There's a wonderful video doing the rounds on social media today of a Chelsea legend doing the right thing after being whacked by an opponent.
Ray Wilkins was actually playing for QPR against Aston Villa thirty years ago when he was kicked from behind by Tommy Johnson. He wasn’t hurt and, sensing a dramatic and needless intervention from the referee, he waved him away and gave Johnson a hug.
‘That’s a good bit of professionalism there,’ says the late Jimmy Greaves on commentary.
Fair to say we have come a long way since then.
At Stamford Bridge on Sunday, Chelsea and Arsenal played out a compelling draw in the Premier League and it would appear Enzo Maresca is slowly building a team worthy of the club’s competitive reputation in his second season.
The Chelsea coach can perhaps give it a rest when it comes to complaints about foul play from the opponents, though. The way his players rolled around on the turf at the Bridge, it’s hard to tell who is really hurt, who is a little bit hurt and who just needs to grow up a bit.
First Moises Caicedo did his best tumbling acrobat impression after leaving his boot in on Mikel Merino. The Chelsea midfielder was fit enough to leave the field once a red card was rightly shown to him.
Then it was Trevoh Chalobah’s turn, followed by Joao Pedro. Both writhed around like dying fish after being caught in aerial challenges with Arsenal’s Piero Hincapi. Both were clumsy fouls and nothing more. Indeed Chalobah recovered from his bang on the cheek to score – with his head.
Late in the game, with Arsenal pressing, Chelsea goalkeeper Robert Sanchez showed that he too had read the club memo. Another collision, more histrionics.
Arsenal received six yellow cards in the game and are no angels. It was that kind of affair. But Chelsea have had seven red cards this season, including one for their manager.
Watching them behave like this on Sunday was unedifying and distasteful. Maresca needs to realise his team will never get the benefit of the doubt when referees are constantly being challenged to work out what is fake and what is real.
ARSENAL HAVE WHAT LIVERPOOL HAVE LOST
This Premier League will be tighter than many people have been saying. Arsenal have drawn their last two games on the road, for example, and have also lost at Liverpool.
But if anything gets Mikel Arteta’s team to the line this season it will be squad depth.
Last season Arsenal fans watching their team go to Chelsea without first choice central defenders Gabriel and William Saliba would have covered their eyes and prayed for a miracle.
Now the Gunners have alternatives and that will make all the difference in the long-term. Hincapi and Spanish loanee Cristhian Mosquera were the partnership at Stamford Bridge and Arteta still has Ben White to call on if he needs to.
Compare this to Liverpool who keep playing Virgil van Dijk and Ibrahima Konate together at the back even though both of them have shown enough vulnerability in recent weeks to suggest they need a rest.
The failure of the defending champions to sign Marc Guehi from Crystal Palace late in the summer window continues to hurt them, as perhaps does the decision to sell Jarell Quansah to Bayer Leverkusen.
PAQUETA SHAMED BY HIS OWN STATS
Liverpool deserved their win at West Ham where another defender, Joe Gomez, was excellent for Arne Slot as he filled in at right back. If Gomez stays fit – a rarity in recent times – he can be a huge asset for his team.
Whether that can be said for West Ham’s biggest name Lucas Paqueta is open to debate. The Brazilian tends to make headlines only for the wrong reasons these days and the stats are starting to shame the 28-year-old.
With Liverpool on such a poor run, there was an opportunity for West Ham to grab something late on yesterday only for Paqueta’s foul-mouthed outburst at referee Darren England to earn him two quick yellow cards and an early exit from the field.
Paqueta is talked about as a world class player. Manchester City were about to sign him before his career was briefly derailed by an FA investigation into suspicious betting patterns that ultimately led nowhere.
But the South American has scored three Premier League goals from open play since the start of October 2024. In terms of assists, you actually have to go back to the 2023/24 season to find his last one.
That’s a shocking return and when you set that against the eighteen (yes, eighteen) yellow cards he has picked up for his club since the start of the last campaign, you start to wonder whether he really is worth all the fuss.
EVERTON STILL MISSING THE FINAL PIECE
In terms of creativity, it’s hard to remember when an Everton squad actually had more. A player list containing Jack Grealish, Kiernan Dewsbury-Hall, Iliman Ndiaye, Dwight McNeil and Tyler Dibling seems set up to create chances.
What a shame, then, that the Merseyside club’s search for a reliable goal scorer goes on.
