Premier League scores, Week 30: Arsenal fights hard for Arsene Wenger, but gains nothing

The international break gave Arsenal fans two weeks to think about the loss to West Bromwich Albion and speculate about the future of Arsene Wenger. They had two weeks to get stressed out about a big game against Manchester City and wonder what it might mean for the club’s future. What they got was an extremely entertaining match where the Gunners showed fantastic effort, but ultimately couldn’t get the win. That’s not going to settle the debate about Wenger’s future one bit.

Elsewhere in England, Chelsea suffered a surprise loss, while Tottenham won away with some of their top players on the bench. If you’d like to manufacture a fake title race that does not exist, here’s your opportunity.

The Merseyside derby was a wake-up call for Everton, and the relegation race got a good shake-up with wins for Hull and Crystal Palace.

Here’s all the important stuff that happened in the Premier League this weekend.

Saturday’s scores

Liverpool 3-1 Everton
Burnley 0-2 Tottenham Hotspur
Chelsea 1-2 Crystal Palace
Hull City 2-1 West Ham United
Leicester City 2-0 Stoke City
Watford FC 1-0 Sunderland
Southampton 0-0 AFC Bournemouth

Sunday’s scores

Swansea City 0-0 Middlesbrough
Arsenal 2-2 Manchester City

If ever there was a game to summarize the last decade of the Arsenal experience, it was Sunday’s. Faced with accusations that they weren’t giving maximum effort and increasing displeasure over Wenger’s continued employment, the Arsenal players fought. They gave everything they had on Sunday against Manchester City, and Shkrodan Mustafi scored this dramatic equalizer.

But in the end, it wasn’t good enough. Arsenal, despite all their fighting, drew the league’s fourth-placed team at home. They were out-shot and out-possessed. They’re just as far behind the top four as they were at the start of the week.

Arsenal’s players fighting hard for Wenger might make a lot of people feel better, but it shouldn’t earn him a contract extension. They’re still worse than their rivals. This game solved nothing.

Somehow, Chelsea lost a game where they had this many chances, 2-1.

Antonio Conte set up his team in a slightly different shape than usual, playing a 3-5-2 with Cesc Fabregas in the center. Cesc scored five minutes in, but the Blues gave up two comical goals shortly afterward and couldn’t mount a comeback.

Chelsea played well enough in the last 79 minutes of the game to suggest that they’re still the best team in the Premier League and not about to fall apart. But they still dropped three points, and everyone prefers a competitive title race to Chelsea running away with the title.

Here’s how a lot of Spurs fans were feeling about their match against Burnley before Eric Dier scored the opener.

But Tottenham won, closed the gap at the top to seven points, and Maurico Pochettino is talking about closing it further.

”I am very happy, very pleased. It’s important, a massive three points for us to still believe we can fight for the title.”

Spurs fans will never stop doing this to themselves. They can’t help it.

This poor interviewer made the mistake of asking Jose the wrong question.

Manchester United got well and truly Pulis’d, and it’s looking increasingly like their easiest route to Champions League is actually winning the Europa League, not finishing top four.

Going into Saturday’s Merseyside derby, Everton had only lost twice in their last 14 games — away to Tottenham and in the last Merseyside derby. They were coming off two straight shutout wins and their goal differential was better than United’s, and only one off Arsenal’s. Their fans had reason to believe their team could nick sixth place from one of the big teams.

And then the Derby happened.

There just appeared to be a gap in class between Liverpool and Everton. Romelu Lukaku struggled to get involved in the game, while Ross Barkley’s touch and passing looked average. The Toffees just aren’t up to the level of the top six at the moment.

Sunderland lost and look like they’re going down, while Middlesbrough and Swansea drew 0-0. The only team to make a big move this weekend was Hull, who pulled off a win over West Ham.

Were they actually impressive? Ehh ...

Not really. There wasn’t much in the Tigers’ performance to suggest that they’re actually playing great, ready to go on a run up the table. Bit it was a crucial three points in what should be a tight race. Boro is 19th with 23 points and the best goal differential, Hull has 27, Swansea has 28, and Palace is up to 31 points with their big win. But the entire bottom 11 are still vulnerable — ninth-place Stoke City is only nine points ahead of the drop.