Five Things We Learned In The Premier League Weekend

1. Salah sends Liverpool back into the Champions League.
Mohamed Salah made history with a swish of his left foot. More to the point, he ensured Liverpool’s efforts in this league season have not been in vain. His 32nd goal of the Premier League campaign took him past the previous record-holders, Alan Shearer, Cristiano Ronaldo and Luis Suarez, and put Liverpool ahead against Brighton. With Dejan Lovren doubling the advantage, it was a lead they did not relinquish.

They had failed to win any of their previous three league games but, having been in the top four continuously since December, they ensured they could not be overtaken by Chelsea. Their eventual 4-0 win also meant they ended the league season unbeaten at Anfield. It is another achievement in a season which, with the Champions League final to come, could include a far greater feat. But at least they go to Kiev knowing they will be competing with the European elite again next season.

2. Chelsea’s season ends as it began.

Matters were out of Chelsea’s hands. Yet while they had to hope Liverpool lost to Brighton to give them a chance of finishing in the top four, they failed to deliver their side of the bargain. They needed to beat Newcastle. Instead, they capitulated to a 3-0 defeat. The most damning element may be that United’s first goal, scored by Dwight Gayle, came before Salah put Liverpool ahead at Anfield. Chelsea could not use the scoreline elsewhere as an excuse.

It means their league season ended as it began, with an ignominious defeat. Rewind to August and they went 3-0 down to Burnley in their opening game. In May, other outsiders, in Newcastle, surged into a similar lead. It formed a contrast with their relentlessly consistency last season. If the initial verdict was that such results cost them the title, this proved they cost them a top-four finish and Champions League football next season. Antonio Conte’s successor will be busy on Thursdays.

3. City leave it late to become centurions.

Manchester City left it late; very late. Yet Gabriel Jesus’ goal at Southampton had a certain statistical significance. They became the first team ever to record 100 points in a top-flight season in England. To show what an achievement that is, no side in the era of two points for a win would have done were they given a third point for every victory. City also set the biggest winning margin, of 19 points, in Premier League history.

They only dropped 14 points all season, so few that it is easy to name the teams responsible: Everton, Crystal Palace, Liverpool, Burnley, Manchester United and Huddersfield. That is astonishing and ridiculous. It also shows why it will be so hard for City, or anyone else, to emulate that in the future. Pep Guardiola’s joyous celebrations when Jesus scored show he recognised that.

4. Wenger bows out with an away win at last.

It was a welcome change from the ‘Wenger Out’ banners that used to proliferate. A plane flew over the John Smith’s Stadium with the message “Merci Arsene” as, after 22 years and 1,235 games, Arsene Wenger’s reign at Arsenal came to its eventual conclusion. If there was something suitable in his final game coming at Huddersfield, the club that provided Arsenal with their other greatest manager, Herbert Chapman, the more pertinent element was that the Frenchman’s charges won.

Which, as they were the only side in English football without an away point in 2018, was no guarantee. A defeat would have been Arsenal’s eighth straight setback on the road in the league since the 1924-25 season, which prompted the Gunners to appoint Chapman. Instead, Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang secured Wenger’s 707th win as Arsenal manager.

5. Mourinho needs to sign someone with Carrick’s qualities.

Anthony Martial’s exit from Old Trafford before kick-off prompted suggestions he has played his last match for Manchester United, even if a minor injury ensured he played no part against Watford. What can be said is that Michael Carrick’s time on the playing staff is ending. A guard of honour was fitting on his first start for 364 days, and his last in a United career that has spanned 12 years and 464 games. The retiring captain has been a bit-part player this season but a huge influence since his arrival in 2006.

An era ends with Carrick. He is the last of the 2008 Champions League winners, the final member of the most recent truly great United team to depart the playing staff. His understated style meant he was underrated for too long although, as the slew of recent tributes have shown, not by either his team-mates or his managers. Few passed the ball with such class and it was fitting his lovely ball led to Marcus Rashford’s opening goal. While Jose Mourinho likes physical central midfielders, as Scott McTominay and Marouane Fellaini show, it is imperative he signs someone who can use the ball as intelligently as Carrick always did.