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A bad weekend for Arsenal, not only because they had another man sent off and lost their first league game of the season, but because both Manchester City and Liverpool won 2-1 in difficult circumstances to surge ahead of them. John Stones’ second late goal of the season may well prove vital, putting City on top until Liverpool beat Chelsea. The top two now have a little gap to the rest.
At the bottom, Leicester City continue to lead the light for the promoted clubs after coming from 2-0 down to beat Southampton and move into the heady heights of lower mid-table. Ipswich endured a sobering afternoon against Everton at Portman Road, while Russell Martin already sounds defeated at St Mary’s.
Elsewhere, other managers did ease the pressure. Erik ten Hag’s Manchester United beat Brentford at Old Trafford, while Tottenham came from behind to thump West Ham during the second half. Brighton maintained their place in the top six with a win at Newcastle.
Scroll down for our verdict on every team (listed in table order).
This weekend’s results
Saturday
Sunday
Liverpool
Next weekend Aintree Racecourse opens its gates for its first meeting of the new jump season. Four miles away, at Anfield, Liverpool have begun to face the big fences.
One of the reasons Arne Slot was so reluctant to take praise for the slick manner of Liverpool’s start was because their manager knew what was coming – Arsenal, Aston Villa, Bayer Leverkusen, Real Madrid and Manchester City. Chelsea was the first of these high hurdles.
They cleared it to maintain their lead at the top of the Premier League, although it was the kind of clearance in which the horse clips the fence with its trailing hoof. It was not quite as convincing as a perfectionist such as Slot would have liked. Liverpool won, Curtis Jones played beautifully but Nicolas Jackson and Cole Palmer had their chances and they might argue they were better than Liverpool’s.
Reece James’s analysis seemed sound.
“The scoreline doesn’t reflect the game,” the Chelsea captain said.
“We are definitely moving in the right direction.
“If we step back and look at performances and what we are trying to do, we have come a long way. It is still early days; we haven’t been with the manager long.”
Aside from the moment when Jackson scored after being played onside by the width of Ibrahima Konate’s knee, the difference was that Liverpool defended better than Chelsea on a breathless afternoon. Slot counted them the hardest opponents he has yet faced in England, tougher than Manchester United at Old Trafford. If Arsenal continue to stumble and Manchester City cannot shake the habit of conceding early goals, who is to say just how long Liverpool’s lead will last?
Jones had not scored in the league since Newcastle were beaten here on New Year’s Day but this was a lovely finish, controlling the ball with one foot and putting it away with the other. He was fouled for one penalty, put away by Mohamed Salah, and awarded another when seemingly brought down by Robert Sanchez on the edge of half time. A long VAR check showed the Chelsea keeper’s boot had reached the ball before Jones did a forward roll over his body.
Add in one superbly-timed block in his own area to deny Cole Palmer and other forceful tackles in midfield and this Toxteth boy displayed shades of Steven Gerrard, although you have to add that by the time he was 23, Gerrard had won four major trophies with Liverpool.
Perhaps because of the way Jose Mourinho protested the “ghost goal” in the Champions League semi-final, perhaps because of the way he celebrated Gerrard’s slip that effectively cost Liverpool the title in 2014, perhaps because they are supposed to be London and flash, Chelsea stir the emotions at Anfield. This was an intense afternoon in which you expected a red card and Darwin Nunez, introduced for the injured Diogo Jota, and Benoit Badiashile did their best to provide one. By Tim Rich
Man City
If John Stones continues in his unlikely role as his team’s goalscoring savour, then Manchester City’s rivals may as well concede a fifth consecutive title to Pep Guardiola right now.
The season-long absence of Rodri remains the major problem for Guardiola as he seeks his place in football immortality.
That was evidenced in his team going 1-0 behind in the opening 10 minutes of a game for the third time in the last seven games – all of which have ended in City victories.
But Stones, who rescued a point with a 98th minute equaliser against Arsenal recently, went one better here when he headed in a controversial 95th minute winner against Wolves.
And while better teams than Gary O’Neil’s will exploit the absence of the player Guardiola believes the best in the world in his role as defensive midfielder, City and their manager may well have enough know-how to survive his loss.
The controversy over Stones’ winning header aside, Guardiola was delighted with the way in which his team managed to eventually break down a Wolves side that routinely had 11 players in their own penalty area.
“I don’t like conceding early but we started really well,” Guardiola said.
