1) Everyone’s thoughts are with Ryan Mason

Hull City would normally have travelled home from London buoyed, even in defeat, by the rugged nature of their performance at Stamford Bridge, but they had more serious matters on their mind. Ryan Mason’s sickening clash of heads with Gary Cahill early on had cast a shadow. The midfielder underwent surgery on a fractured skull on Sunday evening with management staff and team-mates alike sure to be preoccupied in the days ahead with thoughts for the 25-year-old as he begins a lengthy recovery process. Perhaps Mason’s plight will serve to strengthen the resolve of this squad as they resume their struggle against the drop, alongside aspirations in two domestic cup competitions. Theirs is a tight unit, after all, given the adversity in which they seem to have fought this entire season. But, in truth, incidents such as this offer up some proper perspective. Football will unite in wishing Mason well, while praising the swift reactions of medical staff both on site and at St Mary’s Hospital in dealing with a horrible situation. Dominic Fifield



• Match report: Chelsea 2-0 Hull City

• Costa’s scoring return shows Chelsea unity, says Conte

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2) Reckless Xhaka leaves Arsenal weak in midfield

Granit Xhaka has given his manager a problem. Two problems actually: a short-term one and a longer-term one. For now, Xhaka will miss four games for his clumsy lunge at Steven Defour and it leaves Arsenal with only two central midfielders, Aaron Ramsey and Francis Coquelin. As for the bigger picture, Wenger was clearly disappointed in Xhaka for an inability to cut out the kind of reckless tackling that can lead to double punishment – playing with 10 men, and then a ban. The Arsenal manager doesn’t often criticise his players in public but he didn’t hold back on Xhaka. He hoped the lesson had been learned with a suspension earlier this season, albeit a harsh one for what most would regard as more of an orange than red card. This was a player he had been prepared to wait to sign and wanted to build a new-style midfield around. Burnley came so close to grabbing a late point against ten men, before Arsenal were able to seize all three even later. It took time for Xhaka to earn Wenger’s trust and become a regular starter, and having to regain it won’t be easy. Amy Lawrence



• Match report: Arsenal 2-1 Burnley

• Wenger may face ban over altercation with fourth official

3) Kabasele cramps Watford’s style

“You don’t get cramp at this club,” was one of Graham Taylor’s most famous quotes as Watford manager and a neat summary of the approach that took the club to such great heights. Football has changed immeasurably since the early 1980s, and the contrast was neatly demonstrated here in the draw at Bournemouth. Not only did Christian Kabasele get cramp, he went down with it while the hosts were attacking. The referee, Lee Mason, rightly played on – it was not a head injury – and Benik Afobe equalised. It was a costly misjudgment by Kabasele, though not half as egregious as some of the reaction. His manager Walter Mazzarri threw him under the bus, while supporters were also unimpressed. “It will take me a very, very long time to forgive him” said one Watford fan, mistaking Kabasele for a criminal rather than somebody who was inadequately hydrated and made a split-second mistake. Rob Smyth

• Match report: Bournemouth 2-2 Watford

• Watford agree £2.3m deal for Fiorentina’s Zárate

4) Barkley leads Koeman’s lean and mean Everton

Five months after claiming his new Everton side were only 70% fit for the start of the season, Ronald Koeman’s regime is paying dividends. A third successive victory in the Premier League, orchestrated by a lean-looking Ross Barkley, showed the beneficial training methods of the man hired to replace Roberto Martínez. “It is possible,” said Koeman when asked if Everton could repeat Southampton’s surge to sixth place last season under the Dutchman. “But most of the time my team is also, fitness-wise, strong until the end of the season. It is how I want to train. They are intense sessions but not long sessions. And it is all about football and most of the time, that means we will have a good end of this season and the team is fresh.” The injection of youth into Everton’s squad has also helped turn things around, with Tom Davies once again impressing in midfield and Ademola Lookman adding to his goal against Manchester City with an effective cameo off the bench. Koeman admitted it had taken time for his older players to adapt to his style but singled out Barkley as an example of how the team is progressing.“We speak a lot with Ross about what we need in the team with his qualities,” he said.“We need him in the final part of attacking and he is changing that. That is what we like.” Ed Aarons

• Match report: Crystal Palace 0-1 Everton

• Allardyce: If Palace get safe it will be in the last two weeks

Facebook Twitter Pinterest Ross Barkley holds off Crystal Palace’s Jason Puncheon during Everton’s 1-0 win at Selhurst Park. Photograph: Zemanek/BPI/REX/Shutterstock

5) Swansea’s back-to-basics approach defeats Liverpool

Asked what had transformed Swansea City from relegation favourites to the accomplished side that inflicted a first home league defeat on Liverpool in over 12 months, Paul Clement replied: “I’m a coach who believes in executing the basics well.” Swansea’s new manager praised his side’s organisation, set-piece prowess and intelligence on the counter-attack, while their work ethic and belief in Clement’s gameplan also bodes well for their fight to avoid the drop. But it will trouble Jürgen Klopp how the basics were sufficient to beat his team, certainly in defence where the manner of Swansea’s first and third goals appalled him. Liverpool were brittle at the back and the absence of any meaningful challenges, as Federico Fernández, Wayne Routledge and finally Fernando Llorente combined for the opening goal, was repeated in the build-up to Gylfi Sigurdsson’s winner. Andy Hunter

