Premier League Week 11: Arsenal Hit A Bump; Chelsea Cruise; City Show Liverpool The Title Race Truth
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Spurs and Manchester United served a low-quality, but highly entertaining draw in a week where Arsenal received a body blow and Liverpool were torn to shreds by a City winger they’d wish they had, writes Manik Sharma.
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United and Spurs trade lightweight punches in seesaw battle A STATE-OF-THE-TEAM CLASH at the Tottenham Hotspur stadium between two teams no one can quite figure out, revealed everything and nothing really. There was precious little quality on display as United and Spurs exchanged kicks and punts, in a game that was telling for its lack of sharpness or cutting edge design from either side. United have begun to look more dangerous in recent weeks, but they crumbled, yet again, after leading the game by a slender single-goal margin. The problem for both teams at the moment is in the striking department. Spurs literally have no one — Richarlison is hardly a reliable focal point upfront — and for United, Benjamin Sesko’s underwhelming start to life in the league was extended by yet another dour display. Through on goal through an excellent Mason Mount reverse, the striker looked woefully low on confidence, unable to even muster a strike on goal. That both these teams led at different points in the last quarter of the game, and conceded in kamikaze fashion, only confirmed their mid-table status. Both Thomas Frank and Ruben Amorim have work to do. |
Arsenal given a physicality check by fearless Sunderland Barring Arsenal, who have been, by some distance, the most consistent team in the division, Sunderland could be awarded the prize for being the most exciting. The newly promoted team fear no one and is happy to mix frothy, one-touch football with the kind of physicality that the elite of the Premier League just aren’t used to dealing with. Arsenal are the league’s set-piece kings, but at Sunderland, their reputation was bloodied and buried by a Sunderland side that could and maybe should have won the game. Arsenal have made a habit of dominating games without really pummeling the opposition, but on days when their deemed-impenetrable defence loses its sense of air-tightness, their lack of goal-scoring fizz at the other end exposes a certain fragility. Mikel Arteta can probably live with an off day from his faultless backline, but he needs his attackers to become ruthless and gun for more than the solitary goal that has seen them climb to the top of the league. Estevao makes the most of Cole Palmer’s absence in the Chelsea cruise Chelsea were given one of the easier tasks over the weekend — to contest the league’s bottom-placed, and easily worst, team in Wolves. Though they began slowly, once Malo Gusto put the Blues ahead, it was all one-way traffic. Alejandro Garnacho was lively and recorded two assists, Jao Pedro found the net again, and Chelsea’s overworked midfield — both Fernandez and Caicedo could use some rest — had to hardly break a sweat in a game that could have only gone one way. But Chelsea really kicked into gear with the second-half introduction of the Brazilian teenager Estevao. Impressive as a substitute yet again, Estevao seems ever so close to claiming a starting spot in a Chelsea team that can at times look short of a Cole Palmer-like figure — someone who has the graft to open stolid defences. Wolves are no brick wall, but it took Estevao’s ingenuity to break their shape and sense of form in another display that signalled his imminent rise as Chelsea’s newest left-footed genius. WATCH | Highlights of Chelsea vs Wolves, here on OTTplay Premium |
Aston Villa’s resurgence thickens the plot for teams chasing Europe Man for man, Aston Villa probably command one of the best squads in the league. No out-and-out superstar — other than their maverick goalkeeper — but just a team full of solid pros, with some sprinkling of stardust in the form of Englishman Morgan Rogers. Villa were slow to begin the season, reeling from what looked like a hangover of last season’s disappointments. But now in full flow, Unai Emery’s team are back to being the most likely contenders to upset the apple cart of the big four. At Villa Park, the team dispatched the league’s other impressive welterweights in Bournemouth in ruthless fashion. Key to the comprehensive 4-0 victory was Emi Martinez’s critical penalty save in the second half. Not many goalkeepers extend influence beyond the six-yard box, but Martinez’s cheeky, often provocative assertiveness remains that indescribable