“And after that first transition we made good actions, good crosses. I don’t like it but I would be more concerned if we started sloppy or without the right tone to compete in these type of games and I didn’t have that feeling.
“It’s football but these experiences will help us to be better.”
Indeed, City have now trailed in five of their last seven fixtures – and have managed to avoid defeat all season long – suggesting that, while Rodri’s absence is immense, his team are currently finding a way to navigate through it.
Stones, who scored one goal in the whole of last season, was probably not the man earmarked as goalscoring hero, however.
“John has this talent. It’s a good header but at the corners and free kicks, it [the credit] belongs to the taker,” Guardiola said.
“If the delivery isn’t good it doesn’t matter whether you are John Stones or not. The delivery from Phil was magnificent and that’s why we did it.”
That Phil Foden corner saw Stones power in the winner after Josko Gvardiol had equalised for City in the first half, although the goal was initially ruled out for an offside Bernardo Silva infringing keeper Jose Sa.
VAR Stuart Attwell recommended referee Chris Kavanagh check his monitor and the decision was overturned. By Ian Whittell
Arsenal
“We’ve kicked ourselves in the foot three times in eight games,” said Declan Rice after Arsenal’s 2-0 defeat at Bournemouth. “We can’t make silly mistakes. You need all your best players on the pitch at all times.”
I was actually quite reassured by Rice’s comments. After their other red cards this season, Mikel Arteta has been so publicly critical of the decisions that it seemed to absolve the offenders themselves of any guilt. That isn’t how you learn from mistakes and correct them.
Rice is right. Whether or not Arsenal believe all three red cards were fairly shown – and Saturday’s was a fairly standard intervention by VAR – doesn’t change the reality: they put themselves in situations where those decisions could be made and thus made life particularly hard for themselves. Arsenal have been reduced to ten men in three league games and have dropped points in all three. It’s the easiest pattern to identify in the league.
Perhaps these are three freak incidents (although Leandro Trossard kicking the ball away a week after Rice was particularly dim). But there is a theory that Arteta’s touchline personality, on the edge and chaotic, may run off onto players who then do the same on the pitch and run the risk of crossing the line.
Title wins are typically proven through adversity; no arguments there. But they are platformed by a club’s ability to avoid that adversity as much as possible and ensure that self-inflicted messes are kept to an absolute minimum. Arsenal simply aren’t doing that right now and they won’t win the league if they don’t solve the issue.
Aston Villa
As Aston Villa recorded their best start to a league season since the turn of the century, it’s worth reflecting upon how this team is getting it done in an entirely different way to last season.
In 2023-24, Villa were sensational at holding onto a lead and made that the foundation of their success. They took a lead in 23 of their 38 matches, fewer than Bournemouth and once more than Crystal Palace and Brentford. They finished in the top four because they won 20 of those 23 games. Not only was that ratio better than any other Premier League side last season, it’s one of the best in the division’s history.
That meant that Villa didn’t have to be brilliant at comebacks in 2023-24. Their 18 points from 20 matches in which they were behind ranked seventh in the division – hardly terrible but not elite.
That is a habit that Villa are now picking up. Since the beginning of March in the Premier League alone, Villa have drawn with West Ham, Brentford, Liverpool and Ipswich despite trailing and beaten Bournemouth, Everton, Wolves and now Fulham in the same circumstances.
The key, from evidence this season, has been keeping the faith. Against Everton and Fulham, matches during which Villa trailed by two and one goal respectively, there was no panic and no change of strategy to chase the game and allow desperation to rush in. Villa’s players simply know what they’re doing and how they’re doing it under this manager, whatever happens.
Brighton
Danny Welbeck – deservedly – swiped the headlines for Brighton but there was another side to their game at St James’ Park that suggested their fine start under youthful boss Fabian Hurzeler can be maintained.
Defensively the Seagulls were outstanding at St James’ Park but it wasn’t just the back four that deserved the plaudits.
While goalkeeper Bart Verbruggen was excellent – thwarting Anthony Gordon and Alexander Isak with fine stops either side of half-time – there was also much to be said about the maturity of teenager Jack Hinshelwood, stemming the Newcastle swarm at source in a defensive midfield role.
Getting the goal when they did was fortunate given Brighton had barely had a kick in Newcastle territory. But scoring is one thing; defending as a unit afterwards was what earned them Saturday’s win.