It was painful watching Thierno Barry’s struggles continue as Everton crumbled against Newcastle on Saturday evening. The young Frenchman cost £27m from Villarreal in the summer but is yet to score while David Moyes’ other credible option, the Portuguese Beto, has just one in the Premier League all season.
Indeed you have to go all the way back to the days of Romelu Lukaku to find an Everton number nine who delivered on a consistent basis.
The Belgian scored 68 league goals in four seasons between 2013 and 2017 and the 25 he netted in his final year represents the last time Everton boasted a forward who breached the 20-goal a season mark in the Premier League.
Indeed the best Everton forward of recent times is currently playing at Leeds – Dominic Calvert-Lewin.
HOW LONG WILL SILVA SERVICE REALLY LAST?
Lukaku was already out of the door and playing for Manchester United by the time Marco Silva became Everton manager and perhaps it’s at Fulham where the 48-year-old can say he’s really solidified his reputation as a coach of real standing.
Silva oversaw his 200th game in charge of the London club as Fulham won at Tottenham on Saturday and is now the club’s longest serving manager – four and a bit years – since Alec Stock’s spell in the mid-1970s.
Whether he sticks around beyond this year remains to be seen. Silva is out of contract at the end of the season and there is currently a new three-year deal on the table that is unsigned.
Having been disappointed with the club’s transfer business last summer, Silva will lose Nigeria trio Calvin Bassey, Alex Iwobi and Samuel Chukwueze to the Africa Cup of Nations in late December and has made it clear that he wants players in January.
‘It is clear what is necessary,’ said Silva.
Silva was briefly considered by Saturday’s opponents Spurs before they hired Thomas Frank in the summer. Nottingham Forest also showed interest before taking Sean Dyche in October. Silva has a significant buy out in his contract that continues to offer Fulham some protection but that won’t help them next summer.
VICARIO NOT THE ONLY ONE TO BLAME
Spurs boss Frank can maybe count himself a little unlucky to have lost again at home on Saturday. The two early Fulham goals were a little freakish.
But as boos rang out round the Tottenham Hotspur Stadium following goalkeeper Guglielmo Vicario’s dash from his area ahead of Harry Wilson’s long range effort, it seemed odd that none of the Italian’s team-mates had made any effort to get back and cover the goal line.
There was plenty of time for disaster to be averted which makes one wonder whether Frank’s players are lazy, confused or just plain stupid.
HENDERSON'S EMOTIONAL FLAW
Dean Henderson is growing into a fine goalkeeper and it’s strange that Thomas Tuchel sees James Trafford, of Manchester City reserves, as the long-term successor to Jordan Pickford for England.
However, Henderson didn’t have his best day against his old club Manchester United.
He looked mightily pleased with himself after denying Casemiro early but will subsequently have been disappointed with both United goals. He could have done better with both.
Henderson remains a bit emotional at times. Pickford used to be like that but isn’t any longer. And that’s why he will be starting at the World Cup. A lesson to be learned there for the younger man.
SUNDERLAND'S UNLIKELY LINK TO LAST SEASON
Sunderland's metamorphosis goes on, with Regis Le Bris’ team only two points from the Champions League places and, just as importantly to them, four points ahead of Newcastle.
Only five newly-promoted teams in the history of the Premier League have managed more than Sunderland’s 22 points after thirteen games and none have done it on the back of such a turnaround in players.
Of the team that beat Sheffield United in last May’s play-off final, only two started the weekend win over Bournemouth.
Centre half Dan Ballard was one of them and the other was man of the match Enzo le Fee.
The French playmaker was at Roma in January this year when Le Bris – once his coach at Lorient – asked him to come to Wearside.
Le Fee’s friends told him he was mad to even consider it but after watching a couple of episodes of the Netflix documentary ‘Sunderland ‘til I die’ he decided to make the move.
On the bench for the first two league games of the season, the 25-year-old has missed one match since then and was fundamental at the weekend.
WAS THIS THE PREMIER LEAGUE'S STRANGEST SUMMER SIGNING?
Burnley came up ahead of Sunderland from the Championship last spring but keep finding themselves on the wrong side of the margins.
Nobody is turning Scott Parker’s team over and they are very much in the fight but four defeats on the spin have hurt them and they badly need some goals.
With that in mind, it’s still hard to see the logic of the club spending £20m on the former Chelsea graduate Armando Broja in the summer.
Broja, born in Slough of Albanian dissent, is one of those peculiarities – a striker with no real record of scoring.
In fact the 24-year-old has scored two club goals in the last three years and is yet to start a Premier League game for Burnley.