thing that Villa can turn to when systems and formations tend to fail. The rest of the league, be warned, Emery and Villa are back. Watch the match replay here Doku overshadows Haaland in shattering takedown of Liverpool There is perhaps no one in the Man City team who contradicts the Guardiola model of football than Jeremy Doku. For one thing, Doku is too electric to moderate, too unpredictable to condition and maybe far too talented to be even coached. He simply isn’t a Guardiola-esque player, which makes him the startling, almost uncontainable lightning bolt in the pan that no team can prepare for. Liverpool found that out the hard way, in a 60-minute blitz that shattered their back line and reduced Liverpool’s right back Conor Bradley — back from nullifying Vinicius Jr and Kylian Mbappe in midweek — to a heap of clay he could practically mould the way he wished. In a game where the obvious superstars — Salah, Wirtz, Haaland, Foden — failed to stamp their presence, Doku was sensational. So good that after scoring the standout goal of the evening, he was taken off with a quarter of the game left. Almost as a toast to just how precious he has become. That he resembles no footballer Guardiola has ever managed before makes the vote of confidence, maybe, all the more sweeter. Watch the Manchester City vs Liverpool match here via OTTplay Premium |
Postscript: This is the league’s late goal era The Premier League, thus far, has already seen more stoppage time goals than any other season in history. It’s indicative of games and teams drifting into a kind of passivity that allows opponents to pounce. Or as was the case with the Spurs-Utd clash, it points to the utter lack of control present-day midfields seem to command. It harks back to the age of Paul Scholes — a player whose contributions were often questioned for his lack of athleticism — when midfielders altered tempo, patterns and designs as per need. The game today is far more chaotic and formless — despite the talk of formations and structure. Add to that the renewed focus on set pieces and the inability of defences to deal with them, and this trend will only grow. Premier League matches come to you live and exclusive on JioHotstar, with an OTTplay Premium subscription for only Rs 149 per month. Don’t miss a minute! |
Baramulla Is An Effectively Misleading Supernatural Film |
Leaning on the supernatural, Baramulla is propagandist in intent but structured in gripping filmmaking; the bias is insidiously woven into the narrative. This distils the seductive craft and the dangers of an Aditya Dhar film. Ishita Sengupta writes.
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THERE IS SOMETHING called an Aditya Dhar film. The emphasis might feel odd, given that he has directed only one feature till now, and the second is waiting in the wings. But the projects he has been involved in the capacity of a writer and producer, most notably Article 370 (2024), bear the distinct stamp of his filmmaking. Tenets of this include compelling set pieces, imposing artistry, and bigoted politics. In Baramulla, the latest film he has bankrolled, all these are heightened to greater, more dangerous heights.
Named after a city in Kashmir, Baramulla is an extension of Vivek Agnihotri’s The Kashmir Files (2022) in terms of its selective reading of history and identification of victims. If the latter was a cruder depiction of the plight of the Kashmiri Hindu Pandits during the rising militancy in the valley in the 90s, then Dhar’s film — directed by Aditya Suhas Jambhale ( Article 370) — is a more muted work. Leaning on the supernatural, Baramulla is no less propagandist in intent but structured in gripping filmmaking; the bias is insidiously woven into the narrative. This distils the seductive craft and the dangers of an Aditya Dhar film.
Written by Dhar and Jambhale, Baramulla is set in 2016 (three years before the Centre abrogated Article 370, which granted a special status to Jammu and Kashmir) and premised on a single event: children are mysteriously disappearing in the city. A missing son of a former MLA brings a contentious cop to headline the case. Deputy Superintendent of Police, Ridwaan Shafi Sayyed (Manav Kaul), arrives in the city with wife Gulnaar (Bhasha Sumbli), young son, Ayaan (Rohaan Singh) and adolescent daughter Noorie (Arista Mehta). A past case has already strained the relationship between Ridwaan and Noorie, and the kids struggle to adjust to the new place. CONTINUE READING... Stream the latest films and shows with OTTplay's Power Play monthly pack, for only Rs 149. |
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