Welbeck contributed to that beyond the fifth goal in eight games that has raised the prospect of an England recall. His strike was brilliant opportunism but he then worked tirelessly to give Brighton a platform to protect their lead. Hurzeler will hope the injury that saw him stretchered off gasping oxygen is, as he suggested afterwards, nothing serious.
Brighton appear exceedingly well coached under Hurzeler, with organisation to match the attacking elan that they have showed in previous games. It is early days but there is a good mix about this team that suggests they can challenge for Europe once more. By Mark Douglas
Chelsea
Chelsea resemble Elton John in the late seventies. The hits may have, temporarily, dried up but the sense of grandeur remains, emphasised in Elton’s case by exchanging the Dodger Stadium in Los Angeles for appearances with Bruce Forsyth while still keeping a gold throne in his living room.
Chelsea may have assembled the most expensive squad in their history while competing in the end-of-pier show that is the Conference League but they are still a big name whose eclipse is surely temporary. Beating them, however chaotically and narrowly, is still a big deal especially for a manager in his first season at Anfield. Overcoming Arsenal, Real Madrid and Manchester City will be bigger.
Of those welcoming Thomas Tuchel’s appointment as England manager, few would have been as enthusiastic as Reece James. Before his career was wrecked by a series of hamstring injuries, James enjoyed his best seasons at Stamford Bridge under Tuchel.
Here in his first start of the season, he captained the side in a defence that has struggled to keep a clean sheet this season and looked forever on the brink of being overwhelmed.
However, there is a calmness about James, who delivered a lovely dummy under pressure to deceive Cody Gakpo, who unlike him was fit enough to go to and star in the European Championships.
Gakpo possesses the pace to trouble any full-back, let alone one who last started a match in December. That was also a defeat on Merseyside, 2-0 at Everton. He lasted 27 minutes of that one and less than an hour of this, although the substitution was because Enzo Maresca thought an hour was the limit of James’s endurance.
Nevertheless, this was a good time for him to be returning and not just because Tuchel will shortly be planning a squad for the World Cup. Chelsea may have lost but the direction of travel, as it has been since the second half of last season under Mauricio Pochettino, is still upwards. By Tim Rich
Tottenham
The roar came with a crescendo: two gasps, one for a knock against either post, only a belated realisation that a vintage Dejan Kulusevski equaliser has eventually crossed the line. At Tottenham, they know better than to get too excited without a little trepidation. If they did not already feel that way, the worst defeat of Ange Postecoglou’s reign a fortnight ago at Brighton will have convinced them.
With the possible exception of Erik ten Hag, no manager in the Premier League attracts a level of collective soul-searching quite like it after every setback. And still, at its best, Angeball remains a force so potent it can leave a side as vulnerable as West Ham wishing they had never bothered to return after the international break.
Julen Lopetegui had known how erratic Spurs can be, their inclination for the attack to give with one hand while the defence take away with the other. Indeed West Ham had taken the lead partly because Destiny Udogie was too slow to react to Jarrod Bowen wriggling through the box – eight touches, in all – but also because of a lost 1v1 with Aaron Wan-Bissaka on the edge of the area.
Postecoglou had highlighted those duels as the main reason for the surrender at Brighton too; fitness and physicality are the variables they can control, so those are the ones to master first. Everything else can feel like a week-by-week “let’s see what happens”.
One of the few constants, however, is Kulusevski. Tottenham’s Player of the Season so far, unquestionably. An element lost with the departure of Harry Kane was the England captain’s deeper play, but the Swede is willing to do the hard yards and much of his creativity came from the middle, not just out wide.
A more central role has been key to reviving his Spurs career – and it has been a strange trajectory. He has opened up about his struggles at Juventus and the catastrophic effects on his confidence when he is off form.
Postecoglou has not received enough credit for getting the best out of him, not least when the decision to use him in a midfield three has invited him into the centre of the pitch and he no longer feels as if he is left floundering on the wing.
The other decisive moment was the bold decision to take off James Maddison at half time, even after he had created five chances and an assist. The run from within his own half to tee up Kulusevski’s goal was Maddison at his best, even if he looked like a reincarnation of Christian Eriksen from the 12 corners Spurs took in the first half.
It was Postecoglou’s greatest sin at The Amex – failing to change it early enough, not daring to do, as it were and allowing the rot to set in. The mistake was not repeated. Sarr replaced Maddison and immediately the midfield was more compact and organised. That is not necessarily a reflection on Maddison, but the rotation set Spurs on their way to a quickfire blitz. By Kat Lucas
Newcastle
The best performance of the season yielded Newcastle United’s worst result as their confusing campaign ran into another cul-de-sac.
