Four Manchester United flops are joined by one Liverpool struggler in the Premier League Worst XI of the weekend.
As always, match ratings are taken from WhoScored.
GK: Bernd Leno (Fulham) – 5.42
Leno’s weak attempt to parry away Beto’s shot handed Everton an impressive away win, and that error earned the German a spot in the Premier League Worst XI. He has a pretty poor season by his standards.
RB: Ola Aina (Nottingham Forest) – 5.80
It was a close call between Aina and Bournemouth’s Adam Smith (5.83), but the Nottingham Forest man makes the cut after a lacklustre performance in his side’s disappointing 2-2 draw against Leicester City.
Aina picked up a yellow card, lost his only aerial duel, committed an error leading to a shot, and failed to make any tackles or interceptions.
CB: Leny Yoro (Manchester United) – 6.11
Manchester United have won six, drawn six, and lost 13 of their Premier League matches under Ruben Amorim. That is a diabolical record, and their latest defeat – at home to West Ham on Sunday – left them 16th in the table with a -11 goal difference.
Say what you want about this being a transitional period, the players not being Amorim’s, or the focus being on Europe – this is still a squad worth over £700million in transfer fees and packed with international footballers. Amorim is embarrassed, and rightly so; winning the Europa League should not paper over the cracks of a worst-ever Premier League campaign.
Anyway, rant over. Yoro struggled on Sunday before coming off injured.
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CB: Luke Shaw (Manchester United) – 5.90
Shaw played 52 minutes against West Ham, coming off alongside Yoro. He wasn’t injured – Amorim is simply managing his minutes carefully given his wretched injury record.
Deployed at left centre-back in a back three, Shaw offered little defensive output: just one clearance, no interceptions, no tackles, and not a single aerial duel contested.
LB: Harry Amass (Manchester United) – 5.76
Sticking with the shambles that is Manchester United, 18-year-old left wing-back Harry Amass made his fourth Premier League start in five games, which sounds promising until you realise he’s lost every single one, with an aggregate score of 11–4. Not ideal.
United have now won just once in nine league matches, having seemingly written off their top-flight campaign the moment Ruben Amorim walked through the door.
In their latest disappointment, Amass was dribbled past twice and probably shouldn’t have lasted the full 90 minutes.
For the record, the lowest-rated actual left-back this week was Arsenal’s Myles Lewis-Skelly (6.08).
DM: Ryan Gravenberch (Liverpool) – 5.62
Ipswich’s Jack Taylor and Chelsea’s Romeo Lavia both had tough weekends, each recording a 5.78 match rating – but it’s Liverpool’s Ryan Gravenberch who claims the unwanted spot in this week’s worst XI.
Arsenal came from two goals down at Anfield to salvage a point that should offer real encouragement heading into next season. They were helped by a toxic atmosphere following Trent Alexander-Arnold’s introduction, with the bizarre boos clearly unsettling Arne Slot’s side.
Gravenberch, in particular, looked uncharacteristically unsettled. He was dribbled past once, failed with his only dribble attempt, misplaced four passes, made no interceptions, was dispossessed twice, committed one foul, and made an error leading to a shot.
Fair play to Arsenal, who managed to rattle the Premier League’s best No.6 this season without Declan Rice.
CM: Manuel Ugarte (Manchester United) – 5.74
Back to the shambles at Old Trafford, is it? Hardly surprising that another goalless home defeat sees four Manchester United players in the worst XI – and rounding it off is £50m summer signing Manuel Ugarte.
The Uruguayan lasted just 59 minutes after failing to make any meaningful impact, with a dreaded error leading to a shot contributing to his poor 5.74 rating.
CM: Andreas Pereira (Fulham) – 5.66
Fulham took the lead against Everton in the most 3pm blackout fixture imaginable – but they never took control and ultimately slumped to a deserved 3-1 defeat.
They lost the midfield battle, with Andreas Pereira and Sander Berge struggling to assert themselves. Pereira committed one error leading to a shot and lost possession nine times.
It’s a limp ending to what has been a genuinely fantastic Premier League season. Fulham have now lost four of their last five matches, with their only win in that time coming against the second-worst team in Premier League history.
RW: Matheus Cunha (Wolves) – 5.73
Cunha is gleefully aware that he is, by some distance, Wolves’ best player. With that status comes a sense of responsibility – one that seemingly compels him to drop all the way back into his own box to collect the ball from goal-kicks. Against a high-pressing Brighton side at Molineux, this proved costly. Caught in possession by Mats Wieffer, the Dutchman was brought down in the box for a stonewall penalty. Danny Welbeck converted from the spot to score his tenth Premier League goal of the season – the first time he’s reached double figures in a single campaign.
It could have been worse for Cunha, who was fortunate not to be sent off for the last-man foul. There was no common sense applied by VAR, who deemed the double jeopardy rule sufficient to spare the Brazilian a red card. But watching the replay, it’s clear there was no attempt to play the ball – Cunha’s eyes are fixed on Wieffer before he deliberately brings him down.
Oh well. Wolves still lost 2-0, so literally only I care about that.
LW: Jacob Ramsey (Aston Villa) 5.27
Villa secured a crucial 1-0 win at Bournemouth to keep their Champions League hopes alive. But on what had been a decent afternoon for Jacob Ramsey, a second yellow card ensured a nervy finish for Unai Emery and his players.
They held on – but that doesn’t do Ramsey any favours here.
ST: Nicolas Jackson (Chelsea) – 4.98
Sent off for an incredibly stupid assault on Newcastle United’s Sven Botman, Jackson seemed to have sabotaged Chelsea’s chances of a comeback in their biggest league game of the season. Oddly, though, Enzo Maresca’s side looked far better without him.
Either way, he was a shoo-in the moment that first-half red card was shown.