Brentford and Brighton are showing everyone how it should be done. Everton and Southampton are irrefutably not. And Liverpool have lost their Midas touch.
Brentford
The last team to beat Liverpool, Manchester City and Man Utd in the same Premier League season was Leicester in 2020/21. Before them, Southampton and West Ham, both in 2015/16, were the most recent clubs to achieve that feat. Each finished no lower than 7th in those respective seasons and, at the time, all were praised as chief applecart upsetters who had bridged that Big Six gap through sensational scouting and impeccable coaching.
It is not bad company for Brentford to keep whatsoever. With the scalps of Chelsea and Arsenal also among their collection from last campaign, Spurs are the only member of the gilded elite to avoid defeat to the Bees since their promotion.
Thomas Frank and his team have done some phenomenal work. Liverpool were made to look less than ordinary and Brentford did it all without their star striker and talisman. They are the template for how a club should operate.
Brighton
The Brighton XI named against Everton cost a combined £27.4m – less than the Toffees paid in individual sums for Jordan Pickford, Alex Iwobi and Amadou Onana: the keeper who had four goals stuck past him, one of the midfielders who was too feeble to stop them and another who was suspended.
Yerry Mina, an unused Everton substitute, cost £27.2m alone. Against perhaps the most carelessly extravagant spenders in Premier League history, Brighton proved that it is not huge investment but smart investment, both on the pitch and off it, which pays dividends.
Harry Kane
In his defence, Harry Kane did stress that “it’ll take some time to get over”. The World Cup penalty miss will always linger in his subconscious, striking with pangs of regret at the most inopportune times. But this is quite the brave face to put on, scoring three goals in the 26 days since, back in the comfort of his role as Tottenham’s saviour and often only competent player.
The point has been made before but the ‘cheat code’ description of Erling Haaland is far more suitable for Kane. Manchester City have no need to skip levels in a game they have already completed numerous times; Spurs often struggle to navigate even the most basic objectives while mashing the buttons before handing the controller over.
They were ambling towards another dreadful result and insipid performance, going into half-time at Selhurst…
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