Defeat to Brighton & Hove Albion was as puzzling as it was confounding. For long periods Newcastle played with the urgency and incision which was missing from their early season displays but back then they were somehow edging games and finding a way.
Now composure and certainty has deserted them and they’re inviting some uncomfortable questions about whether they can meet their internal target of qualifying for Europe.
Eighth in the Premier League is nowhere near where they want to be this season. With no European distractions there was supposed to be a return of the buccaneering spirit that carried them into the Champions League in 2023.
Instead they remain a work in progress, performances on the field tracking upwards but results not following – and therefore 2024 has been a year of doubts about the club’s overall direction and losses like this don’t help.
For the avoidance of doubt, it is absolutely not the time for Newcastle to prod the panic button. They had an xG of 1.95 here, a reflection of the big chances they created and the control they had for long spells. By Mark Douglas
Read more: Newcastle face awkward questions over European hopes and overall direction
Fulham
Before the season started, we all worried about how much Fulham might miss Joao Palhinha in midfield. Now we should all be worried by how much Fulham might miss Sasa Lukic. Lukic went off with a shoulder injury during Serbia’s game against Switzerland. Reports suggest he may be absent for a few weeks.
Lukic has been brilliant this season at replacing the defensive protection and the energy of Palhinha, but it’s fair to say that Sander Berge is not as adept at covering for Lukic in the same way. The focus may have been on Andreas Pereira after a woeful penalty, but Berge’s performance was why Villa controlled the midfield and ultimately came back to win the game.
Berge is not a bad defensive midfielder; he has a physical presence and is a useful option in defensive set-piece situations. But he also lacks the mobility to fight fires effectively and can be wasteful in possession when he does win it back.
I wonder if Marco Silva might consider a change for next week, not necessarily by taking Berge out of the team but by bringing in Harrison Reed in for Pereira. That would allow Berge to venture further forward and leave Reed as the defensive protection. Two bodies may be needed to replace Lukic.
Bournemouth
From the Bournemouth section of The Score in September, when they lost at Anfield:
“Since he replaced Gary O’Neil before the start of last season, Andoni Iraola has faced Liverpool, Manchester City and Arsenal seven times. Not only have Bournemouth lost each of those games (no shame), they have scored only twice and conceded 24 goals. They have proven themselves incapable of impressing themselves upon the best or being defensively resilient.
“And it’s a theme. Last season against the final top six, Bournemouth took two points from a possible 36 available. That places an effective ceiling on their potential.”
Well then worry no more as Iraola has the breakout result of his tenure and Bournemouth go from strength to strength. Yes it was aided by Arsenal’s sending off and missing key attackers, but so what? Bournemouth do not have Arsenal’s resources and they sold their most valuable asset in the summer. They stymied Arteta’s team and caused problems of their own. The dismissal came from their own ambition.
Bournemouth are one of the most watchable teams in the division for the way that they play without the ball. They are certainly missing Dominic Solanke’s finishing while Evanilson settles in, but the manner in which they are able to win the ball high up the pitch (more tackles in the final third than any other side) is thrilling, not least because Lewis Cook and Ryan Christie are both prepared to push high up in search of mischief.
This took time to work. Last season, Iraola took three points (all draws) from his first nine league games and we all wondered whether his style was going to work out at all here. Exactly a year on, his team have played one fewer game and have eight more points. When their efficiency in the final third improves – they rank 18th for shot on target percentage, 15th for shot-to-goal conversion and 16th for their xG vs actual goals ratio – Bournemouth can push for a top-eight place.
Read more: England are ignoring the Yorkshire Rodri reinventing his game at Bournemouth
Man Utd
Manchester United, in their chaotic state of flux, took an almighty gamble when they overlooked Harry Kane and signed Rasmus Hojlund.
Making a then 20-year-old striker with less than 10 goals in a top European league to his name one of the club’s most expensive signings is risky at the best of times – but United pinned everything on the embryonic Dane as he arrived, the team’s only natural centre-forward.
Injuries have restricted Hojlund to a bit-part role so far, and in his absence, goals have been hard to come by.
When he is fit and firing, however, United are a different proposition altogether. Hojlund’s return to form, helping United to the most crucial success against Brentford, could not have been better timed for his manager. He may even keep his boss in employment longer than senior figures at the club think he will be around for. By Pete Hall
Read more: Man Utd’s gamble has paid off on a player who can save Ten Hag’s job
Nott’m Forest
Play Crystal Palace on Monday evening.
