The Premier League title race is going right to the wire after Liverpool picked up another three points to leapfrog Manchester City at the top of the table.
Elsewhere, Cardiff’s relegation was confirmed and Chelsea sealed their place in next season’s Champions League.
Here, AMITAI WINEHOUSE assesses 10 things we learned from the penultimate weekend of the top-flight season…
Liverpool beat Newcastle to leapfrog Manchester City at the top of the Premier League table
The overall outcome of Manchester United’s draw at Huddersfield was bad enough, but in isolation it shows how bad they’ve become recently.
Huddersfield had lost five on the spin before nicking a point on Sunday. United also became the first Premier League side to play twice at the John Smith’s Stadium and fail to pick up a single win. The Terriers also ended a run of 23 straight defeats in matches in which they trailed at any stage.
It should not have been a particularly difficult hurdle to leap. It was also a fifth game without a win for the first time in three and a half years. United really are in bad shape right now.
Manchester United became the first Premier League team to fail to win a game at Huddersfield
When Liverpool lost Mohamed Salah in last season’s Champions League final they had to turn to Adam Lallana. Their bench was a weakness.
This weekend, they could call on Divock Origi, Xherdan Shaqiri, James Milner, Alex Oxlade-Chamberlain and more. So when they lost Salah, Origi came on, scored and kept them in the title race.
They now have 12 goals by substitutes this season, the most in the Premier League. Liverpool have been engaged in concerted squad building over the last few years and are finally in a position to earn silverware as a result.
The summing of Arsenal’s first season under Unai Emery is simple. Their attack is good, their defence is bad.
Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang has now hit 30 goals since his debut in February 2018. Only Salah has more in the top flight. At the other end, they have conceded 50 or more goals in consecutive top-flight campaigns for the first time since 1982-83 and 1983-84.
It might just be the case that Aubameyang – and to a degree, Alexandre Lacazette – papered over the cracks for most of this season. The defence is the issue Emery has to resolve if Arsenal want to be competitive again.
Spurs are meant to have shot in Amsterdam on Wednesday but there is very little evidence they can turn the game around away from home.
After the defeat at Bournemouth, admittedly one caveated by the two red cards, they have lost six consecutive away Premier League matches for the first time since May 2004 under David Pleat.
Add in what was actually a loss at the Etihad and it’s clear their form on the road is exceptionally poor. Why should it be any different at the Johan Cruyff Arena?
A big way in which football has changed over the last decade is just how big of an attacking outlet all full-backs are. Jurgen Klopp has taken that to a new extreme.
Liverpool are now the first team in Premier League history to have two defenders provide 10+ assists each in a single campaign – Trent Alexander-Arnold and Andy Robertson both with 11.
They are now closer to old school wingers than the full-backs of the 1990s. Alexander-Arnold and Robertson should almost be viewed as attackers rather than in any defensive sense.
If Chelsea are to lose Eden Hazard this summer, then at least he has provided them with lasting memories this campaign and helped them back into the Champions League.
The Belgian has 31 goal involvements this season after Sunday’s romp against Watford, when he picked up two assists. That’s more than any Chelsea player in one campaign aside from Jimmy Floyd Hasselbaink (32 – 2000-01), Frank Lampard (36 – 2009-10) and Didier Drogba (39 – 2009-10).
There is still the issue of whether this will actually be his last season, though. For all of Real Madrid’s interest, Chelsea might not be willing to sell amid their ban. And Hazard must be aware Maurizio Sarri – for all of his flaws – is getting something more out of him.
The case of Neil Warnock leads to a question about how teams should handle promotion to the Premier League.
Warnock holds the promotion record in this country and it’s fair to say no one expected him to take his Cardiff team up last season. He is as close as you can get to a Championship whisperer.
Yet his record in the Premier League is appalling. If he sees out a season at a club in the top flight they get relegated – like at Notts County in 1991-92, Sheffield United in 2006-07 and now Cardiff City in 2018-19. That is just fact.
It suggests that more teams should do what Watford did when they won promotion a few years ago and be willing to jettison their manager after going up for one more suited to the top flight.
Marko Arnautovic is back – and that will mean a lot to West Ham. After his failed transfer to China, he went completely off the boil and the fans responded in kind.
His brace against Southampton included his first goal since January 5 and means he has now been involved in 30 goals since the start of last season, 14 more than any other Hammers player.
It is no coincidence the team dipped off as the forward did. If Arnautovic – who also got an assist against Tottenham last week – is back and focused, it can only bode well for West Ham next season.
The reality is that Wolves and Fulham splashed similar amounts of cash last summer in their bid to stay in the Premier League – or more.
Where they differed was in the quality of their recruitment team and network. Wolves were targeted, fixed issues and improved their side. Fulham were scattergun and made clear and obvious errors throughout and are now heading into the Championship.
Wolves are now 31 points ahead of Fulham after Saturday’s win and on the cusp of Europe. Nuno will get plenty of deserved praise, but it is also time to raise a glass to the team handling Wolves’ transfer business.
Everything seems to be coming together for Everton, not least in terms of their defence. The 2-0 win against Burnley was their fifth consecutive clean sheet in a row at Goodison Park.
That was also their ninth in the Premier League this campaign, with only Liverpool outdoing them on their own patch. It comes with Kurt Zouma in exceptional form.
Zouma, on loan from Chelsea, is a must buy for Marco Silva in the summer. That said, his performances might mean transfer ban-hit Chelsea want to retain him. At least Everton know one name they should be bringing in permanently when the window opens.