Five things we learned from the Premier League weekend

1. Dull Chelsea outdo even Mourinho for defensiveness.

The bare facts are that Chelsea have visited Manchester on successive Sundays and lost by a one-goal margin on both. There is a marked difference, however: against Manchester United, as against Barcelona, Antonio Conte’s gameplan allowed them to pose an attacking threat and score a goal. Against Manchester City, they produced one of the most defensive displays in memory from an elite club. This made Jose Mourinho’s attitude away at Anfield seem almost gung-ho. At least the Portuguese got a draw at Liverpool. His old club got what they deserved at the Etihad Stadium: nothing.

AS IT HAPPENED: Manchester City v Chelsea

READ MORE: Bernardo Silva clinches one-sided triumph

READ MORE: One goal, 902 passes – Manchester City set Premier League record

Conte’s men produced a depressingly dull display. As they lost, it was also an unsuccessful one. Perhaps the scoreline meant it was a damage-limitation exercise but without the ill N’Golo Kante, Chelsea lacked a plan for regaining the ball, let alone doing anything with it, as City completed 902 passes, a record for a Premier League game.

Eden Hazard was again deployed as a false nine, but starved of support in a team who failed to record a shot on target. Defending champions, teams with Chelsea’s ambition and budget, ought to be better than this.

2. Arsenal will be fortunate to finish sixth.

The unflattering statistics are abounding for Arsenal. A 2-1 loss to Brighton was their fourth consecutive defeat, making this their worst run since 2002. It left them 15 points behind Liverpool, let alone Manchester City. It meant they have only won two league games in 2018. The numbers underline the scale of their decline. So do the performances.

READ MORE: Dunk and Murray pile more misery on Wenger

READ MORE: Wenger – Top four almost impossible for Arsenal

READ MORE: My worry is to win games – Wenger dodges questions on future

The reality is that, with 45 points from 29 games, Arsenal are only on course to end with 59. By way of comparison, it is worth noting Manchester United came sixth with 69 last season and seventh with 64 in 2013-14. No one has finished in the top six with under 60 points since Liverpool in 2011. Arsenal may owe a relatively lofty position to an absence of a chasing pack. Leicester have won only two of their last 12 league games, Burnley only one of their last 12. They, of course, do not enjoy anything like Arsenal’s resources. But it is another indictment of the Gunners that they are only in sixth by default.

3. Oxlade-Chamberlain flourishes as the man in the middle.

Go back to the start of Alex Oxlade-Chamberlain’s Liverpool career and he seemed luckless. He didn’t win in his first four games. He ended up at right-back in one of them. He looked a £35 million spare part, an expensive substitute with no obvious path to the first team. It showed the dangers of jumping to conclusions. Six months into his time at Anfield and he is starting to look a fine signing.

READ MORE: Salah scores again to send Reds second

READ MORE: Klopp hails Salah goalscoring desire as scoring run continues

The England international was terrific against West Ham last week. He was equally good in Saturday’s 2-0 win over Newcastle. In both matches he has helped set up a goal with a storming run through the heart of the midfield, using his pace and directness to fashion an opening.

Mohamed Salah was the beneficiary on both occasions and if it bodes well that they are striking up a fine relationship, it is also a sign that, whereas other players have stagnated by staying at Arsenal, Oxlade-Chamberlain has kicked on by leaving the Emirates Stadium. He is flourishing under Jurgen Klopp and, after choosing Liverpool in part because he wanted to play in the centre of midfield, is doing so in his preferred position.

4. Son may be the best squad player in the division.

The Tottenham team-sheet seemed to have particular significance on Saturday. Heung-Min Son and Erik Lamela have a strange job-share so that, when the South Korean was named in the side to face Huddersfield, it felt a sign that the Argentinian will start against Juventus on Wednesday. To put it another way, Son will be benched for one of the biggest games of Spurs’ season.

READ MORE: Son double helps Spurs warm up for Juventus

READ MORE: Pochettino joins elite group with 100th Premier League win

READ MORE: Pochettino ‘expects amazing things’ from Spurs match-winner Son

And if that is the case, it makes him the best squad player in the country. By the time he went off against Huddersfield, he had scored twice, taking his tally to the season for 15 goals and ensuring that it did not matter that Harry Kane endured a rare game without finding the net (albeit while creating Son’s second with a wonderful pass).

By way of comparison, only five players at Premier League clubs – Kane, Salah, Sergio Aguero, Roberto Firmino and Raheem Sterling – have gone past 15 goals. Most clubs’ leading scorer, including Arsenal’s, is nowhere near 15. Tottenham may have the luxury of leaving someone that prolific on the bench.

5. Tosun’s excellence makes it odder he was omitted.

Cenk Tosun was shaping up as one of the season’s strangest signings. Now he still is, but in a different way. The £27 million striker was dropped and discarded, deemed not ready for English football or even English weather – too cold, Sam Allardyce said – after beginning just two games. Then he was recalled in the coldest week of winter and excelled against Burnley, scoring his first Everton goal, creating a chance for Theo Walcott with a lovely cross-field ball and showing some fine touches.

READ MORE: Wood returns to beat Everton

READ MORE: Everton gifted Burnley the win, bemoans Allardyce

As Tosun has not completed 90 minutes since 10 December, there was logic to Allardyce’s decision to replace the Turkey international, who he said was tiring. Nonetheless, it prompted the Everton fans to turn on Allardyce. If Tosun was turned into a fans’ favourite, perhaps it is because the manager is not one. Yet his performance in the 2-1 defeat at Burnley made it a mystery that he had not started for six weeks while the limited Oumar Niasse had been preferred.