Brentford
For the opening 20 minutes, Brentford have rarely looked so comfortable at a Big Six club.
Basking in the Old Trafford sunshine, Manchester United’s besieged underperformers were left chasing shadows by a Brentford team so calm and collected in possession, showing a finesse their opponents have been lacking for some time.
Some of the football was sublime at times, especially in the imaginative ways they got out of tricky situations inside their own penalty area.
Inevitably, however, with the injuries they have and Ivan Toney taking the Saudi millions, their free-flowing football petered out the further they got up the pitch.
Bryan Mbeumo can only do so much. Every time Brentford’s top goalscorer got on the ball, he had three red shirts around him, safe in the knowledge the hosts were nullifying the visitirs’ only dangerman.
On another day, if Igor Thiago or Yoane Wissa had been fully fit, Erik ten Hag could have been staring down the barrel come Monday morning in front of the new power brokers at United. Instead, Brentford’s dazzling early display came to nothing.
After United turned the game around, you never felt Brentford had the firepower to pull level again. And that is the difference between an impressive performance and a productive one. By Pete Hall
Leicester
Last season, it took until 22 December for one of the promoted clubs to reach 10 points as all three struggled to cope. This season, we have reached late October and neither Ipswich nor Southampton have won a game.
Leicester City were expected to struggle just the same; don’t forget that. They sold their best – and most creative – player over the summer, were forced to wait until the end of the window to frantically reinvest, lost their manager to Chelsea and were turned down by Graham Potter as their No 1 replacement. When the season started, Leicester were shorter odds than any other club to finish bottom.
And yet Leicester are the emphatic exception. They have more points than matches played. They have scored more goals than Newcastle, Manchester United and nine other Premier League clubs. They have won two league games on the spin. They are closer to the top six than bottom three in points terms.
So presumably the mood around Steve Cooper is at least improving, then? Erm, not really. On Saturday evening, the majority of the supporter focus seemed to be on his role in Leicester falling behind against Southampton, him picking the wrong team and his general unsuitability for this job.
Perhaps this marriage of inconvenience can work for all parties. If Leicester City stay up this season, it would be a monumental achievement (and we assume that Wolves and Crystal Palace will begin to improve). Cooper would have kept two promoted clubs up in two attempts and thus establishes himself as a fine appointment for any bottom-half team. If Leicester fans do want to move on from him then, good luck to them.
But the current ill-feeling is hard to process. Even if you think that Cooper’s team selection and tactics have held Leicester back and required in-game surgery, or believe that his substitutions have cost Leicester leads, you can’t then refuse to countenance that having this team in these conditions in this position is a significant success story.
West Ham
There is no point sugar-coating it – with his ludicrous behaviour right at the death, Mohammed Kudus may as well have marched Julen Lopetegui to the job centre.
Under pressure before the international break, until a victory at Ipswich papered over the cracks, he will now be without his biggest threat in front of goal for fixtures against Manchester United, Nottingham Forest and Everton.
Kudus’ fall from grace after a well-taken opener was idiotic but it summed up the mood in a dressing room that must be boiling over.
West Ham fans will tell you their concern at a lack of real quality in attack even when Kudus is available, but this was a defensive capitulation that was inexcusable. The difficulty for Lopetegui is that he does not really have the credit in the bank from Wolves to allow for such a turbulent start. It is admirable that he has tried to instil a new way of playing (still not easy to discern exactly what it is, mind), but there is nothing attractive about conceding four – three of them in eight minutes – against one of your biggest rivals.
Jarrod Bowen, mercifully, can create something from nothing, and if they are searching for other positives, for the first half an hour Spurs could not quite break them down.
But then you have James Maddison being allowed to race through the midfield, a shot through Max Kilman’s legs, Jean-Clair Todibo bumbling the ball into his own net. Lucas Paqueta at fault for two goals. Konstantinos Mavropanos only coming on when they were already three goals down.
Lopetegui’s advocates will point to this being a transitional phase post-Moyes, but it is hard to see the light at the end of the tunnel when just about everything that could go wrong did. By Kat Lucas
Everton
The streakiest team in the Premier League are back in style. Last season, Everton won four games in a row, then went 13 without a win and promptly won four of their next five. So far in 2024-25, they have lost their first four matches and then gone unbeaten in the next four. “Will this be the season that they finally go?” the amateurs asked. They will never go.
