2-1 Crystal Palace: Brobbey brilliance turns game around to pile more misery on Eagles

Palace fans could really have done with something to smile about after a harrowing few weeks which has seen them drop from fourth to 12th in the table and get dumped unceremoniously from the FA Cup by Macclesfield in the greatest upset of all time ended with Oliver Glasner announcing Marc Guehi’s transfer to Manchester City and his own intention to leave at the end of the season.

After Robin Roefs made a couple of fine saves he flapped at a cross to hand Yeremy Pino the simple task of poking the ball beyond him. It was somewhat against the run of play and Sunderland’s response was swift and brilliant. A flowing move from back to front ended with Brian Brobbey smartly leaving Nordi Mukiele’s cross for Enzo Le Fee to sweep the ball into the bottom corner.

Palace dropped deeper and deeper in the second half and Sunderland’s pressure told in the 71st minute when Noah Sadiki turned his defender and slipped the ball through for Brobbey, who dinked a bobbling ball in off the crossbar with the outside of his right boot. An excellent finish to lift Sunderland back above Newcastle.

Leeds 1-0 Fulham: Whites sixth after change to 3-5-2

Lukas Nmecha’s excellent stoppage-time winner, which saw him stretch his right foot around the Fulham defender to volley in Ethan Ampadu’s cross, means Leeds have now won three, drawn five and lost just one of their games since Daniel Farke switched to 3-5-2. Has there been a bigger swing in performance and results after a formation change since Antonio Conte’s change to 3-4-3 took Chelsea to the title in 2016/2017?

Since the end of November, when Farke made the change, only five Premier League teams have picked up more points than Leeds’ 14. Another Premier League season beckons.