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Five Things We Learned From The Weekend

Antonio Conte started with Olivier Giroud in the FA Cup semi-final and the January buy scored
Antonio Conte started with Olivier Giroud in the FA Cup semi-final and the January buy scored

1. Giroud shows why he has leapfrogged Morata to be first-choice forward.

Chelsea’s striking difficulties have been a feature of their season. It felt a little odd, then, that two centre-forwards scored to give it the possibility of a happy ending and Antonio Conte the chance to depart with more silverware. Yet while Olivier Giroud and Alvaro Morata both struck as Southampton were defeated 2-0 in the FA Cup semi-final, the notable element may be the way the pecking order has changed.

Giroud did not merely score the more memorable goal. He delivered the first, and as a starter. Morata struck as a substitute. Chelsea’s £58 million club record buy began on the bench. After a mere seven goals in his previous 35 games, it is hard to argue with his demotion. Yet eight days earlier, Morata started against Southampton. Giroud delivered two goals in his cameo. He had been underused after his arrival from Arsenal, but he has often been underrated. Perhaps he now has an admirer in Conte – even if a status as the first-choice striker could change if, as is likely, the Italian departs in the summer.

Nacho Monreal opened the scoring in Arsenal’s 4-1 win over West Ham.
Nacho Monreal opened the scoring in Arsenal’s 4-1 win over West Ham.

2. Fitting start to Wenger’s long goodbye.

Four-one scorelines invariably sound emphatic. The reality is that West Ham were around 10 minutes away from taking a point at the Emirates Stadium and giving an underwhelming feel to the start of Arsene Wenger’s long goodbye. Then came a moment of miscommunication between Declan Rice and Joe Hart meant Aaron Ramsey’s cross curled in. Yet if Alexandre Lacazette’s subsequent brace was harsh on the Hammers and Arsenal were unconvincing at times, it nevertheless felt fitting.

For much of Wenger’s reign, even after he passed his peak and they stopped contending to win the Premier League, Arsenal have often offered entertainment. While there have been occasional upsets at the Emirates Stadium since, they have generally specialised in dispatching the lesser lights at home, sometimes in comparatively low-key matches. This served as a microcosm for much of the last decade at Arsenal; it was nowhere near as glorious as the first half of Wenger’s reign, but it was something many another club could only envy.

Alexis Sanchez has a superb record of scoring at Wembley in the FA Cup.
Alexis Sanchez has a superb record of scoring at Wembley in the FA Cup.

3. Sanchez could be United’s big-name, big-game player.

Manchester United have arguably been too obsessed by big-name players in recent years. Sometimes, however, they can be big-game players as well. Alexis Sanchez feels a case in point. The Chilean’s brief Old Trafford career has felt largely underwhelming but he played a part in all three United goals in their derby comeback to defeat Manchester City and then scored the equaliser in Saturday’s FA Cup semi-final against Tottenham before contributing in the build-up to Ander Herrera’s winner. Once again, Sanchez could be deemed the man of a major match.

It continued his glorious Wembley run in the FA Cup. He has four goals in three semi-finals and has struck in each of the two finals he played in for Arsenal. It may make him the opposite of Romelu Lukaku, who is famously prolific against lesser sides but has delivered too few goals on the grandest stages. Sanchez’s capacity to produce when the stakes are highest bodes well both for May’s final and for next season, when, if the title race is closer, it could be determined by United’s results against the top teams.

Mauricio Pochettino’s Tottenham have still not won silverware and were knocked out of the FA Cup.
Mauricio Pochettino’s Tottenham have still not won silverware and were knocked out of the FA Cup.

4. Pochettino’s Spurs may never win silverware.

Kevin Keegan’s Newcastle. Bobby Robson’s Newcastle. David O’Leary’s Leeds. Perhaps Mauricio Pochettino’s Tottenham can join them on the list of the best Premier League sides never to win a trophy. Certainly both the manner and the fact of their FA Cup semi-final defeat to Manchester United, on a ground that doubles up as their temporary home and after taking the lead, suggests they may never secure silverware. So does Pochettino’s post-match reaction when, unprompted, he raised doubts over his own future.

They were not his only pertinent words. On Thursday, he said Spurs’ lives would not be changed by winning the FA Cup. It felt a self-fulfilling form of defeatism from a club who have progressed in the league and advanced in many respects, but seem to have shown the wrong mentality in knockout games too often in his reign. Not all of Tottenham’s unwanted record of eight consecutive FA Cup semi-final setbacks came on Pochettino’s watch but they have taken the lead and then lost to West Ham, Juventus and United this season as they have exited the Carabao Cup, the Champions League and now the oldest Cup competition of all. It feels a trend, rather than a coincidence.

Danny Ings scored his first goal for 930 days in Liverpool’s draw with West Bromwich Albiion.
Danny Ings scored his first goal for 930 days in Liverpool’s draw with West Bromwich Albiion.

5. Ings looks like Firmino’s best understudy.

It seemed a strange comment to make about a player who had not scored in his previous 929 days. “It was always clear that if Danny is fit and healthy… [then] he will then score goals,” said Jurgen Klopp after Liverpool’s 2-2 draw with West Bromwich Albion. Two cruciate knee injuries have meant the striker has not been fit for much of that time. Roberto Firmino’s form has kept him out of the side for the rest.

But Liverpool’s Champions League run, and Firmino’s heavy workload, had the side-effect of giving Ings a rare chance against Albion. He took it. He pounced for the opener, almost scored a second, should have been awarded a penalty and irritated Ahmed Hegazi to such an extent that the Egyptian punched him. Liverpool have been struggling to find an alternative to the indispensable Brazilian but this was a Firmino-esque display. At his sharpest, Ings is a Klopp-style player, one who bounces around the pitch as though permanently enthusiastic. If he wants to stay at Anfield, this suggested he could at least be Firmino’s understudy next season, a player who can slot into the team in a way the misfit Daniel Sturridge cannot.