And they will keep getting better for as long as Iliman Ndiaye stays in the team, because he has been a revelation at Goodison. It’s not just the touches in the penalty area, the goal on Saturday and the shot-creating actions, although he is contributing those from open play at a faster rate than any other Everton player.
It’s not just that Ndiaye is so effective at carrying and protecting the ball, thus giving Everton an outlet to relieve any pressure, although that certainly helps too. Ndiaye has carried the ball towards goal for a total of 688 yards in his league appearances so far, more than 200 yards more than any teammate. He’s also taken on an opponent with the ball double the number of times as anyone else. Also relevant: Ndiaye has missed more than 20 per cent of their minutes.
Instead, it’s Ndiaye’s energy off the ball that makes him so important to Everton because it is exactly what Sean Dyche demands. Ndiaye has made as many tackles in the top two thirds of the pitch as Jack Harrison and Dwight McNeil combined. He creates the potential for mischief and then he makes good on that potential.
Ipswich
A second sobering defeat and performance on the spin. Kieran McKenna wanted to use the international break to move on from the dispiriting defeat to West Ham that preceded it. Instead, Ipswich produced something worse: entirely ineffective against an Everton team that were on a long winless run away from home.
I wonder how much of Ipswich’s issues stem from a lack of consistency in selection – they and Southampton have used more players than any other clubs this season so far. Making changes in search of improvement is perfectly reasonable, but you can’t throw the baby out with the bathwater.
In eight league matches – and including only starters rather than substitutes – Ipswich have used two different goalkeepers (although Arijanet Muric is now settled), three different right-backs, five different central defenders and four different defensive midfielders. McKenna needs to find a settled defence and hope that the injuries stay away.
Crystal Palace
Play Nottingham Forest on Monday e-vening.
Southampton
Here is Russell Martin on 14 September:
“Everyone needs to stick together in the same way we did last year when we had a bit of pain. I know it’s the Premier League, but the guys should’ve felt in the four games enough moments to really believe that they can impact this league – not just scrape it and try to survive.”
And here is Martin on 19 October, presumably forgetting the “everyone needs to stick together” mantra:
“Today, we are down to 10 men and we have a few subs on but one person had one job to do that would have stopped that goal and they didn’t. The concern is that the person didn’t do their job. It’s not about detail or a lack of work. It would be a concern if we had a lack of detail. It’s about taking responsibility and doing what you are asked to do.”
The cracks are beginning to show. If a defender has failed to mark their opponent in the penalty then Martin has every right to be upset, but there is a time and a place to express that frustration, Hanging someone out to dry 30 minutes after the match in front of the media is a bold strategy. Whether this is an attempt at self-preservation or just a bloke losing his cool, it’s not a great look.
Whether Martin’s style of football can work in the Premier League as a promoted club is open to determination, but that is a sideshow to the question of whether Southampton’s manager is capable of riding through this period without losing the faith of players who must now feel attacked. This squad needs belief – in the style, in the coach, in themselves – and it is slipping away.
Wolves
Wolves manager Gary O’Neil saw a valiant defensive effort undone in a controversial injury-time City winning goal that left him wondering whether “small” clubs such as his are the victims of subconscious bias from officials.
With just one point to his name this season, O’Neil knows he is a manager under pressure, even if it is not immediately apparent.
But as he ruminated on his team having an almost identical “goal” ruled out at West Ham by VAR last season, he was left to wonder aloud whether his side has been the victim of bias.
“I can categorically tell you that they definitely don’t mean to. They are 100 per cent honest and they’re doing their job the best they can,” he said.
“I just know that from a human point of view, it’s tough – like I feel different playing Manchester City than playing in the Carabao Cup in the first round. It’s a different feeling, and I’m sure they feel the same.
“I might be miles off, but it just feels like there could be something. If I had to upset someone in a street and there was a little guy and a big guy, I’d be upsetting the little guy.
“There is something in there and they definitely don’t do it on purpose. I know they’re 100 per cent honest, and they’re doing the best job they can, and I respect them fully, but maybe maybe there’s something that just edges it in that direction when it’s really tight.”
Wolves currently have the look of a team carrying the dreaded “too good to go down” slogan although there were enough signs here to suggest a climb from the foot of the table is a real possibility.
“I do think it’s hard to be involved with Wolves at the moment, either as a supporter, as a player, as a head coach, as a sporting director or whatever it is, and not feel hard done by by the amount that’s gone against us,” he said.