• Match report: Liverpool 2-3 Swansea City

• Jürgen Klopp frustrated by lack of January signings

6) Fixture list may help Tottenham maintain title tilt

After scrapping for an unlikely point at Manchester City, Mauricio Pochettino’s Tottenham side now have a 16-match tilt at the title that is not as difficult as it could be. Tottenham have to go to Liverpool on 11 February, and host Arsenal on 29 April, but that is it when it comes to meetings against sides who also have a credible chance of becoming English champions. As Harry Kane said after the 2-2 draw at the Etihad on Saturday: “Chelsea were seven points in front of us, we reduced it to six [before Chelsea played Hull] and no game in the Premier League is an easy game, as we saw with Liverpool losing at home to Swansea. You will get that for the rest of the season so we can’t worry too much. We just need to concentrate on ourselves.” Chelsea hold the advantage but if Spurs keep on keeping on, they could yet claim a first crown since 1961. Jamie Jackson

• Match report: Manchester City 2-2 Tottenham

• Touré claims City were ‘robbed’ by Marriner’s penalty call

• Michael Cox: all square in high-speed tactical battle

7) Are Manchester United too reliant on Ibrahimovic?

An off-day for Zlatan Ibrahimovic demonstrated that Manchester United may have become too reliant on the striker. With Ibrahimovic marked superbly by Ryan Shawcross and Bruno Martins Indi, José Mourinho needed one of his other forwards to seize responsibility as the game threatened to drift away from United. Paul Pogba had his moments, almost equalising with a fierce volley in the first half and prising Stoke open with several driving runs and astute passes, while Juan Mata and Henrikh Mkhitaryan were pretty, but ineffective in the areas that mattered. Ibrahimovic has scored 14 league goals; Pogba and Mata are the next-highest scorers with four each. That lack of ruthlessness continues to harm United’s chances of Champions League qualification while Mourinho deserves criticism for an overly functional starting XI. Stoke are vulnerable to pace but Marcus Rashford was on the bench – and Anthony Martial was left out altogether. Jacob Steinberg

• Match report: Stoke City 1-1 Manchester United

• Mourinho defends China moves and challenges Rooney

• Barney Ronay: Rooney the survivor with astonishing record

8) Karanka’s crowd complaints are unfair

With Middlesbrough trailing 2-1 to West Ham, the home fans urged Aitor Karanka’s side to attack. Boro ended up losing 3-1 – although an entertaining game could easily have finished a draw – and Karanka afterwards turned on supporters, accusing them of demanding “long balls” and leaving his team “broken”. The problem with this hypothesis is that Teessiders have long relished passing football – it’s a big reason why they fell in love with Bruce Rioch’s sophisticated team of the 1980s. Since then several managers – including Bryan Robson, Steve McClaren, Gareth Southgate and Tony Mowbray – have encouraged attractive passing and refrained from instructing players to ‘crash it into the corners’. This reality renders Karanka’s complaints both puzzling and inaccurate. Not that there’s anything wrong with the odd incisive long ball – indeed, equipping themselves with such a Plan B might even provide Boro with a few more, much-needed, points. Louise Taylor



• Match report: Middlesbrough 1-3 West Ham

• Striking Payet will not destroy our season, says Carroll

9) Leicester are not too good to go down

If it had not already, reality is certainly dawning on Leicester City. At this rate, after a desperately poor performance against Southampton, Claudio Ranieri’s side could become the first top-flight champions to be relegated since Manchester City in 1938. The Leicester manager deflected the blame for the harrowing 3-0 defeat on to himself, but his players gave him absolutely nothing. Jamie Vardy managed only five touches in the opposition box, Nampalys Mendy was hooked at half-time and Christian Fuchs endured a nightmare game at left-back. Wes Morgan was not the captain fantastic from last season either, clumsily upending Shane Long for the penalty which compounded his side’s misery. “Our goal is 40 points,” Ranieri said after the match when asked how seriously he is taking the threat of relegation. “I have said this from the beginning of the season and it’s important to achieve 40 points as soon as possible.” That 40-point mark feels light years away at present, although Ranieri is adamant they’ll do it. “Of course,” the Italian said with something of a trademark smile. Ben Fisher

• Match report: Southampton 3-0 Leicester



Facebook Twitter Pinterest Wes Morgan reacts after missing a chance for Leicester in the defeat to Southampton Photograph: James Marsh/BPI/REX/Shutterstock

10) Dynamic Phillips gives Pulis a different option

Keen Tony Pulis watchers may not have been surprised to find the West Brom manager claiming he is “desperate” to sign another centre-half in this transfer window. Pulis often plays four of them across his defence, and when he spoke glowingly of Craig Dawson, drafted into the middle from right-back against Sunderland, it should be noted that Dawson was a centre-half in the first place. Defensive rigour will always be the key element in the philosophy of Pulis-ball, but the 59-year-old must also be enjoying working with surely the most dynamic attacker he has had under his charge, Matt Phillips. Lacking none of the physical power or studied efficiency of his team-mates, Phillips can add pace, technique and finishing to that mix. That makes him a fearsome prospect right now. Happy to hug the touchline or drive inside to support Salomón Rondón, Phillips was at the heart of everything for the Baggies on Saturday and it is easy to forget he only joined the club in the summer. Maybe Pulis might be tempted to buy another like him, too. Paul MacInnes



• Match report: West Brom 2-0 Sunderland