Top of the league

Another three points at Burnley takes us back to the top of the league for a couple of days at least, in a very different looking Burnley under Kompany. The blood and thunder games that a trip to Turf Moor entailed in the Dyche era has been replaced with a style that is a lot easier on the eye, if a little naive.

In reality the scoreline flattered Burnley as we made somewhat heavy weather of putting the game to bed. Their keeper was excellent on the night and I thought it was a very suspect decision to rule out Gakpo’s goal. Elliot was desperately unlucky to see his goal ruled out as well, albeit Salah was (pushed) in an offside position but the keeper was never saving what was a very smart finish from young Harvey, who continues to make an impact in the minutes he gets and has also proven himself a useful player to bring off the bench in games this season.

Good to see Darwin got a new pair of shooting boots for Christmas and it was a typical Darwin goal in as much as it was far from an easy chance and he finished it expertly, yet misses so many sitters. What I liked about the finish was that he almost passed it into the net. A criticism I’ve had of Darwin in the past is that he tries to burst the net every time when there’s no need to, so hopefully he’s starting to learn. After 11 games without a goal however, it will do his confidence the world of good and we’re going to need our other forwards to start scoring more regularly with Salah’s upcoming departure to AFCON on the horizon. Gakpo also played well off the left, you can tell he feels more at home in that position than through the middle where he’s blown hot and cold at times this season.

Young Quansah did well as well I thought and Gomez continues to show his versatility with another solid display at LB and in midfield, Endo continues to grow into the side, I really do like Gravenberch as a player and I think it was wise to finally give Szoboszlai a rest, as he’s been looking jaded in recent weeks.

The best thing about last night for me though is the return of Jota. I don’t think it can be underestimated how important Jota is. He’s arguably the most underrated player in the PL in my opinion. He’s not flashy or particularly memorable in games, he’s just quietly efficient at what he does. One of his biggest strengths though is his composure. He’s always calm and his decision making is generally spot on and we saw that composure with his finish last night. He very often scores the opening goal in games as well and we need to manage his fitness to keep him playing for the second half of the season and he’ll be particularly important in Salah’s absence, as our second most reliable source of goals behind the Egyptian.

Job done then and back to the top of the league. We play a floundering Newcastle next who I expect us to beat and it can no longer be denied that we are right in this title race and have as good a chance as anyone of going all the way. Robbo will hopefully be back next month which will be massive and if Diaz can find a bit of form from somewhere then we will really be looking strong. I just hope our attack doesn’t falter in Salah’s absence but it’s also a good opportunity for our other forwards to step out of his shadow somewhat. In terms of the season up to now though, so far so good. Walk on!